The Wyatt Family (American Guns)

The Wyatt Family is a family featured in the American reality TV show American Guns. Rich Wyatt runs a gun store called Gunsmoke Guns (owned by Victor Rodriguez) which was the main setting for the American Guns show. He operates the store with his family: Renee his wife, Paige, his step daughter and his step son Kurt along with the many other employees of Gunsmoke.

Family members

The Wyatt Family consists of:

Rich Wyatt

Step father to Kurt and Paige, Rich is the founder and owner of American Guns' featured Gunsmoke Guns stores. He spent 22 years in law enforcement where he rose to the rank of Chief of Police in Alma, Colorado before retiring. His career then led him to the Fire service before he went on to become a firearms instructor building up his own business from the 1980s.^[1] He remains current CEO of Gunsmoke Guns. He also featured on Spike TV's Don't Be A Victim series - as an expert demonstrator of the Practical Tactical section.^[2]

Due to Rich Wyatt's time on a show that promoted the use of guns and his 22 years of experience in law enforcement and his time as chief of his local police, Rich has often been seen as a role model for many Americans who believe that all amendments to the United States Constitution are equally relevant and important and wish to preserve the entirety of the Second Amendment. In an interview, Rich stated that he would never vote for anyone who didn't support the second amendment. Further, he attributed a rise in gun sales to the intentions of Obama to implement further gun restrictions during the United States presidential election, 2012 ^[3]

Rich Wyatt is known for making history when he created the first working double barreled cannon with the aid of his Gunsmoke team. It has a custom ignition system. It wasn't difficult to build compared to the custom diamond M1911 pistol created as a gift for his wife.

Renee Wyatt

Mother to Kurt and Paige, Renee Wyatt, like her husband Rich, has participated in outside work during the show's airing. Due to her role as a mothering figure on the show Renee Wyatt has appeared on multiple magazine articles giving cooking advice and on raising children, especially due to the atypical nature of the family being both on a reality show and as a prominent family within the gun culture. Rich and Renee also have two young daughters of their own. Brooke was born in 2006 and Ginger was born in 2009.

Kurt Grewcock

Kurt trained as a firearms instructor with a view to joining his step father's enterprise. He specializes in engraving custom designs onto guns to sell, qualifying as an engraver aged 19. His first engraving was a custom-built Henry '66 replica. ^[4]

Paige Grewcock

Paige and her brother Kurt have healthy competition between them as they both strive to impress their step dad on their knowledge and love of guns. She has her own gun collection as well as having her own website to sell Paige Wyatt merchandise.^[5]

Family roles in American Guns

A typical episode consisted of displays of guns which often incorporated the entire family. They would shoot and give brief reviews of guns. As well as that the shows often showed the family helping with gun conversions or even creating new guns from scratch on the premises. Often the entire family would participate in the guns' modification or construction though Renee would usually not play a large role. As Kurt is the only custom engraver on the premises he would often be given the task of etching the Gunsmoke’s logo or other designs onto the firearm. Rich would oversee the production and comment and expand on the work of the employees of Gunsmokes. Paige would not take part in the main production of firearms but would be the main person for sales or interacting with third party workers (like cobblers or custom painters). As well as that the show regularly had Rich and his son Kurt fly out on his helicopter to different locations in order to purchase guns from fellow collectors. This would often be the part of the show when Rich’s selling techniques would allow him to make a sale. He did this by challenging the collector to shooting completions or selling rare collectors guns or other memorabilia including bars of silver. They would also touch on Kurt's shooting excellence and Rich's wish for him to take over the family business one day. The show featured the family interacting with the gunsmith employees, collectors and special guests including The Bachelorette's Jesse Csincsak.^[6] This would end with the special guest having an opportunity to fire whatever gun they had made for them. The targets would often be rigged with explosives resulting in huge blasts when the guests fire at the last target.

Federal indictment

In February 2016, Rich Wyatt was arrested and charged with illegal firearms dealings and tax fraud.^[7] A 13-count federal grand jury indictment alleged Wyatt had instructed his store employees to continue to sell firearms after Gunsmoke had its Federal Firearms License revoked in April 2012. Wyatt was also charged with failing to report over $1.1 million in personal income between 2009 and 2012, as well as filing a false tax return, the case is still outstanding so the presumption of innocence currently applies.^[8]

After American Guns and web series

Rich Wyatt has engaged in an array of activities including a family run web series based on gun history and gun culture on his YouTube channel, Gunsmoke Guns TV. As of November 2014, they had over seven and a half thousand subscribers.

External links

• Discovery website
• American guns IMDB
• LinkedIn profile (Rich Wyatt)
• Gunsmoke Guns TV - Youtube Channel

References