Who Are You and Why Are You Posting This?I worked for the USCCA for several years and quit recently to take on another job with more, but overall had a good experience at Delta Defense (USCCA's parent corporation). I did not sign any non-disclosure agreements. I am posting here to hopefully clear up misconceptions that I've seen posted on here. I'm not here to bash or shill, just really share what I learned in the organization.Who Runs The USCCA?USCCA's parent, Delta Defense, is a family business, or close to it. Tim Schmidt is the CEO. His sister is the COO. His best friend from childhood is the CFO. His other friends and family, including in-laws, occupy other high positions of leadership. His ex-wife Tonnie owns a portion of the company but she doesn't do much around the office - mainly plays golf and goes to fundraisers for her "community relations" role. Their divorce was not eventful as they had a prenup.It's a Sales and Marketing Machine:If you haven't seen it already from their YouTube ads with Colion Noir and the emails from their mailing list, USCCA is a huge marketing and sales machine. A lot of money and resources are spent each year on these areas alone. Professional sales trainers from around the nation are brought in to teach people how to sell, and there are even experienced salespeople on staff whose sole jobs are to be coaches. Everyone who can sell a membership is incentivized and are salary and commission-based. Some of our top salespeople make close to $200,000 a year on commission alone plus rewards like free trips and base pay raises. And if you call to cancel, you'll get a no questions asked refund and such, but then you'll be told "I'll cancel you right away, I'm just worried what might happen if you need to defend yourself tonight. Do you have a plan for the legal fallout?". This of course is any company that knows how to sell products. And USCCA offers really generous commissions!Paying Back USCCA If You Take a Plea Deal or Found Guilty:Yes, it's in the contract. The video from Attorneys for Freedom came up in several meetings I was a part of. A video response was recorded but it's private and only sent via e-mail to those who call and inquire further.In terms of if we would ever use it, the answer we received was only in a very rare circumstance. It's more of a legal CYA for the USCCA than something they whip out when they can. The lawyers are looking for how to remove this from the contract though while still being able to deny claims for cases where it's clear it wasn't self defense. Besides the Giles case, the USCCA has also had to deny a few claims from people who were clearly irresponsible with firearms, like shooting people in broad daylight with no threat presented (Get off my lawn! *bang*)USCCA Defending a Murder One Case:A lot of the posts I see here say that USCCA has never successfully defended a Murder One case. This is false. Tim Schmidt told us in a meeting that we did. Here's why you don't see it in advertising and an inside look into that CRT team in the ads:USCCA has a huge focus on confidentiality, they let the attorneys handle cases and only collect the info they need to process claims. For perspective, I used to sit in the USCCA headquarters in Wisconsin, which if you have seen pics is an open layout of just desks and conference rooms. The Critical Response Team and Legal teams, the only people who handle the ins-and-outs of claims, do not. They sit in full-height cubicles and the coordinators have their own offices with locked doors and non-networked printers. There are also legal staff who sit in other spaces USCCA leases, and not many know where they are located. Tim Schmidt does not even have this setup, nor even his own office at HQ, just a desk like everyone else. He also works from home a lot too, which most employees can do.During orientation, a member of the CRT came in and explained what they did. I asked what the craziest case they ever handled has been, and I was quickly told that was all confidential even to other USCCA staff. The decision to tell us about the Murder One case and other cases I mentioned here was just to put us at ease that we weren't trying to screw customers over in the backend of things.Is USCCA a Political Organization?It's becoming one. When I first started a few years ago, there was a huge focus on being super-inclusive of everyone. However in recent times, there's been a focus on USCCA becoming more politically involved with its Super PAC, https://ift.tt/Y6hMSo1, supporting politicians who have pro-gun policies (Republicans). In addition, there has been more courting of Republican politicians and people like Fox News staff by having them tour the office, sit in on a weekly all-staff meeting, and enjoy lunch with leadership. Tim Schmidt has said these efforts are all for Delta Defense to become a billion-dollar organization and "you don't get that way without having friends in Washington."How was working for USCCA?It was overall a good experience. Decent benefits were included, such as great insurance, a free USCCA Elite membership, free CCW and self-defense training, wellness and self-defense supplies reimbursement, and monthly socials. They also are really good to remote staff, last year's Christmas party they paid for all remote employees and their companions to fly into West Bend, including transportation and hotels, and they also pay for a fitness membership since you can't access the on-site gym. The company runs a bonus-for-performance system and in 2021 we received a 10% of pay lump sum bonus for 2020's performance. However, their base pay is low because they calculate salaries off of the West Bend, WI, area which is a smaller-sized city with a low cost of living. via /r/CCW https://ift.tt/apkg3zv
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