Larry Vickers

Larry Vickers
BornJune 1963 (age 61)
Adams Mills, Ohio, United States
AllegianceUnited States
Service / branchUnited States Army
RankMaster sergeant
Unit5th Special Forces Group
11th Special Forces Group
A Squadron, Delta Force
Battles / warsOperation Just Cause Operation Desert Storm
AwardsBronze Star Medal with V for Valor

Larry Allen Vickers (born June 1963) is a retired soldier, former firearms instructor, and author. He is the founder of Vickers Tactical, and co-founder of the International Defensive Pistol Association and Firearms Training Association.[1]

Early life

Vickers was born in Adams Mills, Ohio, in June 1963.[2] His father served in the North African and Italian campaign of World War II.[citation needed]


When he was in middle school, Vickers decided that he wanted to join the United States Army Special Forces, and gained an interest in firearms during this period.[3][better source needed] Vickers entered into the Delayed Entry Program and graduated from Tri-Valley High School in 1981.[citation needed]

Career

Vickers participated in Operation Desert Storm, and Operation Acid Gambit, for which he received the Bronze Star Medal. Vickers retired from Delta Force after 20 years of service, mostly due to injuries.[2] Vickers formerly worked for Heckler & Koch, during which time he helped to develop the HK416[4] and HK45.[5]

Larry Vickers is the author of the "Vickers Guide", a series of reference books that launched in 2015, detailing firearms such as the Colt AR-15, M1911, and MP 40.[6]

In 2009, the Vickers Tactical YouTube channel was created. By 2021, it reached upwards of 900,000 subscribers, and 200,000,000 views.[7]

Personal life

Vickers is a fan of the AK-47,[3][8] and has an autograph from Mikhail Kalashnikov.[9] In 2021, Vickers was diagnosed with cancer.[7]

Vickers has an affinity for Rhodesia, and in 2017 posted a photo of a Rhodesian FAL with the caption "It's time to slot floppies. ..." (floppies being a racial slur and slot being Rhodesian slang for shoot). He believes that the fall of Rhodesia was "the greatest tragedy of the post-World War II era."[1]

Guilty plea on federal gun charges

On October 19, 2023, Larry Vickers pleaded guilty to participating in a conspiracy to import and obtain machine guns and other restricted firearms and admitted that he received some of the imported machine guns and other weapons. As detailed in his plea agreement, from June 2018 to March 2021 Vickers, allegedly with cooperation from Sean Reidpath Sullivan and Matthew Jeremy Hall imported machine guns and other restricted firearms under ATF Form 6 by falsely representing them as items for police department demonstration use. At the time, Sullivan was the owner of Trident Rifles in Gambrills, Maryland and an intelligence analyst for the Department of Homeland Security, while Hall was chief of police in Coats, North Carolina.[10] Vickers retained machine guns and other restricted weapons in his personal collection, knowing the filed forms were fraudulent, and transferred other machine guns and restricted weapons to other FFLs and third parties.[citation needed]

Vickers also pleaded guilty to a conspiracy to violate U.S. sanctions against JSC Kalashnikov Concern between July 2014 and March 2021, in the Southern District of Florida. From July 2014 to March 2021 Vickers and 3 co-conspirators were seeking capital investment, technical data, engineering services, firearms, firearm parts, from individuals representing Kalashnikov Concern to "develop a U.S. business that would manufacture Kalashnikov-style firearms to be sold in the U.S. market and fill the gap left by the sanctions against Kalashnikov Concern" named "American Kalashnikov." Vickers had met with Kalashnikov Concern executives in North Carolina and started to receive consulting fees from American Kalashnikov starting from 2014. From July 2015 Vickers and several others provided promotional videography and marketing services valued between $10,000 and $200,000 to Kalashnikov Concern, receiving preferential access to the company's personnel and technical data.[11]

Vickers faces a maximum sentence of five years in federal prison for conspiracy to violate federal law regulating firearms and a maximum of 20 years in federal prison for conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. U.S. District Judge Julie R. Rubin had not scheduled sentencing for Vickers as of February 2024.[10][12][needs update]

References

  1. ^ a b Ismay, John (April 10, 2018). "Rhodesia's Dead — but White Supremacists Have Given It New Life Online". The New York Times. Archived from the original on April 10, 2018. A screen shot from Larry Vickers's Instagram account shows an FAL rifle used by the Rhodesian Army with the caption "It's time to slot floppies. ... Slot means "shoot," and "floppies" is a racial slur.
  2. ^ a b "The Making Of A Legend | Larry Vickers". American Shooting Journal. August 24, 2020. Retrieved July 12, 2021.
  3. ^ a b ""Ak is very easily given a facelift with what is available on the market can be brought up to be a very efficient weapon system": Larry Vickers interview pt. 2". Kalashnikov Media.
  4. ^ Rosenwald, Michael (August 8, 2014). "Ernst Mauch: The man making guns smarter". The Independent. Retrieved July 12, 2021.
  5. ^ Mizokami, Kyle (January 16, 2020). "This 1 Reason Shows Why the HK45 Pistol Is One of the Finest". The National Interest. Retrieved July 12, 2021.
  6. ^ "Book Review: Vickers Guide: World War II Germany, Vol. 1". American Rifleman. December 20, 2017.
  7. ^ a b P, Will (April 8, 2021). "Larry Vickers Announces Porsche Dealer Sponsorship". The Firearm Blog. Retrieved July 12, 2021.
  8. ^ Ziyatdinova, Aygul (November 11, 2019). "Retired US ASF Larry Vickers about the Kalashnikov rifle". RealnoeVremya. Retrieved July 12, 2021.
  9. ^ C, Nicholas (April 29, 2015). "Larry Vicker's Kalashnikov Autograph". The Firearm Blog. Retrieved July 12, 2021.
  10. ^ a b U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Maryland (October 20, 2023). "North Carolina and North Dakota Police Chiefs and Federal Firearms Licensees Indicted for Conspiracy to Illegally Acquire Machineguns and Other Firearms" (Press release). Retrieved October 20, 2023.
  11. ^ Gaines, Danielle E. (October 20, 2023). "Maryland's US attorney charges out-of-state police chiefs, firearms dealers with machine gun conspiracy". WTOP-FM. Retrieved October 23, 2023.
  12. ^ "A gun influencer conspired to illegally import machine guns. He still has a home on YouTube". NBC News. February 18, 2024.