Ashley Hlebinsky is the owner of The Gun Code, LLC – Firearms History & Industry Consulting. Ashley is an expert witness, a historian and former curator to the Cody Firearms Museum. Ashley testified at the 2021 Senate Judiciary’s Subcommittee on the Constitution, in a hearing titled: Stop Gun Violence: Ghost Guns.
Ashley is one of the nation’s foremost authorities on firearms history. Recently, she served as both Curator of the Cody Firearms Museum (CFM) and Project Director for the museum’s multimillion dollar renovation that reopened in July 2019. Due to her and her team’s efforts, the museum has received positive reviews from both gun and mainstream media and is seen as the premiere gun museum in the world that fosters dialogue for a range of diverse audiences
Additionally, Hlebinsky is a highly sought-after museum consultant, guest speaker, writer, expert witness in the US and Canada, and a television host and producer.
In 2018, she founded the first academic association in the United States for the study of firearms history. As a historian who remains apolitical, Hlebinsky holds a unique niche in the field of firearms, engaging with many communities, including industry, academic, and media. She actively works to increase the level of scholarship in the United States to help create a better understanding of guns for the public. This work directly impacts legislation as well as university curriculum.
In response to her public education, she was awarded the NSSF/POMA Shooting Sports Communicator of the Year award and recently accepted the position of Curator Emerita and Senior Firearms Scholar at the CFM – an honor typically reserved for the end of one’s career – as well as Adjunct Scholar of Firearms History, Technology and Culture for the Firearms Policy Coalition, so that she can continue to expand her advocacy beyond the walls of the museum.
Ashley also has many TV credits to her name, including in 2018, when she joined a panel of celebrity judges for the Discovery Channel competition series, “Master of Arms”.
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Our guest today is Ashley Hlebinsky. Ashley is one of the nation’s foremost authorities on firearms history. Recently, she served as both Curator of the Cody Firearms Museum (CFM) and Project Director for the museum’s multimillion-dollar renovation that reopened in July 2019. Due to her and her team’s efforts, the museum has received positive reviews from both gun and mainstream media and is seen as the premiere gun museum in the world that fosters dialogue for a range of diverse audiences
Additionally, Hlebinsky is a highly sought-after museum consultant, guest speaker, writer, expert witness in the US and Canada, and a television host and producer.
1) You are a historian who is always leaning into the future and doing something new. You have recently left your previous position at CFM, but you are still very much connected to the museum and have accepted the position of Curator Emerita and Senior Firearms Scholar at the CFM – an honor typically reserved for the end of one’s career. First of all, congratulations! And second…tell us what that position entails?
2) You have also begun important work on defending our Constitutional Protections with the Firearms Policy Coalition. Talk to us about that?
3) The Bill of Rights is a wholly a-political document, but in our current times, any mention of the Second Amendment causes people to run to their Political corners. How does an academic, such as yourself, do the work you do concerning firearms, and still stay out of that mire?
4) As a historian, you are likely watching this particular time in World History with a different lens than the average person. How do you foresee 2020, with the pandemic and demonstrations / riots, being integrated into the work that museums do in capturing history without commenting on history?
5) You also do work as a television host and producer. What projects are brewing in that arena? And has Covid impacted any planned shows?
