Boston's Gun Bible

I do have one caveat. The author is obviously and tremendously trained in almost all aspects of martial arts. Yes, shooting is a martial art too. However, to my knowlegde, and Boston makes no reference to it in anything I have read by him, that he has taken down an oppenent with karate, knife, etc., or had someone in his custody and 'under his gun', much less shot anyone or been shot at. Its not like I have either, but if Boston has one weakness, it is this. No practical combat experience. You might want to balance his book with other material by bona fide veterans, etc.


Inspiring careful reflection and considered action   December 27, 2002
H. Montandon (Walnut Creek, CA USA)
57 out of 63 found this review helpful

Boston's Gun Bible, written by Kenneth W. Royce, is scholarly and philosophical, as well as passionate, political and technical. It is no accident that Mr. Royce cites the ultra-science fiction/political satire, Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon, as "one of the five best novels I have ever read". Like Stephenson's book (Stephenson is postmodern Melville) Royce's "Bible" is a collage, a pastiche, a rich simmering brew of humor, ideas, opinions, cant, rant and instruction.

Given the book's patchwork style, I think it best to review it according to themes. There are three I will consider: 1. Technical Aspects of Firearms; 2. Philosophy of Firearms;
3. Politics. Other themes which are thoughtfully developed in the 848 page book are on the laws governing gun use, women and guns, self-defense, tactics and training, combat rifle history and how to become a rifleman.

The Technical discussion is one of the strongest sections. I came to this book as a complete newbie as far as firearms are concerned. But the technical part of the book rewards careful reading. It is a complete and meticulously considered course on firearms - how to buy them, how to evaluate them, how they work, how to keep them working, etc. Of the 46 chapters in the book 22 are devoted to this one topic. In his sections evaluating various rifles and pistols, Mr. Royce, using a system he devised, rates dozens of rifles and pistols. His system employs "63 criteria...to rate the controls, features and specifications of combat rifles." And while it is true his full system is deployed only against rifles, the system itself is an extremely useful tool for evaluating any firearm, and also comparing firearms among themselves within distinct classes

The Philosophical aspect of the book is as difficult and convoluted as the Technical part is straightforward. On the one hand, this is in the nature of philosophy. On the other, the difficulty has to do with the purpose and meaning of guns in human culture. This topic has no Socrates (unless it is Nietzsche), and Mr. Royce in this book provides what is only a rudimentary outline. (In his other books, none of which I have read, he may articulate more fully his philosophical arguments.) Mr. Royce's view of human society is that it consists of a very large number of sheep-like beings, who are preyed upon by a few rapacious predators and/or bad governments. He seeks to lay out a third position: "those who refuse to be either", and offers as an example, "an armed libertarian".

The core values of the Third Way are the values of the Warrior, and in any number of ways, Mr. Royce drapes the term Warrior in the full regalia of an ancient and venerable tradition. By denying the Warrior as predator (Mr. Royce's Warrior is no berserker, no pirate, no storm trooper and no imperialist) he evokes a sterner, more finely tempered kind of life, where honor, personal responsibility and concern for others hold pride of place. Human life is intrinsically a life of struggle, and in Mr. Royce's view, a person can accept the reality of this and learn to fight, or he can flee this responsibility, outright by becoming prey, or indirectly by delegating his role to other "protectors". Unfortunately, as any reading of history will attest, the protectors all too often themselves become the predators. Only the Warrior, living a value imbued life that explicitly eschews violent domination of others, can move beyond the predator/prey cycle. The state for which the Warrior strives is that of liberty, and the life of liberty in human societies is moved by four forces, symbolized as the soap box (discussion), the ballot box (formulation), the jury box (interpretation) and the cartridge box (decisive action). In the real world, the first three do not exist in a substantive way without the fourth. And for that reason, firearms - "liberty's teeth"-are the necessary though not sufficient conditions to resist servitude.

The Political themes of this book are the most passionate, and the least organized, of all.
Royce very rightly champions the second amendment as not only the safeguard of the right of each individual to keep firearms but the major bulwark against evil doers and tyrannous governments. Scattered throughout the book are many statistics concerning the relationship between gun ownership and crime. Just in case you are wondering, when a society is armed, there is less crime. Any society which disarms its citizens AND maintains a low rate of crime, does so only by sacrificing many of what we still regard as fundamental human rights (i.e. Japan).

With respect to tyrannical governments, Mr. Royce's arguments are not convincing, at least to me. Certainly, he does have history on his side. "Death by government" was a central motif of the twentieth century, and many previous centuries as well. People would do well to be wary of governments. They would do well to be prepared to take action against tyrannous governments. The question is, Do Americans now face such tyranny? Has the time come to step off the soap box, batten down the ballot box, burn the jury box and open the cartridge box? Mr. Royce is convinced that such a time is imminent, but his arguments in this direction are flimsy. The Political side of the book does not answer to the Philosophical side.

This is a strong book, which I recommend most highly for anyone who is interested in firearms, and who wishes to learn more about any of the themes I have outlined. Owning and using guns is a method which, in mature use, inspires careful reflection, as well as considered action.


The Ultimate Book for Firearms Owners - Monumental!   January 14, 2003
James W. Rawles (Somewhere West of the Rockies)
42 out of 45 found this review helpful

Boston's Gun Bible stands alone as the very best all-around reference for firearms owners. Not only does it cover practical rifles, pistols, and shotguns in detail, but it has a wealth of valuable information on related subjects such as optics, practical carry, training, legal issues, and legislative issues. The new expanded and updated edition (with 200 extra pages) is fantastic!

This weighty tome is an absolute MUST for all gun owners. At $28 it isn't cheap, but as I stated before in reviewing the previous edition, it is worth every penny.

Boston's observations and conclusions about guns are precisely researched, scientific, and relatively dispassionate. Unlike many other writers in the firearms field, Boston has consistently shown that he is willing to change his mind when presented with logical evidence.

This is a book that may very well save the life of yourself or a loved one. It is also a highly influential book that may contribute in the long run to the restoration of our Constitutional Republic and freedom around the world. Boston's Gun Bible doesn't just whine about the decline of our God-given Constitutional liberties. Rather, it shows practical solutions that individual Citizens can and must take to insure the liberty of future generations. It is nothing short of a monumental work of non-fiction!

Don't just buy one copy. Buy two! You will soon find that you'll need an extra copy to lend out to family members and friends.

OBTW, if you already have the older edition, then I strongly suggest that you buy the new expanded and updated edition. This valuable new information is well worth the investment.

As a published fiction writer, I stand in awe of this important piece of non-fiction. It deserves a place of honor on the bookshelf of every freedom-loving Citizen.

Semper Paratus,>Author of the pro-gun novel "Patriots:Surviving the Coming Collapse."


Quite the way to mangle what is heralded as "excellent info"   January 6, 2005
Furry Girl (Seattle, WA)
22 out of 52 found this review helpful

I am a woman who is interested in becoming a first time gun owner, and I bought this book because of all the glowing reviews here.

This book is such a mess, and I'm only a few chapters in. I can't even tell you how many pages, because the author has his own system of numbering chapters and section. The book starts off with a glossary of made-up words and explanations of why he doesn't believe in things like US currency. He invents all sorts of new-speak, from USSA ("United Socialist States of Amerika"), to two kinds of "Patriot", which are differentiated according to italic font or quotes.

The horrific writing style is like being accosted by a homeless nutcase who wants to yell at you about the dangers of homosexuals and rock music. (Which have both been addressed early on by "Boston T Party" early in the book.) Things are capitalized, bolded, underlined, italicized, or all four, and there are just way too many exclamation marks all over the place to understand what is supposed to be emphasized and why. Someone should run this book through a grammar check, or at least put it all in one font, one size, and plain text.

There might be a wealth of knowledge to be had in this book, but the ranty stream-of-consciousness writing style, new speak, and tangents make it a difficult to read for this potential gun owner.


good & helpful, but flawed   December 13, 2007
Prof. CJ (North FL, USA)
15 out of 20 found this review helpful

I was very excited to read this book. Based on the reviews, I knew that I shared most of the author's leanings on both politics and rifles.

On the plus side, Boston's Gun Bible contains tons of great information that can't be found in any other single volume that I've come across so far. When it comes to gear, this guy really knows his stuff. For that reason alone, I think it's a worthwhile book for any proud `gun nut' (like me); I don't regret the purchase and I intend on keeping the book.

That said, the book does suffer from some flaws in three areas that kept it from being as pleasurable of a read as I expected. The net result is that one has to wade through a fair amount of unfocused venting in order to glean the worthwhile information that the book does in fact contain. The flaws in question are haphazard organization, historical errors of fact and analysis*, and writing quality that I can best describe as C-.

Since it looks like all three of these problem areas have been addressed by previous reviews, I'm only going to discuss the one that I found most distracting: the author's lackluster writing skills. Perhaps I'm being abnormally picky here, but still, I think Jeff Cooper for one would agree with me on the value of good, technically correct, clear prose.

There are the usual suspects - bad grammar and typos - throughout; I often wondered whether a competent editor had ever looked at Mr. Party's manuscript. In addition, some of the author's New-Speak-like jargon seems clever at first, but rapidly gets annoying after a couple dozen pages.

By far the most annoying thing, though, is (as a prior reviewer noted) Mr. Party's constant changes in fonts, especially his ridiculous overuse of italics. When you only occasionally use italics, their intended effect - emphasis of a crucial word or phrase - comes across clearly, and everybody is happy. However, when you use italics too much, as I believe Mr. Party does, it eventually stops having the desired effect, and instead creates the effect in the reader's head that the author suffers from some kind of voice-modulation disorder. I found it very distracting.

One can only imagine how much better this book might have been if Mr. Party had also, in between all the firearms classes he's attended, taken the time to attend a writing seminar or two.

*One historical problem I can't resist mentioning: Mr. Party essentially doubles the actual number of Soviet KIA from the Afghan War; moreover, he wrongly attributes these & the resultant Soviet defeat there primarily to the Afghans' skill with the 303 British bolt rifle. In reality, the Afghans were losing the war until American aid arrived in the form of better weapons (more modern rifles, heavy machineguns and artillery, mines, and, most crucially, the Stinger missile which neutralized the Hind gunship threat.)