Of kids and guns
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #68 • March/April, 2001
In the almost two years since the Columbine tragedy, American police have coined the term "active shooter." It means, in essence, a crazed gunman who is at the...
The time for modern; the time for traditional
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #137 • September/October, 2012
Traditional "old skool" guns, or the most modern and efficient ballistic hardware that money can buy? I asked that question recently on my corner of the Backwoods Home...
Body language and threat recognition
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #87 • May/June, 2004
Reader mail indicates that while some Backwoods Home readers turn to this column for advice on putting wild game on the table or keeping four-footed poachers out of...
Analyzing Obama on guns
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #158 • March/April, 2016
In early January, 2016, after announcing his "executive actions on guns" and talking on CNN's "Town Hall Meeting," President Barack Obama admitted that when he and his wife...
The current ‘Gun control’ push — A cop’s eye view
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #142 • July/August, 2013
First, a word of explanation. The reason "gun control" is in quotes in the title and in this sentence is because, for a very long time, the prohibitionists...
Consider the 20-gauge shotgun
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #120 • November/December, 2009
A year or more ago in these pages, I made the suggestion that sometimes less is more, and usually shooters with less powerful guns with which they are...
In time of war — The Israeli answer to terrorism
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #81 • May/June, 2003
When war seems imminent, citizens think about protecting themselves. The war of the moment involves a declared enemy that has already used unconventional tactics to murder some three...
How to shoot a handgun accurately
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #85 • January/February, 2004
"I want you to do an article on how to shoot a handgun accurately," Dave Duffy told me. "Make it 2,500 or 3,000 words."
Long ago, I would have...
Here are some answers to often-asked questions of anti-gunners
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #45 • May/June, 1997
It has become increasingly politically incorrect to be a firearms owner. This is because trends tend to be set by the fashionable and the media-connected in metropolitan environments....
Armed and Female
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #63 • May/June, 2000
I didn't come up with the term "Armed and Female." Paxton Quigley did. She's a neat lady. I know her, trained her, taught with her, and have the...
Do rural homeowners need guns for self-defense?
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #72 • November/December, 2001
Do rural homeowners need guns for self-defense? Sometimes they do and sometimes they don't, according to Ayoob's experience, but those who did never really knew they would until...
Firearms and cold weather considerations
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #79 • January/February, 2003
Many of our readers have established their abodes in places which, during the winter months, do not exactly draw the beachgoers. The older I get, the less the...
Firearms handling refresher Part I: Handguns
By Massad Ayoob
Website Exclusive • December, 2003
One of our readers e-mailed John Silveira to tell him that taking a handgun afield after a long layoff had resulted in some scary moments. While gun handling...
Just because
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #144 • November/December, 2013
I generally recommend that people buy guns the way they'd buy power tools, or automobiles, or homes. Assess your needs, analyze your budget, correlate it all with your...
Perspectives on the George Zimmerman/Trayvon Martin shooting
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #143 • September/October, 2013
The media told us a self-appointed neighborhood watch captain and wannabe cop with gun-derived courage was on patrol when he profiled a young child because he was black...
Armed citizens: the deterrent factor
By Massad Ayoob
Website Exclusive • January/February, 2001
Does an armed citizenry deter tyranny and invasion? History and logic both answer emphatically, "Yes!"
Some months ago, in an article in this publication titled The Rationale of the...
