Massad Ayoob's Blog, page 10

THE NEXT TIME AN ANTI-GUNNER SAYS CITIZENS’ RIFLES ARE USELESS AGAINST ARMIES…

…remind them of this. I was recently reading “Andrew Jackson and the Miracle of New Orleans” by Brian Kilmeade and Don Yeager. The War of 1812 was going badly for the Americans. The British had burned the White House, and a huge contingent of British troops was in Louisiana planning to march north in conquest. […]

WHY COMPETITION IS RELEVANT TO SELF-DEFENSE

Recently saw this on YouTube, from a grandmaster competition shooter who is also in law enforcement. I agree with him. I’ve said for years that while a shooting match is not a gunfight, a gunfight most certainly is a shooting match. Competition experience makes shooting under pressure the norm. Wyatt Earp competed in the informal […]

ANOTHER GREAT GUN GUY PASSES

I was saddened to be told of the recent death of my old friend Ed Lovette. He had a long and distinguished career in military, law enforcement, and the CIA. Ed was a thinking man’s instructor. We took each other’s classes. He went through my LFI-I course back in the day , and about thirty […]

AFTER THE STORM(S)

Hurricane Milton was gonna be the big one, and while we weren’t in the crosshairs for this one like we were for Hurricane Helene a few weeks ago, we were still will within its field of fire. They were predicting Category 4 and possibly Category 5.  I’m told FEMA- approved “hurricane-resistant homes” are spec’d to […]

ISRAEL DISARMED

Mark Smith is a brilliant attorney, gun-focused and one of our most articulate spokespersons for firearms owners civil rights. Check out his blog called The Four Boxes Diner. That’s a reference to Boxes of Liberty: the soapbox, the ballot box, the jury box, and finally the cartridge box. You also want to check out his […]

AWFUL VERSUS EMPTY

Why is it that in every recent Presidential election I’ve found myself saying, “We’re a nation of (now) some 330 million people, and these are the best two we can pick from to lead us?” In a recent piece, Wall Street Journal defined the choice as Awful versus Empty. (Google will get you there, though […]

DAMN HURRICANES…

The Florida hurricanes have been particularly relentless this year. Hurricane Debby in late August flooded our downtown office three or four feet deep, rendering the building uninhabitable at least for now, and destroyed some electronics. Our home out of town was mostly spared, some siding off and some windows broken. (As comedian Ron White says […]

BOB SMITH R.I.P.

I was deeply saddened to learn of the death this past weekend of Bob Smith in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. We had been friends and colleagues for about forty years. Bob was one of the best firearms/self-defense instructors I ever met. We often taught together in Idaho. His skillful teaching saved many lives and kept many […]

WINTER IS COMING

When you’re outdoors in the coming cold weather, you have the choice of gloves or cold, numb hands, neither of which is a great combination with firearms. Here, with John Farnam’s permission, I share a discussion string that John began recently. Pay particular attention to the advice from Doc Gunn, a tactically savvy MD who […]

A TOP NEW MAKER OF PROTECTIVE GEAR

Back in the early 1970s when Richard Davis created the soft, concealable body armor that “bullet-proofed” America’s police, Davis told me I was the first cop in my state to order one of his vests. For the next forty-plus years I never put on the uniform without a vest, and unless I was wear-testing another […]