Local business offers tactical defense

Freedom Defense Tactical provides everything a gun enthusiast needs.

If you are looking for a custom-built gun they can make it. If you would like to learn how to use that weapon they can train you. If you need accessories or ammunition they stock it.

Since 2015, Manuel Grafia — you can call him Graf — has been providing Wimberley with all things gun related.

He certainly has the background he needs to be in the gun business with more than eight years in the Army and three years with the Comal County Sheriff’s Department.

Graf basically divides his business into three categories: the shop tucked into a small retail center at 950 FM 2325 in Wimberley, his custom-built guns and personalized training.

Graf was born in Hawaii. While he was serving one of his numerous overseas tours with the Army, he came to Wimberley on leave to visit his wife’s relatives. “It took me about three days to learn to love Wimberley,” he says.

During his two tours in Iraq and two tours in Afghanistan, he got to know guns pretty well. He made improvements and changes to the military weapons.

“It was something I picked up overseas,” Graf recalls. “We couldn’t afford to experience the failures we were getting and I kind of focused on it. All the time I was over there I was building guns.”

Joined sheriff’s department

He left the Army as a staff sergeant and went to work for the Comal County Sheriff’s Department, mostly working in the jail. He also assisted with the SWAT team there and was certified in hostage negotiations. But the fit wasn’t quite right.

“No one needs an infantryman in the civilian world,” he says. “I needed a skill set that would support me in private life. I needed something that would give me revenue and the flexibility to be a single father. Opening this shop seemed like the only option.”

So Graf and his two elementary school-aged children settled in Wimberley and he opened Freedom Defense Tactical. Graf also is heavily involved in the local VFW post where he is currently junior vice commander and third in command.

Since the beginning, his business has been growing steadily.

The store is stocked with hats, ammo belts, t-shirts, hunting supplies, tactical vests and all kinds of accessories, but the bread and butter of Freedom Defense Tactical is gunsmithing and training.

Some of the training and classroom work is conducted in the store and the actual firing is at a gun range off Mount Sharp Road.

The basic course to get a License To Carry (or concealed handgun permit) takes one day, costs $100 and teaches gun laws, safety, and maintenance. There are specialized courses for young people, women and seniors.

Often, Graf says, a widow will come in with her late husband’s gun and want to learn how to use it. “We show her how to properly stand and hold the gun. There’s a second portion of the course where we go to the range and she can get used to the dynamics of the gun,” he says.

Graf also supervises reactive shooting training on the gun range where surprise targets pop up and move. Some of the targets are friendly and some are hostile, calling for the shooter to make level-headed, quick decisions. “The course gets their heart rate up and the adrenaline flowing,” he says. “It’s a fun course but a very humbling course.”

Church security

Since the 2017 mass shooting at the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs where 26 people were killed, church security has been a growing concern. “Places like churches and schools are soft targets,” he explains.

Two years ago Freedom Defense Tactical started offering training for church members. Prior to Sutherland Springs, churches had to have a licensed guard on the premises if they wanted armed security. After the massacre, the law was changed so churches could field their own independent armed security teams.

Graf trains church teams in Wimberley, Blanco and San Marcos. The volunteers supply their own weapons. He prepares them mentally and teaches tactics. “We need to empower people to protect themselves and those around them,” says Graf.

As a gunsmith, Graf builds custom handguns for competition shooting and can custom build any rifle on an AR platform — including a stylish jet-black rifle with red accents. He notes AR or ArmaLite rifles are now called modern sporting rifles and a custom model typically costs around $1,300. Freedom Defense Tactical also offers popular off-theshelf guns at competitive prices.

“Pulling your firearm should be your absolute last resort,” Graf says. “But if you have to do it, I want you to do it effectively and efficiently.”

What does “AR” mean?
The “AR” in “AR-15” rifle stands for ArmaLite rifle, after the company that developed it. “AR” does not stand for assault rifle or automatic rifle. An assault rifle is fully automatic. Automatic firearms have been severely restricted since the 1930s. AR-15-style rifles can look like military rifles, such as the M-16, but they function like other semiautomatic civilian sporting firearms, as they fire only one round with each pull of the trigger.
Source: The Firearms Industry Trade Association
Gun facts
— There are 270 million civilian firearms in the U.S. — The nation with the highest rate of gun ownership per 100 residents is the U.S. at 88.8; Yemen is second at 54.8. — Handguns comprised 52 percent of all new guns sold to civilians and law enforcement in 2014, as compared to 35 percent in 2000. — A survey of male felons in 11 state prisons found that 40 percent decided not to commit a crime because they “knew or believed that the victim was carrying a gun.” Sources: Justfacts.com, American Gun Facts.