Charles Homans has been at The Times since 2014. Unlike his co-author Thomas Gibbons-Neff, who was on our podcast last year, Homans doesn't focus on gun stories. Nor does he cover all 435 congressional races in each cycle.

So, he explained why Herrera's campaign in the 23rd Texas district deserves national attention. Homans said he thinks what Herrera, aka The AK Guy, is doing is emblematic of a new phase of American gun culture. He agreed that guntubers have built an audience, then a business, and are now seeking to translate all of that into political power.

We discussed some parallels between Herrera's campaign and the Illinois primary campaign of Kat Abughazaleh, a prominent left-wing online activist. Both Herrera and Abughazaleh performed better than you might expect given their lack of political experience, but didn't blow their opponents out of the water as the online enthusiasm for them might suggest. Homans said the internet isn't real life, but it's also not not real life.

Then we talked about some of the controversies Herrera's long history making online content has generated, and how that's a potential drawback in a congressional campaign. Homans also responded to some of the criticism his piece on Herrera has drawn from people like Cam Edwards of Bearing Arms. He acknowledged the skepticism that many gun-rights advocates have toward The Times, but said he works to be honest and straightforward in his reporting.

Special Guest: Charles Homans.

Reporter Thomas Gibbons-Neff has started consistently doing gun stories for The Grey Lady, as The Times has long been known. It's not his first assignment. I also wouldn't call it his most challenging since he went from active-duty service in Afghanistan to covering it and, later, the war in Ukraine.

Still, as Gibbons-Neff readily admits, covering guns in America for a paper like The Times is not without its own challenges. One of the things he has to navigate in order to find sources is The Times' reputation, especially given its aggressive editorial stance in favor of new gun restrictions and bans.

But he agreed his background and continual focus on firearms should help him produce better stories than many in the gun world might expect. And he said he's going to work to earn the gun-owning community's trust that he'll be fair, mainly by demonstrating it in the pieces he publishes.

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Special Guest: Thomas Gibbons-Neff.

We tend to interview subject matter experts on whatever the biggest story of the week is. But with the election in full swing, I want to make sure we're paying attention to that. And I think it's especially important to take a look at those gun owners who don't necessarily fit into traditional partisan boxes, especially since that group appears to have grown over the past several years.

That's why when I saw a short but interesting profile of Ben Beauchemin in a New York Times report during the lead-up to the New Hampshire primary, I thought it would be good to interview him. Luckily, he agreed to come on. 

Ben owns a gun shop and custom AR-building business in New Hampshire, which might seem like a pretty easy indicator of his politics. But his beliefs don't necessarily line up perfectly with either party. And he's grown increasingly disillusioned with the political choices they offer up.

He said it would be difficult for him to vote for President Joe Biden because of his pursuit of new gun restrictions. But he'd also have trouble voting for former president Donald Trump for a myriad of other reasons. And he isn't sold on former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley either.

Ben also said he's been unhappy with the gun-rights movement in recent years. And he gave his view of how the industry has handled the shift toward gun owners with different backgrounds and beliefs, like himself.

Plus, I give my firsthand report of what it was like inside the NRA's corruption trial up in New York City this week.