Afghanistan (courtesy wired.com)

A month or so after The Truth About Guns was born, fellow blogger Brad Kozak sent me a breathless email. We’d finally received a comment! What’s more, it was complimentary. They like us! The really like us! Needless to say the comment in question was spam. Never mind. We pressed on. After thousands of posts from an ever-expanding roster of contributors TTAG eventually attracted its very own Armed Intelligentsia. You. By now, our commentariat is an attraction in its own right—as well it should be. And for that we’re eternally grateful. At the same time, we realize that the blogging format’s inherent limitations have prevented our AI from reaching its full creative and, let’s face it, commercial potential. And so Nick’s fashioned the Free Fire Zone forum [see: new tab above]. As you’d expect . . .

The FFZ’s a safe place for TTAG readers to initiate their very own firearms-related discussions. To tap into the collective consciousness of talented, wise and witty pro-gun pals. To let rip on caliber, self-defense techniques, Second Amendment issues, etc. To post video links. To find a life partner who loves the Benelli M4 as much as you do. Whatever.

TTAG’s editors (myself included) will be cruising the Free Fire Zone for new material. If a topic’s burning up the FFZ we’ll cross-post it on the main site. If a blog post stimulates a heated discussion that swings off-topic or needs to be “taken outside” we’ll channel our Armed Intelligentsia into the Zone.

We’ll be policing Free Fire Zone for flaming, and responding to participants who rat out offenders. But the Free Fire Zone is your baby. Make of it what you will—with one caveat. Please use the FFZ with an eye to encouraging newbies. The more we educate each other as a firearms community, the more inclusive we are, the safer our natural, civil and Constitutionally protected right to keep and bear arms.

Now have at it! And thanks for reading.

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52 COMMENTS

  1. Sounds good. hmmm. just went over there and I guess you have to register first? My email addy wasn’t recognized.

    • Definite +1 on this idea. I want a weekly column from that guy; I’ve learned so much from reading his posts.

    • Why not create a “gunsmithing” forum, and I’ll comment there as I can?

      I’m certainly not the only gunsmith who reads TTAG. I might be the gunsmith on TTAG who can type the fastest, but that’s not a real qualification for gunsmithing.

      Also, no ‘smith can know everything about every gun. If TTAG wanted to cover the gamut of guns with gunsmithing expertise, we’d need to assemble at least a dozen ‘smiths with overlapping specialties, and for that reason, I think a “Gunsmithing” forum is a far better idea than a “DG” forum.

      I certainly shoot and use newer guns, but if someone comes along and asks something about the very latest tacti-kool hotness, odds are that I’ll have very little in the way of useful specifics to add – other than a snarky comment pondering “How much is this costing the taxpayers?!” if it’s for a federal contract.

      If I were to write a semi-regular column, y’all would be subjected to my taste in guns, which would include classics from the 19th century through today, but be warned that when I say I am a fan of classics, these are guns that have absolutely no tacti-kool fashion to them at all, and some of them will have tidy price tags attached. Some people seem to be annoyed when I mention nice guns with high price tags, and the readership of TTAG shows a decided favor for the newer tacti-kool hotness, so I’m unsure how much interest there is in classics.

      • Your comments on bolt actions have swayed my wish list from a Remington 700 to a Winchester Model 70.

        • +1. Keeping and using my Win70-270 for that reason too. Once known as “the rifleman’s rifle”.

      • As happy as I am that Nick has his fun and writes about it too, I am way more interested in firearms that have never even heard of the AR.

        One AR looks like another to me. i get that they’re different, but they’re also not. On the other hand, I could read about the slight style and function variations from year to year on a Mosin or a damn flintlock all day.

  6. Question….

    Just tried registering….

    using the same user name as here….

    “The username contains forbidden characters.”

    HUH??

    • Replying to my own post to add…

      The “FFZ” tab on TTAG will not drive nearly as much traffic to the forums as simply putting up a tab labeled “Forum”. FFZ doesn’t mean anything, but there must be a million websites on the Internet with a Forum tab.

  9. Registration? Registration! Are you working for the NSA now??? They got to you, didn’t they?

  15. It’s our baby; just no flaming, you’ll be policing it, and you’ll be responding to rats/snitches/dime droppers? So it’s still yours; no freedom of speech. Sounds more like an NSA run operation. No thanks.

    • “The reason why fighting words are categorically excluded from the protection of the First Amendment is not that their content communicates any particular idea, but that their content embodies a particularly intolerable (and socially unnecessary) mode of expressing whatever idea the speaker wishes to convey.”

      -SCOTUS Judge Scalia

      I think you are exaggerating a little bit. Some degree of regulation is required for an ONLINE FORUM. If you can compare monitoring an online forum to the infringement of your constitutional rights, something is wrong with you.

      • While I always enjoy hearing a quote from the SCOTUS; I don’t believe my comment contained any fighting words.
        I have seen some my comments and plenty belonging to others deleted because they were deemed to be flaming. There was no vulgarity, fighting words, or hate speech. Just a disagreement or different point of view that suddenly disappeared under the very general and ambiguous anti-flaming policy on this site. While I realize the owner of the site can do as he pleases; I find it slightly hypocritical that the push for freedom under the Second Amendment seems to step on freedom under the First Amendment. Where is the transparency that is demanded of the Federal Government? It’s one thing to encourage commentary, but another thing when all the criticism seems to get stamped out.

  17. In keeping with your military theme; it’s not a Free Fire Zone if you have restrictive ROE’s in place.

    • Oh please, it’s an Internet forum. I’ve seen more than a few places turn into cesspools when there weren’t any mods.

  19. Slanderous? Aren’t law-abiding gun owners the ones being constantly slandered by our liberal politicians? Maybe the NRA ought to get their lawyers on that.

  22. Just made my first post! Some poor kid asked for suggestions about a first AR and the replies are coming out of his ears…

  23. Very cool Guys. I also registered.
    I like the layout. Can’t wait to see what type of discussions get started.

    Thanks for this. I think it’s going to be a worthwhile place to ‘hang out’.

    • “Somewhere, someone on the Internet is wrong. I will find that person, and I will explain to them the many ways that they are wrong.”

      (repeat in infinite loop)

  25. By a weird coincidence (and co-location) I know Brad (there couldn’t be more than one!). What did he spam you with?

    Charlie

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