Commentary Archives - Backwoods Home Magazine

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...

Training for the Boston Marathon

By Dave Duffy Issue #92 • March/April, 2005 Ever get a wild idea in your head that just won't go away, and you start working on it like crazy? It happens to me all the time....

The destruction of the mass print media will help save freedom in America

By Dave Duffy Issue #119 • September/October, 2009 I tend to be an optimist, even though the state of America's economy and politics does not appear very promising right now. So I want to talk about...

Every group needs a black sheep

By John Silveira Issue #74 • March/April, 2002 I used to play a lot of poker and I learned things about people that surprised me. They were things other than the "Know when to hold 'em,...

The land of the unfree

By John Silveira Issue #101 • September/October, 2006 It's official! The numbers are in once again! For I-don't-know-how-many-years-running, the United States, this so-called "land of the free," is imprisoning more people, in both absolute numbers and...

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...

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...

Lessons for My Children, Chapter 2: Statistics, history, and the rise of the Underground...

By Dave Duffy Issue #137 • September/October, 2012 I've always been a student of science and history. They tell you things many people don't know. I especially pay attention to statistics, which underlies all science, and...

Armed civilians can help fight terrorism

By Massad Ayoob Issue #90 • November/December, 2004 This article was written before terrorists seized a school in Beslan, a town in North Ossetia, one of the small republics that make up the modern Russian Federation....

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...

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...

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...

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...

The burglar does far more than steal!

By Dave Duffy Issue #89 • September/October, 2004 "Never mind about stealing the damn stuff! This is the wrong place! We have to leave!" "That's what they were saying Dad, right outside my window," my 12-year-old son Jake told...

Our energy crisis Part 2 — Nuclear energy is sensible and safe

By John Silveira Issue #114 • November/December, 2008 When an atomic bomb was detonated over Nagasaki, Japan, August 9, 1945, the amount of energy...

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...