Colonol Jeff Cooper, philosopher, author, history instructor, adventurer, columnist - widely recognised as the father of the Modern Technique of handgun shooting - died on Monday peacefully at the age of 86.
This is a man who made a mark. (Actually, he made thousands of .45 caliber holes, if we’re talking literally.) Colonol Cooper coined terms, created standards and did so with a wealth of sheer life experience.
Anyone who has received pistol training has been influenced by the teaching of Colonol Cooper, beknowest to them or not. When I qualified for my Arizona concealed weapons permit last year, I was not aware that the handgun techniques taught to me during my training were those emphasised by Cooper: the Weaver stance, the four ‘conditions’ of a semiautomatic pistol, the colour-coded combat mindset, and the four basic rules of gun safety that now form an integral part of almost every firearms training doctrine.
But further to that, Colonol Cooper was a political philosopher who was thoughtful about learning from human history and advocated that civilians not only be permitted to own and carry firearms but that they be encouraged to do so: “The rifle is a weapon. Let there be no mistake about that. It is a tool of power, and thus dependent completely upon the moral stature of its user. It is equally useful in securing meat for the table, destroying group enemies on the battlefield, and resisting tyranny. In fact, it is the only means of resisting tyranny, since a citizenry armed with rifles simply cannot be tyrannized.”
And these are wise words on the debate about gun control: “The rifle itself has no moral stature, since it has no will of its own. Naturally, it may be used by evil men for evil purposes, but there are more good men than evil, and while the latter cannot be persuaded to the path of righteousness by propaganda, they can certainly be corrected by good men with rifles”.
Comments on Cooper’s passing at libertarian blog Samizdata.net today include: “A fine man. Colonel Cooper changed the world of personal security.” “The fact that I can actually hit a man-sized target at 30 feet is attributable to him.” “I couldn’t begin to list the number and nature of that which I’ve learned from his writings.” “A gentleman’s gentleman.” “Remember him to for the concept of the Scout Rifle.”
Cooper was also responsible for coining the term ‘hoplophobia’ to describe an irrational fear of firearms, a phobia that is perhaps more common today than a fear of heights. He didn’t mind hunting either, regarding the African gorilla as one of the top pistol trophies: “If you threaten his group he will charge, and a charging gorilla is a fearful spectacle. To stand your ground with a handgun and flatten him at 15 feet is man’s work.”
Folks: Where are such men in our legislature?
John Wright
29 responses so far ↓
1 Rosalita Paglia // Sep 28, 2006 at 1:13 pm
This man was one of the best. My husband and I went through a course at Front Sight near Las Vegas a few years ago which was directly influenced by Jeff Cooper. My favorite Cooper quote is when someone asked him if we needed gun control because of all the shootings in Los Angeles, he said ‘The consensus is that no more than five to ten people in a hundred who die by gunfire in Los Angeles are any loss to society. These people fight small wars amongst themselves. It would seem a valid social service to keep them well-supplied with ammunition.’ HAHAHA!
2 Chris, AZ // Sep 28, 2006 at 2:18 pm
Where, indeed? This guy was articulate, scholarly, and yet devoted to the idea of individual liberty and the pursuit of adventure. He will be missed!
3 Jeff // Sep 29, 2006 at 8:31 am
Sounds like a great man.
4 S Quinney // Oct 1, 2006 at 9:33 pm
I hadn’t heard of Jeff Cooper before reading this post, the link you gave is great and his wikipedia entry is rather interesting.
5 John Wright // Oct 2, 2006 at 8:31 am
Rosalita- I’ve heard of the Front Sight institute although have never been there. And the quote you gave about LA is priceless.
6 Bill Corr // Oct 2, 2006 at 3:37 pm
why do we need fire arms in society to-day boys with their toys.
7 Brian // Oct 2, 2006 at 7:03 pm
Bill, you clearly are living in a dreamworld. Why do we need firearms? Because there are people who are victims of crime, rape and murder who would NOT be at the whim of their attackers if they were allowed to possess firearms.
Rather I think the onus is on YOU who wants to ban firearms to tell me why you are wishing to disarm the most vulnerable of our society???? And why “boys with their toys” should also be banned, if that’s what you see firearms as?
8 S Quinney // Oct 3, 2006 at 8:35 am
And that is precisely the problem Bill. You say you have seen at first hand experience what firearms do, but a firearm is just a tool my friend; rather, you have seen first hand what human EVIL can do. Attributing this evil to a firearm is like attributing the building of a house to a hammer rather than the builder who USED the hammer to build it!
You mention the Northern Ireland troubles. But 99 percent of the firearms used for evil purposes during that time were ILLEGAL. You acknowledge this, saying that whether firearms are legal or illegal they can be used for evil purposes. That’s precisely the point Brian was trying to make - if bad guys have guns regardless of the law, then why would laws banning guns help us out any? To the contrary, the laws banning guns simply remove any adequate means of protection from a populace who are now incapable of defending themselves properly!
9 John Wright // Oct 3, 2006 at 8:46 am
Hi guys. I’ve written four articles on this subject that are indexed here; they may be a better primer for debate as they cover the points that Quinney and Brian raise.
10 Brian // Oct 3, 2006 at 8:51 am
Bill…. you’re doing a great job of proving my point!!!! Guns aren’t the problem, human evil is! So why ban guns? Why not ban hammers which are used in more spousal abuse than any other weapon?????
11 BILL // Oct 3, 2006 at 9:04 am
The more guns you put into legal circulation, the more availability and potential you give the criminal, having a legal fire arm won’t make a difference.
12 S Quinney // Oct 3, 2006 at 9:11 am
Bill, I’m afraid there just isn’t any evidence to back up your assertion. Gun crime in England is at an all-time high right now. Pray tell, where did they get the guns, since all guns are illegal???
13 BILL // Oct 3, 2006 at 9:14 am
Legal gun dealers who also have black market trade.
14 S Quinney // Oct 3, 2006 at 9:17 am
So they got the guns from the black market. ILLEGAL guns. Not legal guns, but illegal.
Doesn’t that make nonsense of your assertion that allowing citizens to own guns legally is responsible for gun crime?
15 Brian // Oct 3, 2006 at 9:25 am
Wow, I didn’t realize John that you had written those great articles on this subjet… Bill have you read them? They are very compelling. http://www.libertarianreason.com/2006/05/defending-firearms-index.html
16 BILL // Oct 3, 2006 at 9:45 am
In the 14 deadliest mass shootings committed in wealthy nations during the past 35 years, 79% of the victims were shot with lawfully held firearms (185 of 233 victims),86% of these mass shooting (12 of 14) were committed by lawful gun owners.29 Jul 1999 Atlanta, GA, USA 12 + 1 dead, Legal guns, 16 Oct 1991 Killeen, TX, USA 23 + 1 dead, Legal guns, 18 Jun 1990 Jacksonville, FL, USA 9 + 1 dead, Legal guns, 06 Dec 1989 Montreal, Canada 14 + 1 dead, Legal guns, 20 Aug 1986 Edmond, OK, USA 14 + 1 dead, Legal guns, 18 Jul 1984 San Ysidro, CA, USA 21 + 1 dead, Legal guns, 01 Aug 1966 Austin, TX, USA 16 + 1 dead, Legal guns.
17 S Quinney // Oct 3, 2006 at 9:49 am
Bill you wouldn’t be tugging the facts along behind your theories, would you? “deadliest mass shootings” is a very selective statistic, why don’t you look at ALL shootings? You’d see a very different picture. But while you’re talking about deadly shootings, what about Dunblane School - happened in Scotland where such firearms are illegal, or the school shooting a couple of weeks ago in Canada where such firearms are illegal.
18 BILL // Oct 3, 2006 at 9:54 am
Mass killings have a bigger impact on society.
19 S Quinney // Oct 3, 2006 at 9:59 am
Bill, that’s not the point. The point is that you’re trying to prove that guns should be illegal because it would prevent death and I’m telling you that’s not bourne out by the figures. Meantime you are focusing only on shootings which took place en masse, which constitutes less than HALF A PERCENT of shootings. Why are you focusing on less than half a percent of shootings? Could it be because gun-control-network.org is the site you found that best matched your theory?
20 Brian // Oct 3, 2006 at 10:02 am
S Quinney I’m sure that if Bill actually read the statistics on this blog (that John posted earlier) he would have a change of mind, but my guess is that he hasn’t read them.
21 Anonymous // Oct 3, 2006 at 4:38 pm
Just delete the truth:
22 Anonymous // Oct 3, 2006 at 4:41 pm
Why put a delete bin on Bill’s post; how can you delete the truth.The facts speak for themselves.
23 Bill Corr // Oct 3, 2006 at 4:48 pm
Samuel Corr.
Margaret Caulfield.
YOU ARE REMEMBERED.
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years contemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.
JUST BIN THE TRUTH
24 BILL // Oct 3, 2006 at 4:57 pm
Joh 8:32 and the truth shall make you free.‘
25 Bill Corr // Oct 3, 2006 at 5:02 pm
Bill the bin: get real john “truth”
26 Anonymous // Oct 3, 2006 at 5:13 pm
John just like your “DA” can’t own upto the truth.
27 John Wright // Oct 3, 2006 at 6:18 pm
If someone is deleting comments, I’d like to know about it. Please contact me at johnwright@libertarianreason.com if you want to report any abuse of this blog. Other than that, I’ll have to assume that Bill has been deleting his own comments, and if that’s what he wishes to do then I won’t stop him.
28 John Wright // Oct 3, 2006 at 6:31 pm
Anonymous- I’d like to find out what you meant by that comment.
29 Stephen // Oct 4, 2006 at 1:52 am
Holy crap…I’m off on paternity leave and when I return the blog’s on fire…
Interesting blog John…enjoyed it very much.
I’d weigh in here with some further comments, but I probably don’t need to.
SG
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