Since 2003 the world has known about the inconceivable brutality of the organization that now calls itself the Islamic State. It was originally Jama’at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad (Organization of Monotheism and Jihad), the group that wrote the script for jihadist beheading videos. And yet to this day, soldiers and civilians surrender to the Islamic State after…
This is why I own guns
February 15, 2015
I never owned guns until 2006. Now I have four, and I intend to buy two more. Currently I have three revolvers and one semiautomatic carbine. At some point I’ll purchase a 12-gauge shotgun and a Springfield Armory M1A SOCOM 16. The reason I don’t have a semiautomatic rifle now is that the bullets could…
Discomfort is not assault
February 13, 2014
I just read an op-ed about artist Tony Matelli’s “Sleepwalker,” currently installed in the open at Wellesley College. Many of the students want the sculpture placed indoors because they say it makes them feel unsafe. Rather than comment on this particular contretemps, I’d like to talk about a quote from Robert Shibley, senior vice president at…
What they’re feeling in Westgate Mall
September 22, 2013
On December 28, 1995, a gunman tried to murder Tim and me at our bookstore in Norwalk, California. He was dressed all in black—including a heavy flak vest and balaclava—and he carried a TEC-9 semiautomatic pistol with a barrel extension. I drew it as part of my banishment of the incident. Tim and I were…