SHOT Show Pitch Lures Vet Owned Business to Montana

He was walking through the SHOT Show down in Las Vegas and spotted a Montana booth. What is a state doing at the world's biggest gun and outdoor gear show? He soon found out, and then decided to move his veteran owned business to Montana.

Thanks to our friends at the Big Sky EDA, I got to meet Peter Johnson, a US Air Force veteran who also served as a Federal Air Marshal. Last week, the Big Sky EDA hosted a ribbon cutting ceremony at their Rock 31 entrepreneur hub for Johnson's businesses- Archway Defense and Deep Attic.

According to the EDA, Peter served 5 years as Federal Air Marshal (FAM) International Team Leader conducting counter-terror missions and surveillance around the globe. During his time with the FAMS, Peter achieved “Top Gun” at the Federal Air Marshal Academy in 2010. Prior to FAMS, Peter served 6 years in the USAF Air Base Defense deploying internationally for Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF).

He's got a very interesting background. So how did he end up setting up shop in downtown Billings, Montana? He spotted the Montana Chamber of Commerce booth at the SHOT Show in Vegas, and then go invited up to a reception featuring Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte (R-MT) and Attorney General Austin Knudsen (R-MT).

Peter Johnson: "Greg (Gianforte) was nice enough to spend about 20 minutes uninterrupted talking about his vision for Montana and how to build jobs and a strong economy in a pro business climate. It was a pretty compelling argument. And again, January to October 1, we moved everything."

So what do his businesses specialize in? 

Peter Johnson: "Archway Defense was founded in 2014 when I was leaving the Air Marshals. We travel coast to coast, border to border, to train state, local and federal law enforcement- even locally trained Billings SWAT. We have a different business model and a lot of our training is actually provided at no cost to the city or the taxpayers. We, through SHOT Show and our sponsors, were allowed to train- because of the generosity of our sponsors- train cops for free."

What about Deep Attic? Here's a photo of that tech in action. 

Peter Johnson: "In 2019 I co founded a tech startup called Deep attic, where we use immersive, generative training, which is augmented virtual and mixed reality to use our training methodology on how to build skill set faster with an infinitely scalable business model in the deployment of VR AR technology."

Here's our full chat with Peter Johnson. It's in the 2nd half of the below podcast. We talk about why he felt he had to leave Minnesota and more: