Interview with The Manspot

Vaughn Neville [AKA Manspot] stepped away from his online hustle and bustle to do an interview with us. Read on to hear about his life.

What was your intro to firearms?

I’ve always kinda just been around guns. I was in the Boy Scouts and they’d have you sell these event tickets for like 20% off the original price or whatever. The motivation behind it: “If you sell this many, you get a knife. If you sell this many you get a sleeping bag. And if you sell the most, you get a gun.”

The top prize was a .22LR bolt action rifle and I had my mind set on getting that thing. Sure enough, I worked my ass off and I got myself a gun at 8 years old. I actually still have it, it’s a  Dailey MFG .22 bolt action.

What are your favorite firearms?

Depends on what my newest gun is. Currently I’m pretty into the Christensen Arms 6.5 Creedmoor Modern Precision Rifle.

What are your hobbies?

Shooting, obviously. Off road driving, camping, rallying, and hanging out with the boys. There’s just nothing like drinking beer in the mountains, you know?

I also love meeting new people anywhere I go. I sold alarm systems door-to-door for 11 years before I was The Manspot online marketer. Back then, I’d move every 6 months. That job moved me all across the southeast: Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Texas, DC, Virginia… Being in the deep south gave me a huge appreciation for America and our history.

You know, a large part of my second amendment support originated in that area. I got to see all the sites of civil war battles and whatnot. I learned a LOT about African Americans and their stance during the civil war. I was able to get a bigger, wider range of history taught at the specific locations. The problem is, once you get outta there, each teacher is kind of on his or her own schedule, you know? They have their own discretion of what you can learn about American war and history; I got to see it straight from the source.

Are you still a traveler? What’s your favorite place you’ve traveled?

Dude, I still love traveling. I’m actually going to Ireland this week. That’s the only place in Europe I’ve been so far, but this time we’re going to try to hit as much of Europe as we can: Scotland, London, and Ireland, at least.

Then, of course, I’ve been across North America, including Canada and Mexico. I actually lived up in Alaska for a while and my favorite place up there was the Naknek River up in Bristol Bay — close to King Salmon, Alaska.

Actually traveling gave me a huge appreciation for gun ownership being a responsibility to know the local laws. Some states have reciprocity for concealed carry permits and I tried to always keep up on them. So when I was selling alarm systems, I got in a car and went to a trailer park in Maryland. A cop pulled me over thinking I was a different sales guy, someone from Vivint or something.

He asked to see my ID, so I gave it to him. “What’s that?” he asked, pointing at my concealed permit. I told him it was just another state ID, but he requested to see it. Then he asked if I was carrying, and I said yes.

Dude arrested me and put me in the back of his cop car. He starts calling all his buddies to try to figure out the situation. And in the back of my head I’m like MA, MA, we’re good. MA has reciprocity. But I didn’t realize MA was Massachusetts. MD is Maryland.

So we sat there in that cop car for 2 hours while he tried to figure it out. I ended up spending the night in county jail. They confiscated my gun. It was my first carry gun, a Glock 19.

I got a lawyer involved who suggested a plea deal. Basically I plead guilty for a misdemeanor trespassing, and they got to keep the gun. $4,000 later it was taken care of. So yeah, learn your laws, people.

The NRA has a great resource to check reciprocity in your area 

Any other crazy stories we should know about?!

Well yeah I was shot at while carrying concealed. You know, the whole “how fast can you draw and gun somebody down” fad… it’s not really real. It’s popular on Instagram and social media, but it doesn’t account for real life shit.

So yeah I felt a shot go over my head. I got up and turned around and the gun wasn’t pointed at me. That’s where you need to think of your gun rules: know your target and what is beyond. We were in a neighborhood. There was a huge window behind him and I couldn’t see through it. I’m like “are there kids in there? Grandkids? What if I miss this guy?” I knew if I shot him, I’d empty the magazine and I was too worried about what was beyond my target.

So I didn’t return fire… I turned around and the gun wasn’t pointed at me. I hid behind a tree and called 911. Neighbors started to hear the commotion so there were a lot of witnesses. The cops were able to get him down and arrest him. He was charged with attempted manslaughter and he was high on Oxycontin and a bunch of other shit. So he got in big trouble

Do you still carry? If so, what?

Yes. I’ve needed my concealed carry a few times in my life. I always carry. My current carry is is a 1911 Kimber .45ACP.

You’ve pulled your concealed more than once?

Yes, twice. That’s a story for another time.

Alright, alright. Your back tat is pretty famous. Who’s the artist?

His name is Manny Briseno. He does this crazy detailed black and white work, it’s just incredible. He’s a fellow 2A supporter, based out of Los Angeles.

The Malinois is new! How do you like him?

I love him. His name is Pepper and he’s 5 months old. I did a lot of research before knowing what dog I was going to get and to make sure I was going to be very well-trained and he would accommodate my lifestyle, not the opposite. You find a lot of people getting hypertension dogs and they have to kennel them for 8 hours a day while they’re at work. You just can’t do that. With this breed they have to be engaged all day, every day. Which works for me, but not for most people.

Any last 2A words?

You know, I heard something great the other day. Why did Rosa Parks sit in the front of the bus? Did she absolutely have to? No. Did she have a reason to? No. It’s her right. Nobody should question her right. Guns are the same. It’s nobody’s business to question why you want a gun. It’s your right.