Firearms & Self-Defense: A Handbook for Radicals, Revolutionaries and Easy Riders

Berkeley: International Liberation School / Red Mountain Tribe, 1970. Second printing. Stapled yellow wrappers printed in red. 10 x 7 in. 40 p., illustrated throughout. Remarkable photo of armed hippie family to the rear cover. Item #10450

Rare leftist self-defense and weapons guide published in Berkeley in 1970.

First published by the Peoples Office in Berkeley in December 1969, the handbook begins with a short essay, “In Defense of Self Defense” and is divided into two sections: Technical and Handling, which provides practical advice on how to purchase, shoot, clean and maintain handguns, rifles, and shotguns. The handbook concludes with a primer on gun laws, a short reading list, a handgun ballistics table, and a glossary. Illustrated with pictures and diagrams of guns, photographs of revolutionary figures such as Malcolm X, Huey Newton and Ho Chi Minh, as well as military professionals in firing stances.

The International Liberation School was organized at the suggestion of Eldridge Cleaver and two of the principal organizers were Tom Hayden and Stew Albert. The Red Mountain Tribe was the commune operating the Berkeley Tribe newspaper.

A scarce record of militant leftist organizing in the United States, and a powerful look at the potential for armed left struggle in this country, before the American Right’s seeming monopoly over gun ownership and violence.

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