Boston on Guns and Courage

Boston on Guns and Courage
By The Hunter

There are a few books and essays that should be in any freedom lover's library. Their titles sweep down through history, recording in concrete form the deep, vital roots of freedom. Every few years another appears that cries out to be added to this fount of knowledge. It is perhaps a sign of the times that many such additions have appeared in the past few years. Some expound ideas, others record events, a few make predictions or issue warnings, and yet others explain vital techniques and skills needed for "eternal vigilance". I've just put down the third and final edition of a remarkable book that combines all of these – Boston's Gun Bible.

Originally published in 1998 as Boston on Guns and Courage, then in revised form as Boston's Gun Bible in 2000, this 2002 revision adds 10 new chapters and 200 pages of new material. Boston T. Party set out to write a comprehensive review and instruction manual detailing small arms for the freedom movement. He has succeeded far beyond any reasonable expectation: this is quite simply the single best book on selecting, using, maintaining, training with, and understanding firearms that has been written to date.

Even that sweeping statement does not begin to address the full value of this remarkable magnum opus. It strongly emphasizes the point that even the best firearm is simply a delivery system, the real weapon is the mind and will directing it. He tries and I believe succeeds admirably to give you guidance in every aspect of the philosophy, mechanics, and use of firearms in the defense of Liberty.

The section headings dividing the work into broad themes give a clue of the scope and sweep. "The Basics", "Battle Rifles", "All Other Guns", "Acquisition", "Disarmament", and "Courage" organize the 46 chapters into categories of knowledge. My only critique of the organization is a minor dislike of the page numbering scheme, which begins again in each chapter.

All throughout, you gain not only a mechanical and kinesthetic appreciation for guns, but also an understanding of their importance and history. The painstaking hands on reviews of different firearms and related products are masterfully interwoven with philosophical expositions and shrewd political observations. Boston does not just tell you how to shoot, or even just when, but why? He unabashedly includes scathing (but fair) rebukes to sport shooters, armchair patriots, and theory-bound libertarians right alongside vital chapters on firearms safety, situational awareness, the legal ramifications of self defense, and enough of the history of their development and use to gain a good perspective on their importance.

There are chapters on talking to gun-control advocates, others predicting the future course of disarmament attempts, ratings of all 50 states' laws regarding guns, and frank practical advice of the logistics and legal ins and outs of buying, selling, and trading firearms. All through the text he liberally quotes historical figures and philosophers ranging from Machiavelli to the Founding Fathers, and contemporary commentators from Pete Shields of gun-grabbing fame to the late Robert Heinlein to illuminate his points. Frequent references to further reading or contact information for sources of specific products are a big help in following his advice or checking his facts.

Good as the factual information and advice is, though, the last chapters composing the section "Courage" are what set Boston's Gun Bible apart from all the other firearms manuals I've read. Boston understands that the real shortcomings of today's American patriots are not in material or training, but in morale and courage. He combines a frank assessment of the faults he perceives in how Americans think about freedom with blunt advice about how to regain that lost spirit and will to fight.

He gives you the bad news that in his informed view it is too late:

Then the encouraging (good being an inappropriate adjective) news that the believers in liberty have the upper hand (emphasis BTP's):

Even if 99% of the guns could be collected, there would still be 2.4 million left in the hands of 750,000 very upset Patriots.

per capita

Boston closes with an appeal for reason directed at the enemies of freedom in this country, but one that also serves as a stark warning. Here's just enough to whet your appetite and get you madly clicking on the www.javelinpress.com website to buy a copy:

In no time in history has an oppressive government been so thoroughly and fairly warned to back off. Not even the 1770s English were. When you weren't playing deaf to our pleas, you scoffed at them. We have not resorted to violence. We have only rarely resorted to righteous self-defense. No oppressed people, with the arms to resist, have ever been more patient. Your greed for Power and Control has nearly dried up our tolerance (Pg. 44/3)

Even if you do successfully disarm the people, materially and spiritually, you will still lose. The more responsibility you take away from them, the more irresponsible they will become.

[…]

Either way, you will lose, and that's the lovely irony of it all. Whether you geld or tolerate this independent mustang of the American people, you will lose. Either way, our presence or our absence will destroy you. (Irony's a bitch, ain't it?)

Back off.

Back off, now, before you step into the abyss.

Back off, now, while you are allowed to. (Pg. 44/5)

Whether or not you love guns as much as Boston and I, if you love Liberty you owe it to yourself to buy a copy of Boston's Gun Bible.

[Editor's Note: This was originally published at The Sierra Times in 2002. The website is no longer available and the archives are mostly lost. Republished with permission of the author, who retained all copyrights.]

Hunter's Seventeenth Rule: The only truly dangerous weapon is the mind.

The Hunter is an expatriate Kansas farmboy who went east to find his fortune years ago. What he found instead was a pack of damn-fool statists. He's been trying to lose them ever since. He splits his time these days between writing, cutting wood, shooting, wondering whether there are any freedom-loving single women in the world, and trying to survive and make ends meet in the howling wilderness of New England. He can usually be found slouching about the Liberty Round Table and annoying the libertarians there with blunt talk and stubborn practicality.

A Knight of Non-Aggression is a person committed to fighting institutionalized aggression, who has taken the following oath:

"I swear, by my life and my love of It, to fight against all forms of tyranny. I recognize that the enabling idea that underlies and sustains tyranny is the idea that the socially organized and institutionalized initiation of the use of force against non-consenting and unwilling people can be justified, is desirable, and must be given sanction in order to avoid chaos. I further recognize that no lasting liberty can be achieved until the falsehood of this idea is widely known and pledge my life, my fortune, and my sacred honor to exposing this falsehood.

"To this battle I will turn my creative energy, I will give my time and I will devote my very being, while never allowing my self, my efforts or my cause to become the aggressor, never conceding the premise of the enemy by becoming the enemy."

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