Massad Ayoob's Blog, page 15

VIOLENT DEATH IN FALLUJAH

Self-defense is, by definition, lawful countervailing violence. Unpleasant as it is we have to confront it if we’re going to be prepared to protect ourselves and those within our mantle of protection. You can learn a lot about this from warfighters who have been in combat, up close and personal. I recently re-read “House to […]

DISPATCH FROM THE FAR NORTH

At home the daily highs were averaging about 98 degrees Fahrenheit and occasionally hitting three digits before the tremendous humidity added to the heat factor. I was glad I was scheduled to go north of North Pole. Not north of the North Pole, mind you, but to Fairbanks which is slightly north of the town […]

GUNPOINT

One of the prevailing myths out there about armed self-defense is that you mustn’t draw unless you’re going to shoot. In a word, BULLSHIT! How do people who propound that crap reconcile their advice with the fact that in every single study of DGUs (defensive gun usages) the overwhelming majority end with the bad guy […]

ARC ROAD

Most cops, and many armed citizens, remember the 1963 incident in Los Angeles involving Officers Campbell and Hettinger. Two scumbags got the drop on one of these plainclothesmen, and ordered the other to surrender his weapon or they’d kill his partner. The second officer complied. The two were kidnapped and driven to a rural area.  Campbell […]

SLAM IT LOADED, EASE IT EMPTY

A while back I shared a video here that I did for Wilson Combat as to why, when the pistol is empty, you should ease the slide forward rather than slamming it down. Slamming it is ruinous to sear engagements on 1911s, and on any pistol adds wear to the locking lugs.Here’s a fellow on […]

THOUGHTS ON POST-SHOOTING TRAUMA

When I was a kid, I regularly watched “Naked City,” a police melodrama set in New York that was on TV in the late ‘50s and early ‘60s. One of the main characters was a young cop just barely promoted from patrolman to detective. In this particular episode, he’s one of several cops chasing a […]

BLACK BEARS CAN BE DEADLY

From Outdoor Life magazine comes this reprint of a gripping account from the archives.   There are many learning points. Grizzlies aren’t the only bears to worry about. Black bears, like this one, can be man-killers too. A powerful handgun is more decisive than bear spray. A .45 Colt single action revolver saved this hunter’s life. A handloaded […]

THE NEXT TIME YOU HEAR “THE POLICE DON’T HAVE A DUTY TO PROTECT YOU”…

… remember this. Half a decade ago at the Parkland school massacre, Deputy Scot Peterson, the assigned school resource officer, failed to “ride to the sound of the guns.” Many kids were killed. They called Peterson “the coward of Broward” and  \years later, tried him for child endangerment. He was acquitted, largely because his defense lawyers […]

STARKWEATHER

I remember reading about Charles Starkweather’s murderous rampage when it happened. It was 1958 and I was about ten years old. I don’t recall the newspapers in the East carrying all the horrific details of what he did to some of his eleven victims in the course of his long killing spree. I do remember […]

BACK FROM THE PIN SHOOT

I am home from my favorite match, The Pin Shoot in Central Lake, Michigan.  A good time was had by all, methinks, because in seven days I didn’t hear a single complaint. We had a hundred seventy-some men and women (and kids!) in attendance. In addition to the .22 events, some of the younglings turned in […]