I was visiting my small town library today when I noticed this magazine cover on top of a pile of magazines the library was giving away. It caught my eye because having written 2 books on Webleys, I would never expect to see one on a Mother Jones cover. Normally, other than gun rags, magazines simply get firearms photos from from commercial sources and I couldn't imagine why the art director picked out a photo of a Webley MK VI.



In this case the photo was spot on, but the headline was totally disingenuous. He was a 21 year old GI when the murder occurred and did not go to college or law school until 15 years later and joined the NRA staff more than 20 years after the crime.. He was convicted of murder which was reversed on appeal for police misconduct. What I found particularly interesting was that in the middle 1970's, although White, he went to predominantly Black, Howard University Law School, which back then was a fertile ground for producing civil rights lawyers. My feeling is that when the NRA hired him they had no idea that Howard University was a prominently Black school. Given the political make up of the NRA's rulers this would be tantamount to his having a degree from Moscow University. What I found most surprising was that the murder weapon really was a Webley MK VI.

In the middle of the 70s the NRA wasn't as politicized as today, and I bet they didn't give a shit that he went to Howard, if anything that probably made him more attractive since it did produce so many civil rights lawyers. Him included.

I'd bet the Wesley illustration was just the best and cheapest thing the editor could find. It is a fantastic cover though. I love it.

I bet it's one of those ghost guns