Col. Jeff Cooper Dies at 86: We’ll miss you, Col. Cooper.

by David Crane
david@defensereview.com

The great Jeff Cooper, a.k.a. "father of modern pistolcraft" has died. According to Ed Head, Operations Manager at Gunsite Academy, Inc., Col. Cooper passed away peacefully at his home on the afternoon of September 25 (2006).

Col. Jeff Cooper was the progenitor of the "modern pistol technique", or "modern technique of the pistol", which utilized the Weaver stance. He founded the American Pistol Institute, a.k.a. the original Gunsite training center, in 1976. He subsequently sold the facility in 1992. Cooper was also a prolific writer and Guns & Ammo magazine columnist.

More importantly, however, Col. Cooper was an old-school/traditional American, and strong supporter of the Second Amendment. He understood that…

our way of life and our freedom (i.e. all of our rights outlined and delineated by the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights in the Constitution) were granted us by God, not by government, and are ensured and enforced by our God-given right to bear arms (i.e. individual firearms/small arms ownership). In other words, he understood that an armed citizenry was the ONLY true defense agains tyranny a.k.a. tyrannical government, and that the only free people in this world are armed people (people with guns), period.

He was a unique individual, and he will be greatly missed.

Related Links:

Jeff Cooper, 86, Developed Gun Techniques

The Modern Technique of the Pistol (Hardcover)