To understand what a person thinks, listen to what they say. To make sense of what they believe, watch what they do. Throw this maxim at America, and what you will see is a crisis of identity. The mouth speaks one way, but the body moves another.

The aftermath behind the scenes of the Parkland tragedy in 2018 and the financial choices of millions of Americans in the Spring of 2020 tell two very different stories. Throughout 2018, many financial institutions chose to jettison any connection they had with firearms and surrounding communities. In 2020, from February through May, Americans made the choice to purchase over 12.5 million firearms, many of us first time buyers. Even when large businesses cut any connections with firearms ownership and education, in contrast, the people still recognized their right and responsibility to their first line of defense. As more and more Americans are spending their money on firearms and related content, it is grocery stores, banks, and the newsstands that are separating themselves by no longer distributing publications that feature personal ownership of guns.

At RECOIL, one of our core objectives is to be continually educating ourselves and sharing what we learn with you, our readers. As the environment changes, we must adapt, and once again become pioneers into the future. As a publication, when the market and means of reaching you change, we must pivot, adapting our methods, while the mission remains the same.

Looking at the Data

In 2012, the private equity firm Cerberus, announced that it was no longer interested in holding investments in Freedom Group: a conglomerate of companies including Remington, Bushmaster, DPMS, and AAC. Amidst a quiet sell off, purchases of firearms spiked from the sense of urgency during the political aftermath of the Sandy Hook murders.

In 2018 Field and Stream, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Walmart, and L.L. Bean chose to change what they offer to their customers by no longer selling various common firearms or ammunition. Whether it was to make a social statement, or to distance themselves from highly volatile political debates, regardless of what impact it had on these companies’ revenue, citizens were forced to shift where they purchased firearms, ammunition, and eventually, RECOIL magazine.

Now, in 2020, the conglomerate under Kroger has chosen to pull firearms content off their shelves. As a result, roughly 57,000 copies of RECOIL will no longer be delivered to 8,841 newsstands near you.

Each of these decisions come despite the chart showing that the trend in firearms ownership is going up, not down. The betting men are either putting their money on the wrong choice, or they believe they know something we do not. The NICS chart shows two very important details: firearms ownership is trending upwards, and it’s not just a spike. Ask any gun store owner, they’re seeing many new faces, many first-time buyers motivated by recent events.

The FBI firearm checks chart can be found here.

So that’s good news for us, right? Yes and no. As magazine distributors back out of firearms content, more and more people are still looking for trusted information: from reviews, to DIY, whether about shooting competitions, self defense, or hunting. There are only two methods for our premium print content to reach you. Either from the magazine shelf, or through a subscription. While a subscription does cost less than buying off the shelf, it was the magazine rack that introduced me to RECOIL years ago.

We Need Your Help

We have a chance, as Americans, to lead by example. When our circumstances change, we pivot and move ahead. Want to be a part of our next move? There are two ways you can help.

Recent events show that, politics aside, the Second Amendment is alive and well. The numbers show that more and more guns are being purchased. We all know that many of those are first time gun buyers, we've all been there before. Lead the way in your community at your local gun store, let them know we'd like to help their business by putting our magazine on their shelves.

Subscribing to any RECOIL, OFFGRID, CONCEALMENT, or GUN DIGEST publication not only gets our magazine delivered straight to your door, it gets you access to exclusive giveaways.

Support us and the 2nd Amendment and get 25% off a 1-year subscription to any of our firearms titles

Use any of the links below to subscribe to RECOIL, OFFGRID, CONCEALMENT, or Gun Digest and you'll get 25% off from us to say thanks for your support. This works on all our titles.

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