Col. Jeff Copper: Gone to the Great Range in the Sky

I log to my favorite Discussion Board and I am slapped by the news that Col. Jeff Cooper has passed away. Col. Cooper was the Father of modern defensive pistolcraft. The Alpha of all the "new" tactics & techniques that we use to train and fight with a handgun. Directly or indirectly, millions of shooters today use one or many of the techniques he developed and there are not enough “thank yous” in this world to express the debt we owe him.

I never had the pleasure to meet the man. Those who did describe him as cantankerous, self-assured and a teacher. His tongue was as deadly as his guns and I am gonna let the Colonel himself shoot away:

-Remember the first rule of gunfighting... "have a gun."

-One cannot legislate the maniacs off the street... these maniacs can only be shut down by an armed citizenry. Indeed bad things can happen in nations where the citizenry is armed, but not as bad as those which seem to be threatening our disarmed citizenry in this country at this time.

-Owning a handgun doesn't make you armed any more than owning a guitar makes you a musician.

-Pick up a rifle and you change instantly from a subject to a citizen.

-One bleeding-heart type asked me in a recent interview if I did not agree that "violence begets violence." I told him that it is my earnest endeavor to see that it does. I would like very much to ensure—and in some cases I have—that any man who offers violence to his fellow citizen begets a whole lot more in return than he can enjoy.

-Individually, we do not bear arms because we are afraid. We bear arms as a declaration of capacity. An armed man can cope - either in the city or in the wilderness - and because he is armed, he is not afraid.