Do rural homeowners need guns for self-defense?
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #72 • November/December, 2001
Do rural homeowners need guns for self-defense? Sometimes they do and sometimes they don't, according to Ayoob's experience, but those who did never really knew they would until...
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...
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...
That old survivalist mumbo jumbo and 10 reasons why it makes sense
By Dave Duffy
Issue #91 • January/February, 2005
I've got a suggestion for a sensible New Year's resolution for self-reliant types like myself, and I've got at least 10 good reasons to keep it. The resolution...
Turn the poor into capitalists
By John Silveira
Issue #137 • September/October, 2012
I'm not a fan of the welfare system and I think it's been more of a failure than a success. It may serve as a 'safety net' for...
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...
Talking to your kids about death
By Dave Duffy
Issue #97 • January/February, 2006
How do you talk to a child about the death of someone they love? How do you explain the impossible? It's a task many of us parents have...
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...
Finally, a disaster that is guaranteed!
By Dave Duffy
Issue #105 • May/June, 2007
It's difficult to keep up with the dizzying pace of disasters various people say will befall mankind, everything from global warming to terrorists floating a nuke into L.A....
Is the Mainstream Media Finally Recognizing How the War on Drugs is Destroying Our...
By John Silveira
December 17, 1999
The December 1999 issue of Harper's Magazine has a headline the likes of which I'd given up ever seeing on the cover of a mainstream magazine. The newsstand jacket...
The meltdown and the bailout: why, how, and what they mean
By John Silveira
Issue #115 • January/February, 2009
To understand how the recent meltdown and bailout came about, you have to know what brought them on. According to some, there are PhDs who have problems grasping...
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...
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...
Real-life heroes
By John Silveira
January 15, 2000
TV programs and movies are often about heroes. Here's the thinnest of plots: someone's in trouble and a John Wayne-type character shows up to rescue him--or her. In the meantime...
Activists on both the left and the right spotlight a broken federal government
By Claire Wolfe
Issue #97 • January/February, 2006
On October 28, 2005, 400 citizens of Vermont met amid the pomp of their capitol building and voted to secede from the Union. The media, to say the...
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...































