Today brought sad news from the print magazine world.
For many, many years I wrote the “Self-Defense and the Law” column for Harris’ Combat Handguns magazine, and the occasional feature article. I wrote the “Off-Duty” column and, until now, the “First Responder” column for their Guns & Weapons for Law Enforcement. From the early 1990s ‘til a couple of years ago I also wrote their annual Complete Book of Handguns. (Yes, semanticists out there, I know that every year’s edition was completely different from the previous, but I inherited the “Complete Book” title.)
I also found it amusing that Harris’ music magazine, Revolver, was always placed in the gun magazine section instead of the music section of the racks at my local WalMart.
For nearly 40 years, the Harris gun magazines put a lot of great material out there. The changing paradigms of electronic vis-à-vis dead tree media are no secret. I’m glad that Backwoods Home is still surviving quite well. Three print gun magazines I write for, Guns and American Handgunner on the newsstands and the professional journal Shooting Industry, all seem to be flourishing despite the rise of the electronic media.
My heart goes out to the many good people in New York who worked so hard and so long, full-time, for the Harris titles. They were always professional, and I wish them luck.
I’m sorry to see Combat Handguns bite the dust. For ages I’ve continued to learn from your monthly colum in that magazine. I will continue reading Guns and American Handgunnner.
Yes this came as a shock. I’ve always read Combat Handguns and occasionally guns and weapons for law enforcement. Always your articles in everything lol. Will definitely miss Combat Handguns. Hope someone else picks it up?
Back in the late 1980’s I remember picking up Combat Handguns at the grocery store. That was before CCW took over and it was still somewhat controversial, so it seemed, to actually say that handguns had something to do with self-defense. I enjoyed the articles back then, and in every other copy I went home with.
I still subscribe to two shooting related magazines (not counting the American Rifleman). They tend to have more indepth articles, but I have noticed less content over the years. Seems to be downward spiral where there is cost cutting which reduced the quality and then people do not renew then more costs are cut. Also, unfortunately, I feel that a number of publications write at about the 8th grade level these days, and I don’t mean the 8th grade education that my grandfather had.
Maybe there will be a market for quarterly collections of timely information that is in depth — too much for a blog or whatever and not enough for a book. I just have this feeling that someday all the electronic media will stop working, or be left behind in different formats, etc, (anyone have Wordperfect files on a Zip drive? Wordstar on a 3.5″ disk?) I really do want things in print and not on the screen.
When is The Sear going to have its next post?
I’m also very sorry to learn that Harris Publications is going out of business. I have been a subscriber to Combat Handguns, as well as Guns & Weapons For Law Enforcement, for many years & I’ve always enjoyed your columns & articles for those publications. I’m disappointed that they couldn’t or wouldn’t make the transition to digital media to stay in business, even though I prefer the print editions. I’m grateful that we can still read what you have to say here, as well as in American Handgunner & Guns magazines, & in your books. I hope some of the other gun magazines that are still out there will pick up your Self-Defense & The Law and First Responder columns, which I have really enjoyed over the years. I think they will increase their readership dramatically if they do. Please let us know if you sign on to write regularly for anyone else.
Mas,
Sad days. I think I still have the Combat Handguns magazine containing your first article for Harris on back-up guns.
As a writer, everyone there was always good to me.
Sad days and best wishes for their editors!
KD
The one magazine I read from cover to cover goes away. Feel bad for the folks who are losing their jobs. And to think I just renewed my subscription for two more years and they cashed the check. Mas please keep us informed if you columns get picked up
Well….Darn, indeed! It is always sad to hear of another voice of freedom being extinguished in this ever increasing world of PC/Liberal rhetoric. I always enjoyed reading the great articles in Combat Handguns magazine. Good luck to those who are now looking for jobs.
Skeezix – I share your sentiments, but am even more taken by the name you used here. May I ask what the inspiration for it was? I know what “Skeezix” means to ME – you?
Gonna miss this one…American Handgunner and Guns will continue on for me…see you in AH!
Truly a sad day. That’s where I first “met” you and several other Shooters of note. So much knowledge and expertise in those pages.
Magazines are great. I carry them everywhere, and hand them off to friends. Check out “Concealed Carry” magazine.
I don’t like the tyranny of having only one way to do things. I remember, back in the 1900s, you could apply for a job by showing up at the business, and they would hand you a form to fill out. You could also contact them by U.S. mail and telephone. In the 1990s, you could go to their website in addition to the other ways of contact. Now if you walk into a business, they tell you to apply on their website. That’s the only way to apply. That’s tyranny.
The Internet is great, but not for everything. No government secrets should be anywhere on a computer. If info needs to get somewhere quick, hand it to a fighter pilot and he can break the sound barrier on his way to deliver the message. Banking should not be done online. Money is too important a topic for the Internet. I did online banking for two years, then went back to the old way, because it fits my Neo-Amish lifestyle better. I feel safer, but I know all my information is on the bank’s servers anyway, and hackers can get to it.
I’ve learned a lot from bloggers, websites and youtube.com. But when the next Carrington Event, or man-made EMP hits, the Internet will be gone. Entropy or the Second Law of Thermodynamics, rules all. Unlike gravity, entropy even applies in outer space.
Mas,
Just like Bob M above, CH is where I first ran across your writing, and realized that here was something special. Bonnie used what we learned from your columns when she had to use her Dan Wesson .357 to discourage a man we later found out was a serial rapist and murderer (see Lyn Bates’ first self-defense column in Women & Guns). Now, as CCH instructors, we pass your lessons on to our own students.
Ironically, I had received my August issue and just finished reading it, when I pulled up this post.
Best wishes to all concerned,
Sam
What Mas said. 🙁 As a Brit ‘Combat Handguns’ was not always easily available, but I recall reading it (& enjoying it) for a good long while.
Okay it wasn’t always pure gold, back in the day I recall an article praising the ‘Linda’ “assault-pistol.” And how many new and uninteresting things are there to say about another 1911 look-a-like?
But I was still interesting, I learned stuff about the Bodyguarding industry from Leroy Thompson’s articles, there was often thought provoking stuff in the ‘It happened to me’ columns. And (no flattery intended) I thought Mas’ ‘Self-defence and the law’ articles were the best part of it, interesting, informative and I learned stuff about the law which I otherwise would not have learned.
The world is changing, and the market for print magazines is changing with it. Good luck to all those whose livelihoods are affected by the demise of Harris publications.
I’m going to miss those magazines. 🙁
Not too long long ago we lost Charlie Cutshaw, who penned many articles in Combat Handguns over the years.
Sad news indeed.
I do a lot of reading in various digital and online formats, but I still prefer holding a book or magazine in my hands, and being able to keep them handy for reference. I can’t believe there aren’t many like me.
For instance, not long ago I received my copy of Mr. Ayoob’s book, “Deadly Force.” I’ve read it and it’s going to my daughter in advance of her CCW permit and receiving her Sig .380. That book will be around for future reference and discussion.
Michael JT – great plan for giving “Deadly Force” to your daughter! I would suppose you’ve read “In the Gravest Extreme?” Mas’ writings are timeless – the mark of a truly gifted writer. I was just re-reading “In the Gravest..” the other day – for, oh, maybe the 200th time! “Deadly…?” I’ve only read that a few dozen times….so far. Mas is one of THE best shooters ever, but I think his writing gifts are “right there” with his shooting skills.
Mas, I don’t tell you enough how much your words – whether it be a column in American Handgunner, one of your books, interviews, teachings, whatever – mean to this gun brother. You have been my main inspiration from the first.
Thanks for all you bring to this world of firearms that we all love, Mas!
MichaelJT,
In the 1990s I met a computer programmer who would not read the screen. He would print out anything he wanted to read.
I once worked in a warehouse with a man who used to service computers. He said he got frustrated, especially when software programs which were supposed to be compatible were not really compatible. He became a groundskeeper or superintendent for a nursing home, I think.
Remember the TV show, “Green Acres?”
Sad to see a great magazine discontinued. OTOH, I look forward to reading The Complete Book of Handguns every year. I have every edition and still read them to this day…I’ve learned so much from reading them. Thanks Mas, and hope you continue writing The Complete Book of Handguns!
Ira, I’m afraid Complete Book of Handguns is one of the titles that went down with Harris. It was a fun ride, though, and I am glad you found them of value.
Now I’m truly sad! Much firearms writing is more marketing than substance, but not so with your articles. Many do not have the time nor resources to attend training as often as we’d like, so quality articles fill the void. I noticed in the last 2 editions of The Complete Book of Handguns, you wrote only a few articles, and I was guessing this was due to a busy teaching schedule with your new school. I sincerely hope you find another publisher that will provide a venue for you to continuing sharing your knowledge with the shooting public!
I guess I will just have to find a way to attend one of your classes:)
v/r
Ira
Sad to here this. Print Media really taking a hit the past 10 years.
Well damn! I have read Combat Handguns for as long as I can remember. It only published 8 times a year, as I recall, so that made it more special. I always looked forward to the new issue. I never subscribed because I enjoyed seeing it in the magazine rack so much and the feeling of carrying it home.I always read Jeff Cooper’s column first, then “It happened to me” and then your column in that order. Then I looked through the rest of the magazine. I wondered why I hadn’t seen it lately. Farewell to an old friend. It will be missed.
Good news, Tim. Combat Handguns (along with most of the other old Harris firearms titles) is back. Athlon Media has picked them up. The new Combat Handguns should be on your local newsstand as I write this.
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