Massad Ayoob's Blog, page 19

A LESSON FROM HAITI

What’s happening now in Haiti reminds us why we have the Second Amendment. Armed gangs raided Haiti’s prisons, releasing some 4700 convicted criminals.   Rape, kidnapping, and murder are rampant. The people hide behind closed doors wondering where their next meal is coming from, and whether their doors will be kicked in by armed gang members.  The […]

FASHION TIP UTILITY TIP FROM AN UNLIKELY SOURCE

Old guy here dresses for comfort, not style. I only wear suits for court, weddings, funerals, and teaching CLE. (I think of the business suit as my shinobi shozuku, my ninja suit…it lets me blend with my environment.) I actually did publish an article in the men’s fashion magazine Gentlemen’s Quarterly back in the ‘70s, but they never did […]

STAND YOUR GROUND, ONE MORE TIME

A few states still have laws on the books requiring crime victims to attempt to retreat before using lethal force to protect themselves from deadly danger. Nebraska lawmakers, understandably, saw a need to change that and join the majority, with a “Stand Your Ground” law eliminating that requirement. As usual, the mainstream media misunderstood. As […]

WHAT’S THE STORY ON THE GLOCK SWITCH?

The so-called “Glock switch” is an attachment which fits on the rear of the slide of a Glock semi-automatic pistol and makes it capable of fully automatic fire. It essentially turns it into an approximation of a Glock 18, a selective-fire machine pistol developed at the request of military and counter-terrorist entities.  This has become […]

FAILURE ANALYSIS OF A MISBEGOTTEN LAW

When virtue-signaling politicians pass a law based on empty symbolism, it should be no surprise when it turns out to be riddled with unintended consequences. Our friend Clayton Cramer, a highly respected historian and Thinker, dissects California’s misbegotten new ammo law, here.

ACTION BEATS REACTION

A basic truth of human factors is that action beats reaction.  If you ever hear of a shooting in which the criminal suspect’s drawn gun was pointed at the ground when the cop or intended-victim armed citizen shot the suspect before he raised the gun after refusing a lawful command to drop it, consider the following: […]

IN DEFENSE OF THE BRIEF POST-INCIDENT STATEMENT

I recently did a fifteen-minute video on the Wilson Combat YouTube channel explaining why I – and a number of very experienced criminal defense lawyers – go against the common advice of “Never talk to the police” and recommend a brief statement to law enforcement in the immediate aftermath of a defensive drawn gun or […]

WHAT THE WORLD NEEDS TO KNOW ABOUT MASS SHOOTINGS

We are constantly inundated with fear-mongering about mass shootings. Fortunately, there are strategies which can work – they just aren’t “politically correct.”  I’ve taken training from Ed Monk, who in my opinion is today’s leading authority on how to respond to such atrocities.  Here’s a 52-minute explanation of the issues and the reality from Ed, courtesy […]

WHEN AN INVESTMENT PLAN FAILS

Neither I nor my lovely bride, the Evil Princess, normally play the lottery. We understand odds. It’s a loser’s game. But every now and then, it’s fun to go against the odds. One day in a convenience store, on a whim, we decided to buy a lottery ticket. Hey, it’s two dollars worth of hope, […]

HEY, THIS AIN’T BAD

Here’s something you don’t see every day: a relatively fair and even-handed look at both sides of the “gun culture” discussion. Congratulations to Spectrum News, and thanks to sociology professor David Yemane, who both appears in the video and brought it to our attention here.