Massad Ayoob - Gun Digests Concealed Carry Mindset & Principles eShort Collection

If youre reading this book, that tells me that youve either made the decision to CCW (Carry a Concealed Weapon), or are thinking about it. Either one is a good start to enhanced personal safety of oneself and loved ones.

It surprises some people to hear that from a guy whos been carrying a badge for three and a half decades. Surprise: there are more cops who feel the same way than you might think. Fact is, for the most part, the anti-gun cops fall into two narrow categories. One is the chief appointed by an anti-gun mayor or city council, who serves at the pleasure of the appointing authority and can get busted back to Captain the highest rank normally protected by Civil Service if he doesnt make himself a mouthpiece for the politician(s) in question. The other is the young rookie who didnt have a gun of his own until he got into the Academy, and associates the weapon with the new identity into which he has invested so much of his time, effort, ego and self-image. Its not something he wants to share with the general public.

Give him time. My experience has been that the great majority of LEOs (law enforcement officers) in the middle of those two ends, the seasoned street cops whove seen the reality, have a more realistic view. A great many of them make sure they leave a gun at home for their spouse to use to protect the household while theyre gone. Theyve learned that police are reactive more than proactive, and that the victim has to survive the violent criminals attack long enough for law enforcement to be summoned and arrive.

Ive carried a concealed handgun since I was twelve years old. My grandfather, the first generation of my family to arrive in the USA, was an armed citizen who went for his gun when he was pistol-whipped in his city store by an armed robber. He shot and wounded the man. The suspect fled, only to be killed later that night in a shootout with the city police. The wound my grandfather inflicted slowed him down when he tried to kill the arresting officer, and the cops thanked him for that. My dad had been in his twenties when he had to resort to deadly force in the same citys streets. A would-be murderer put a revolver to his head and pulled the trigger; my dad ducked to the side enough to miss the bullet, but not enough to keep the muzzle blast from destroying his left eardrum. Moments later, my fathers return fire had put that man on the ground dying from a 38 slug center mass, and the thugs accomplice in a fetal position clutching himself and screaming.

Its no wonder that growing up in the 1950s, guns were a part of my life: in the home, and in my fathers jewelry store. When I went to work there at age twelve, I carried a loaded gun concealed. There were strategically placed handguns hidden throughout the area behind the counter and in the back room, but Dad was smart enough to know that I wouldnt always be within reach of one when I needed it. The laws in that time and place allowed the practice.

I realized this was some pretty serious stuff, and set to learning all I could about the practice. My dads customers included lawyers, judges, and his friend the chief of police. I picked all their brains on the issue. What I learned stunned me.

There were books then on gunfighting: how to do it, what to do it with, and how to develop the mindset to do it. Interestingly, there were none on when to shoot. My dads lawyer friends told me that even kids like me could use a legal library; we didnt have to be attorneys or law students to get in there, and the librarian would show us how to find what we were looking for. I lived in the state capital, and the State Legal Library had the same rule. As I began that self-education, I found myself thinking, Somebody ought to write a book about this for regular people! When I grow up, if nobodys written that book yet, I wanna write it!

And I did. In the Gravest Extreme: the Role of the Firearm in Personal Protection hit print in 1979, and has been a best-seller ever since. And Ive been carrying a concealed handgun since the year 1960, in public on a permit since the year 1969. By 1973, I had become a police firearms instructor, and from then to now have taken training as avidly as Ive given it. Ive been teaching and researching this stuff full time since 1981, when I established Lethal Force Institute (www.ayoob.com). That has included expert witness testimony in weapons, shooting, and assault cases since 1979. From 1987 through 2006, I served as chair of the firearms committee for the American Society of Law Enforcement Trainers, and have been on the advisory board for the International Law Enforcement Educators and Trainers Association since its inception. Ive also had the privilege of teaching for the International Association of Law Enforcement Firearms Instructors inside and outside the US, and served a couple of years as co-vice chair, with Mark Seiden under Drew Findling, of the forensic evidence committee of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. Ive had the privilege of studying the firearms training of the DEA, NYPD, LAPD, numerous state police agencies, and countless other law enforcement organizations. Ive been able to study hands-on with such great shooting champions as Ray Chapman, Frank Garcia, Rob Leatham, and many more. I learned one-on-one from living legends like Charlie Askins, Jim Cirillo, Jeff Cooper, Bill Jordan, Frank McGee and more. Some of the more have asked that their names not appear in print, and I will respect that here.

It has been a long and educational road, and with a little luck, it wont be over anytime soon. The bottom line is, Im not a super-cop as so many of those men literally were. In all these years, though Ive had my gun on a lot of people and was starting to pull the trigger a few times, Ive never had to shoot a man. With a little luck, that will stay the same, too. I see my role as an instructor and as the writer of this book as a funnel of knowledge. Youre at the receiving end of the funnel.

There have been tremendous advances in the last fifty years in holster design, handgun design, and ammunition design. We now have the finest concealed carry firearms, holsters, and defensive rounds that have ever been available. We likewise have techniques that have taken advantage of modern knowledge of the human mind and body that was not available to the famous gunfighters of old. (But the Old Ones have left their lessons to us, and many of those are timeless, too.)