Founding Fathers Tactical and Shooting Supplies “15Sep2023”
I want to thank you for taking a few minutes to check out our Blog Page. We hope to use this page to talk about products, product reviews, sales and training.
We started this journey in the fall of 2021. Still in the midst of Covid, it was a risky decision to jump into the arena of firearms and ammunitions sales, especially in the State of Massachusetts.
We started the process by choosing a name and we settled on “Founding Fathers Tactical and Shooting Supplies“. The nexus for this name was from the rich history that the Blackstone Valley played in our Revolution and the fact that volunteers from our little towns marched to Lexington and Concord in 1775 to secure what would later be our Second Amendment Rights under the Constitution.
The Town of Sutton, specifically, played a big part in that history during the Revolution and afterward, when the Asa Waters and the Waters family continued to serve our nation by manufacturing and providing firearms to the Continental Army. It seemed only fitting to settle on a name and location that honored our Founding Fathers.
After settling on a name, we had to come up with a logo. We felt that it was important to come up with a logo that would be a visible representation of our brand and that it represent our Founding Fathers.
Starting with the Crossed Rifles, a common reference to the military, specifically Infantry. We felt that it would only be appropriate to anchor the logo with the Crossed Flintlock Rifles.
Next is the Eagle nestled below the rifles. This image doesn’t necessarily denote the typical Bald Eagle, our national bird, but rather expresses several symbols within the image. First of course is the Eagle itself which of course is a symbol of power and as said, is our national bird. The Eagle is holding the scroll inscribed with “E Pluribus Unum“, which of course means “out of many, one”. Held in it’s claws are olive branches and arrows which symbolize, “the power of peace and war”.
Next is the Patriot Silhouette, which is obviously a likeness of our Patriots that stood up for our Freedoms we enjoy today, including our Right to Bear Arms.
Next is the 13 Stars surrounding “1776”. This symbolizes the 13 original colonies and the year of Independence.
Lastly is the Pine Tree. The pine tree, which is very common in New England, was a symbol used on one of the first flags of our nation and had on it the phrase, “An Appeal to Heaven“. The pine tree itself on that flag was said to represent our independence and freedom from Britain.
Once we had a name and a logo we had to put together a plan. We were able to settle on the location right off of Rt 146 in Sutton, which had great access and close to the historic center of the town.
Once we secured the location and the lease, we met with the Town of Sutton and received approval from the Planning Board by unanimous vote and we began the licensing process with the ATF and the State of Massachusetts. The process, a bit daunting took 11 months total and was finally completed in late November of 2022. During this process we completed the buildout and started purchasing merchandise.
The next step in the process was to put together a team of professionals which now includes Retired Police Officers, Retired Military Personnel and Civilians, who have been involved in the Firearms Industry for years. The majority of the team are highly trained firearms instructors with years of practical and operational experience, specifically having worked for years with our partner company, Asymmetric Training and Assessment Group ATAG LLC.
Other members of the team were employed because of their skills they have obtained over the years in the retail firearm market. We will introduce our team in a future blog entry.
After completing the team and conducting training with a retired local firearms dealer, we had our soft opening in February of this year. By having a soft opening we were able to learn the process of doing the paperwork involved with firearms sales and learning the overall process of running a retail business. Only one member of the team had ever been involved with the actual sales of firearms and we wanted to make sure we had the process down before we had our Grand Opening in April of this year.
Since April we have had the opportunity to meet with hundreds of customers that we hope will remain with us as we improve on the process.
We want to thank all of you who have visited the store and we we thank you for your patience during this learning process. We look forward to continuing this relationship as our company evolves and we look forward to helping you get exactly what you want.
Ron Tetreau
Owner, Founding Fathers Tactical and Shooting Supplies LLC.
