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THE CRUDE TRUTH Ep. 82 Amy Robbins, Creator and CEO at Alexo Athletica
Video Transcription edited for grammar. We disavow any errors unless they make us look better or smarter.
Rey Treviño [00:00:00] The Second Amendment. How important is that? And what about elections? Should we have people taking the day off to vote? We talked about that and much more on this episode of The Crude Truth.
Narrator [00:00:12] In 1901 at Spindletop Hill near Beaumont. The future of Texas changed dramatically. As, like a fountain of fortune, thousands of barrels of oil burst from the earth towards the sky. Soon, Detroit would be cranking out Model TS by the millions and America was on the move. Thanks to the black gold being produced in Texas. Now, more than a century later, the vehicles are different, but nothing else has truly changed. Sure, there may be many other alternative energy sources like wind and solar and electric. But let’s be honest. America depends on oil and entrepreneurs. And if the USA is truly going to be independent, it has to know the crude truth.
Narrator [00:00:55] This episode is brought to you by LFS chemistry. We are committed to being good stewards of the environment. We are providing the tools so you can be too. Nape Expo where deals happen. Air compressor solutions. When everything is on the line, Air Compressor Solutions is the dependable choice to keep commercial business powered up. Sandstone Group, Exec Crue, elevate your network. Elevate your knowledge. Texas Star Alliance, Pecos country operating. Fueling our future.
Rey Treviño [00:01:29] Well, hello again and thank you, as always, for tuning in to another episode of The Crude Truth. Well, here we are again at our Dallas studios, so thank you all very much. The real news communications, as always for hosting these amazing shows for us. But today I am just super, super excited. My guest today is somebody that you probably have heard of but didn’t know you’ve heard of him. Or if you’re a female out there that watch. So you might have even worn her clothing line if you definitely like to conceal, handgun while you’re out and about during the day. My guest today is a lady that has just been rocking the world from the Second Amendment to voter rights to doing non-profits. Oh, and by the way, she’s a mom of two. My guest today is Miss Amy Robbins. Amy, how are you?
Amy Robbins [00:02:17] What do you say like that? I’m like, wow, that I move, like, you know, busying myself out. Like, think of yourself.
Rey Treviño [00:02:24] Just like that.
Amy Robbins [00:02:25] I heard myself out just listening to that. Yeah. So how are you? I’m doing good.
Rey Treviño [00:02:28] Oh, my gosh, I’m doing well. And, Amy, thank you so much for coming in.
Amy Robbins [00:02:32] Of course.
Rey Treviño [00:02:33] You have just been. You were, I use this word were term, but it’s. No, it is so important that you’re blazing a trail. Again, I just listed off things that they. Oh, your accolades are second to none. You know, you’ve been doing it for longer than it’s been a thing. You know, you use competing for, you know, you know, you know, Amy, for those out there, that do not, you know, I want to just dive into your successful company just right off the bat. Bat here. Athletic. Sure. Like so athletic.
Amy Robbins [00:03:04] Yes. That’s it. Alexo Athletica. I know we didn’t really take into consideration how much of a tongue twister that was going to be when we did us. It was just a really cool name, and I can tell you more about that later. But you did a great job.
Rey Treviño [00:03:17] Well, tell me about that. And and we’ll dive there and then we’ll just go into you and then forms of fashion. Yeah.
Amy Robbins [00:03:22] Absolutely. So in 2015, I went out to go train for the white Rock marathon here in Dallas. And at that point, I had never really had anything scary or anything that made me feel unsafe when I went running. So carrying a self-defense toll on my body was really not. It was not top of mind. It was not anything that I had ever done. I mean, most of the time I didn’t even run with my phone. I like to be hands free and just go out and get my run. So in 2015, when I went out, this day was a little bit different. I actually I remember it. For any of you who are familiar with this area. I was running out in prosper before prosper was what it is today. So a lot of, a lot of, you know, roads that had no, no, no homes, no people. I was real secluded back there, and I typically felt very safe. But this day, I remember hearing a car in the background. And when I turned around, there was this van was full of, men. I was about seven guys in this van, and they pull up really close to me, roll the windows down, started doing this aggressive catcalling and harassing. And I thought, well, maybe I’ll just ignore them and they’ll drive away. And I just kept doing my thing and running. And they drove to the end of the road, and they circle back and did it again. And it was the first time in my life I ever thought, okay, if this were to escalate beyond just the catcalling, beyond the harassing, what am I going to do? You’ve got 7 to 1. My odds are very good. Yeah, men are typically bigger, stronger, faster. Anyways, I’m not gonna be able to fight this off. And I did the only thing that I knew what to do. I actually just started praying, and I was like, God, please. Like, please let them just drive away. I feel very uncomfortable. This is not safe. I don’t like that. My life, you know, I’m defenseless at this point. And I said, if you just give me a second chance, like I will do something with my second chance, please just let them drive away. Luckily they did, and I told people my story ended there. Thankfully, and I ran home. I jumped immediately on, the phone. I called my buddy who did License to carry classes, and I was like, okay, I have been doing this show for the NRA prior to this. And I was like, it’s all making sense. No, I understand why you’re encouraging people to be prepared to take their safety into their own hands. I was like, it makes sense. Sign me up. I want the next license to carry course. I took that course, I went and got my first handgun. I think it was a Glock 43. At that point I was like, I already here going to where am I going to put this down? Now I want to go run. Where do I put this on on my body? I was like, surely there’s got to be something that’s out there that has made this very easy because as I did my research, I found out that 80% of women at that point had, mentioned that their safety had felt threatened at some point while they were walking or running. I was like, that’s a large amount of women, and surely someone’s done something about that. So, you know, I went and looked in the athletic space, you know, holsters in their pants. I went and looked at, the firearm industry, and there was no holsters in the pants and nothing that looked fashionable. And I said, like, you know, this is not going to work for women to to take their safety serious and keep tools on their body. And they don’t want to sacrifice their, their fashion for function, but they also want it to be very easy and very comfortable. And since there was nothing on the market, I decided to do something about it. And so I created the very first concealed carry activewear line in 2015.
Rey Treviño [00:06:38] I called Alexo Athletica.
Amy Robbins [00:06:40] Yes. So the name, came from and we, as I told my husband, this crazy idea that I have and I wanted to see more and more women feel empowered on their run to feel empowered to to, you know, take their safety back and to feel just confident. While they were out and about wearing activewear, I said, there’s a lot of women that want to do that. So I was giving my husband the business plan and he was like, I think you’re on to something here, let’s do it. So we were on a road trip and really, what are we going to call this? And I said, well, I love the Greek language. And we found a word in the Greek language, Alexa. So which actually means to defend and to help. And so I said that is great, I love that and that’s what it goes. So really we wanted to say. So we were always going to be a company that was not going to shy away from supporting the Second Amendment and supporting women and men’s rights to be able to, to take care of themselves. And so Alexa Athletica is your your two way meeting. So
Rey Treviño [00:07:35] I love it
Amy Robbins [00:07:36] Yeah. So that’s how we came up with that name. Yeah. So it’s a little bit of a tongue twister. But you know it’s once you get it down it just kind of rolls off.
Rey Treviño [00:07:43] And actually Alexo Athletica. Oh man. Would you get that? Jim? Sheryl, Alexo.
Amy Robbins [00:07:47] Alexo
Rey Treviño [00:07:49] I know, So what’s the website for people with
Amy Robbins [00:07:52] Alexo Athletica dot com.
Rey Treviño [00:07:52] Okay.
Amy Robbins [00:07:53] Yep. And we’re really active on on social media, on Instagram, on Facebook. If you’re looking to see you know how to how does this actually work? So the way that we designed the clothes, it’s we actually built an a sturdy waistband. And we started out with just leggings. So we started out with leggings and then jacket jackets and tops that would complement the, the leggings because we really were going to be geared towards runners initially. From there we expanded our line to shorts, joggers, skirts. I mean we have everything now. We have like the largest line of concealed carry activewear on the market. And, it’s just got a lot of pockets built into the waistband. And then what also makes it very special is that it’s reinforced. So even if you wanted to clip, let’s say, a kydex holster or something into the pants, you could and your pants aren’t going to sag. The fire is not going to fall out. It’s not going to fold over. And I think I’ve actually put like four guns in the pants before and show people, look, the pants are falling down, it secures the weight and it’s still really comfortable. Wow. Yeah.
Rey Treviño [00:08:56] Well, you know, I do. I want to, give you my hard time real quick. I know the president of, Real News, came with his studio, and he was like, are you packing right now? And you didn’t confirm nor deny? That’s the low.
Amy Robbins [00:09:07] That is the upper seal. You’re not. You’re not lying to me. I know that they’ve got open carry now in several states. And, you know, I support people’s right to do whatever they are they’re comfortable carrying. For me, I like it to be concealed. I like the element of surprise. I like to be underestimated a little bit, where if someone were to look at me, they would probably be like, if that girl’s a soft target, you know that. That’s why I want to go after. They would be picking the wrong person.
Rey Treviño [00:09:32] So, you know, I’m glad you brought up the open carry. Same thing. Well, I believe in either one. I was, I went to a little, not a, what do you call it? Cafe. They’re only around in the Mid Cities area over the weekend. Me and my two year old went for breakfast Saturday morning, and I had two guys in there, and they were big band, and they had these giant, you know, whatever, pistols just hanging right there. And I’m like, I’m watching you the whole time. Yeah. And so I just sometimes I’m like, really? Do we really needed at a cafe with families in the morning and and I understand you never know.
Amy Robbins [00:10:03] You never know. You never know.
Rey Treviño [00:10:05] But I’m just kind of like, really guys, like, is this kind of in a place that you just feel, you.
Amy Robbins [00:10:09] Know, it’s it it could be. I think that’s the point. I was like, it’s you really? Just now in this day, like, just you have to be prepared because there’s just there’s just crazy things that are going on and people want to feel safe. And but I think for me personally, I want to have it. I want to have it concealed. I want to have it in a place that I can easily access it and get to it. But that’s not going to make me a. Target from somebody that’s looking to steal the firearm or to, you know, if they are choosing who they’re going to take out first. I don’t want to be on that list necessarily.
Rey Treviño [00:10:41] So, you know, let’s talk about the second one, because you and your team, you have a whole team. You know what? We kind of talked about that. And I want to unpack prosper and then NRA here in a minute also. Okay. And also lot of.
Amy Robbins [00:10:53] Time to unpack.
Rey Treviño [00:10:54] All I know you had almost a 20 year marriage.
Amy Robbins [00:10:56] Yes.
Rey Treviño [00:10:57] You and in fact let’s go there and let’s talk about prosper okay. Pre meeting you were talking about you’ve known your husband since yours have been best friends. You were seven. Yeah. Please, let’s talk about that and how you got the NRA then up to Athletica.
Amy Robbins [00:11:11] Sure, Yeah. So, well, my husband and I just starting there. We. Yeah, both of our dads were on staff in a church together. We met in Sunday school class. It’s really he loves to tell the story, and I’m, like, embarrassed from just all the story because there was, you know, at that age, the girls usually grow a lot faster. And so I was a lot taller than him at that age. But I thought he was really cute. So, you know, your way of flirting when you’re seven is to pick on somebody. Or at least I thought so, you know? And so I remember, like, he was coloring and I made fun of him and it hurt his feelings. So he kicked me in the shin. I started crying, we were both crying. And then, you know, we ended up being best friends after that. So it all it all worked out. But, yeah, we got married, right? Although right out of college and, it’s it’s been really interesting because, like, neither of us, we always thought we would work together and do something to build a company. I’ve always been very entrepreneurial. I just didn’t know what that looks like. I knew that when when I did, when I had my business, it had to give back. I wanted to help as many people as I could, and I wanted to solve problems. And, you know, when we got to this point with Alexo, who when we cooked up, he was still working his full time job at a great corporate job. And he, we we say we burned all the chips, two years and he jumped on board to run. He’s our CEO, he runs our operations, and he comes up with a ton of our designs, especially with the men’s line. And so it’s just been it’s it’s really interesting. A lot of people come up to me all the time. They’re like, I could never work with my spouse. I’m like, you know what? It just works. Our, our, our strengths kind of balance each other out. And the things that I am not good at, especially on the operations side, he is phenomenal at that and has just been like a huge asset to to helping this company grow.
Rey Treviño [00:12:54] Well, you know, you talk about that we, we I mean, the only gas industry I work with my family and, you know, your husband’s your family. Yeah. I think if you can’t do everything like that, you said in the previous, he’s like, it takes a village. Yeah. And if you have your team in place, it’s like. And these are the people you’re supposed to trust the most.
Amy Robbins [00:13:11] Yeah.
Rey Treviño [00:13:12] And be with. Why would you not.
Amy Robbins [00:13:14] Exactly.
Rey Treviño [00:13:15] Be wrong? There’s some days where I just, you know, where, you know I when to go. Dad, I seriously like. Yeah. No, you know.
Amy Robbins [00:13:21] There’s some different challenges with it. Yes. For sure. But we’ve really learned how to how to work very, very well together. And, and we have our goals are aligned. And I think that is what’s so important for working with the family business is that we have very aligned goals and we want to not just for the business, but for our family and for where we want to go. And so it’s been very helpful. And.
Rey Treviño [00:13:40] And I think that’s, that’s also very important that the business that the goals are aligned. That’s so important because like, hey, we have the same mission. Yeah. Same goal in mind.
Amy Robbins [00:13:49] Yeah. You’re up till 5:00 Am and I’m up working till 5 a.m. and we all all know startup business is, is there’s no sleeping and all of your find your own company, there’s no days off, you know.
Rey Treviño [00:13:58] And there are no. Yeah. And then of course. And you got to be able to shut it off. Yeah. And that to me is also important. Yeah I don’t know when to shut it off. Yeah. So you guys have been doing this and then you were and you mentioned prosper and there was such a small town. Listen, you.
Amy Robbins [00:14:12] You probably was. Yeah. When I, when I first moved. So my dad, I mean, we’ve been in Dallas like the DFW metroplex my entire life. We’re like seventh generation Texans on both sides of my family. And so we love Texas. Been here forever. But my dad wanted land. He wanted to move out. And, you know, he wanted to give us a small town experience, I suppose. And so he moved us out to a small place called prosper, when we were growing up. And it was definitely not the prosper. If anyone’s now looking at them out there like, that’s not a small town. Oh, it was, I think there was when we go out there and I told a funny story, is my dad, you know, wanted to because it was very country. I mean, it was still a very traditional ranching, farming. A lot of people had animals that they still had the Forage Club and AD Club, and there was only one school. That’s not true. They had just opened an elementary school, but it was through 12th grade in my school building. Oh my God, we got out there. And so my dad’s great idea to help us fit in was to buy us lambs and make us show them. And these things called, he says. And I tell people like, that was probably one of the greatest experiences of my life because I failed every time I went. I got last place every time I went to these ag shows, but it got me out of my comfort zone and helped me get used to. You know what? Like you just got to keep moving forward. And we realized actions were not our thing by any means, but it was really great experience for us to really do something that we, you know, we’re not comfortable with. We had no experience in. But we we like drove it and we did it. And, you know, it was great. So I’m thankful to my dad for making us, you know.
Rey Treviño [00:15:49] Thinking you could go into the country because we, we have some oil fields out in a little town called Jacksboro. Yeah. And so they have that forage stuff. So we don’t we bid on. I mean, that’s as far as I’ve gotten into now. Yeah. If you ask a friend of mine, you know, as I told you, I’m from Fort Worth, she thinks I’m from the country in Fort Worth. I’m like, wait a minute. Hell, you know, but that’s a whole other story. But no, the acting. I can’t imagine being dumped into that. Just all my notes about going. I go learn this when you got kids. Like, even though you’re still a kid that, like, they were born in that same town in Laramie.
Amy Robbins [00:16:20] Oh, yeah. They had been, like, most of these kids have been showing it. It was like part of their family is in their DNA. They knew what they were doing. Oh, it was it was just it was such an experience. I mean, even down to like, I didn’t even know the right clothes. I’ve always been like a fashionista. And that’s really where a lot of my background, like not comes from it. But like, I would wear like bellbottoms and high heel like jelly shoes to these shows. And everyone would be like, who is this girl or what is she doing there? You know, it’s so it was quite it’s quite the experience. And I didn’t know if they do that anymore out in Frostburg because it’s definitely changed a lot.
Rey Treviño [00:16:54] Well, I hope you I hope they still see it because according to the page, you know, a lot of you have it’s great experiences for kids. And shoot, I know it’s a former stock show rodeo. I think the grand champion steer just went for like 300 grand.
Amy Robbins [00:17:06] Is a great entrepreneurial experience for your kids on a large, like a good small business or raising chickens and selling. Yeah, I mean, like you can learn a lot through the news program, so.
Rey Treviño [00:17:17] Well, okay, you mentioned a little while ago that you like giving back with your company and helping out others. All right. Second Amendment, what are you doing to provide for us to continue to have the Second Amendment because you’re doing a lot.
Amy Robbins [00:17:29] Yeah. What’s going on? Advocacy is a is a really big part. But what I was doing even before, even before we started the company. But so I on the advocacy side, I work with groups called Gun Owners of America on. They do a lot of the really grassroot lobbying and policy efforts that are helping to just basically be watchdogs. Anything that’s going on with the Second Amendment at a state or a federal level, they’re on it. They’re informing their members on kind of what what the NRA was doing, but they’re they’re doing it in a little bit different way. That’s a really have you focused on the policy side? So I am their Texas, chapter coordinator. So I start to I’m putting events together for women in Texas and really trying to push that forward, because what I think is lacking on the education side of why the Second Amendment is even important, it’s gotten really skewed when the only thing we ever hear about on the media are the horrible things that are done by really bad people with the firearm. The firearm always gets the blame for it at hand. Unfortunately, unless people have a good understanding of why the Second amendment was even put into our Constitution in the first place, it’s very easy for us to go back and be like, well, you know what? Like I’m not exercising that right. I must not need it. I’m not using it. So you don’t really care if you lose it and you don’t care if other people lose that right either. But I tell people, it is so important to remember that our founding fathers did not write the Second Amendment when they came back from a hunting trip. They wrote it when they came back from liberating a nation, and they put it in there because they understood that without the ability to defend and protect your freedom, you don’t really have freedom. And so that is why, like the policy side is so important to me. And then as we dial it in to actually exercising our rights, a big part of what I love to do is to just encourage women to exercise their rights. Because like I said, if you don’t use it, you’ll lose it. And for me, I was somebody that I always thought the Second Amendment was important, but I was not utilizing it on a daily basis by any means. I thought the people that did that were paranoid, to be quite honest. And, you know, I know my mindset has obviously changed because I was reactive to a bad situation. I want more women to be proactive, and that doesn’t mean every woman needs to carry a firearm. For me, being proactive about your self-reliance, your safety and your preparedness means having the tools that you need to feel confident and able to take care of yourself and your family. So for a lot of women, they will never get to a point where they’re comfortable carrying a firearm on their body. Yeah, and that’s okay for us because of our pockets and the way that we have designed our line, it gives them the ability to carry any kind of self-defense tool. So whether that’s mace, whether that’s a Taser or whether that is a small stun gun, or maybe they just want to carry their keys, their phone, their lipstick, and they just don’t want to carry a purse. It’s very functional for all of your essentials. But eventually we want to move people into this mindset of thinking, well, that’s built in pockets to put in self-defense to like, do I need a self-defense tool? Should I be more proactive about my. Safety, my children’s safety. And that’s what I want. I want to start getting women into this mindset of how do you be prepared in all areas of your life? Because as we’ve seen, unfortunately, the cops can’t be everywhere. No. And all the time. And when when seconds matter, the cops are minutes away. And a lot of these places where cops budgets are getting defunded as well, and we’re losing the number of cops here, they are not going to be able to stop every bad thing from happening. Don’t show up after the fact, but they cannot stop everything. So you really are your first line of defense. You are your family’s first line of defense. And you got to think about that in terms of, you know, what’s going to give your family and you the best chance of surviving if somebody does wish or intend to do harm.
Rey Treviño [00:21:16] Yeah. And, you know, you talk about paranoid and and you talk about how times are crazy. I always my answer to that is absolutely. I voted for Donald Trump. All right. Who would have ever thought so? Yes. Times are crazy. I think I’m going to do it for a third time. Yeah. So, but then you talk about being paranoid. You know, I don’t know what’s going on in the world today. Nobody does, because I’m even, like, I feel weird and paranoid judging myself sometimes going, should I buy because I’m not a stock go stocking up like a gambler. I’m not a preference. Yeah. And, but I’m like, okay, so should I, should I maybe go move this stuff over here to keep it closer to me? Yeah. Or should I maybe go buy this extra case of, of ammunition this week? Because we don’t know what’s going on right now. No, I think it’s okay for people not to feel paranoid anymore because so many things are not.
Amy Robbins [00:22:05] Yeah, well, this is what I say. Like what? Being prepared actually reduces the paranoia, and it’s no different. Remember back in the day, we all keep spare tires in our car. A lot of times I would put spare tires in your car. Any works. The tires don’t necessarily need them, but you know when you have a spare, you’re not waking up every day thinking, my tire is going to blow out. You’re thinking, okay, I’m good. If something happens, I have it, but you don’t think you’re going to need it every single day. You’re just you would rather have it and not need it than need it and not have room. And it’s the same way to me with with my firearm. But to that point, the firearm is not the only tool in every single situation. I know. And you know, there’s a misconception, I think, with people that carry firearms, they a lot of times the media wants to portray us as people that can’t wait to use that tool. Yeah. And I’m like, absolutely not. And that is actually one of the biggest things that I try to teach women is like, what are these steps that you can take to get out of a situation and to never be in that situation, be to get out of the situation and see what can you do prior to ever had like that tool is the absolute last line of defense that you have if all else fails, but at least you have it. If you need it, you have it. And but like, let’s learn about all the things that we can do prior, because Lord knows I don’t ever want to have to use that tool, but I have it if I need it.
Rey Treviño [00:23:28] I would though, different than First aid. It’s like. Exactly. And I like what you said. Being prepared removes the paranoia. Yeah. And, that is that is so, so true. And.
Amy Robbins [00:23:38] Yeah. Yeah, it’s it’s it’s not, you know, stocking up on extra water. I mean, just think about situations that don’t have anything to do with, you know, firearms or anything. Just when we had the freeze, how many years ago and we had no electricity for two, two weeks or however long it was in our area, and I’m like, oh my goodness. Everyone was thinking, wait, okay, did I have enough food that we could get through? Like what was in my refrigerator? If that goes bad, do we have stuff that we don’t need refrigerated? Did we stock enough water? I mean, like, there’s just things that you actually, you have no idea what could happen in your life and just being a little extra prepared by that extra, you know, pound of rice or beans or that big jug of water. Yeah. Every time you go to the grocery store just to kind of have some things on hand because you don’t know if we’re going to run into that, you know, or our taxes officials keep telling us we’re never to have another power grid breakdown like that again. But we don’t know. You don’t have any idea? Yeah. I’d rather have it than, you know, not have it.
Rey Treviño [00:24:36] You know, the other thing you mentioned was I like I said, you have steps in place because I know for me, on a personal level, I love to hunt right. And fish. Right. So the only time I’m pointing the gun at something is when I’m pulling the trigger.
Amy Robbins [00:24:48] Exactly.
Rey Treviño [00:24:49] To kill it.
Amy Robbins [00:24:50] Yeah.
Rey Treviño [00:24:50] So I can’t imagine I the only time I could ever see myself pointing the. Yeah, it’s not to say stop it, stop. It’s actually if I pointed the gun at a human being, it is to pull the trigger. So yeah, that’s something that I which I certainly isn’t.
Amy Robbins [00:25:05] It means that you have no other like you’re that’s an imminent threat on your life. And I you know, there’s a big element back when we used to have to get our concealed carry license in Texas. Now we have, you know, constitutional carry laws. I still am a big proponent for people going through the license to carry.
Rey Treviño [00:25:23] Well, yeah, let’s stop it. So because it’s so important.
Amy Robbins [00:25:25] It is really, you know, so when we move to constitutional carry, you now don’t have to have a license to. Carry it concealed on on your body. However, you are still responsible to know all the laws surrounding self-defense and use of lethal force. So you. It would behoove you to take the license to carry course, because that is what the majority of that course focuses on is the law of self-defense. What situations warrant using deadly force? What you are going to be held accountable for by the law, even if you do have your license to carry or you were in the right as somebody who you know is protecting your life, well, you need to know what’s going to happen. You’re still going to get booked, you’re still going to jail. You are still going to have a court date. You know, like you still will have all of these things. And they they talk you through all of that. Not to scare you, but I think to give you a greater sense of urgency, of the sense of responsibility that you have when you’re carrying a toll on your body that you know, can take a life that’s a that’s a huge responsibility. And for the majority of people that have their license or do concealed carry, that weighs on them very, very heavy, and they take that responsibility very serious. And, you know, so that’s why the when we talk about limiting access to firearms or limiting people’s ability to have a tool that protects their lives, everyone thinks about it in terms of how do we get these, how do we get these tools out of the hands of people that have mental illness that shouldn’t be getting the firearms? Those aren’t. Those are the ones you have to worry about. It’s not that people with their concealed carry license that anybody is worried about, and that is over 20 million people. So when we talk about putting more laws on the books to stop people from accessing firearms, you are actually talking about limiting law abiding citizens not doing anything to stop people with mental illness that are going to get their hands on it, regardless of what the law says. They’re already committing a crime. When they go and commit a mass shooting, they’re already ignoring the laws that are on the books. So why do we think adding more laws to the book are going to stop them? Yes, it’s only stopping law abiding citizens.
Rey Treviño [00:27:26] Yes, you’re absolutely right. And it’s so different than like I always used the example of driving. It’s like, okay, it’s a solid line. It’s your choice whether or not you go over it, you know, and and then also, you know, you talked about how the mental illness and when people are using guns. I like how we blame the guns. You know, I one of the best things I ever bumper stickers I ever saw. Excuse me, was the one with the pencil analogy that if guns kill people are I mean, if people kill, what is it? You know? Oh, gosh, I just forgot if Pensado. If guns that people kill. If guns kill people, then do pencils misspell works.
Amy Robbins [00:28:01] That’s a great that’s a great analogy.
Rey Treviño [00:28:03] Yes. It’s like because who’s in charge of the pencil that misspells.
Amy Robbins [00:28:06] Exactly.
Rey Treviño [00:28:06] That? Who’s in charge of the.
Amy Robbins [00:28:07] You know, it’s no different than what a drunk driver gets in a car accident. Kill somebody with their car. People are blaming the car. Yeah, they’re always blaming the person behind the car. And it’s the same thing with with the firearm. It’s not that tool. That tool can actually be used for many good things. Providing for your family with food, for sport, for self-defense. So no one talks about the good that the tool could.
Rey Treviño [00:28:27] But I like you’re calling it a tool because it’s genius. Because like let’s say, okay, I’m going to bring oil tying oil and gas and you’re out of oil and gas today, okay? We can’t serve our food anymore. We can, you know, do long term food preparation. Yes. So far, all that kind of stuff goes away. Guess what? We’re back to hunting and farming for our own stuff. And so I love how you call it a tools. Like it really makes sense. Like, yeah, for me, maybe it’s more of a leisure tool. Like you go dove on, pheasant on, deer on. Yeah. However, I do, you know, harvest that meat as I think is one of the new fancy words I use for hunting instead of I hate the way, you know, it’s a harvesting now. But no, it’s just I like the way you use that. You must. You definitely. I know what you’re talking about.
Amy Robbins [00:29:10] Well, you know, I will say so. I went through the whole NRA certification process to become a basic handgun instructor. And that is one thing that they drill in your head and, like, don’t call it a weapon because it’s not always used as a weapon. A weapon can’t. It’s like and it has negative connotations with it. You as the tool, which is what it is, it can be used in a multitude of ways. And so it’s just like, you know, a hammer. Well, a hammer can be a weapon. Yeah. A hammer could also be a tool that nails, you know, build your house too and does that. So it’s anything can be used as a weapon. If you’re, it can be an assault hammer if you assault somebody with it, you know, it’s no different than that firearm. So yes, it is a tool. And we have to be really careful with the language that we use associated with it because of how many people are really trying to take away that right from law abiding citizens. And so, you know, that’s just one one reason that I like, really want to help educate people on the positive things that could be used, like for a firearm can be used for.
Rey Treviño [00:30:07] Oh, yeah. I mean, you talk about I just think the memories that you like me, I remember growing up and we my dad had the old Army, Navy surplus store, bed mats. Yeah. We would lay him down on our, on our patio and then get our baby guns and we’d lay down. No, and we’d sit there. And then that that didn’t escalated into a single shot gun and and so on. So I love what you’re doing. I want to switch gears real quick. Okay. One of. Talk elections. As people know, I’ve had on several great guests already that are running, for different, whether it’s royal commission or Congress, you know, a lot of great people on the show, you have a group that you’re working with. I started trying to get people off or to vote with no time off. Saw the election.
Amy Robbins [00:30:51] Well, okay, so let me explain to you. So it’s called the Metroplex Civic and Business Association and I help run it with my buddy Louis. He started the organization back in 2021. And it was actually with a focus on getting the business community back engaged into what’s happening locally. So they there was a group of companies that really wanted to see Dallas continue to be a very strong place for businesses to thrive, because we know that when business thrives, that is when everybody has the best chance to succeed. You have a better chance for better wages, you have a better chance to provide for your self and your loved ones. And so what was happening is that people have largely ignored what’s happening at the local level. Yes, forgetting or not even realizing how the decisions that are made at the local level of your city council, your mayor, your school boards, how those are actually affecting our everyday lives and what they are doing to affect how the business community is either going to thrive or it’s going to die. And so what we started seeing around the country, especially after the pandemic, was these once thriving cities around our nation. When the when the regulations and the taxes and and the crime and the homelessness started hitting those cities, you started to see these businesses leave. And when business leaves your city, your city is going to die. And so, you know, we were seeing great things happen in Dallas from an economic standpoint. But, you know, there was a group of companies are like, but we’re starting to see taxes and regulations go up. Crime is going up in Dallas. The homelessness situation is is escalating. And if we don’t want to turn into a metroplex that dies because all of our our businesses are leaving the we need to do something about it. So the whole goal was to get the business community involved by not just activating the leaders and the CEOs of the companies in Dallas, but to have a program in place that would help get the employees educated, get them the information that they need, and then have strategies and programs in place that would get them to the polls. Yeah. And so so my buddy Louis, he started this, in 2021, I joined a luxo up as a member company, and I, I believe it was probably right when they started because I was looking for a way to get my employees more active and engaged in the community. We wanted to do more community service. And then when I heard about this voting piece, I was like, you know, why? Come to think of it, I’m so embarrassed. I don’t think I’ve ever voted in a local election before, and I hadn’t, and neither had any of my employees it and but I would have considered myself a voter. Yeah. So 7% of people vote in local elections. So you’re letting 7% dictate what happens. You know, with Dallas on a $5 billion budget and without having a say in how that money is spent without having a say. So we want employees to have a say. We want their voices to be heard. And I encourage every business. So it is set up like a regional chamber. So it’s a 500 1C6. And just like, you know, the regional chamber is great for doing policy and advocacy work for the business community at the state and local level. And they really do a good job of involving the leaders. They don’t have a program specific for employees. And that’s where the NCBa is different, is that it actually has a program that gets people involved in these local elections. And we’re talking nonpartisan elections. Know. So in Texas, it’s not like this. Never say, but our local elections. So when we say local elections, we’re talking mayor, city council, school board and some other municipal positions. They don’t run on a Republican or Democrat ticket. So if you want a down ballot vote, it stops at the local election. Then you have to actually know who you want to vote for, because some of these races have 5 or 6 people running for a one position. And just to give you an idea, in Dallas County alone, some of the races last time were won by less than 200 votes, and only 1400 people voted in that district. So we’re talking small margins here that just if you participate, your voice will be heard and it is more powerful in the local elections than it even is in the state and federal election.
Rey Treviño [00:34:45] That is so true in me that the way that, oh, I’ll keep politics out of it. But the best way I can. Yes. We talking we both talked about, you know, it takes a village. And what I feel like it is, is we need to protect our village by these voting. Because, like you said, you know, you just said nobody votes anymore on these little local elections. And so I know for us over in the Mid Cities area, it’s like, okay, here’s, you know, we got two people running because this primary season, well us being a business, we’re like, all right, hey, talk to us. Let’s see what’s going on. Because, I know one of the races real dynamic for us. I got Kim PACs of support, and one of them and I been supporting the other one, and I’m like, well, that’s kind of a like, okay, that’s different. They’re usually they’re kind of like, yeah, to make it easier. Yeah. You know the to. Do the influence, Ray. But no, what’s happening in our schools and at the local levels is really then expanding from there because of what I feel like we’re being taught at the school level and at the local level. Then it escalates to the to the region, to the state, to the national level. So I think really, what one side was able to do to get in there and do that? I think we’re really seeing the effects now.
Amy Robbins [00:35:59] Have we’re well, in what the MCB eight really focuses on is transparency. So they are what we are really pushing towards right now is to get our elected officials to be more transparent, transparent and where the money is going to be spent on this bond. There’s a $1.2 billion bond proposal that’s coming up in Dallas County. If you want to say, and how that money is spent, you know, they know really wants to push them to be more transparent about that. When it comes to school boards, we want our elected officials on the school board to be transparent as well. Where is money going that gets allocated for different contracts? And so just keeping everybody accountable and crazy enough, like there’s just not accountability standards and measures right now at our I mean, I’m sure that’s not shocking to anybody, you know, with our government, but, that that’s really what we want to do. We’re going to hold them accountable. And we want to say, look, we have right now there’s about 130 companies that are members of MCB, that represents 10,000 employees across the metroplex. And that’s a big number, but it’s a big number. We just had two city council members come and speak to us, our leadership luncheon, and they were like, look, if you want things done, show up, show up to city council meetings, come and speak. We don’t see a lot of business leaders at our city Council meetings, but we listen. And when when there are groups that show up and they show up in large numbers and large numbers, we’re talking like 20 to 50 people. You know, it’s not really that large, but but it’s loud enough to get the attention of the of the city council members. And they want to get reelected. They want to get back in there and continue to have their jobs. So they listened and they said, look. So we kind of are getting the band back together. We’re bringing the business leaders together. We’re helping to inform them that their voice is heard and can be heard. So we put together two of our programs to help people speak, and at City Council, prep them and let them know, like, this is how you do it. Here’s what’s going to be on their agenda to talk about. And we have really great programs that just help make it very easy for the business owners to get involved and then for their employees to get involved as well.
Rey Treviño [00:37:53] Amy, you have just been a freakin encyclopedias mall today, and we did not get to talk about your NRA, time representing the NRA or your podcast when you least mentioned the name of your podcast real quick.
Amy Robbins [00:38:06] So it’s called Not Your Average Gun Girls, and you can find it on Spotify. We’re on our hiatus right now. We’re about to start up our next season in here, probably in the next couple of months. But you can find it on the Apple, iTunes podcast. Google stitch is everywhere, and, well, everyone can find it. Yeah.
Rey Treviño [00:38:21] And then the how can people and how can you give the Alexo Athletica website.
Amy Robbins [00:38:25] One more time? Yeah, it’s www Alexa athletica.com. That is Alex with an O Alex. Alex with a O.
Rey Treviño [00:38:33] And for individuals that got more questions about the, the, Metro. I love how you using the word metroplex bringing that back.
Amy Robbins [00:38:39] And bringing it back. Yeah.
Rey Treviño [00:38:41] We want to help out with the metroplex or with the Second amendment. You know, how can people get to get in contact with you and your team?
Amy Robbins [00:38:46] Yeah, absolutely. So, I’m we’re if you just email info at Alexoathletica.com, any of these questions, we can. I’ll even be happy to answer the NCBa stuff in there as well, that they will get that to the right area. If you’ve got questions about the product, maybe you’ve got a question on what type of firearm or tool is going to fit into the bag. So maybe have a sizing question. Maybe you have any questions like that. We our team loves to answer those questions. And we’ll get right back to you and and help just kind of steer you in the right direction on, you know, we’ll find out what activities you like to do. What type of products are you really looking for? What firearm do you want to carry? Do you carry? And then we’ll actually help point to resources as well. If we can’t answer something.
Rey Treviño [00:39:26] I love it. I yeah. Well, Amy, again, I cannot thank you enough for coming on today. You really, shared, the crude truth on what’s going on from a local level to the how the Second Amendment is so important to us. And, we need to talk about the fact that you’re basically one of the best CEO, mommy managers, lady, that are out there. So just thank you. Thank you so much. And, I hope to have you on again.
Amy Robbins [00:39:51] I would. Love. To. This has been a lot of fun. Thank you so much for having me.
Rey Treviño [00:39:54] Well, thank you so much. And to all our listeners. And when viewers out there, thank you as always, and we’ll see you again on another episode of The Crude Truth.
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