Tappan was an influential leader of the Survivalist movement[1] who advocated relocation to survival retreats in lightly populated regions.
Tappan was invited to present a lecture as part of Stephens' "Seminars On Survival" (SOS) dinner series, giving him greater public presence and recognition.
Through these publications and his 1977 book Survival Guns – which as of 2010 is still in print after more than 32 years – he became an influential spokesman of the "armed-defense" wing of the Survivalist movement.
The back cover of Survival Guns quotes Laura Cunningham of The New York Times as describing Tappan as "The Survivalist voice of reason."
The newsletter included columns from Tappan himself as well from Jeff Cooper, Al J. Venter, Bill Pier, Bruce D. Clayton, Rick L. Fines (aka "Ross Lee"), Nancy Mack Tappan, J.B. Wood, Dr. Carl Kirsch, Charles Avery, Karl Hess, Eugene A. Barron, Janet Groene, Dean Ing, Alexander Jason, James McKeever, Kurt Saxon,[3] Bob Taylor, Reginald Bretnor, C.G.
[5] In his writings, Tappan encouraged survivalists to relocate to and prepare survival retreats in lightly populated regions, and did so himself, moving to Rogue River, Oregon, for the last years of his life.
Mel Tappan was quoted in 1981 by then AP correspondent Peter Arnett that: "The concept most fundamental to long term disaster preparedness, in retreating, is having a safe place to go to avoid the concentrated violence destined to erupt in the cities.
"[2] He was married to Nancy Mack Tappan, who was his constant companion, administrative assistant, editor and most loyal supporter.
[11] In June 2010, she became editor of a self-sufficiency and preparedness magazine called The New Pioneer and "The Old Farmer's Almanac", from Harris Publications.