By Peggy Tartaro,
Executive Editor

The end of one year and the beginning of the next are hectic for most people-I assume that's what leads to the tradition of serious drinking on New Year's Eve.

Most people, myself included, start at least thinking about the end of the year (and the beginning of the next) in early Fall. Lists start appearing on coffee tables and turning up in handbags. Some of the lists are personal chores, some are gift lists and some are lists of what needs to be done at work. I'm pretty sure I'm not the only person whose collection of lists gets shuffled and even lost before they all get checked off. Santa may be the only one who makes a list and checks it twice-most people make multiple lists and then don't check them, because they forgot where they put them or they up-dated it and then can only find the original.

Because W&G is a bi-monthly, deadlines get a little tricky. I start hounding writers in July to submit copy for the November-December issue so that it can contain our annual gift guide. No one-not me, not the writers, and, often not the manufacturers we are trying to get photos or prices from-is ready for Christmas in July.

Similarly, when it comes time to put together the January-February issue, it's still a long way to the start of a new year. We try to smooth things out and allow for a few days off so that everyone gets to enjoy the holidays, but we are also mindful of constricted deadlines for printing, mailing and shipping of issues, because almost immediately after Christmas and New Year's, the SHOT Show is upon us. Since it's the major trade show for the firearms industry, everybody in the business is pedaling as fast as they can.

I look forward to being at SHOT, but I never look forward to getting there. When I do get there, it will be the official start of the business year for us, as we see old friends with new products, get some face time with writers and begin anew the process of putting out Women & Guns for another year.

But, as "fast away the old year passes," I want to pause a moment to thank some people for making not just this year, but the 21 preceding, possible for us.

First and foremost, the Second Amendment Foundation(SAF), which owns the magazine, has continued its commitment to women gunowners, which started when we acquired W&G in late 1989.

Alan Gottlieb and my dad, Joe Tartaro, executive vice president and president, respectively, of the Foundation saw the value of Women & Guns early on and the worth of keeping it going. SAF's other trustees-Massad Ayoob, Sam Slom, John Snyder, Kirby Wilbur and Bob Weist-also deserve thanks and recognition-at least once a year. Board members of our sister organization, the Citizen's Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (CCRKBA), of which it is my privilege to serve as treasurer, have also been unfailingly and unflaggingly helpful and are also deserving of recognition: Tom Gresham, Joe Waldron and Herb Stupp are those good gentleman.

Both SAF and CCRKBA are in the fight for the long haul and both groups have had some big successes in the last year, notably the historic McDonald case Supreme Court victory and the 25th anniversary Gun Rights Policy Conference (GRPC). Only Alan and dad can still lay claim to having attended every GRPC. I think I have about 20 under my belt, and the growth of GRPC has mirrored the growth of both the gun rights movement generally and the strides women gunowners have made in two and a half decades. There have been GRPCs in which the only women present were speakers, but only in the beginning. Alan remarked to me at the San Francisco GRPC just passed that he noticed at one point during the proceedings, there were more women than men in the room.

That's significant not just to the women attending, and not just to me and Julianne Versnel Gottlieb, W&G's publisher, personally. It's a significant milestone for all women gunowners, whether or not they are subscribers or supporters of SAF.

And, so, it's nice to end the old year with that image in mind, and to renew our efforts in 2011.

Peggy Tartaro

Photo © Copyright 1998 Nancy Floyd, used with permission.