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...
Terrorist attack! Was this predictable?
By John Silveira
September 11, 2001
I was awakened to news about the suicide attacks by my daughter. Quite frankly, I thought it was the beginning of a bad joke she'd heard and I was expecting...
Against a rapist
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #65 • September/October, 2000
Can you use lethal force in self-defense against a rapist? The answer, of course, is yes. Deadly force is permissible only in a situation of "immediate, otherwise unavoidable...
Avoiding legal traps
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #105 • May/June, 2007
Dave Duffy wrote recently on the plight of Brad Metcalf. There are several lessons to be learned.
Metcalf represented himself, pro se, in court. This is almost never a...
Loading the gun for a dictatorship
By John Silveira
Issue #103 • January/February, 2007
My late friend, Jim Callahan, was a self-professed "liberal." At least, when I first met him, that's what he claimed. Actually, he wasn't. But Jim wasn't a "conservative"...
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...
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 Runaway
By John Silveira
February 9, 2006
My kids are grown. But it didn't come about without a lot of frustration, tribulations, and laughs.
Runaways: What do you do with a six-year-old who threatens to run away?
One woman...
Dr. Laura tells her listeners she’s decided to pack a gun
By Dave Duffy
February 12, 2000
The showdown between the Federal government and the American people over gun rights may have tilted in favor of the people recently when the nation's third most popular radio talk...
My view: Socialism’s promises always end in disaster
By Dave Duffy
Issue #176 • April/May/June, 2019
There are lots of news stories these days about socialism’s rise in the United States, especially among the young and admirers of newly elected New York Congresswoman Alexandria...
Finding solutions in firewood
By Dave Duffy
January 16, 2000
When I am confounded and afraid, that is, when I have trouble figuring out what to do next in a critical situation, I go to my woodpile, grab an axe,...
Guns, suicide prevention, and backwoods lifestyles
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #153 • May/June, 2015
Note to readers: I've served for going on twenty years as firearms editor of Backwoods Home Magazine. The following article is going to be somewhat different from what...
The Electoral College — How we elect the President
By John Silveira
Issue #18 • November/December, 1992
I've been getting a lot of telephone calls from Oregon lately. My article is late again and Dave Duffy, the fellow who publishes this magazine, keeps...
How to fix your aching back using the McKenzie Method
By Dave Duffy
Issue #144 • November/December, 2013
It's hard to get anything done around the homestead if you've got an ailing back. I've had an ailing back for about 40 years, but between issues, after...
Guns Save Lives Chapter 1: Point Blank
By Robert Waters
Issue #80 • March/April, 2003
"Why'd you shoot me, bitch?"
Last words of home invader Shaarod Profitt, September 18, 1998.
It was a cool fall evening in Little Rock, Arkansas, when Don Mosely heard...
Confessions of a former liberal
By Dave Duffy
Issue #50 • March/April, 1998
There is an old adage that goes something like: "If you're not a liberal when you're in your 20s you haven't got a heart; if you're not a...
