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Requesting Advice - I am the President of a company and I'm sponsoring my employees to go to CHL class on Monday. About 80% accepted the opportunity. My marketing manager would like to let the press know we're doing this (wanting to get name recognition for the company). I'm not sure the press will care but any advice (good or bad) would be appreciated as to whether I should let her publicize that we are doing this. I'm still waiting on background check so I'm pretty new to the pros and cons of this. Thanks in advance!

No media advice (all depends on audience you're trying to reach as guns/CHL is a divisive issue), but one word of caution as related to encouraging/paying for employees to get CHL - which is a great idea - y'all hiring? -- be careful to not even hint that this is a form of extra "security" for the company. In addition to CHL division, DPS controls the Private Security Bureau, and they come down hard on anyone acting as "security" while carrying a gun without proper level of Private Security License and training. This was mentioned multiple times in CHL Instructor school.

lrpettit wrote:Requesting Advice - I am the President of a company and I'm sponsoring my employees to go to CHL class on Monday. About 80% accepted the opportunity. My marketing manager would like to let the press know we're doing this (wanting to get name recognition for the company). I'm not sure the press will care but any advice (good or bad) would be appreciated as to whether I should let her publicize that we are doing this. I'm still waiting on background check so I'm pretty new to the pros and cons of this. Thanks in advance!

What type of business? Open to public?

More details would be nice.

I would give your proposal rave reviews but that is just me.

Anygunanywhere

There are too many unanswered variables there to form a real opinion.

A-R wrote:No media advice (all depends on audience you're trying to reach as guns/CHL is a divisive issue), but one word of caution as related to encouraging/paying for employees to get CHL - which is a great idea - y'all hiring? -- be careful to not even hint that this is a form of extra "security" for the company. In addition to CHL division, DPS controls the Private Security Bureau, and they come down hard on anyone acting as "security" while carrying a gun without proper level of Private Security License and training. This was mentioned multiple times in CHL Instructor school.

Duly noted. (Not why we're doing it). Thanks!

anygunanywhere wrote:

lrpettit wrote:Requesting Advice - I am the President of a company and I'm sponsoring my employees to go to CHL class on Monday. About 80% accepted the opportunity. My marketing manager would like to let the press know we're doing this (wanting to get name recognition for the company). I'm not sure the press will care but any advice (good or bad) would be appreciated as to whether I should let her publicize that we are doing this. I'm still waiting on background check so I'm pretty new to the pros and cons of this. Thanks in advance!

What type of business? Open to public?

More details would be nice.

I would give your proposal rave reviews but that is just me.

Anygunanywhere

We're a software company with clients throughout the USA, Canada, South Pacific, etc. We compete against big names like Microsoft and Oracle so anytime the marketing manager can get our name out she usually jumps at the chance. I keep getting reminded that marketing is all about name recognition. I just believe in 2A and wanted my employees to know their rights better. Some will follow through and get CHL after the class. Some will just appreciate the knowledge and opportunity to shoot (some for the first time).

Not a retail establishment.

lrpettit wrote:

anygunanywhere wrote:

lrpettit wrote:Requesting Advice - I am the President of a company and I'm sponsoring my employees to go to CHL class on Monday. About 80% accepted the opportunity. My marketing manager would like to let the press know we're doing this (wanting to get name recognition for the company). I'm not sure the press will care but any advice (good or bad) would be appreciated as to whether I should let her publicize that we are doing this. I'm still waiting on background check so I'm pretty new to the pros and cons of this. Thanks in advance!

What type of business? Open to public?

More details would be nice.

I would give your proposal rave reviews but that is just me.

Anygunanywhere

We're a software company with clients throughout the USA, Canada, South Pacific, etc. We compete against big names like Microsoft and Oracle so anytime the marketing manager can get our name out she usually jumps at the chance. I keep getting reminded that marketing is all about name recognition. I just believe in 2A and wanted my employees to know their rights better. Some will follow through and get CHL after the class. Some will just appreciate the knowledge and opportunity to shoot (some for the first time).

Not a retail establishment.

Nice.

Excellent way to reinforce your beliefs into your staff.

Makes the workplace safer too.

Anygunanywhere

Just type up a simple press release with all the basic information including contact info and send it to all the TV stations and newspapers in your area. It is likely someone will pick up the story as it is a little different and timely.

I appreciate all of your feedback. I know you don't normally want to disclose that you are a CHL holder to the public. We won't disclose any of the employee's names that are taking the class but I'm sure my name will be in the press release (or disclosed somehow) and I was interested whether y'all thought that would be inadvisable. I really haven't heard any CHL related negatives yet so I guess I'll let her release the fact that we're doing this. Thanks again. Any further comments are very welcome!!!

Think about the companies you do business with. Check if you can online as to what their stance is on 2a and firearms. If they are anti this may cost you some business now and in the future if you publicize it.

Think about the companies you do business with.

Are any of them in New York or Chicago?
:-0

To the OP:

While I admire what you are doing for yourself and your employees I think it is probably best to not publicize it. I'm the prez of a publishing company that publishes several regional manufacturing engineering publications (business to business trade journals, ie - I am a member of the business press/media) so maybe we speak the same language. It's really best to focus on business, your technology, your solutions, how you can help your customers/prospect acheive their goals, etc. and not politics, especially when you are reaching a demographic outside of the borders of The Great State of Texas. You mentioned the international reach of your business, especially due to this I think you are better off not publicizing this. We get many news releases that fall into the category of "puff pieces" (ie - they are full of puffery, self-promotion, "look at our company," etc.) and they just get deleted and will never see the light of day in our print or digital publications. However, maybe your specific industry is different and a company promoting what you're doing would be seen as "edgy" but I think you will have more fallout than anything. It's unfortunate that not everyone has the same views as we do when it comes to firearms, the 2nd Amendment and self-defense - I've learned this first-hand through my travels across the US and internationally.

PUCKER wrote:To the OP:

While I admire what you are doing for yourself and your employees I think it is probably best to not publicize it. I'm the prez of a publishing company that publishes several regional manufacturing engineering publications (business to business trade journals, ie - I am a member of the business press/media) so maybe we speak the same language. It's really best to focus on business, your technology, your solutions, how you can help your customers/prospect acheive their goals, etc. and not politics, especially when you are reaching a demographic outside of the borders of The Great State of Texas. You mentioned the international reach of your business, especially due to this I think you are better off not publicizing this. We get many news releases that fall into the category of "puff pieces" (ie - they are full of puffery, self-promotion, "look at our company," etc.) and they just get deleted and will never see the light of day in our print or digital publications. However, maybe your specific industry is different and a company promoting what you're doing would be seen as "edgy" but I think you will have more fallout than anything. It's unfortunate that not everyone has the same views as we do when it comes to firearms, the 2nd Amendment and self-defense - I've learned this first-hand through my travels across the US and internationally.

This is a great offer on your part. I had a boss several years ago that did the same thing.
However, I agree with Pucker on this.
If you mention that 80% of your employees have accepted your offer then you just "outed" those 80% even though names were not given.
As has been said many times on this forum, concealed means concealed.
I can understand the needs for advertising, and free advertising is always great, however, due to the nature of your business, and the locations of your customers, I dont think taht it would be wise. Some of your foreign or out of state customers may not agree with your views and look to take their business elsewhere. Sad, but it could happen

Put it on your company Facebook page.

I agree with Pucker too, for the reasons given. Needless to say, you deserve a kudos for what you're offering your employees.