The Truth About Guns
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''The Truth About Guns'' (TTAG) is a
blog A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order s ...
about firearms which launched in February 2010. The site's articles and posts cover a wide range of topics including
gun politics Gun laws and policies, collectively referred to as firearms regulation or gun control, regulate the manufacture, sale, transfer, possession, modification, and use of small arms by civilians. Laws of some countries may afford civilians a right to ...
, firearms products and accessories, current events relating to firearms, firearms business, ethics relating to firearms, firearms culture, firearms technology, and other firearms-related articles. The staff updates the site with about 15 articles per day, with reduced updates on weekends.


History

Robert Farago founded ''The Truth About Guns'' in February 2010 to "explore the ethics, morality, business, politics, culture, technology, practice, strategy, dangers and fun of guns". It claims to be the most popular firearms related blog in the world. In April 2013 the website was approaching nearly a million
dollars Dollar is the name of more than 20 currencies. They include the Australian dollar, Brunei dollar, Canadian dollar, Hong Kong dollar, Jamaican dollar, Liberian dollar, Namibian dollar, New Taiwan dollar, New Zealand dollar, Singapore dollar, U ...
in revenue per year. In 2015 it conducted a recreation of the Paris
Charlie Hebdo shooting On 7 January 2015, at about 11:30 a.m. CET local time, two French Muslim terrorists and brothers, Saïd and Chérif Kouachi, forced their way into the offices of the French satirical weekly newspaper ''Charlie Hebdo'' in Paris. Armed with ...
to see if
defensive gun use Defensive gun use (DGU) is the use or presentation of a firearm for self-defense, defense of others or, in some cases, protecting property. The frequency of incidents involving DGU, and their effectiveness in providing safety and reducing crime ...
could have been effective. The simulations, using paintball guns instead of the real attackers'
AK-47 The AK-47, officially known as the ''Avtomat Kalashnikova'' (; also known as the Kalashnikov or just AK), is a gas-operated assault rifle that is chambered for the 7.62×39mm cartridge. Developed in the Soviet Union by Russian small-arms d ...
s, were repeated several times using different scenarios. Volunteers were used for civilians. The only survivor was the participant who fled immediately without trying to engage the attackers, and the defenders never succeeded in shooting both attackers. One unsuccessful defender said, "I still got killed but I did better than I thought I would." Volunteer participants played the civilians in the simulation. According to the organizers the simulated terrorists were trained firearms instructors. This contrasted with a previous recreation where trained defenders defeated untrained attackers, indicating that training was a factor in the results.


Political activism

The website has been highly vocal in its opposition to gun control measures that have emerged since its founding such as the Assault Weapons Ban of 2013, the Connecticut assault weapons ban of 2013, the New York SAFE Act, and numerous other gun control measures on the local, state, and federal level. They held a campaign on their website called "Stand Strong Connecticut" in which readers of the website sent in pictures of themselves and a sign that said ''Stand Strong Connecticut'' in support of gun owners in Connecticut who were beginning to receive letters from the
Connecticut State Police The Connecticut State Police (CSP) is a division of the Connecticut Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection responsible for traffic regulation and law enforcement across the state of Connecticut, especially in areas not served by ...
stating that they were no longer legally entitled to own some of their firearms which were banned under 2013 Gun Control Legislation.


Features

The site's "Irresponsible Gun Owner of the Day" feature was mentioned by Dan Baum in a ''
Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
'' article on gun safety.


Criticism

Since early 2013, the blog has been at odds with
Moms Demand Action Everytown for Gun Safety is an American nonprofit organization which advocates for gun control and against gun violence. Everytown was created in 2013 when Mayors Against Illegal Guns and Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America joined force ...
, which Farago refers to as "our most formidable adversary" and whose founder Shannon Watts called the blog's members " Gun Bullies" after a poster revealed her home address and the staff refused to remove it. In 2018, ownership was changed and the National Rifle Association (NRA) became a prime target of TTAG. The NRA receives nearly continuous attacks from the management and regular contributors.


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Truth About Guns American blogs 2010 establishments in the United States Organizations established in 2010 Gun rights advocacy groups in the United States