That was just the jumping off point. Kris and his dad had made many friends in the gun industry from their weekends spent at Gun Shows. At 11 years old he was invited to a private Machine Gun Shoot in northern Wisconsin. That is when the firearm addiction fully took over! His favorite gun being the iconic M1A1 Thompson Sub-Machine gun! Kris spent years being fortunate enough to be able to handle some of the most exotic firearms in the world from his encounters at the gun show. Limited by his age, and financial standing of any teenager, he acquired what he could with his father. Eventually Their hobby became a job when his Dad obtained a Federal Firearms License in 2008. Kris, still in High School, worked along side his father 30-35 weekends a year. By this point Kris had established what he wanted to spend his life doing. So after High School he decided to attend Colorado School of Trades for a degree in Gunsmithing where he graduated in 2012.

That is when he moved back to Wisconsin to help care for his ill father and take over the business he and has father had started. Once back he would make his rounds at local gun stores shopping for the next cool gun to fill the hole in his collection. While doing this he saw how poorly he, as a young adult, and many others his age were treated by every gun store in the area. This bothered him. Having cash in hand wanting to buy and receiving beyond poor service from all of the stores in the area to the point where he just stopped going to any of them. That is what ignited the idea that he should use his knowledge and experience to open his own store. In 2014 he began the process of hunting for a suitable location for his new business idea. It was not as easy as he thought. Facing very gun unfriendly Landlords and Zoning Ordnances of locations in the area, it made it tough. Then in the midst of his search, his father had passed away from a long battle with Diabetes and Kidney failure. That didn’t stop him. A few weeks after his death he was driving to Menard’s for a drill bit he needed for a Gunsmithing project he was working on for a customer, and noticed a For Lease sign off of Parklawn Dr.

Kris pulled in immediately and called the number on the sign. The landlord met him the next day and showed him the Unit that was available. That’s were Select Fire Weaponry was born! Kris chose the name as it was his goal to separate himself from any other Gun Store. Select Fire, implying machine guns of course. His focus was on normalizing NFA ownership and in this area, he did! Select Fire for years has had the widest NFA inventory of any area store. From machine guns, silencers, Short Barrel Shotguns, Short Barrel Rifles and AOW’s, Select Fire has been the go to place for years. But one of the things that always made Select Fire unique, isn’t just the stock of NFA items they carried, it’s everything else! Kris, with his background doing guns shows, specialized in the unusual. From surplus rifles, antique revolvers and the latest and greatest modern tactical firearms, it really became a place that had everything. Their used firearm selection definitely helped separate them from the average cookie cutter gun store in the area that was peddling boring old snakes and sparklers!

Now for the other piece of the puzzle, the staff! Kris has spent years hand selecting and hands on training his staff to now have the perfect group of people! There is an expert on all aspects of the gun industry on staff full time, all day every day. One thing Select Fire is known for is their brutal honesty. We don’t carry guns or gear we would not use ourselves. Our staff is not commission based, so we do not make recommendations on the most expensive item either. Everyone who works here, in one way or another loves guns and the industry. We love talking about guns. We love the history of guns. We love learning the design and function of guns. We love selling guns! We love helping customers set up their dream build, outfit professionals with their duty piece or equip a hunter heading out on his next adventure!