Oh, hi there! Well, will you look at that? What the hell am I doing here on TTAG? My goodness, if you would have told me a year ago that I’d be writing an article for The Truth About Guns, I’d have said you sound like you snorted a pound of stupid.
For those of you who may not know me, let me introduce myself – I’m Jenn. I’m from Wisconsin. Born and raised in the cool part of the Dairy State (North of Lambeau, baby!) by my NRA-loving, hunting, shooting, hunter’s education teaching, Second Amendment-defending dad and my stepmom… who has to put up with him. I was the epitome of a 2A kid now all grown up and raising three little defenders of my own. Well, mostly grown up, at least.
I come from the world of politics, having gotten involved after listening to countless hours of talk radio on surveillance as a private detective with my husband for our PI agency for years, also happen to be the President/CEO of a hunting company, the only woman to have co-hosted the NRA News program Cam & Co. live from Farmville, VA… oh, and the former Editor-in-Chief of Bearing Arms.
Yup, that chick.
When Bob and I teamed up back in 2014, one of his core rules, along with never printing the name or showing images of shooters, was told that I couldn’t link TTAG in any article… for any reason. Period. I had been running my own website, Guns & Curves, with Rachel Mullen for only a year at that point, so I just figured this was an industry thing I hadn’t learned yet.
Fast-forward to 2018 where, aside from a blip in my career after my “position was eliminated” three short months after Bob’s death (don’t ask, I can’t explain it – I blame my grief coma,) I’ve been exploring my options and I guess, to some extent, waiting for a sign to tell me what I should do next.
So imagine my surprise when, by happenstance, I learned Dan would be taking over this website and inexplicably found myself grinning ear-to-ear like an idiot. I was so happy for him! Now mind you, I had only met him briefly at that fateful dinner years ago and didn’t really know him personally or professionally. But for whatever reason, exactly the same way I connected with Bob on BA, I sent him a DM on Twitter and asked him to give me a call.
In all honesty, I had another job offer – complete with a full-time salary as an editor – but talking with Dan made me feel like those first few conversations with Bob years ago. Endless possibilities, a great platform for my voice, an opportunity to shake things up in the industry, and the chance to work with great people I genuinely respect and like – but it doesn’t make a lick of sense!!
Choosing to take my own advice I frequently give to other women, I’m trusting my gut here. I am joining the TTAG team and I 100% cannot believe I just typed that. I understand that some of you may harbor some bias against me based on the BA thing where we never acknowledged y’all but I welcome the opportunity to earn your trust.
I also know many of you saw the comment I made on the article covering Bob’s death. I’m not sure if I’ll ever be able to adequately explain the impact his suicide had on my life, but I plan on sharing my account of that day and the months leading up to it on May 9th right here on TTAG and hope that will go a long way in providing everyone, myself included, with some much-needed insight on it.
As a TTAG writer, I hope to bring you the absolute best of this industry I love so much, but especially given how salty the past year has made me, even calling out the worst of it in hopes of changing it for the better. But for today, I’m just enjoying my appreciation for the absolute craziness of the situation – and hope you are, too.