Excerpts from the writings of Jeff Cooper. May 2026
Now it happens that our elected government, after a fifteen year hiatus, has resumed the destruction of 1911 45s, M1 Garands, 03s, and Springfield 22 Trainers. Note that this has nothing whatever to do with crime. This is aimed directly at obviating the armed citizenry which is historically the only guarantee of human liberty.
Act on this at once. If you have not got a 1911, get one. If you have not got an 03, get one. If you have not got an M1, get one. (If you can possibly afford it, get two.)
Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries Vol.2, No.5 May 1994
Note that the infamous traitor, Aldridge Ames, had donated five thousand dollars of his Russian payoff to the Democratic National Committee. No comment!
Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries Vol.2, No.5 May 1994
“Battle is the sensation of life. A human being is never so alive as he is in combat. He may feel terror or he may not, but the prospect of losing his life makes it surge and flare within him. At no other time do his senses more acutely perceive the world. At no other time does his nerve fire with such spark. Never again will he weld as tight an emotional bond to others around him.”
Philip Edwards, in SOF Magazine
Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries Vol.2, No.5 May 1994
The media insist that crime is the major concern of the American public today. In this connection they generally push the point that a disarmed society would be a crime-free society. They will not accept the truth that if you take all the guns off the street you still will have a crime problem, whereas if you take the criminals off the street you cannot have a gun problem.
In the larger sense, however, the personal ownership of firearms is only secondarily a matter of defense against the criminal. Note the following from Thomas Jefferson:
“The strongest reason for the people to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against the tyranny of government.”
That is why our masters in Washington are so anxious to disarm us. They are not afraid of criminals. They are afraid of a populace which cannot be subdued by tyrants.
Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries Vol.2, No.5 May 1994
Correction I erred in a previous issue by referring to a Scout Rifle as a “proscope,” deriving from the word proskopos, which is Greek for “the one who looks out before.” David Kahn, who is up on his Greek, informs me that the proper word is proskoplopon combining proskopos (scout) with hopolon (weapon). The Scout Rifle is, therefore, properly termed a proskoplopon, and long may it wave!
Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries Vol.2, No.5 May 1994
As an example of the state of modern journalism, one Mary Gotschall, writing in National Review for April, refers to “bullet piercing ammunition” in her essay on currently proposed disarmament legislation. Now what do you suppose bullet piercing ammunition might be? The depressing thing about this is not that Miss Mary was paying no attention to what she said, but that a whole series of editors and proofreaders did not catch this matter either. The problem is not so much that the writer was ignorant, but that she was paying no attention to what she wrote – and, what is worse, neither was anyone else.
Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries Vol.2, No.5 May 1994
Family member John Schaefer of New Jersey asserts that,
“We act as if comfort and luxury were the chief requirements of life, when all that we need to be happy is something to be enthusiastic about.”
Does that explain the overwhelming passion of a large portion of the American public for the trivialities of professional sports? People who know almost nothing at all about the activity being demonstrated on the field can go practically hysterical in their enthusiasm for it – having nothing else to be enthusiastic about – it would seem.
Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries Vol.2, No.5 May 1994