Outlet profile

The Reload

U.S. right-center (pro-Second Amendment)

Owned byIndependently owned and operated by founder Stephen Gutowski

FundingReader subscriptions; no disclosed advertising or outside investment

On the administrationbroadly supportive

Background

The Reload was founded in April 2021 by Stephen Gutowski, who spent nearly seven years as a gun-beat reporter at the conservative Washington Free Beacon before launching the outlet as an independent, subscriber-supported publication. Gutowski modeled it partly on Substack's subscription journalism model, which he observed generating significant revenue for other commentators. The site bills itself as offering 'sober, serious firearms reporting,' positioning against what Gutowski describes as misinformation in mainstream gun coverage. Gutowski is a certified firearms instructor and has received the Second Amendment Foundation's Journalist of the Year award (2016) and the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms' Bill of Rights Award (2020), both from pro-gun advocacy organizations. Media Bias/Fact Check rates The Reload as Right-Center in bias and Mostly Factual in accuracy, noting that its editorial choices and framing favor gun-rights positions and do not always provide full context on gun-control arguments. The outlet operates as a one-journalist shop, with Gutowski as sole editor and primary reporter, supplemented by a weekly podcast. During Trump's second term, The Reload has closely covered the administration's rapid rollback of dozens of Biden-era ATF regulations — including the end of the 'zero tolerance' gun-dealer policy and the revival of a process to restore gun rights for some former convicts — reporting these developments straightforwardly and without notable criticism.

Sources

Profile compiled 2026-07-17; refreshed when ownership, funding, or the administration changes.

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