Commentary Archives - Backwoods Home Magazine

Magnesium and the International Criminal Court

By John Silveira Issue #125 • September/October, 2010 There was an interesting ad that ran in BHM for two issues, but it was pulled for lack of response. It was about magnesium, the lack of it...

My View: Call Me Miracle Man!

By Dave Duffy Issue #177 • July/August/September, 2019 Superheroes are the rage these days at movie theaters. Even I am fascinated by them. Old style heroes like Superman and Batman seem tame by comparison to characters...

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"...

Reaching for the stars during a recession

By Dave Duffy Issue #125 • September/October, 2010 Toby is the volunteer assistant golf coach for the team this magazine sponsors, the Gold Beach High School Panthers. He has spent hundreds of hours of his own...

A vast cultural divide exists between environmentalists and gun owners

By Dave Duffy Issue #113 • September/October, 2008 Backwoods Home Magazine has had an exhibitor's booth at the MREA Fair in Wisconsin almost every year since its founding by Mick Sagrillo in 1989, which is the...

Money can buy happiness

By John Silveira Issue #72 • November/December, 2001 The results are in: money can buy happiness, but it doesn't come cheap. Not only that, the amount of happiness your money can buy can be measured. I know...

Just how good of a bet are those lotto tickets?

By John Silveira Issue #37 • January/February, 1996 I looked at the newspaper and tried to match up the lotto results printed there with my picks. I sighed. "Boy, I sure would've liked to have won...

10 traits for better living

By Claire Wolfe Issue #151 • January/February, 2015 It's a mystery why one person can be poor but still proud, independent, and reasonably content while the guy next door is merely content to slide into a...

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...

Should both drugs and guns be legal?

By Dave Duffy Issue #59 • September/October, 1999 Answering the question of Should drugs be legal? is like answering the question of Should guns be legal? Whoever answers either question steps onto a minefield of passionate...

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...

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...

Gulf War II opened the eyes of Americans to the UN and the media

By Dave Duffy Issue #82 • July/August, 2003 How many of you were tightly tuned to the TV like I was during Gulf War II. I hope a lot because it was a great education. Not...

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...

The logic behind term limits and a historical perspective

By John Silveira Issue #35 • September/October, 1995 It was Tuesday and we were in deadline mode. Heat was seeping through the uninsulated walls of the new offices of Backwoods Home Magazine like little beasts from...

If you want to survive an emergency, look to yourself, not the Government

By Dave Duffy Issue #96 • November/December, 2005 Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath said what I could not have said convincingly in ten thousand words: The government cannot protect you in a major emergency. It doesn't...