Shermer has denied. Undark Magazine reported that the allegations against Shermer began to emerge in 2013 and 2014. The magazine also reported that Shermer had sent cease and desist letters to the student-run newspaper of Santa Barbara City College and accused the editor of defamation in an email to the college. Personal life Shermer married Kim Ziel. They had one daughter together and later divorced. On June 25, 2014 he married Jennifer Graf, a native of Cologne, Germany. The ceremony was performed by Shermer's sister, Tina, who was ordained online for the occasion. As of 2007, Shermer lived in Altadena, California, but no longer resided there by 2021. He has advocated for a reducetarian diet. Political positions Shermer is a self-described libertarian. In a 2015 interview, Shermer stated that he preferred to talk about individual issues after previous experience with people refusing to listen to him after learning he held libertarian views. In 2000, Shermer voted for libertarian Harry Browne, on the assumption that the winner of the Al Gore – George W. Bush contest would be irrelevant. He later regretted this decision, believing that Bush's foreign policy made the world more dangerous. He voted for John Kerry in 2004. Shermer named Thomas Jefferson as his favorite president, for his championing of liberty and his application of scientific thinking to the political, economic, and social spheres. In June 2006, Shermer, who formerly expressed skepticism regarding the mainstream scientific views on global warming, wrote in Scientific American magazine that, in the light of the accumulation of evidence, the position of denying global warming is no longer tenable. Gun control Shermer supports some measures to reduce gun-related violence. He once opposed most gun control measures, primarily because of his beliefs in the principles of increasing individual freedom and decreasing government intervention, and also because he has owned guns for most of his life. As an adult, he owned a .357 Magnum pistol for a quarter of a century for protection, although he eventually took it out of the house, and then got rid of it entirely. Though he no longer owns guns, he continues to support the right to own guns to protect one's family. However, by 2013, the data on gun homicides, suicides, and accidental shootings convinced him that some modest gun control measures might be necessary. Awards and honors Fellow, 2001, Linnean Society of London California State University, Fullerton Distinguished