Moving On

By
Dan Zimmerman
-
78

A quick search of TTAG’s library of just under 49,000 published posts shows that my first article here went up back in April of 2011. It was about the first-term hire of a “gun policy” advisor by then-President Barack Obama.

You probably remember him. Obama was the guy who would go on to be crowned as America’s greatest gun salesman. Ah, the good ol’ days. Little did we know back then that the ostensible President who’s now completing Obama’s third term would make The Lightbringer look like a piker by comparison.

A lot of guns, gear, rights restriction efforts, court decisions, and political hackery have come and gone in the almost 13 years since then and it’s been a pleasure and a privilege being here for every bit of it. But like all good things, this too must come to and end. It’s time for this here keyboard banger to say so long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, and goodbye.

I’ll be moving on to start up a new site called Shooting News Weekly with the very talented folks who run the Outdoor Wire Digital Network. OWDN has been a largely business-to-business venture until now. SNW will be their first consumer-oriented publication with a daily blog, weekly email subscription service, and more.

Thanks to all of the great writers, dedicated readers, and passionate commenters (well, most of you) who have made my time here a joy. Here’s to a happy new year for all and to new beginnings.

 

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78 COMMENTS

  1. Thanks, Dan, for the informative, interesting, and sometimes humorous articles. I’ll check you out over at the other site.

    • This is a huge loss for TTAG.

      Depending on who fills Zimmerman’s shoes, determines if I even come here anymore. The TTAG old guard were not 2A compromisers.

      This could be the fall of TTAG, and if it results in that – truly is Sad.

  4. I read, “TTAG’s going in one direction and I’ve chosen to go in another.” to mean, “TTAG is going squishy”.

    I’ve been here since 2013, and until this year, “moderation” was quite rare. 2023 gave us an epidemic. Perhaps now, the reason is becoming clear?

    • Thanks for all your tireless work, Dan! I’ll follow you over to SNW! Have a safe and happy new year! Catch you on the flipside!

    • Let’s put it this way . . . if what I suspect is happening is in fact happening, I’ll no longer be providing any unpaid commentary or analysis for TTAG, as I have for over a decade. (Nor any paid commentary, for that matter.)

      So how about it, Texas Law Shield (current owners of TTAG)? You think this blog is just going to run itself, and provide timely and solid content without a proactive editor?

      Or is this going to be another case of “with friends like this, who needs enemies?”

      • “So how about it, Texas Law Shield (current owners of TTAG)?”

        That doesn’t sound hopeful, even for a long-time subscriber to Texas Law Shield prepaid legal services.

      • “…if what I suspect is happening is in fact happening, I’ll no longer be…”

        I hate being dense, could you offer a clue as to what that is?

        • I’m a bit curious as well. This “farewell” is a bit abrupt, unless Dan alluded to it at some earlier point in time and I missed it.

          I’ll say, however, that I’ll visit Dan’s new site, but if its comments section runs on Disqus or some other registration-required platform, I won’t be participating.

        • Watch and see what kind of new content (if any) appears on TTAG in the next month, and whether any of it is much more than press releases, sponsored posts, or cross posts.

          Or whether whomever they get to run the site has 1% of the industry and other contacts that Dan (and Robert before him) built with a ton of old-fashioned hard work.

          I suspect the folks running TLS these days are just gonna let TTAG wither away and die of neglect. As to *why* they would do that to what has been one of the most popular and high-profile gunblogs, we’ll have to see if TLS can be bothered to say anything. (Pro tip: don’t hold your breath waiting for them to do so.)

        • Online ad revenue has been declining dramatically for some time now, and various ad networks (Google, for one) are kicking out sites that have content they consider problematic.

        • “I suspect the folks running TLS these days are just gonna let TTAG wither away and die of neglect.”

          Uhm, OK.

          I’ll follow Dan over to the greener pastures then…

      • 🤔
        I will pay more attention.

        LKB, I have valued your comments.
        Thnx for providing appropriate & insightful commentary.
        I hope fate holds a good place for interjection of your insight

        • Thanks.

          I know I will continue providing Dan with the rumors and legal developments I catch, and if he wants me to provide legal commentary or analysis on the 2A issues of the day I’ll probably do so.

          I’m confident Dan will be providing a place where POTG news and discussion are important to the site’s owners, and not merely an afterthought (or worse).

        • Anonymous:

          You’re way behind the curve. WOM got acquired a few years ago, and its new woke owner wanted nothing to do with an icky gun blog. Fortunately, Dan was able to get the folks behind Texas Law Shield to acquire TTAG from them.

          TTAG is owned by a TLS subsidiary / affiliate company (2A Truth Holdings, LLC). For a while at least, it looked like the site had owners interested in maintaining the site as Dan had been running it.

          That no longer appears to be the case, which is why I am not particularly sanguine about TTAG’s future. It has a great library of past articles, but new daily content (especially original content) isn’t going to appear by itself.

    • The Liberal gun owners who write for TTAG eventually become comfortable, and they reveal themselves as to what they really are. They finally “take their masks off.”

      They are Liberal gun owners who support gun control.

      TTAG writer rider Elaine B said she was against trained school teachers voluntarily carrying guns in schools. And writer Jennifer Sensiba wrote she was glad that people she didn’t agree with politically, should be denied by the government having guns.

      So yes. TTAG has begun to change for the bad.

      • IMO the vomit ads that pollute articles people are trying to read and respond to have done more danage for repeat customers than opinions ever could. People who do not use an ad blocking browser complained and are still complaining.

  12. make it bookmark worthy.
    have an interesting election year.
    we shall see what this devolves into.
    and i still want my snap caps.

  19. As a way-back reader and commenter, and a slightly less but still-way back writer, Dan, it was a pleasure working with you. I’m impressed at your ability to navigate the slings and arrows of this place and this industry for as long as you have. I will darken the door of your other site when it stands up.

  21. TTAG is the only site I come to or comment on. And it has gone downhill in recent days. I will check out Dan’s new site.

  23. Always enjoyed your stuff. Catch you on the flip, hope the new address works out for ya. My old man was a Journo for a newspaper for shy of 25 years, it’s a rough time to be a journalist.

  25. Dan, I finally know someone that’s keeping a New Year’s Resolution ! Okay, um, so I don’t personally know you, but at least I can still wish you Happy Trails.
    Good Luck in your future endeavors.

  28. Thanks for helping this “new” gun owner become educated about firearms and the industry as well. TTAG has been a great source for information for my college papers. Good luck, Dan. I will be checking out your new location.

    And sadly I suspect as more Liberals write for TTAG, the more this site will go down the hill of censorship.

  30. If the new bunch think they’re getting the blue prints for my UniversEndingPerpetualFussionNuetrinoBlomb they are crayz.
    Bookem DanO
    Cue the Doors.
    Is this the end
    Is this the end my friend

  31. My hope is…if there are comment sections or a forum at Dans new web site that at a minimum any ‘accounts’ by dacian and Miner49er their numerous alter ego accounts (especially the ones they use to post their racism and hate speech and anti-gun lies) can be banned and their posts removed (especially their trolling and blatant lies and life threatening posts by their pushing an anti-gun agenda). Plus that some form of ‘monitoring’ remove or prevent the posts of spammers.

    So its not goodby Dan, its just gonna be seeing you in a different place.

    • “My hope is…if there are comment sections or a forum at Dans new web site that at a minimum any ‘accounts’ by dacian and Miner49er their numerous alter ego accounts (especially the ones they use to post their racism and hate speech and anti-gun lies) can be banned and their posts removed”

      Why? Would you want whichever forum to ban your account because you express your opinions? Just ignore idiots. If someone new is misled by their ramblings, in the face of so much other commenting, well….that’s not on you, or anyone else “here”.

      Your time is too valuable to waste on drivel.

        • “my account? I didn’t say a word about banning my account.”

          My response could have been better written.

          You proposed banning accounts of those with whom you disagree. Keying off that, I inquired as to whether you would want your account banned by TTAG, because others disagree with you?

        • I propose banning accounts of people who do nothing but intentionally: troll, post disingenuous and intellectually dishonest commentary, post false and misleading information, ignore context to cherry pick and take discussions off track, who serve an anti-gun and anti-constitution agenda, post left wing and anti-gun debunked and false and biased information, and post hate speech and racism and spam under other names that are tracked back to their other names they post under.

          In short, I didn’t propose banning someone because I disagree with them – I proposed banning them because of those reasons and as such I basically proposed banning dacian and Miner49er.

    • Advocating CENSORSHIP? Freedom means ALL voices, start down that slippery-slope and you wind up with a place where you get moderated for spelling soshullist correctly… Oh wait that’s what they already do… Sorry but not sorry I have to disagree with you on this one… Right, wrong or absurdly stupid everyone has the right to express themselves no matter how brutally inane, rock stupid, racist, hateful or even an evil prevarication… You know who THEY are and because you enjoy the same rights you can choose to NOT read them… Think about it 3rd world dictators’ resort to that stuff to silence their critics, we’re close but we’re not quite 3rd world yet and there is that pesky little threat of all out revolution before THEY can take us there… Chill Booger, just ignore them…

  33. Thank you Dan and good luck with your new venture. I’ve been a a daily reader of the site these last 3 years and I appreciate all of the knowledge you imparted during that time. I’ll look forward to your new site as well!

  34. Thanks Dan for all your great articles. I’ve been a TTAG reader since it started. All the Best to you! Will catch you at the new site.

  35. Dan Z,

    I have sometimes disagreed with you, and haven’t always been a huge fan of how the blog was maintained (especially the EXECRABLE ‘moderation’ system!!!! – but that may not have been entirely within your control), but I always thought you were thoughtful, informative, and interesting. Best of luck in your new gig (and I’ll come by and check it out), and . . . IF you have a comment section, PLEASE make sure the ‘moderation’ is less subjectively Karen-ish, and MORE rational!

    Good luck, best wishes, and Happy New Year! Hoping for good things for you and your new gig.

  36. Allowing Dan the opportunity to plug his new venture is classy of TTAG; not many allow that. Hoping TTAG can survive the change as Dan (& RF before him) brought credibility.

    • Hoping TTAG can survive the change

      From what I’ve seen just in the past two days THAT is questionable…

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