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Don't Say "I've Got a Gun!" - Massad Ayoob examines the Philando Castile case - Critical Mas Ep 25

Versatility, dependable function, and high hit potential are among the reasons why so many of us cling to a 110-year-old pistol design. However, we have a couple of generations of gun owners who didn’t grow up with that particular pistol — the 1911 — and can benefit from the experiences with it of those who have gone before. Let’s look at a few “hacks” that make life with the 1911 a little bit easier and, even, safer. Safest grasp for holstering: thumb safety engaged, shooters thumb holding the hammer, no pressure on grip safety and the finger off of the...

"We live in a world where the entertainment media and the news media alike have demonized the firearm as a frightening, high-efficiency killing machine. A myth has arisen that I call “hierarchy of lethality.” It is the false belief that the firearm represents the nuclear level of hand-held weaponry, and is somehow more lethal than other deadly weapons...."

I generally recommend that people buy guns the way they'd buy power tools, or automobiles, or homes. Assess your needs, analyze your budget, correlate it all with your ability to utilize the thing you're buying, and you'll probably be happy with your purchase and get a lot of productive use out of it. It's the logical thing. Unfortunately, we humans are not always creatures of logic. Sometimes, we are creatures of emotion, and anyone who has dealt with emotion-driven arguments that are without logic — oh, most of the "gun control" arguments, for example — know the downside of that....

Many advise people involved in shootings to say nothing to the police. I’m not among them. I’ve seen too many cases where declining to speak is heard as “I ain’t sayin’ nuttin’ ‘til my mouthpiece gets here,” and only the bad guy’s side of the story gets told or assumed. I do recommend that people caught up in these things tell the responding officers the nature of the attack on them which forced them to fire, and indicate that they’ll sign a complaint on the perpetrator. I also recommend pointing out evidence and witnesses, because both tend to disappear otherwise....

ST. LUCIE COUNTY — A small helicopter that crashed Saturday in far western St. Lucie County was carrying an internationally known firearms expert who was hunting wild hogs from the air using a handgun. Live Oak resident Massad Ayoob, 64, his hunting companion Jonathan Strayer, 46, and pilot William Harward, 55, were above the tree tops, at about 100 feet, when the Hiller helicopter lost power and plunged to the ground around 9:15 a.m. Saturday, Ayoob said Monday. “A few minutes into the flight, as we were zoning in on an oinker that had run under the canopy of some...

The death almost a month ago of 17-year old Trayvon Martin at the hands of appointed neighborhood watch leader George Zimmerman has become a cause célèbre that has even drawn the notice of our President, who notes that if he had a son he would probably look like Trayvon. I’m seeing some defending Zimmerman, and most demanding his head on a platter, and a whole lot of people who don’t understand how the justice system is geared to approach these things. As I’ve said earlier in this blog, in answer to reader query, we don’t know enough about what happened...

All of us shooters give lip service to proselytizing: “Take a new shooter to the range!” “Take someone hunting for the first time!” Few actually DO it, however, at least very often. Once again, US Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia inspires us. Just caught this from Eugene Volokh: http://volokh.com/2011/10/23/another-hunter-on-the-high-court/ Kudos to Justice Scalia for taking the time to do this. And kudos to Justice Kagan for being open-minded. Scalia has obviously been a voice of reason for our side. Kagan has not. Will her new perspective be reflected in her next analysis of these issues on the highest Bench in...

If you’ve read my column in Backwoods Home Magazine for any length of time, you’ve noticed how frequently I’ve made the point that it’s close to hopeless for a smaller person to try to shoot well with a gun too big or too long in the stock for them, and easier for a larger person to adapt to a gun that’s too small. Well, this past weekend, I was reminded that there actually is such a thing as a gun too small for the largest shooters. I was at a Glock match in Orlando (www.gssfonline.com) with the usual suspects and...

Moderate power firearms By Massad Ayoob Robert Ruark, the great American writer of the mid-Twentieth Century, was also a big game hunter. One of his most popular books, written on the latter topic, was titled Use Enough Gun. That has proven over the decades to be really good advice. That said, there are also a lot of people who use "too much gun." One of the last century's top authorities on guns and hunting was Jack O'Connor, a contemporary of Ruark's. O'Connor was an advocate of medium-powered hunting rifles: the .30-06 Springfield, the 7mm Mauser (also known as 7X57mm),...

<p>The year was 1873. Samuel Colt had invented the revolver—or at least introduced it to America—in 1836. The Colt Navy .36 and Army .44 cap-n’-ball revolvers had been the primary handguns of the Civil War, and had proven themselves the dominant cavalry weapons of that conflict. Smith & Wesson had leapt ahead of Colt’s Patent Firearms with the Rollin White patent for the self-contained cartridge. That patent had now run out, and Colt was not going to let its arch rival take over the market. Colt now offered the world a new revolver. Sam Colt had passed away, and one William Mason was the new gun’s designer.</p>

Reflections on "Reflections"By David Codreacodrea4@adelphia.netAugust 26, 2002Why has Massad Ayoob praised John Ashcroft in his "Reflections on the Second Amendment" op-ed? Yes, the Attorney General has given us fine words regarding the Second Amendment, but he refuses to back them up. Instead, he maintains that ALL federal gun control laws are constitutional, falling within the scope of "reasonable and compelling state interest" restrictions. Add to this the push to add more federal prosecutors specifically dedicated to prosecuting "gun crimes" in support of Project Exile/Safe Neighborhoods, a federal power grab violating both the Second and the Tenth Amendments.With all due respect...

Reflections on the Second AmendmentBy Massad Ayoob Backwoods Home Magazine, Issue #77September/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 an individual right rather than an assurance of a state’s right to organize a militia. She also asked specifically how I felt about it. Well, Molly, I can’t speak for Dave Duffy and John Silviera and the rest of the crew, though I strongly suspect that they were as delighted with it as I was. When I heard the...