Analyzing Obama on guns
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #158 • March/April, 2016
In early January, 2016, after announcing his "executive actions on guns" and talking on CNN's "Town Hall Meeting," President Barack Obama admitted that when he and his wife...
BHM hosts Appleseed marksmanship event
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #139 • January/February, 2013
Long a supporter of the Appleseed concept, Backwoods Home Magazine hosted one in Gold Beach, Oregon, in second quarter 2012. Naturally, a good time was had by all....
Answering some well asked questions about personal defense
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #97 • January/February, 2006
Jeff Yago, Backwoods Home's energy writer, recently completed a couple of concealed carry handgun courses. The classes apparently left some questions hanging in the air, and Jeff passed...
How big a gun do you need?
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #99 • May/June, 2006
We Americans like to do things in a big way. Big houses. Big cars. Big boats. And, yes, big guns.
There are good arguments for all this, of course....
Choose your ammo… police style
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #93 • May/June, 2005
One of our greatest modern gun experts, Lt. Col. Jeff Cooper, USMC, Ret., once made the observation that the bullet is more important than the gun. The gun,...
Armed civilians can help fight terrorism
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #90 • November/December, 2004
This article was written before terrorists seized a school in Beslan, a town in North Ossetia, one of the small republics that make up the modern Russian Federation....
Firearms — Tools of rural living
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #91 • January/February, 2005
So, editor Dave Duffy and I got to talking about guns. We agreed that for some people they are sporting equipment like a Spaulding racquet or a Big...
Common sense about burglary prevention
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #89 • September/October, 2004
Read this month's editorial. Publisher Dave Duffy got burgled. The residue of hurt this experience leaves behind is a primal thing that you never get over entirely. It...
How to shoot a handgun accurately
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #85 • January/February, 2004
"I want you to do an article on how to shoot a handgun accurately," Dave Duffy told me. "Make it 2,500 or 3,000 words."
Long ago, I would have...
Body language and threat recognition
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #87 • May/June, 2004
Reader mail indicates that while some Backwoods Home readers turn to this column for advice on putting wild game on the table or keeping four-footed poachers out of...
In time of war — The Israeli answer to terrorism
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #81 • May/June, 2003
When war seems imminent, citizens think about protecting themselves. The war of the moment involves a declared enemy that has already used unconventional tactics to murder some three...
1911: The classic homeland security pistol
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #83 • September/October, 2003
If you've read American firearms history at all, you know the lore of the .45 automatic. How during the Philippine insurrection, the newly issued .38 revolver failed miserably...
Firearms and cold weather considerations
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #79 • January/February, 2003
Many of our readers have established their abodes in places which, during the winter months, do not exactly draw the beachgoers. The older I get, the less the...
Reflections on the Second Amendment
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #77 • September/October, 2002
A reader named Molly e-mailed a note to the office of BHM asking what the editor thought of Attorney General Ashcroft's recent affirmation of the Second Amendment as...
Sight and sound enhancement
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #71 • September/October, 2001
Enhancing vision and hearing can make you a safer, more effective shooter, and sometimes can save human lives.
Captain Ayoob prepares to trigger his MP5 with SureFire light unit...
Do rural homeowners need guns for self-defense?
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #72 • November/December, 2001
Do rural homeowners need guns for self-defense? Sometimes they do and sometimes they don't, according to Ayoob's experience, but those who did never really knew they would until...