Background Teddy Jacobson

Teddy Jacobson

Last of the Old Guard

I live in a world and a country I do not know anymore. I come from a world that no longer exists as I knew it. I lived in the best of times and I was friends with the best people you could ever imagine. I was brought up with honor and integrity, it was not an option to deviate with the very strict father I had. I have owned a rifle since 1950, it was a Remington 550 and it jammed every other shot. I used to read gun books for as far back as I can remember, never having much money to be able to afford many books or magazines.

I have a very old book written by Jeff Cooper and I have read it countless number of times. I have books I cherish written by Major George Nonte that I look at as a Bible of gun information, most every page is hi lighted, even though his methods are outdated because of current technology, he was ahead of his time. I always looked up to the super stars in the field of guns, I have seen and met many of the super stars in person in other fields such as Jackie Robinson, Roy Campanella, Duke Snyder, etc, even Yogi Berra, Casey Stengel and I met Muhammed Ali in a bar in Miami, I met Sonny Liston and Floyd Patterson and Joe Lewis and Rocky Marciano and even had a beer with Superfoot Bill Wallace in Ohio in 1973. I could go on and on and on and it would shock you how many people I knew. SADLY, most of them are gone now. I even knew Joey and Alex Gallo for those that know what I am talking about.

The relationship of the people I cherished the most were the famous gun writers , most of them and I have one thing in common besides our love of handguns, a lot of us lived on the edge. The gun writers of the world I come from were the best of the best. Most of them are gone now but I always think of them, we lived in the real world, where we all knew that there was a decency and a code of honor. There are some very excellent gun writers now and I think they are very sharp and they know a great deal but they are controlled by editors and advertisers and bean counters. They can not always say what they want because in this world if you are not politically correct you are out.

There is but one of the old time famous gun writers left at this point in time, and that is JOHN TAFFIN. I think the world of him because of his ability and honor and his integrity, that has taken a lifetime for him to achieve. When you think of Skelton, Jordan, Keith, Ferguson, Lewis, Swiggett, etc, etc, etc, You also think of John Taffin. John is my friend, hes the last of the old guard besides Ayoob. The way I see it without John Taffin, Handgunner and Guns magazine is just another gun publication. John gives them LEGENDARY STATUS.

Its very sad for me to tell you that my friend the famous gun writer Hal Swiggett is a very sick man at this point in time. Jack Lewis was also a super good guy and he knew how to deal with people a whole lot better than I ever could, especially women and that is a big compliment that only the people who know him would understand. There is hardly a day goes by that I do not think about how my friend the famous gun writer Tom Ferguson was part of my life.

Fortunately we still have John Taffin and his wonderful articles. I no longer read gun magazines as a general rule but if I see an article that has been written by Taffin, I stop what I am doing and read what John has to say. We recently lost his good friend Bill Grover. If I have a question I am truly grateful that I can still contact John and talk with him, we not only discuss guns but such topics as religion which is my favorite subject.

When I carried a badge, I really lived on the edge, the more danger, the better I liked it, things that I can't talk about publicly. It must be that Russian blood in me , I don't know. I am sincerely grateful now that Stephen Camp who is a super great gun writer and author is now setting a trend in writing such as the old guard of yester year. Steve is a very honorable man and I am very proud of his accomplishments.

Please read this commentary very carefully as it is a very big and important part of my life and what I stand for, there are things I would like to write but I just can not. If you were to put a gun to my head and told me to write a corrupt article or BS story, regardless of who you were, and editor or an owner of a publication or you put cash in front of me to lie, I would tell you what to very clearly do using 4 letter words. I have nothing left but my work and family and my honor and integrity and my faith in G-D and in people like John and Steve and Terry and Jess and Arthur and Tom, and Don, etc, and the very few of us left that can not be bought.

So when you read some of the writings of the people that I have mentioned and there are many others, remember we come from a world that does not exist anymore. We will all be here to help you to the very end.

- Teddy Jacobson 2004, edited by techshooter, presented for public interest.