We’re only a week out from Christmas. If you’re looking for last-minute presents for your “gun culture” giftees, there’s still time for Amazon…and books are among my favorite gifts to both receive and deliver. Any book you want to order, click on the book cover shown below.
“FIGHTING SMARTER,” the updated version of “Fighting Smart” by my old friend and fellow instructor Tom Givens would be an excellent choice.
The book incorporates the lessons of sixty-plus of his civilian students who’ve been in gunfights on the mean streets of Memphis. None of his students has lost a gunfight, though there have been a couple of “defaults” – students who, for whatever reason, were unarmed when criminals murdered them and were thus unable to fight back. Tom constantly invokes the point of one of Jeff Cooper’s acolytes, Mark Moritz: “The first rule of gunfighting is, HAVE A GUN.” Some of the points Tom emphasizes are constant awareness, regular honing of defensive skills, using a two-hand hold and getting some sort of a sight picture if possible, and “using enough gun.” (And having enough ammo.)
“THESE ARE MY GUNS!” by Robert L. Jordan is timely, in a world where gun owners’ civil rights are once again under powerful, focused attack. It’s an excellent compendium of clear, logical arguments and statistics to defeat the BS arguments of the Prohibitionists. Those folks were tweeting all their anti-gun minions to make “gun safety” gun confiscation a family topic at Thanksgiving. Don’t know how that went on your end, but on mine, the closest we came to that at Thanksgiving was my surrogate step-daughter showing me her new holsters for her 9mm concealed carry pistol. Come to think of it, if you’re not averse to a family feud on Christmas morning, a copy of “These Are MY Guns” would make an excellent gift for anti-gunners on your Christmas list…
“Navy SEAL Shooting” by Chris Sanjog is another good example of clear writing,
and I think would be well received by any shooter on your Christmas list and particularly valuable to new shooters. Any two instructors will debate some points within their discipline, unless they’re clones of each other, but since my review copy is conspicuously marked “Advance Uncorrected Proofs,” there’s probably fewer nits I’d pick in your copy than in mine. Lots of good stuff in the Sanjog book.
“365 Guns You Must Shoot” is written by another old friend, a scholar of the gun named Tim Mullin. Now, if you think two specialists in the field might not agree on a few things, you KNOW they’re not going to agree on 365 things, but there was nothing in Tim’s newest book that wasn’t of interest, and he writes from extensive trigger-pulling experience as well as long research. This one is particularly good for the gun enthusiast who is into firearms in general.
Feel free to offer other holiday gift suggestions for shooters, here.
Books make excellent gifts. So do magazines. One can never read enough good books and one can never have enough magazines. If you choose to “gift” a loved one or friend with OEM magazines for his or her favorite projectile launcher, make sure to buy the correct magazines! Additionally, enclose a personalized note, reading as follows:
“I tried without success for weeks to sell these darn magazines door to door. Nobody wanted to purchase them! I had over 1,000 front doors slammed in my innocent face. So, here’s the deal. You are getting these darn magazines that nobody else on Earth wants. I hope that you like them. These darn magazines are better gifts than fruitcakes or ugly sweaters, aren’t they?” (YES!???)
One of my favorite gun related books is STREET SURVIVAL by Adams, McTernan, and Remsberg. The book was written primarily for law enforcement, but everyone can benefit from it as all gun owners should think like the police and use the same tactics when dealing with dangerous situations. I got this book back in the 1980’s before joining my first police department, so was much better prepared than most of the cops I served with and shared the knowledge with them and recommended they get this book and study it. All gunowners who carry their weapons should adopt the same tactics police use as these are proven methods which will make one safer in any armed encounters with the increasing numbers of bad people.
Anything written by M. Ayoob would make a wonderful gift.
Buying your loved one a membership in the Armed Citizens’ Legal Defense Network would be a grand idea. In addition to the protection it affords, new members receive 8 educational DVDs and Mas’ book Deadly Force.
My recommendations would be Deadly Force, by Massad Ayoob; The Law of Self Defense, by Andrew Branca; and Not An Easy Target, by Paxton Quigley.
And/or a gift subscription to Combat Handguns or American Handgunner.
Agree with Gerald Okins above, and would add anything, preferably everything, written by Jeff Cooper.
Well, Marty – seeing as I have already taken care of my ALCDN membership (and thanks for creating and maintaining the network, Sir!), I’m sure you would be OK if I were to invest in other areas, right? Seriously, to all those who live in a similar “arrangement” as Mas does, where guns are a very big piece of their daily puzzle, count your blessings. I am in a family situation where the only one who “knows” – is my bride – and I thank God for her! I have a growing list of books (to which I am adding your suggestions, Mas) that I fully intend to begin reading when I retire next year. Those books and all those reasonable priced, fully utile, Don-drools-over type of “gun presents” don’t exist under my tree. I am not crying, folks because I am extremely thankful for a beautiful, understanding spouse, living in the gun-friendly state of Pa., and… the greatest country in the world.
Let’s all practice the philosophy of Condition Yellow and watch out for each other!
Everyone – have a great Christmas!
Comments are closed.