If It Is To Be, It’s Up To Me:

Prelude

Roy: OK, Tim, come over here, because the closer you are to the microphone, the better the recording is going to be. OK? I’m going to go make some coffee, but I’m listening. Start.

Tim: OK. Just start going?

Roy: Just start telling your story the way you like to tell it.

Tim: Well, I would say that so much of what the USCCA has become, and who I am, is because of my father. And-

Roy: Because of your father?

Tim: My father, yeah. So growing up in the Schmidt household, we had a very traditional, I guess, family setup whereby Dad was authoritarian and Mom was the one who told us that she loved us. Never really heard that from Dad. But his actions certainly showed it. I was pretty much scared of my father until I was nearly 23 years old.

Roy: Why?

Tim: Why?

Roy: Was it mannerisms or?

Tim: Oh, no, he was just a very stern, strong disciplinarian, and he had very high expectations. And, yeah. And I was also, I was a very shy boy who became a very shy engineer. And I can remember, here’s a story that’ll make you laugh. So my brother, Greg, was a year and a half younger than me. And I hit puberty quicker, so he was always like a foot and a half shorter than me.

But I remember one time Mom dropped Greg and me off at the YMCA to get a day pass to play basketball. I was in fourth grade, my brother was in third grade, and I was too scared to walk up and talk to the 17-year-old girl to get my day pass, so my brother had to do it for me. That’s who I was. I didn’t have a lot of confidence. And who knows? Maybe that’s why I was afraid of my dad so much.

Roy: Did your dad introduce you to firearms?