Privacy Policy

Effective Date: This policy was last updated on 12/19/2019

Overview

The Truth About Guns takes privacy concerns seriously. This privacy policy outlines what information is collected when you visit our site.

This privacy policy applies to The Truth About Guns (thetruthaboutguns.com) on all platforms (web, mobile web, apps, emails).

The Truth About Guns contains links to other sites and we are not responsible for the privacy practices or content of such other sites. We encourage our users to be aware when they leave our site and to read the privacy statements of each and every Web site that collects Personally Identifiable Information (PII).

The Truth About Guns gathers information about its users mainly to enhance their experience on the site and on email newsletters. This information is used to bring you content that is relevant to your interests. Additionally, The Truth About Guns, along with our advertising partners, gather information about you anonymously to provide you with advertising messages that are catered to your location and interests. You can opt out of information gathering for advertising purposes below.

Transparency and Choice

Our goal is to be clear about what information we collect and how we use it.  No personal information is required to use our site.

Information Collected

Personal Information/ Information You Directly Provide To The Truth About Guns:

When registering, engaging, or signing up for newsletters, you may provide The Truth About Guns with personal information, including but not limited to:

  • Personal contact information (name, zip code, email address, phone numbers)

  • Comments

  • User names (including social media user names)

  • Correspondence with The Truth About Guns staff

  • Billing Information (for paid The Truth About Guns products)

You are not required to provide The Truth About Guns with any personal information in order to use the site. All information that is collected is the sole property of the site, and that information is not distributed outside of the site unless required by law.

Non-Personal Information Automatically Collected:

This type of information is collected anonymously using tracking technology. No Personally Identifiable Information (PII) is collected through this methodology.  This information may include, but is not limited to:

  • Hardware/software information (geographic location, IP address, browser type, device type, operating system, bandwidth, etc.)

  • Analytics information (time spent on site, number of pages viewed, referring web page, browsing information, etc.)

  • Advertising information (type of ads seen, number of times ads were served, pages where the ads were served)

  • Information collected through HTML cookies, web beacons, and similar technologies.

Information Collected Through Third-Party Sources

This type of information is collected anonymously by approved third-party partners (such as online marketing firms, research companies, social media companies, ad targeting firms, and other partners). None of the information collected by these sources is PII. This type of information includes but is not limited to:

  • Demographic information (gender, age, household income, job title, interests, etc.)

  • Advertising information (clicks, interactions, post-impression performance data)

  • Research information (data collected from partners such as Nielsen, Comscore, Quantcast, etc.)

What Is Done With The Collected Information?

Site Content: The Truth About Guns partners with GetResponse to provide you with content that is relevant and personalized to your reading interests. You can read GetResponse’s privacy policy here.

Email Communications: The Truth About Guns may use the information that you submit to send you email communications, such as newsletters, breaking news, information about the site, alerts, and promotional messages from advertising partners.

Site Analysis: The Truth About Guns uses the information collected through third-party sources to learn and analyze how the site is used. We use this information to enhance the site by making improvements based on the data collected.

Advertising: Display Ads are delivered from our adserver, DFP for Small Publishers powered by Google.  At times third-party information is used to deliver targeted ads to you, your location, and your interests. No PII is exchanged with any type of advertising message on The Truth About Guns.

How We Share Information Collected

There are very few specific circumstances when your information is shared outside of the company. These circumstances include but are not limited to:

  • If you comment or use the Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and/or like apps on The Truth About Guns, the information you submit (including your social media user name, etc) is or may be viewable to the public.

  • The Truth About Guns may need to disclose personal information to comply with a judicial proceeding, a court order, or any other legal process.

  • We employ third-party services to distribute email newsletters and these third-parties have access to specific information only for the purposes of fulfilling contracts on our behalf.

  • In the event The Truth About Guns goes through a business transition, such as a merger, acquisition by another company, or sale of a portion of its assets, users’ personal information will, in most instances, be part of the assets transferred.

Social Media Sharing and Comments

The Truth About Guns utilizes common social media sharing and commenting features from Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Google+.  In using these features, these services may set a cookie to properly execute the specified action.  These features may collect your IP address and information about the page and action you are visiting.  These services are not required in order to use the site and are governed by that company’s privacy policy:

Email Policy

The Truth About Guns does not allow any third-party company to use your email address for commercial purposes without your express permission. We will send you newsletter communications, partner sponsorship messages, account alerts, and any other emails you have requested to receive. If you would like to opt out of any specific newsletters or mailings, please email us at [email protected] to change your newsletter settings or use the unsubscribe feature within the newsletter.

Additional details and privacy policy notice with contact information for GetResponse can be found below:

GetResponse Privacy Policy

Cookies

A cookie (otherwise known as an HTTP cookie) is a small piece of code which can be sent from a web site or banner ad and stored on a user’s web browser. The cookie stores data such as preferences, previous activity, and other information. For more information on HTTP cookies and other online advertising definitions please visit IAB’s web site.

To comply with the European Union Directive 2009/136/EC, amending Directive 2002/58/EC on Privacy and Electronic Communications (otherwise known as the e-Privacy or Cookie Directive), we provide notice to consumers visiting our site from the EU about our cookie practices and obtain consent for such practices. By using our services, you agree to the use of cookies as detailed below.

Performance Cookies

These cookies collect information about visitor usage for the purpose of web analytics and high level demographics.  These cookies are only used to improve our site and the general experience.  They do not contain PII and they do not track any behavior on any other website.

Functionality Cookies

These cookies allow our site to remember volunteered information (such as username for commenting) to provide convenience or a more personalized experience.  If used, they will contain PII that you have provided.  These cookies do not track any behavior on any other website.

Advertising Cookies

On this website we use advertising cookies, enabling us to personalize the advertisements for you, and we (and third parties) gain insights into the campaign results. This happens based on a profile we create based on your click and surfing on and outside this Site.

You can object to the tracking by these cookies by following directions in the “Do Not Sell My Personal Information” page.

Social media buttons

As mentioned above under “Social Media Sharing and Comments”, on our website we have included buttons for Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to promote webpages (e.g. “like”, “pin”) or share (e.g. “tweet”) on social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. These buttons work using pieces of code coming from Facebook, Twitter and Instagram themselves. This code places cookies. These social media buttons also can store and process certain information, so a personalized advertisement can be shown to you.

Please read the privacy statement of these social networks (which can change regularly) to read what they do with your (personal) data which they process using these cookies. The data that is retrieved is anonymized as much as possible. Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are located in the United States.

Managing Cookies

Cookie management is specific to your browser.  If you reject cookies, you will be able to use The Truth About Guns, but some of the functionality may be limited.

Common browser cookie management information:

Google Chrome Cookies
Internet Explorer Cookies
Microsoft Edge
Mozilla Firefox Cookies
Safari Cookies

Additional third policy cookie information:

Comscore
Google Analytics
Google DoubleClick for Publishers
Quantcast

Notices

Children Under 13: The Truth About Guns does not knowingly target advertising to, or collect information from children under the age of 13.

Data Retention: Your personal information is retained for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes outlined in this privacy policy.

Security: The Truth About Guns uses all reasonable means to safeguard data against unauthorized use and theft.

Changes To This Policy: The Truth About Guns may at any time change this Privacy Policy to reflect any changes in our practices, service offerings, or market regulations. If the policy is updated, we will update the Effective Date at the top of the policy.

Questions/Suggestions: If you have any questions or suggestions for this Privacy Policy, please contact the editor of The Truth About Guns or email questions to [email protected]. You can also reach us by mail at 801 Congress Ave, Suite 330, Austin, TX, 78701.

Notice for California Residents: Your California Privacy Rights

This additional information pertains to the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (“CCPA”). The CCPA provides additional rights to know, delete and opt out of the use of your personal information. We don’t “sell” your personal information in the traditional sense, however, as it’s written in the CCPA, personal information can apply to anonymized IP and general demographic information that we use within our advertising technology.

“Do Not Track” Signals

Internet Browsers have a configuration setting to send “Do Not Track” signals to Sites you visit. Unfortunately, there is currently no consensus on what “Do Not Track” means in this context. Actions called out above under Manage Cookies and exercising your rights under our Do Not Sell My Personal Information page should cover the spirit of this “Do Not Track” signal.

To learn more about “Do Not Track”, see All About DNT

For More Information

Below are links to the privacy policies of some of our partners and links to advertising opt outs.

DFP for Small Publishers, powered by Google, is the adserving platform on The Truth About Guns.

If you want to opt out of receiving targeted ads from DFP, visit this link. Opting out does not mean you will not get ads from DFP; it means DFP will not collect non-personal information about you or serve ads targeted to your interests.

Network Advertising Initiative (NAI) is part of the industry’s self-regulatory initiative. If you would like to opt out of third-party partners’ non-personal information tracking, visit the NAI opt out section. Opting out does not mean you will not receive advertising on The Truth About Guns. It ensures that your non-personal information will not be automatically tracked by the sites you have opted out of.

Contact Us

If you have questions about privacy please contact us at [email protected].