This gets even better. According to David Reeder of ‘KitUp!’ the statement below by My Galloway (who no one can now reach) is not an official position. In Reeder’s article it sounds as if ‘Recoil’ Editor Jerry Tsai is saying that Galloway did this of his own accord and is off the reservation. Unfortunately, his only source for this denial is Tsai, the epicenter of the controversy. Wonderful. ‘Recoil’ publisher Source Interlink Media doesn’t have a single voice and hasn’t addressed the issues. Regardless of whether this remains their position, they haven’t issued a retraction or clarification. And, they still have intimated that the anti-Second Amendment sentiments weren’t Tsai’s but rather H&K’s. H&K has officially denied this.
To summarize: The “Offical” position is unoffically the unofficial position. Is anyone in charge? What a mess!
Please read ‘Recoil’ magazine publisher Source Interlink Media’s position on Editor Jerry Tsai’s Second Amendment gaffe in issue number 4. For those of you unaware of this internet crap storm please read this first soldiersystems.net/2012/09/10/you-cant-run-from-the-internet-take-2
In light of some of the comments and complaints made about a paragraph in a recent article about the Heckler & Koch MP7A1, Recoil wishes to make the following points clear:
· It is simply not credible for anyone to question Recoil’s support for, and commitment to, the Second Amendment. Recoil is first and foremost a gun lifestyle magazine, aimed at the modern shooting enthusiast.
· The opinions in the paragraph in question accurately reflected those of the manufacturer, and should have been reported as direct quotes. Recoil acknowledges the way the paragraph was written has caused unnecessary confusion.
· Jerry Tsai, a passionate gun enthusiast and the visionary behind Recoil magazine, will remain as editor of Recoil.
We thank you for your support and understanding.
Quite honestly, if you read the article, it was one paragraph that was actually quoted from the manufacturer and we did not state it that way. Recoil has 26,000 likes on face book and the magazine has only been out for three issues and issue number 4 is just hitting the streets. I honestly believe that this will not hurt the magazine. I have not lost anyone as a result of this and do not expect to.
Joe Galloway
Associate Publisher
5.0 Mustang & Super Fords
Muscle Mustangs & Fast Fords
Phone 813-675-3493
Fax 813-675-3557
Email joe.galloway@sorc.com
Assistant: Jennifer Conklin 813-675-3507
Now, I have a few words. Initially, I didn’t want to throw Jerry Tsai under the bus. As I understand it, he is a very nice guy and he had the vision and passion to launch ‘Recoil’ in the first place. But, after talking to many in industry I realized that Mr Tsai was way out of his league here. If it hadn’t been this, his inexperience would have manifested itself somewhere else. I have come to the conclusion that if ‘Recoil’ is to survive, there is no way that Mr Tsai can edit or write for it. Unfortunately, publisher Source Interlink Media is so naive about the firearms industry that they don’t get it either. Pretty scary. Even worse, they aren’t getting it after losing multiple advertisers. They don’t believe they have lost readers either. They think that Facebook ‘likes’ equal readers. What they don’t get is that folks have ‘liked’ them on Facebook so that they can more easily follow the lunacy.
But, what is worse than some losing advertisers and readers is their relationship with the very industry that they are supposed to be covering. Rather than manning up and accepting Mr Tsai’s words, they are now blaming the words and associated anti-Second Amendment sentiment on Heckler & Koch. Well done. You’ve now alienated one gun maker and the others are probably rubbing their chins wondering if you’ll make them look bad as well. Who is going to provide samples for those cute little photo layouts? What gun company is going to take them to the range? Who will even talk to them? You can’t have a magazine without content. I supported ‘Recoil’ from the beginning and I would have stayed right behind them had they shown industry that they were willing to learn from this and move forward. Instead, they don’t get it at all. They’ve now taken an adversarial stance toward the firearms and tactical industries. I can’t abide by that.
I have heard various versions of this today so I’ll just paraphrase, “Recoil, you need industry. You’ve shown us we don’t need you.”
