Bart Skelton writes a monthly column in Guns & Ammo magazine called Down On The Border.  His stories, when I read them, are quite well written and I enjoy them.  The problem is I only read about 1/3 of them. 

Bart tends to write allot about growing up down on the border, hence the name of the column.  I like it when he writes about historical accounts along the border and into Mexico. I also like when he writes of old guns found along both sides of the border. He can well conjure images of Poncho Villa and his contemporaries and they are great articles when he chooses to write them.  However, it is the other 2/3 of his writings that tend to bore me.

Bart Skelton was a cop along the border and then a federal employee for a while. I have yet to ever read a story that involved an adventure he was a part of. Too many of his stories are about people his dad knew. Colorful characters to be sure but his writings about them tend to drift to, "dad knew him so I met him". He rarely goes into any detail about these colorful characters or their accomplishments other than to say they were wise and could tell a good story. Fine. What are their stories? Too often his columns become a list of people he got to meet because his dad was cool.

My other nit-pick that will stop me from finishing one of his columns is when the first paragraph begins "My personal god and savior Joaquin Jackson....". Well, I'm being a little overly dramatic but then so is Bart when he talks about Joaquin Jackson.

Joaquin Jackson is an NRA board member and a former cop. He wrote a couple of books about his adventures as I am sure Bart would be happy to tell you.  The problem I have with Joaquin Jackson is that he talks about how important the 2nd Amendment is but he is really a gun banner and an "Only One".  That to me is worse than just being a pure anti. Pure anti's are usually just poorly educated, stupid or border-line retarded.  One that professes the importance of the 2nd Amendment in one sentence then calls for a ban of guns in another is treacherous, deceitful, or maybe down right treasonous. 

I know, when the story about Jackson pulling a Zumbo broke, he claimed he was misquoted or taken out of context but as Obama found out, you can't hide from YouTube:



There you have it, right from the Jackson ass' mouth, "I believe in the 2nd Amendment....Assault weapons only belong in the hands of the military and police...if civilians own one, they should be limited to 5 round magazines only".  Since he was a cop, he can be trusted with one of those evil black rifles but you and I can't. And, since they can't seem to keep them from our hands yet, we should be limited to 5 round magazines only.  The fact that Jackson sits on the NRA board and discusses such nonsense with other board members is downright scary.

Well, I have drifted significantly from my original post so to recap, here is my breakdown of the subject matter of Bart Skelton's Down On The Border column. Most of his articles can be summarized in three archetypes:

     1. "This old gun belonged to Poncho Villa's grandmother's cousin's hairdresser and was found in an old desk in an New Mexico elementary school where it had been used to punish bad little school kids."

     2.  "Mr. _______ was the greatest Texas Ranger ever because my Dad knew him so he must be cool. He used to take me hunting in the mountains and tell stories.  Did I tell you my Dad was cool too?  Maybe some day I'll tell you why Mr. ______ and Dad were so cool."

     3.  "Joaquin Jackson spoke and the Rio Grande was parted.  Then the Earth shook and 5 round magazines rained down upon the peasants. All of those evil High Capacity Assault Magazines were cast into the pit except for the ones that the police got to keep as they looked over and protected the multitudes from ourselves."