Of guns and snakes
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #151 • January/February, 2015
Mas safely kills a rattlesnake in a populated area. (Note angle of gun and trajectory.) Pistol is a Springfield EMP loaded with 9mm 127 grain +P+ Winchester Ranger-T...
Use the right ammunition!
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #130 • July/August, 2011
The purpose of the gun is to fire ammunition. It follows that the ammunition should be the correct ammunition.
This is simple. It is not hard to understand. But...
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...
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...
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...
Defending against terroristic mass murder
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #160 • July/August, 2016
My friend Rich Grassi is a retired cop, a masterful instructor, and one of the best writers in the tactical field today. He recently wrote that it would...
Picking a holster
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #69 • May/June, 2001
One good thing about being out in the boonies by yourself is that you can carry a gun on your own property. It's a fundamental right that, for...
The rationale of the automatic rifle
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #70 • July/August, 2001
There are those who would ban private citizens' ownership of semiautomatic rifles. After 27 years of carrying a badge, the author profoundly disagrees.
If there is any place you...
How long should your gun’s barrel length be?
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #136 • July/August, 2012
The person new to guns is like the person new to timepieces. "How many of these things are there?" "In how many configurations?" "And they've been around for...
Military surplus and military “clone” rifles
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #116 • March/April, 2009
One reader writes to ask if military surplus rifles are still a good idea for hunting, recreational shooting, and all around backwoods use.
The answer is more complicated than...
Home handgun defense — Simplicity suffices
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #54 • November/December, 1998
You can get as high-tech as you feel you might need when you select the firearm(s) you'll use to protect your family. I "do firearms" for a living,...
How big a gun do you need?
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #99 • May/June, 2006
We Americans like to do things in a big way. Big houses. Big cars. Big boats. And, yes, big guns.
There are good arguments for all this, of course....
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...
Moderate power firearms
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #110 • March/April, 2008
Robert Ruark, the great American writer of the mid-Twentieth Century, was also a big game hunter. One of his most popular books, written on the latter topic, was...
Reflections on the Second Amendment
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #77 • September/October, 2002
A reader named Molly e-mailed a note to the office of BHM asking what the editor thought of Attorney General Ashcroft's recent affirmation of the Second Amendment as...
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...
