Editorial Guidelines

These are the standards our editorial team follows on every review, buying guide, and training article. If we violate one of these in practice, call it out. We will investigate and correct.

Independence

  • Brands never review or approve content before publication.
  • We do not accept paid placements, paid reviews, or sponsorship disguised as editorial.
  • Gear Scores are not influenced by affiliate commission rate. When two products compete for the same slot, the better product wins.
  • Advertisers never receive preferential editorial treatment.

Sourcing and testing

  • Every scored review is based on hands-on testing by a reviewer.
  • We disclose when a product was a review sample and when it was purchased at retail. A review sample does not obligate us to publish, and does not shift the scoring.
  • Claims about ballistic performance must reference the NIJ-certified test report or cite the exact test protocol used.
  • We do not quote stopping-power marketing claims ("III+", "RF2") without referencing the underlying certification or documented test.

Reviewer conflict of interest

  • Reviewers disclose any employment, consulting, or equity relationship with a reviewed brand. In any case of a material relationship, a different reviewer covers that product.
  • Reviewers may not own equity in brands they review.
  • Free gear received as a sample is not a gift; it remains the property of the reviewer only if a long-term-test exception applies, and is disclosed in every review where a sample was used.

Corrections policy

  • Factual errors are corrected within 48 hours of verification. Corrections are noted at the bottom of the affected article with the date and a brief description.
  • Score changes are flagged on the review page and in a monthly score-change log.
  • We do not silently edit published content. Substantive edits carry a dated note.

AI and content assistance

  • AI tooling may be used for copyediting, formatting, and research assistance.
  • Every published review passes through a human editor who is responsible for the published content.
  • No review is generated end-to-end by a language model.

Updates

These guidelines are reviewed annually and updated when we change practice. Current version: 2026-04-16.

Questions

Contact us if you see behavior on the site that violates one of these principles, or if you want more detail on any standard.