HANDS ON, HANDS IN THE DIRT

A backbone of Paladin’s backlist has always been titles for the self-sufficient that you couldn’t find anywhere else. Authoritative how-to works on hand-forging blades, gun-building from the iron pile forward, financial self-sufficiency, and all nature of alternative tricks and technology on constructing arcane ordnance devices, and making do with what you have, to setting up your own self-sufficient hidey hole when the zombies take over, or hardcore survival if they find you out.

Paladin does books, but we’re the first to acknowledge that magazines are easier to read than books in some places, even if they tend to fall off the water closet. There have been a number of worthwhile magazines published over the last several decades for those of independent bent. Some were aimed for the rural lifestyle per se, some for the wannabe dirt farmer, some for those who just want to be self-sufficient and be left alone. Some have come and gone. Some of the best, like Paladin, have chosen to stay the course and serve a special niche. Some have managed to hang in there even after going yuppie on us, and some are new rising stars. We have our favorites, but all have something to offer, so here’s a rundown of what’s out there, that may be worth a look.

BACKWOODS HOME
Not so much for those who live off the beaten path, but for those who take the path less traveled, Backwoods Home offers “practical ideas for self-reliant living,” with stories on the recurring themes of Americana/history, animals, building/tools, country living, crafts and hobbies, energy, farm and garden, firearms/hunting/self-defense, food/recipes, health, kid stuff and homeschooling, and making/saving money. It has an excellent on-line article archive, and every issue has do-it-yourself projects from high-tech to kitchen-table. http://www.backwoodshome.com/

BACKWOODSMAN
Those of us who are primitives either by unfortunate genealogy, circumstance, or choice have been fans of this mag since it started back in 1980. Backwoodsman is dedicated to the preservation of Old Frontier living, primitive hunting and fishing, tool and weapons lore, and wilderness survival. Every issue has practical information, projects, and lore from the American frontier period, but in a modern context: how to grow/harvest food, build shelter, transport, weapons, clothing, tools, and so on. We’re only one good war or one great depression away from the Bronze Age, so check ’em out. http://www.backwoodsmanmag.com/

COUNTRYSIDE
For nearly a hundred years, Countryside has been one of the best on homesteading and self-reliance, by/for those who are doing. Articles emphasize self food-production (gardening, small-scale livestock), cooking, preservation, conservation, recycling, frugality, money management, alternative energy, old-time skills, home business, etc. A bimonthly, it has a superb on-line library of former articles. http://www.countrysidemag.com

MOTHER EARTH NEWS
This used to be what folks would think of when you mentioned this genre, but Mother Earth News went weak-kneed when it left Carolina for NYC and then went saccharine when they moved to Oklahoma. But just because the editorial staff no longer has dirty fingernails doesn’t mean they’re not nice folks, with something to offer. If nothing else you can get all the old down-in-the-dirt, hands-on, how-to back issues on its CD at a bargain. www.motherearthnews.com

NEW PIONEER
The new kid on the block, New Pioneer bills itself as “the complete guide for self-reliant living.” Going into issue three, it’s a strong starter, with almost all beef and no fat, and articles that are reasonable, practical, and usable for what they state is their editorial mission. A git ’er done, practical book, it has a “slick” color format on lower-grade paper, but lots of it (30-some articles plus columns in every issue). So far we like it a lot: when these folks come in for lunch, we’re sure they have to take off their boots and wash up. On newsstands and on Facebook. http://www.facebook.com/pages/New-Pioneer-magazine/148120905216104

The Gunfighter: Who Is He (or She)?

The term gunfighter is haphazardly thrown around as often as the overworked terms operator, war fighter, or warrior, which is unfortunate, as gunfighter is a word that holds deep historical significance in American culture.

I am a serious student of armed conflict, particularly the Old West, and I have been for many years. I have made the “pilgrimage” to such places as Tombstone to see where the gunfight behind the OK Corral took place, to walk the ground where the Earp brothers and Doc Holiday confronted the Cowboys. I went to Deadwood to see where Wild Bill Hickok met his demise, and where “Turkey Creek” Jack Johnson allegedly confronted two men at the same time in front of the cemetery at the end of town. I have tried to find out what Bat Masterson, Tom Horn, Luke Short, Pat Garrett, Ben Thompson, Clay Allison (who coined the phrase shootist in lieu of gunfighter), and men of their ilk thought and felt about the “business” they had undertaken, in their own words, a task that is all but impossible due to the “literary quality” of the time. Writers then were not particularly interested in the facts as much as they were interested in selling newspapers and dime novels . . . something that remains unchanged to this day.

Still, there is much to learn from the gunfighters of the Old West, as not all that much has changed over the years. As a matter of fact, I would go so far as to say that most everything we need to know about gun fighting was invented, created, or established between 1840 and 1940, with little being truly “new” since that time. My grandmother liked to say, “What is old will be new again,” and I’ll be damned if she wasn’t right.

If you want to learn something new, read an old book, as the information you seek is probably there. Weaver or Isosceles stance? Nothing new here—I have a book from 1929 that shows a line drawing of a shooter with two hands on a revolver. Point or “instinct” shooting? Nope! It didn’t start with Eric Sykes (W.E. Fairbairn often gets the credit, but Sykes originally created and taught the methodology), as a number of shootists from the 19th century talk about “directing their fire” via some degree of body index. While it is true that such men as Sykes, Jeff Cooper, and John Shaw refined the techniques and quantified their value, little is really new in regard to shooting the handgun in combat.

What separated the gunfighter of days gone by (and today) was not the technique or the weapons they used; it was their ability to be willing to stand up and exchange rounds with another human being. It wasn’t a lack of fear as much as it was an ability to control it, swallow it, and put it out of their mind whenever necessary that made such people dangerous. Bat Masterson, the legendary lawman from Dodge City, Kansas, once said the three essential attributes of a gunfighter were deliberation, accuracy, and speed, in that order.

While accuracy and speed are obvious, deliberation needs to be examined a bit further. Trying to uncover what Masterson meant by this has been challenging, but I think that I have a grasp of it based on his writings and the writings of historians who have studied his life. I believe Masterson meant deliberation as the personal attribute possessed by the gunman who would deliberately and knowingly, without hesitation, confront and fight another armed and dangerous human being, knowing he could lose his life while doing so, but still undertaking the task. Such an intense level of deliberation is huge and cannot be minimized. Few men had the wherewithal to do so then, and fewer still have that today. This, not the skill to hit a target accurately or quickly, is what made the old gunmen truly unique.

In Glendon Swarthout’s western novel The Shootist, main character J.B. Books puts the concept of deliberation into perspective when he tells young stable boy Gillom, “It’s not being fast or even accurate that counts . . . it’s being willing! Most men, regardless of cause or need, aren’t willing. They’ll blink an eye or draw a breath before they pull the trigger, and I won’t!”

Yep, it’s about being ruthless enough to kill another human being face-to-face without hesitation, but only with due cause . . . to do otherwise is just cowardly murder.

So what is a gunfighter? He’s a man (or woman) who understands that his lifestyle might take him into harm’s way and prepares for it, not just by buying the best gear, but also by prepping his mind to confront those who harm him or his loved ones. A gunfighter prepares for this by training and practicing for potential conflict, without being overly paranoid.

Preparation begins with committing to the task at hand while getting trained and staying current on tactics and techniques. One way to do this is via the combat shooting and self-defense library available at Paladin Press. While no books or videos will ever replace hands-on training with a qualified instructor, they can supplement and enhance the skills one already possesses. The diverse titles in Paladin’s Action Library cover the spectrum of individual security and preparation so that you, too, can take that first step toward being ready and willing . . . just like the gunfighters of yore.

Dave Spaulding is a retired lieutenant from the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office in Dayton, Ohio, where he worked in all facets of law enforcement, including SWAT, training, crime-scene investigation, undercover operations, and violent crime investigations. He is a graduate of most of the better-known shooting schools and the author of more than 1,000 articles in firearm and law enforcement publications. He is the author of the two best-selling books Defensive Living and Handgun Combatives, and has been featured in Ruger’s Tactical Tips at www.ruger.com.

Gun Control by Fiat?

I wasn’t invited to the Obama administration’s gun control meetings. Were you?



Surely it was a mere oversight. Because they say they invited “key stakeholders” or “relevant stakeholders in the Second Amendment debate”—and who could be more key, or more relevant, than we, the average American gun owners? After all, it’s our rights, our freedoms, and our guns they’re putting the squeeze on.



Yes, the Obama administration—after several years of blessed, but surprising silence on the issue—has resurrected “common-sense gun control” from the grave where District of Columbia v. Heller and McDonald v. Chicago tried to bury it. Sigh.



But this isn’t just about guns. It’s about rule by executive fiat—rule that is sometimes done in secret—rule that is never done with consent of The People.



Nobody knows yet what Obama’s new restrictions on gun ownership will be. What we do know is that the Obamistas have no intention—none!—of involving Congress. Whatever they do will be accomplished by “executive orders or administrative actions.”



Why bother with the messy process of legislation, when dictatorship (as George W. Bush repeatedly whined) is so much easier?



The Obamistas hint that their fiat reforms will be “not huge.” But the gradual shift to rule by executive action is huge all by itself, and we’re kidding ourselves if we think it’s just the work of one president or one party.



A related trend is rule by secret orders and secret interpretations of law. Just within the last few months, we’ve seen a lawsuit against TSA groping dismissed—get this—on the basis of a secret order issued by the very agency being sued! Also, shortly before Congress extended the USA-Patriot Act in May, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) warned cryptically that Americans would be surprised and outraged if we understood how bureaucrats and enforcers were interpreting that law. Wyden never clarified his claim, but within days we learned that the FBI—which had already granted itself vastly expanded snooping powers under the Patriot Act—was proposing even vaster new powers for its agents. They’re now giving themselves the “authority” to dig through our databases and our garbage without so much as a scrap of bureaucratic paperwork, let alone a lawful warrant.



It’s certain that we haven’t yet—and probably never will—plumb the slimy depths of federal machinations. But back to Obama’s soon-to-be executive rule: anti-gunners crow that, unlike legislation, executive orders produce “guaranteed results.”



We can surely hope so. That is, we can hope serious Americans will soon give rule by fiat the result it deserves.

—Claire Wolfe

For more from Claire Wolfe on the right to bear arms, government excesses, and freedom, read The Bad Attitude Guide to Good Citizenship, The Freedom Outlaw’s Handbook, and I Am Not a Number!

A new twist on off-the-grid living

A couple of homesteaders in Maine have come up with a creative way to establish a home off the power grid for as little money as possible. For a mere fifteen-hundred bucks, they purchased two surplus shipping containers (20 feet long by 8 feet high by 8 feet wide) and stocked them with a cluster of alternative energy appliances (propane heater, composting toilet, etc.) and such space-saving furniture as fold-up beds and tables. They collect and filter rainwater from a nearby stream, and they have plans to install a windmill to supplement their existing solar power generation system.

"We'll take that one!" House hunting at the harbor. Actually, the couple bought their two containers on eBay. (Photo © iStockphoto.com/travellinglight)

If a 20 x 8 x 8 footprint sounds a bit too cramped for you, Paladin offers other options to consider. In his book Dirt Cheap Survival Retreat, survival and self-reliance expert M.D. Creekmore (SurvivalistBlog.net) presents his well-thought-out and -executed blueprint for living in a 26-foot travel trailer on 2 acres with an independent water source and enough space to raise a productive garden and some chickens, rabbits, and goats. (Cost for land: $2,000.) You may be surprised just how "doable" it is after reading his book.

For you do-it-yourselfers, take a look at Mike Mulligan's guide to building a simple off-grid log cabin retreat or, in the first volume of Tough Times Survival Guide, Phil Garlington's even simpler plan for constructing a modest but comfortable desert hogan out of scrap lumber and sandbags.

In Tough Times, you'll also find perhaps the ultimate approaches to mortgage- and utility-free living: year round in a tent (Garlington again) or out on the streets! (See Ace Backwords' instructive chapter, "Living on the Streets: 8 Things You'll Need and 10 Places to Sleep.")

U.S. Army sniper praises Maritime Sniper Manual

"Having conducted dozens of combat operations as a sniper and having graduated from the Army sniper school, I would not have thought that this book would be packed full of new content that I had never heard before."

Click here for U.S. Army SpecOps veteran Jack Murphy's entire review of Maritime Sniper Manual.

Author Fredrik C. Jonsson is donating a portion of his royalties to the nonprofit group American Snipers to assist other professional snipers in the ongoing global war on terror.

Al-Qaeda Hit List

Paladin has always been the best source of practical, actionable, gritty information—often found nowhere else—on the related topics of personal privacy, personal security, and executive protection. And skill at arms when preventive measures fail. These diverse facets of the same life-saving skill set are not just for the paranoid.

A website linked to al-Qaeda has posted a hit list naming specific American business, political, and media leaders, according to FBI reports. The FBI sent a bulletin to law-enforcement agencies nationwide and notified individuals on the list. If you did not get a “heads-up,” that doesn’t mean you’re home free. This was but one site, al-Qaeda is but one association of lunatic terrorists, and it only takes one excited zealot to be dangerous.

FBI spokesman said these “more sinister” calls for individual action were directed to operators “already in the United States,” advising them to select and target the persons easiest for them to attack. The site urges attacks on the targets in their homes. The list includes Wall Street personalities, political leaders, think-tank leaders, and contractors who do business with the military.

The site in question contains 40 names, 26 of whom have accompanying photos. The FBI memo to law enforcement said that the list “is aspirational and it’s unknown if the threat will progress beyond these discussion forums.” Like most chest-beating losers, the web minions of al-Qaeda are known for making web threats with no follow-through. The FBI noted however, that this is the first time specific individuals have been targeted.

Michael Balboni, former New York State Homeland Security director told NBC, “What’s scary about this is how specific the individual information is. . . . What you don’t know is, when does aspirational become operational in cases like this, involving a possible lone actor here inspired by a website.”

DIY weapons of the Libyan rebels

Here's an interesting photo essay to go along with our earlier piece on Libyan rebels' efforts to arm themselves against Muammar Qaddafi's forces. Originally appeared in The Atlantic magazine.