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...
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...
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...
The rationale of the automatic rifle
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #70 • July/August, 2001
There are those who would ban private citizens' ownership of semiautomatic rifles. After 27 years of carrying a badge, the author profoundly disagrees.
If there is any place you...
Of kids and guns
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #68 • March/April, 2001
In the almost two years since the Columbine tragedy, American police have coined the term "active shooter." It means, in essence, a crazed gunman who is at the...
Guns, suicide prevention, and backwoods lifestyles
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #153 • May/June, 2015
Note to readers: I've served for going on twenty years as firearms editor of Backwoods Home Magazine. The following article is going to be somewhat different from what...
Terrorism in America — The armed citizen’s view
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #150 • November/December, 2014
The warnings come in non-stop...
FoxNews: "A new English-language Al Qaeda magazine features a how-to article on making car bombs and suggests terror targets in the United States, including...
Perspectives on the George Zimmerman/Trayvon Martin shooting
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #143 • September/October, 2013
The media told us a self-appointed neighborhood watch captain and wannabe cop with gun-derived courage was on patrol when he profiled a young child because he was black...
“Gun control” for dummies
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #141 • May/June, 2013
Barack Obama, outspokenly anti-gun for his entire political career, fooled an amazing number of gun owners by keeping a "hands off" attitude toward Second Amendment issues until his...
The current ‘Gun control’ push — A cop’s eye view
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #142 • July/August, 2013
First, a word of explanation. The reason "gun control" is in quotes in the title and in this sentence is because, for a very long time, the prohibitionists...
The Newtown atrocity and “gun control”
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #140 • March/April, 2013
In mid-December of 2012, a mentally disturbed twenty-year-old whose escalating aberrant behavior had gone untreated and unchecked murdered his own mother, stole her guns, and entered the Sandy...
Avoiding legal traps
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #105 • May/June, 2007
Dave Duffy wrote recently on the plight of Brad Metcalf. There are several lessons to be learned.
Metcalf represented himself, pro se, in court. This is almost never a...
The Informed Juror — How an informed jury helps safeguard liberty
By Gary F. Arnet, D.D.S.
Issue #82 • July/August, 2003
You are hereby summoned to appear for jury trial service. Failure to respond will subject you to punishment for contempt, including a $1,000 fine, imprisonment for...
Armed citizens: the deterrent factor
By Massad Ayoob
Website Exclusive • January/February, 2001
Does an armed citizenry deter tyranny and invasion? History and logic both answer emphatically, "Yes!"
Some months ago, in an article in this publication titled The Rationale of the...
Self-reliance is a mindset — A woman’s opinion
By Dorothy Ainsworth
Issue #94 • July/August, 2005
Self-reliance is a mindset. If you have it, you are on your way to independence. If you don't, it would be in your best interest to develop it....
Stumbling over your own stupidity
By John Silveira
Issue #64 • July/August, 2000
There are several morals to be found in this story. You can find most of them yourself. But I'm only interested in one of them. The story was...
