I started gunservant.com on 11 August 2014 as a platform on which to publish my firearm-related ramblings (mostly about gun rights and so forth), because I had nowhere else to publish it (not all of it being newsworthy enough for other publications) and because I firmly believed (as I do to this day) that a public discussion regarding firearm rights in South Africa is of vital importance.
Three years later and the blog has grown from a handful of regular readers to over ten-thousand subscribers, with more joining every day.
The success has presented a unique challenge: the current format has done exceptionally well, especially when one considers the amateur-status of it, but the time has come to do things a little more professionally.
I have always had the goal of taking the firearm rights discussion beyond the echo chamber of the gun-owning community, and so-doing to challenge the prevailing narrative that dominates the news media regarding firearms and the people who own them. The only way in which you can effectively change the optics about a subject, is to present the alternative view as credibly as possible to as wide an audience as possible.
At the same time Gunservant has evolved from a platform dedicated solely to firearm rights, into a website where a wide variety of related content (be it gear reviews, scenario and tactics discussions, or practical advice in general) is regularly presented. The response to these articles has been overwhelmingly positive, and it is clear readers want more of it.
In order to achieve these goals, the content needs to be presented in a way that is easy to navigate, pleasurable to read, convenient to share, and rich in variety in order to appeal to a broad group of readers. This will require a new and expanded digital format that allows the website to expand outside of its current limitations.
After many months of deliberation and brainstorming, I made the decision to rebrand and migrate Gunservant into a brand-new identity: Paratus.
I chose the name because it lends a particular gravitas to what we are doing, and because the Latin meaning is very much applicable to the message we are spreading.
The rebranding will, if all goes smoothly, have an absolutely minimal effect on you (apart from vastly improving your reading experience): all of Gunservant’s content is being seamlessly migrated to the new domain, and existing links and articles will redirect to their new address.
At the moment I have a team of around 15 highly-talented contributors who have very kindly created world-class content for the website absolutely gratis. There is no fixed schedule (even though I try hard to keep Harold F. Callahan regular), and the gentlemen and ladies submit articles as their time allows. Once the new domain is up and running I would very much like to take advantage of the crowdfunding possibilities in order to at least pay these good people for their hard work.
Be that as it may, you will still be reading the same content, by the same creators, on a new website. And unfortunately you will remain stuck with the same owner and editor to boot!
At this point I have no specific date as to when the new domain is going to launch, but it will be before the end of the year. Stay tuned and I will do my best to keep you posted.
You will find the new website at: www.paratus.info
Ken Nicholl
•7 years ago
Hi good luck and please continue the important work and me as a firearm owner i appreciate all effort and hard work you do thanks
Ken Nicholl
•7 years ago
Hi and good luck and thanks for all the effort and hard work cheers
Brian Bouwer
•7 years ago
You are doing a wonderful job. Thank you for selflessly giving your very educated & knowledgeable opinion on subjects not too well known by many gun owners, myself included.
Very interesting and informative.
Stanton Marais
•7 years ago
Please keep up the great work….your contributions are highly appreciated! !!
Jan
•7 years ago
Been a follower since 2015; great news and best of luck
Brittius
•7 years ago
Ut Parati!
Peter
•7 years ago
A great idea not exactly new see articles in the old Firearm News, Richmark sentinel and News24 Mystory. There must be literally hundreds of these articles written in the past. Some remain on GOSA website, Gunsite, News24… What a pity nobody was interested enough to archive all those wonderful insights to our history and how the fight against the FCA was lost. I doubt you could find a person who could explain correctly how that find was given to the ANC without a fight worthy of the name. A travesty that saw firearm ownership devastated by legal garbage and unwarranted requirements. A loss that is recognised today by firearm organisations claiming to be gun safety organisations rather than citizens rights organisations. Are firearm owners so self-centred that they cannot see this is not a fight about a minority right a few privileged people want to enjoy but a fight for every CITIZENS RIGHT to defend themselves EQUALLY against those who would harm them. It is not a gun safety issue because quite honestly the general public don’t care how safe gun owners claim they are. They are to most a menace to society because they OWN GUNS. Pretending to be good boys and girls is about as idiotic a ploy to survive as one can get. Who comes up with these wacked out ideas?
As anyone with an ounce of common sense can tell government wants those guns. It is not about crime, gun safety or anything but government wants our guns. There is no scientific argument gun control is useless. There is only propaganda and political argument. There are no arguments that government that full well knows gun control is a useless crime tool can be appeased, satisfied or held in check by good behaviour, lower crime rates or any eloquent words from anybody. If we want citizens to have those rights then like every other organisation we will have to fight for those rights. Until that dawns on firearm owners that they demand their organisations stop this appeasement, collaboration and demands of compliance with an law that strips citizens of their rights they will have no legitimacy with the public. They will not even gain recognition from their own members who subconsciously recognise their leaders cannot and do not want to win.
As any ANC member will tell us you cannot fight bad laws by defeatism, appeasement, collaboration and preaching compliance and acceptance. Nobody will ever fight what they accept or think cannot be defeated. If your leaders will not fight why should members?
If the truth is our weapon why are we not discussing the truth? Why are we mired in this never ending crab bucket that anyone who seeks to rebel against the collective who have decided it is more profitable to make lemonade and grow the orchard than fight unjust laws is slandered bullied and ostracised until they give up?
Ask any firearm organisation how to win this fight and not one can or will answer. That is the truth. I did they are still answering. They do not know how and are making absolutely no effort and never ever have to find out how. The truth is they have no objection to gun control and are determined to see gun control accepted as justified and serving some useful purpose.
Far better would be for them to unite in fighting for citizens safety and rights than peddling gun safety as some kind of admirable or desirable objective. It is neither.
Peter
•7 years ago
Best of luck. Just remember that you must appeal to all who are impacted by removal, denial or refusal of the human right of self-defence on an equal footing. While firearm owners have a vested interest this right does not belong to them. They are not gun rights or gun ownership rights but the rights to SAFETY and SECURITY. Let us not forget that we firearm owners have that vested interest and should we wish to enjoy our rights best we know from the beginning they belong to all citizens. We do not fight for our safety but the safety of everyone. It is our responsibility as knowledgeable and with the most to lose to ensure the public do not have to be inundated with lies and falsehood. It would be very foolish of us to allow gun control or government to convince the public firearm ownership does not have huge impact on personal safety of oneself and loved ones. Tell me if we do not do this who will?
Jacques
•7 years ago
Baie dankie vir al die artikels. Goeie lees stof. Sterkte voorentoe.
Groete uit die woestyn.
What’s With the New Logo? – gunservant.com
•7 years ago
[…] August, shortly after the blog’s third birthday, I wrote a short piece on the future of Gunservant.com and that it was being migrated to a brand new identity. The blog […]