Massad Ayoob's Blog

CORMAC McCARTHY WAS ONE OF US

I’ve read some, but not all, of novelist Cormac McCarthy’s work, and ironically was currently reading his “Blood Meridian” when our PO Box yielded the September/October issue of Smithsonian magazine, which included an article on the late novelist focusing on his vast, eclectic, 20,000 volume book collection. I noticed that his younger brother Dennis said of Cormac […]

R.I.P. MARTY HAYES

I learned on October 6 that Marty Hayes had passed in his sleep the night before. Marty and I had been close friends and co-instructors for some 35 years. There is much to say about this good man. Street cop for many years, from patrolman to chief law enforcement officer. One of the all-time great […]

GUNS FOR WOMEN

I continue to see women sold guns that don’t fit them. Here’s an article on the topic that I did for Backwoods Home magazine in 2011. It’s as timely now as it was then.

SCOPING OUT HUMAN TERRAIN

Of all the articles I’ve done for Backwoods Home magazine over the years, one of the ones that got the most requests for reprints for training  use was the one many years ago on recognizing assaultive behavior signals in other people. Thanks to our friend, master instructor Greg Ellifritz, here’s a link to a very good […]

PICKING A SELF-DEFENSE ATTORNEY

Wondering about picking a lawyer if you are criminally charged or civilly sued? I just posted a discussion on this topic at our new YouTube channel, Facts and Firearms which you can find here:

WE MAY ALL ENJOY COWBOY MOVIES, BUT…

…a whole lot of them weren’t exactly true to history. I offer you this: Comments invited, as always.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT SELF-DEFENSE INSURANCE

I’ve been an expert witness for the Courts since 1979, specializing in self-defense shooting cases. I’ve seen a lot of justified shootings turn into legal nightmares that cost well into six figures – even seven figures—of legal fees, court costs and bond money. When Marty Hayes created the post-self-defense support group concept almost twenty years […]

R. I. P. JOHN HOLSCHEN

A few days ago we lost John Holschen to a heart attack. After a long career in the military that encompassed special forces, he had been teaching armed self-defense in the private sector for many years. An articulate man with a questing mind, John was a progressive thinker who stayed on top of the latest […]

WOMEN’S ARMED DEFENSE

You’d think that when a woman uses deadly force against a violently attacking man, society would be sympathetic. Not necessarily. I recently finished the eminently readable 2023 book The Furies: Women, Vengeance, and Justice by Elizabeth Flock.  She writes, “In her seminal 1989 book, Justifiable Homicide, women’s rights advocate Cynthia Gillespie argued that, as a result of its origins, […]

ANOTHER, HIDDEN DANGER OF “GUN-FREE ZONES”

I’ve long since made it clear that when I see “gun-free zone” I read “hunting preserve for psychopathic mass murderers,” since only the law-abiding follow the rules and murderers are among the ultimate law-breakers. They seek victims who can’t fight back. Jackals seek herds of sheep and conspicuously avoid prides of lions. A man I’m […]