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...
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,...
Some thoughts on growing older in the backwoods
By Marjorie Burris
Issue #16 • July/August, 1992
"Just how long are you going to be able to live in the backwoods like that?" my friend, Pat, asked. "You're not getting any younger, you know!"
I've known...
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...
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...
The unheralded roots of America’s freedoms
By John Silveira
Issue #108 • November/December, 2007
I've just finished reading a fascinating book by Charles C. Mann. It's titled, 1491, and subtitled New Revelations of the Americas before Columbus. The book has turned what...
Why we have no “constitutional” rights
By John Silveira
Issue #92 • March/April, 2005
The other day I read an article concerning a suit brought against the government by some of the 550 or so detainees at the naval station at Guantanamo...
A government with not enough to do, but lots of hungry mouths to feed
By Dave Duffy
Issue #130 • July/August, 2011
Most people look in the wrong places for threats to society, and their perceptions are easily manipulated by the mass media, which is often spoon-fed its stories by...
What is reality?
By John Silveira
April 7, 2006
I don't read much. So, I missed James Frey's A Million Little Pieces, though it made best sellers lists from the New York Times to amazon.com. If the truth be...
Why bureaucracy will likely destroy America
By John Silveira
Issue #50 • March/April, 1998
"Civilizations rise and fall," Dave said and I turned around to see if he was talking to me, but he was still staring at his monitor. I looked...
Why I Hated Santa Claus
By John Silveira
December 21, 1999
Even as a little kid I didn't like Santa Claus. I liked the loot he brought; I wanted toys. With some trepidation, I even sat in his lap at the...
The Newtown atrocity and “gun control”
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #140 • March/April, 2013
In mid-December of 2012, a mentally disturbed twenty-year-old whose escalating aberrant behavior had gone untreated and unchecked murdered his own mother, stole her guns, and entered the Sandy...
The false argument about defending our freedom
By John Silveira
Issue #142 • July/August, 2013
I'm tired of hearing how we should honor our veterans because they're defending our freedoms. They're not. No one in any of the Islamic countries is trying to...
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"...
Libertarian and Conservative
By John Silveira
Issue #133 • January/February, 2012
I cringe when I hear libertarians lumped with conservatives or at least today's conservatives. Liberals want you to view us as conservatives so you won't look any...
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...
