Terrorism in America — The armed citizen’s view
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #150 • November/December, 2014
The warnings come in non-stop...
FoxNews: "A new English-language Al Qaeda magazine features a how-to article on making car bombs and suggests terror targets in the United States, including...
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...
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...
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...
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...
“Gun control” for dummies
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #141 • May/June, 2013
Barack Obama, outspokenly anti-gun for his entire political career, fooled an amazing number of gun owners by keeping a "hands off" attitude toward Second Amendment issues until his...
BHM hosts Appleseed marksmanship event
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #139 • January/February, 2013
Long a supporter of the Appleseed concept, Backwoods Home Magazine hosted one in Gold Beach, Oregon, in second quarter 2012. Naturally, a good time was had by all....
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....
Frontier style handguns for the modern backwoods home
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #101 • September/October, 2006
The year was 1873. Samuel Colt had invented the revolveror at least introduced it to Americain 1836. The Colt Navy .36 and Army .44 cap-n'-ball revolvers had been...
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...
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....
Cheap guns are good enough
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #62 • March/April, 2000
More than 10 years ago, my friend Mark Seiden called me in on a murder case in Miami that Janet Reno, then State's Attorney for the county in...
Understanding the gun debate, part 2
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #162 • November/December, 2016
Click Here to read Part 1
When debating any controversial issue, the first thing one has to do is sort the lies from the truth.
On the pro-gun side, mistruths...
1911: The classic homeland security pistol
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #83 • September/October, 2003
If you've read American firearms history at all, you know the lore of the .45 automatic. How during the Philippine insurrection, the newly issued .38 revolver failed miserably...
Preparing for Hunting Season
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #119 • September/October, 2009
For a great many rural folk, big game hunting season is a high pointoften the annual high pointof their involvement with firearms. In some locales, the big game...
Sight and sound enhancement
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #71 • September/October, 2001
Enhancing vision and hearing can make you a safer, more effective shooter, and sometimes can save human lives.
Captain Ayoob prepares to trigger his MP5 with SureFire light unit...