My articles in SWAT Magazine

[Ed L]

Wow, I just renewed my SWAT subscription and had no idea they were not going to be in print anymore, I must have missed the "memo".

Check your PM's. I had no advanced notice of it either. I just wrote articles for them from time to time. I was not on the staff. As Glenn noted, it was in the published in the last issue's Briefing Room section of the magazine, which is the name for the editorial section.

It was an editorial in the last issue. I haven't looked at Recoil. I bought a Personal Defense issue as it had something I was particularly interested in. However, the article comparing the Judge and Governor as wonder guns - oh, well. Tom Givens had the definitive put down of those types of guns in SWAT.

SWAT was relied on to give honest reviews. Tom's explanation of what is wrong with the Judge type guns is a perfect example. I remember the late Louis Louis Awerbuck wrote a review of the Benelli M4 where he described it as "designed by chimpanzees for use by gorillas."

[revchuck38]

Thanks, Glenn. Your post raises some important issues.

Sadly, in this day and age the financials of publishing a magazine has become more difficult. Some of it is because of a decline in readership do to the amount of to the amount of time that people who might have previously bought it now spend online. Smartphones and social media has made this even worse. Also publishing and distribution costs have gone up.

I actually think a printed publication brings with it more credibility than an online publication because of tradition. I always looked forward to getting SWAT Magazine in the mail and reading it and not being tied to a computer. There is an intangible to getting something in the mail that you are looking forward to. I prefer a hard copy of anything that has substantial pictures or that I am going to page through and refer back to. I have a kindle paperwhite reader which I use for all fiction and most non-fiction because it is convenient, less expensive, and because I have run out of space for books. In spite of this I still buy hard copies of certain things in as hard copies for the reasons I previously mentioned.

My primary self-identity is as a road cyclist, and that sport's main magazine (VeloNews) is trying to thread that same needle. There's minimal crossover between their website and magazine. The website is dedicated mainly to race reports, quick product evaluations and short opinion pieces. The magazine is focused on longer, more in-depth articles.

Perhaps due to my geezer status, I can't imagine being restricted to a screen for my reading of stuff other than forums and news articles. Longer stuff requires paper.