How will gun rags deal with the S&W sellout?

D

David Roberson

New member
It will be very interesting to me to see what the various gun rags say about Slick & Wesson's great sellout of the Constitution and the American consumer. Since most magazines have a pretty long lead time (2-3 months) it will probably be a while before we see much editorial comment on the subject, but it should be instructive. S&W is a big advertiser, and since gun magazines exist for the purpose of selling advertising, it will take some real intestinal fortitude for them to call this like it is and risk offending a company that sends them monthly checks. (One possible exception is American Handgunner, which has in the past mustered enough courage to criticize some of the abundant stupidity in the gun industry. And I'd guess Gun Tests won't feel the need to say anything positive on the topic.)

Has anyone seen anything written in the firearms press about this? I don't mean corporate web sites or stuff from RKBA organizations, but columns and editorials from mainstream gun rags that take advertisements and that have short enough lead times to have printed something on the subject. My prediction: Mealthy-mouthed platitudes at best ("S&W did what they thought they had to do, let's wait and see what happens, we can't overreact and damage an American institution like S&W").

I'd say we're in for some disgusting reading pretty soon.
 
Depends. I was reading the April issue of the American Patriot, or some other NRA rag (don't recall the exact name), and they were raging about the S&W Ti revolvers. I started to sneer, and then thought-- "Wait a sec-- this thing was undoubtedly printed well in advance of the March 15th sellout." So I'm not YET pissed at them. We'll have to see if American Rifleman sells out again, like it did to Bill Ruger back when. We already know what Peterson's Publishing's gonna do. Oh, you don't? Let me spell it out for you: It involves sand in their ears, sand in their hair, sand in their eyes, and their tail ends are the highest part of their anatomy sticking up.

I guarentee that the only real mention you MIGHT see of it in G&A and their ilk is in "Cooper's Corner." But that's a big maybe, because they edit the heck out of "C.C." so that it's more of a "niche" than a "corner."

Everyone make a point of writing them and getting your personal views in, but fast. You might get printed by, oh, November!

Regards,

L.P.

[This message has been edited by Long Path (edited April 14, 2000).]
 
I don't think that they'll turn down any advertising from S&W, and I don't really believe that they should. But I am curious to see what form this advertising will take.
Will S&W just continue the same old ad campaign or will they offer some sort of apologetic spin on their betrayal?
Considering the current cast of characters, this could become downright comical!
 
Karanas, I agree that they shouldn't turn down S&W's advertising. Heck, I'm as hard-core on the First Amendment as I am on the Second. But I'd be surprised -- nay, astounded -- to see many columns saying that S&W is a pack of traitors. Which is entirely true. And I expect S&W advertising in the coming months to be quite traditional and in the mold of "We're all in this together." Feh. I love S&W revolvers, but it's time for the company to die.

Long Path, I agree about Petersen Publishing. (Official motto: "All the news that doesn't offend our sponsors.") And it will be interesting to see if S&W eventually ends up paying the NRA a million-dollar bribe like Bill Ruger did.

[This message has been edited by David Roberson (edited April 14, 2000).]
 
One industry mag is still running a content with SW Ed as a candidate for an award as
gun person of the year. The contest started around the Shot Show - so!!

Next - editor of a rag told me that they are not going to beat up on SW as why attack our own - ??

You can expect little editorial action.
It's like the Dems - privately, they raged about Clinton - publically they love him.

It's democracy and capitalism
 
Maybe they will stop putting in all those subscription cards as a means of protest.

Read...rip...read...rip...read...rip
 
Well, hopefully the rags will not deny sw from advertising. The more sw spends on ads coupled with the loss in income from retail sales, the faster they'll go belly up.

- Ron V.
I read Gun Tests.
 
I thought I read somewhere...that Peterson Publishing was for sale.I had never heard if the transaction had actually gone through.Does anybody know?? Also heard that the purchaser was possibly a British concern!!!
 
On the may issue of Guns&Ammo where it used to say just "peterson publications" it now says "emap-peterson publications" The april issue only has "peterson publications". So something happened between the April and May issue of Guns&Ammo.

DaHaMac

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Know Yourself, Know Your Weapon, Know Your Enemy; then Know Victory!
 
After two or three gun buying mistakes made acting on the advice of the gun rags I began to understand that "he who pays the bills gets a good review". Since this time, I no longer rely on gun magazines. TFL has taken the place of the printed press with unbiased, real-time handgun critiques. My thanks go out to all who make this possible. If the magazines continue to accept money from S&W, we will see what they are really made of.

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"When guns are outlawed;I will be an outlaw."
 
An aside to Will Beararms, With the money you are saving you might consider a subscription to Gun Tests. They are not perfect, but they seem honest and congruent to my personal experience with arms I own. With TFL and Gun Tests, your 6 should be fairly well covered.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Woodman:
An aside to Will Beararms, With the money you are saving you might consider a subscription to Gun Tests. They are not perfect, but they seem honest and congruent to my personal experience with arms I own. With TFL and Gun Tests, your 6 should be fairly well covered.[/quote]

I got Gun Tests for two years, but I dropped the subscription. While they sometimes actually stumbled onto the correct conclusion, their testing methods and general gun knowledge seemed lacking for a publication that claimed to be gun experts.
 
1999
The Petersen Companies, Inc. is acquired by U.K.-based Emap plc, one of the largest magazine publishers in Europe. The Combined company is now the largest publishing company in the world with more than 600 titles and more than 6,000 employees worldwide.

From the E-Map Website.

Pip,Pip, Cheerio!
 
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Contender:
1999
The Petersen Companies, Inc. is acquired by U.K.-based Emap plc, one of the largest magazine publishers in Europe. The Combined company is now the largest publishing company in the world with more than 600 titles and more than 6,000 employees worldwide.

How long will it be before they strike a deal with HUD? :)

From the E-Map Website.

Pip,Pip, Cheerio! [/quote]



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"When guns are outlawed;I will be an outlaw."
 
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