March 1959 Guns Magazine is now online

March 8, 2:22 PMGun Rights ExaminerDavid Codrea

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© FMG Publications

It is once again my pleasure to bring to Gun Rights Examiner readers a special treat. I've told you before how Guns Magazine, where I write the monthly "Rights Watch" column, posts their issue from 50 years ago on their website.

Here's the March 1959 issue, available as a free download.

As you'll see, their crystal ball was on the fritz:

THE American Revolution was a popular revolution. It differed from more recent types in that there was no mass defection of government troops, no palace coup by military junta. The people formed their own militia, took their own guns to war. The revolution in Cuba (recognized by the U.S. the instant it succeeded) was such a struggle. Few of the military went over to Castro until the last minute. Yet he got guns, and good ones. From where? From the U.S., mostly, just as we in our turn had earlier got guns from France, from the Marquis de LaFayette. The ease with which Castro got guns should serve as a signal to the embers of neo-fascism elsewhere. The story "Where Castro Gets His Guns" is history written today.

Unfortunately, like most of the press who didn't recognize they were being deceived by a communist thug, the magazine was hardly prescient here. They had no way of knowing that Castro would later ask the ominous question "Armas para que?" ("Guns for what?") to consolidate his own grip on power.*

What we see in hindsight is some little-publicized history--including allegations that the State Department held up arms shipments to the Batista government while the FBI and CIA did not stop half the shipments to the rebels. Interesting.  One wonders how unintended the consequences we live with today really were.

But back to the magazine: What was prescient was a letter to the editor in the "Crossfire" section:

"Where Are Tomorrow's Minute Men?" really interested me...It might interest your readers to know that here in my area most people think Civil Defense and even a small amount of preparedness is a waste of time. One fellow told me I was crazy for even thinking about it. I find trying to explain anything to most of them is useless. I wish there were some way to wake them up.

Amen, brother. I wish there were too, and can't help but wonder what our heirs will be saying 50 years from now.

Anyway, go through the whole magazine and enjoy it. Meet "The Rifleman Who Stunned the World." Marvel at "Rifles for the Space Age" (or at that nylon sweater).  Learn how "Police Quick Draw Can Improve Your Chances." All this and much more: just remember when you see some of those prices, a dollar went a lot farther back in those days.


* From "Guerrilla Prince: The Untold Story of Fidel Castro," by Georgie Anne Geyer (pg. 200)