Massad Ayoob's Blog, page 11

A SMART GUY OFFERS YOU A USEFUL ITEM

Many years ago I had the privilege of meeting a fellow Backwoods Home contributor, Jeffrey Yago. I consider him a “thinking person’s survivalist instructor.” Recognizing that most folks don’t carry guns, and those who do can’t all the time, AND that there are a whole lot of problems that a gun can’t solve, Yago wrote […]

THE DEMON OF UNREST

“A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War” is the subtitle of Erik Larson’s latest book, “The Demon of Unrest.” Larson is one of my favorite non-fiction authors, and the impeccable research that went into “The Devil in the White City,” “Dead Wake,” “Isaac’s Storm” and the rest of […]

KAMALA HARRIS ON GUNS

In case you know anyone who believed Kamala Harris’ probably temporary flip-flop on the 2A issue – the “we don’t want to take your guns” part– read this from 2A warrior Dean Weingarten. You might also want to share this, from Breitbart via another 2A champion, David Codrea.

A SCARY READ

Imagine that it’s the year 2034. China is well ahead of the US in cyber-warfare. It manages to “blind” an American jet and bring it robotically to enemy turf, capturing the pilot. The Chinese then sink a few American warships they think are too close to their shores, and soon send 37 more to the […]

SELF DEFENSE AT LONGER DISTANCES

One shibboleth you often run across in discussions of armed self-defense is “If you shoot anyone more than seven yards away from you, you’re screwed in court.” As someone who has earned his primary income from teaching use of force for a very long time, I beg to differ. If the guy you had to […]

SO, WHEN WILL THEY BAN HATPINS…AGAIN?

Never trust people who want to make you helpless to defend yourself. People who consider it inhumane to declaw their pet cats and render their animal companions helpless to defend themselves, are perfectly capable of demanding the same helplessness from their human friends, neighbors, and relatives. Thanks to my friend Dmitri Artamanov for sending the […]

SMALL TOWN POLICE

I recently watched this documentary on small-town policing. They got a lot of things right. Having been a small town cop, I can tell you that while the action is not as constant and exciting as big city law enforcement, it is in some ways more satisfying. You see the people you helped later, and […]

A BLAST FROM THE PAST (MY PAST, ANYWAY)

The Firearms Blog is one of the most interesting and instructive firearms sites on the Internet. Here’s one that brought me back…way back.  A Springfield 87-A was the first firearm I ever shot. My dad told me I was four years old. I remember him balancing the gun on his palm while I sort of […]

EMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL

In this space in the past, you’ve seen reviews of other books by T.C. Fuller, a retired FBI agent I shot matches with back in the day. His latest is “Empathy For the Devil,” focusing on his time interrogating terrorists at Guantanamo. The first thing you notice is that the Bureau has redacted certain things […]

AN ANTI-GUNNER SPEAKS

Are you a law-abiding gun owner who may have low blood pressure? I have a cure you can find in a bookstore: “What We’ve Become: Living and Dying in a Country of Arms” by Jonathan M. Metzl.  It’s sure to raise your blood pressure. Metzl’s belief system says (direct quote) “I don’t own a gun, […]