Speaker
Ryan Busse
Ryan Busse is a former firearms executive who helped build one of the world’s most iconic gun companies and was nominated multiple times by industry colleagues for the prestigious Shooting Industry Person of the Year Award. As Mr. Busse’s career progressed, he recognized cultural touchstones of his youth were being twisted into troubling NRA extremism that he believed was radicalizing an entire nation. He spent nearly two decades finding ways to fight back from the inside, eventually leaving his career in 2020. In October 2021, he published his memoir, becoming the first insider to tell the story of the firearms industry. Gunfight has received voluminous national praise as a deeply personal and critically important book. Since the book launch, Mr. Busse has appeared on dozens of national podcasts, radio programs and TV shows, including features by CNN’s Fareed Zakaria, National Public Radio and The Daily Show’s Trevor Noah. He has briefed the U.S. Senate, testified twice before Congress and has written multiple articles for The Atlantic, The Guardian, and The Bulwark. Mr. Busse is also an environmental advocate who has served in many leadership and policy advisory roles for conservation organizations, including the U.S. Department of Interior, the Congressional Sportsman’s Caucus, and President Joe Biden’s presidential campaign. He remains a proud outdoorsman, gun owner, father and resident of Montana.