Whether I’m finishing a book or finishing a class, there’s a voice in the back of my mind yelling, “Dammit, there wasn’t time to cover it all!” I suppose I’ll be thinking the same thing on my deathbed. Hell, I suppose we’ll all be thinking that on our deathbeds.
This is a life study. I’ve written several books and literally thousands of articles on this, and still haven’t covered it all. For instance, this book touched little on defensive shooting techniques and skills. For that I’d recommend The Gun Digest Book of Combat Handgunnery, 6th Edition, from Krause. In the book you’re holding, there wasn’t space to go into the different gun platforms in detail, but The Gun Digest Book of … series covers that nicely. My old friend, colleague, and fellow shooting competitor Patrick Sweeney did a great job covering the 1911, the Glock, and the Smith & Wesson line to name three, and I did the Beretta and SIG books. If you own the given brand or are thinking of acquiring it, you’ll find the appropriate book from that series useful.
Almost half a century of carrying a loaded, concealed handgun has taught me a few things. Let me say adieu with a final sharing of discoveries.
Never take safety for granted. You and yours will constantly be in the presence of a loaded, lethal weapon. Kinda like driving a car. Familiarity absolutely does breed contempt. Never lower your guard or your level of care, and think like an engineer: put multiple safety procedures in place, and follow them religiously.
Live in a state of relaxed alertness. The late, great Col. Jeff Cooper called this Condition Yellow. At any given moment, you know what’s going on around you, who’s near you, and where you are. He said that a well-adjusted man or woman should be able to spend their entire waking life in Yellow with no adverse psychological effects. I’ve found it’s even better than that. It makes you a people-watcher. You see the good, life-affirming things around you that you were missing before.
Stay current with the topic. Read the periodicals, particularly American Handgunner and Combat Handguns. Take classes. There are more good firearms/self-defense training programs available today than ever. We’re talking about skills that degrade easily if not refreshed. Don’t limit those classes to guns and combat. Adult ed courses in body language, deviant human behavior, and criminology can be rich mines of useful self-defense knowledge.
Commit to always carrying. If we knew when we were going to need a gun, we’d change our plans and go somewhere safer. Danger comes from out of nowhere and doesn’t limit itself to “bad areas.” Mass murders take place at good schools, upscale malls, and family restaurants in nice neighborhoods. The only way to make sure the gun will always be there when you need it is to always carry it. Go online to www.handgunlaw.us and commit to getting all the permits you can. The more places you can legally carry, the safer you’ll be.
Be prepared, in your heart and mind, to use deadly force if necessary. It’s a long search of the soul, but a critically important one. If you don’t know for certain that you can kill a violent attacker if you have to, you’re likely to hesitate at the worst possible time, and he’ll kill you and yours instead. Ironically, because predators have a finely tuned sense of what is and is not prey, that commitment seems to transmit. Thus, an irony: the person prepared to kill is less likely to have to do so. The great majority of situations in which armed citizens drew down on criminal suspects have ended with no bloodshed, because the predators sensed they were about to die and either surrendered or fled. They won’t surrender or flee if they sense hesitation on the part of their opponent. In LFI classes, I explain the worst of the aftermath and how to deal with it, so the student can get that out of the way and be prepared to act instantly if the moment ever comes. If you haven’t sorted it out beforehand, the fight will happen too fast for you to come to terms with the cosmic act of ending another human life.
Fight to keep your rights and privileges. There are those in this society who work in a tireless, well-funded, concerted effort to deprive you and your children of the right to self-protection. You have a genuine duty to “you and yours” to fight that. Whether or not you appreciate the National Rifle Association, join and support the NRA: they literally coined the term “armed citizen,” and they are the strongest voice for those citizens’ rights in Washington. Personally, I have served for many years on the board of trustees of the Second Amendment Foundation, and do what I can to support the highly effective grassroots gun-owners’ groups at the state level. This is about civil rights. It’s about human rights. The great authority on the common law, Lord Blackstone, said “Self-defense is the highest of all human rights.” Work hard to keep it, because powerful forces don’t want you and your descendants to have it.
Maintain a logical perspective. I don’t know if you in particular are going to need what’s in these pages. I do know that some of you are. My paternal grandfather came to these shores in the year 1896, and in every generation since, at least one member of my linear family has been saved from death or great bodily harm by the ability to produce a loaded handgun when attacked on the street. And even if that never happens to you, your commitment to concealed carry will have bought you a lifetime of peace of mind, and there’s no dollar price to put on something that precious.
I’m out of time. You’re not. Continue your learning in this life study. Share it with others. Fight to keep your rights and privileges.
Good luck. Stay safe, and keep your loved ones safe.
-- Massad Ayoob, December 2007
It is wise for the individual who lawfully carries a concealed handgun in public to keep a few things foremost in mind.
Know the laws governing concealed carry where you are at any given time, and follow them religiously. “Gun crimes” committed by those licensed to carry are extremely rare, but of those that occur, a huge percentage involve people who simply “forgot they were armed” when they entered an area where the practice was legally forbidden.
Concealed means concealed. Yes, I know it’s a trite and hackneyed phrase, but it carries a lot of truth. Our society is such, like it or not, that the presence of an obviously lethal weapon in the hands of someone not readily identifiable as an “official protector” frighten people. Someday, if you haven’t already, you’ll buy a newspaper or a candy bar from a convenience store clerk who was terrorized by an armed robber who menacingly drew his coat back to reveal a weapon. If you accidentally do the same, can you blame her for her predictable reaction? The results won’t be good for either of you.
Keep it quiet. The fewer people who know you carry a gun, the better. You don’t want to be caught up in the middle of an armed robbery where the multiple offenders with drawn guns hold all the cards, and have a terrified victim look at you and scream, “My God, you’ve got a gun, do something!”
The potential for false accusations is endless. You don’t want an employee you fired for incompetence to vengefully go to the police and swear out a complaint saying, “And then my boss pulled out a snub-nose .38 from inside his shirt and pointed it between my eyes!” When the police come and find you carrying that kind of gun in just that place, you’re behind the eight-ball. I’ve seen a false accusation of aggravated assault leveled at a man solely because another motorist, in a state of road rage, spotted the NRA decal on his car, correctly assumed he would have a gun with him, and told the police falsely that the good guy had pointed a gun at him without provocation. It took that good man about fifty grand in non-refundable legal fees and costs to win an acquittal on the felony charges.
Don’t carry a “CCW” badge. Sold in great numbers to well-meaning CCW permit-holders, these are seen by police and prosecutors (and the general public and the jury pool) as “fake badges.” At best you look like a wanna-be trying to play cop. At worst, you fit the profile of criminals from home invaders to child molesters who impersonate a police officer in the course of heinous offenses. That’s not a profile you ever want to fit.
Avoid trouble more than ever. Under the “higher standard of care” principle, the armed private citizen is seen as having a particular duty to avoid conflicts – shouting matches, upraised middle fingers, curses – and is expected to de-escalate rather than “keep the ball rolling,” let alone offering provocation.
Gain familiarity and competence with your weapon and carry system. A life or death situation is no time for fumbling. Practice with empty or dummy guns to gain smooth speed of draw from concealment. Some supervised live fire speed work (training, or an IDPA competition) will boost both confidence and competence with your concealed handgun. Train and practice as frequently as you can, to make the mechanics of drawing (and, if necessary, firing) as much second nature as possible.
Prepare for the totality of the circumstances. Make sure that those most likely to be with you if an armed encounter takes place know what to do. Always have a plan in case you have to remove your weapon and secure it, which can arise from anything from an unexpected trip to the Courthouse for routine paperwork, to an auto accident in which you had to be transported to a hospital by ambulance.
Be vigilant about gun safety. Familiarity breeds contempt. Put layer after layer of safety into your daily handling and carrying practices. Remember Jeff Cooper’s Four Rules. (1) All guns are always (considered) loaded. (2) Never point the gun at anything you are not prepared to see destroyed. (3) Never touch the trigger until the gun is on target and you are in the act of intentionally firing. (4) Always be certain of your target and what is behind it. Remember that the responsibility to keep your weapon out of incompetent and/or unauthorized hands falls solely upon you.
Remember why you carry. The gun is there to protect your loved ones, and to keep you alive to return to them. Just as its presence is a constant reminder of your responsibilities, let the presence of that deadly weapon also be a constant reminder of the importance of the loved ones in your life. Consciously or subconsciously, this recognition is one reason that those who carry guns seem to be among not only the most responsible people in this society, but the most caring and compassionate.
I’ve been carrying concealed firearms since 1968, which was my first year as a sworn law enforcement officer. I was finishing the last year of my Criminology Degree at Florida State University and joined the Tallahassee Police Department as a Reserve Officer. Since then, I’ve learned a few lessons about concealed carry by trial and error, but my knowledge about firearms has been improved immensely by reading what the experts were saying. In the early 1970s, besides reading articles by people with names like Cooper, Gaylord, Askins, Skelton, etc., I started reading articles from a guy by the name of Massad Ayoob. I began to wonder, who was this Ayoob guy and, more importantly, why did what he wrote actually make sense, based on my own experience? My relationship with Mas’ writing was strictly one-sided (he wrote and I read) from then until 1999, when I finally had the chance to take my first LFI course. Since then we have become good friends and I have become an instructor with him for his Lethal Force Institute. That has given me a precious opportunity to see how he acquires and uses the knowledge that he shares with others in his training classes, his writing and his case work as an expert witness. So when he said he was writing a book about concealed carry, I thought: “This has got to be good!”
Well, it is. I have been poring over the manuscript for the past week and I am happy to report that Mas has put together a winner. And a timely winner, at that. Concealed carry has been a hot topic in the world of gun ownership for the past two decades or so. More and more opportunities for decent, law abiding citizens to protect themselves by legally carrying concealed firearms have emerged as State after State has adopted more realistic concealed carry laws. Even so, only about two percent of the people eligible for a concealed carry permit actually apply for one. That is starting to change, however. Of course, September 11, 2001 started folks thinking more seriously about the subject. And most recently, the mass murder of students at Virginia Tech, the shootings in malls in Omaha and Salt Lake City and the armed attacks on religious centers in Arvada and Colorado Springs are causing people to reassess their vulnerability as they go about their daily lives. As more and more people come to the conclusion that they need to take realistic precautions against violent attack, the need for sensible concealed carry advice will continue to expand.
One of the things that has always impressed me about the way Mas works is that he is not just a teacher and not just a writer. He is a true student of firearms, their history and their use. This book reflects his serious research of the subject, as well as his ability to communicate with his audience. The references to many of the legendary names in the firearms world and many of the real-world case studies are not just academic. Mas has known most of the greats. And anyone who knows Mas also knows that he is always asking questions, always analyzing other people’s views and always seeking more and more knowledge. It’s not just the “names” either. I have been with him when he asked the ordinary man or woman what their impressions were on a particular gun or piece of gear. “How do you like that Beretta,” he asked a young highway patrolman we were sharing a gas pump with during a fuel stop on a trip across the Great Plains. “How’s that holster workin’ for ya,” to a Sheriff’s Deputy we met at a convenience store. “What do you think they should do to improve that” is a common question we hear when he calls on us to help evaluate some gun or other gear that has been sent to him to “T & E.” Beyond the equipment, Mas gathers real-life information about the use of firearms for self defense. Certainly his case work as an expert has given him unique access to incidents from the streets. Some of them are high profile, some rather ordinary. Except to the people involved. Every case has its lessons. And, very often, his students have their stories. Stories that can make the hair on the back of your neck stand up, or bring a tear to your eye. Like the female student who had been the victim of two violent sexual assaults. The first time her attacker succeeded in raping her. The second attacker did not. The difference? The second time she was armed and prepared to defend herself. Or the Roman Catholic priest, who grew up in a foreign country known for its civil strife. He has been shot five times and stabbed once, all in separate incidents. He now lives in the United States, carries every day, and when he quietly relates his story, he simply says: “Never again.”
These are the sort of people Mas spends time with as both a teacher and as a student of the human experience. And that experience is what he willingly and skillfully shares with his students and his readers. In this book, he has compiled decades of experience in not just the carrying of firearms, but the shooting of firearms. Mas has been a competitive shooter since the old PPC days. He was a “regular” at the Bianchi Cup and other national matches. He still competes regularly in law enforcement competitions and International Defensive Pistol Association (IDPA) matches. In fact, Mas was one of the first IDPA Four Gun Masters and became the first Five Gun Master, when an additional revolver category was established by IDPA a couple of years ago. He is also an avid researcher of the history of carrying firearms and their use by police and ordinary private citizens alike. As such, he was a guest lecturer at a conference of writers and historians in Tombstone, Arizona, assembled to discuss probably the most famous gunfight ever, the shootout at the OK Corral. And, on a more contemporary note, he was requested to represent the “expert witness” point of view on a panel of American Bar Association legal experts who were making a Continuing Legal Education training tape for attorneys. The tape specifically addresses the investigation, prosecution and effective defense of people who have had to use deadly force to protect themselves or others.
In this book, Mas discusses both WHY we carry and HOW to carry. Mas explains the concepts behind the two styles of holsters he has designed, the LFI Rig and the Ayoob Rear Guard, and why holster selection is such an important part of your carry “system.” He also explains the need to practice drawing from concealment, in order to quickly respond to any threat. He explains the rationale behind two drawing methods that he developed: using the StressFire “Cover Crouch” to draw from an ankle rig and the Fingertip Sweep (he calls it “reach out and touch yourself”) used to positively clear an open front garment for a smooth same-side draw. Mas began developing his “StressFire” shooting techniques back in the 1970’s. By late 1981, at the suggestion of world champion shooter Ray Chapman, he established the Lethal Force Institute and has been instructing “certified card carrying good guys” there ever since. The Chief of Police of the department where Mas serves as a Captain, Russell Lary, has entrusted his son to Mas’ tutelage to the extent that he has attended all of the LFI classes, LFI-I, II & III, and he just recently completed the most advanced class, LFI-IV. Yes, Mas really is a Captain in the Grantham, NH Police Department. I know the Chief, and he is delighted to have such a true “human resource” available to the residents of his community.
A lot has changed in the nearly 40 years since I started in this field. A lot happened before that, of course, but I see the next major steps coming in the immediate future. People are tired of being victimized by people who use guns and other weapons illegally. And people are tired of being victimized by anti-gun advocates and the laws and rules for which they are responsible. They have been shown to be worse than ineffective. They have put decent people unnecessarily at risk in “Gun-Free Zones,” that are only gun-free to the law abiding. They continue to attempt to thwart efforts to make concealed carry by law abiding people a nation-wide reality. They have made people vulnerable at a time when they should be seriously thinking about, and preparing for, their own self protection. Not to become “vigilantes,” but to be able to hold the line against violence, until the professionals can respond. And, make no mistake, you are your own “First Responder.” Just as you would have a fire extinguisher in your home or car, or take a course in first aid and CPR, you need to consider how well you are prepared for the other kind of deadly threat that may suddenly present itself: a violent, criminal attack on you or those who depend on you. In this book, Massad Ayoob has brought together all the essential elements that you need to know if you are currently carrying concealed firearms or if you are considering doing so. This is your opportunity to take advantage of all of the research, knowledge and experience that Mas has accumulated over more than four decades. I can’t think of a better teacher.
This eShort is an excerpt from the Gun Digest Book of Concealed Carry. To learn more about guns, gear and tactics for concealed carry, visit gundigest.com.