I’m 75 years old today. 

So far, the cardinal advantage of that landmark seems to be that I don’t have to take my shoes off when I go through airport security. Yay. Bending over to re-tie shoelaces isn’t as easy as it used to be.

The big advantage, of course, is that I’m still on the sunny side of the grass.  And still working.

More than seventy years pulling triggers (my dad started me at age four with a .22 rifle), more than half a century as a firearms/deadly force instructor (started teaching cops in 1972, law-abiding armed citizens in 1981), expert witness for the courts in related matters since 1979, a couple of years as co-vice chair of the Forensic Evidence Committee of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, forty-some years as a fully-sworn part-time cop, nineteen years as chair of the Firearms/Deadly Force Training Committee of the American Society of Law Enforcement Trainers, a like period and counting on the Advisory Board of the International Law Enforcement Educators and Trainers Association, and member of the Advisory Board of the Armed Citizens Legal Defense Network since its inception. Decades on the Board of Trustees of the Second Amendment Foundation and a couple of years as president of that organization. And, oh yeah, some articles and books and training films and such.

On the personal side, two wonderful adult daughters, some great stepkids, and several grandchildren and three great-grandchildren, not to mention two wonderful wives who both made my life better.

People ask me when I’m going to retire, and I answer, “Why retire from something I love?”

It’s been a fun ride, and I’m glad to still be in motion … and I’m grateful to all of you readers for sharing that ride.

111 COMMENTS

  2. Happy Birthday Mas! I wish that I could treat you to a beer today. My wife and I are grateful for all the work that you continue to do. Enjoy your day!

  3. Happy birthday from AZ, uncle Mas! I’ve been reading and learning from you since I got my first handgun at 21 (S&W 586, 4″ bbl) and found one of your articles in a magazine specializing in revolvers. Sending you a cyber beer ?

  4. God Bless! Your contributions are immeasurable. As we say in Polish (Sto lat! Live 100 years)

    Mark Kania
    MAG 40
    Harrisburg PA Sept 2011

  5. Happy Birthday
    I have older VHS training tapes from your older courses. You have been an inspiration to a new gun owner back in the late eighties and early nineties.

  6. Happy Birthday and congratulations Mas. Welcome to the 3/4 century club. Your tireless efforts, knowledge and wisdom have emriched countless lives over so many years, including mine. Thank you! – Al Leung: MAG-180 Class of June 2023.

    • Al, I am sure Mas appreciates you clarifying that you are 75. See the blog post “180” from June 20.

  8. Dear Old Guy (but younger than me):
    Happy Birthday. Delighted you plan to continue the amazingly important work you’ve done in the shooting community. Best wishes!

  9. Love the dinosaurs! They even have forks!

    Thanks for all you do, especially this blog, and letting us comment with such freedom! So, you are about the First Amendment, as well as the Second.

    HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

  10. Happy Birthday Massad. You’re so productive to teach, produce videos and books. You’re a great asset to the training community.

  13. Happy Birthday, Mas! Congratulations on a stellar career. There is no way to count how many lives you have saved or criminals stopped, but it must be “ginormous.” May you live MUCH longer and prosper even more. (How thoughtful of NASA to achieve the first lunar landing on your 21st birthday, by the way.)

  15. Happy Birthday, Mas! 75 years and still going strong; its an achievement we can aspire to. You allowed me to achieve a bucket list item, a course in DGU in Rochester, NY. Now if there’s a MAG 40 in the future in the area…..

  16. Happy Birthday Mas!!! So happy you’re still on the “sunny side of the grass”!
    Your CHS ’66 classmate, Gill (Blake) Thompson

  20. I am so thankful for the influence you have had, and continue to have, on my life. I am safer & smarter because of you. Thank you! Happy Birthday!

  23. Happy Belated Birthday! May you enjoy many more! Our best to you, and yours.

    And a sincere thank you for all you’ve done to help educate so many folks over the years.

    John from the Palmetto State!

  27. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MAS!!!!!
    As a former student & long time follower of yours, I’m glad to hear that you are still doing well & have no plans to retire. Your writings & instruction are invaluable to all of us in the 2A community, as is your work for all of the organizations you have belonged to over the years. Thanks especially for your dedication to teaching & supporting those of us who carry concealed in every way possible. Thanks also for helping to establish the Armed Citizens Legal Defense Network of which I am now a member. You have probably done more to promote & to protect the right to use firearms for self- defense than anyone else in the country & for that we are all grateful.

  29. Happy Birthday Mas…

    Thank you for your training, advice and articles. Never let go, there’ll be plenty of time to rest in the grave.

    Looking forward…Chris Winkley

  30. Happy Birthday! I’m ten years younger but I fully understand about bending over to tie your shoes.

  31. “Why retire from something I love?”

    That is true. If you are one of those lucky individuals who loves his job, then there is no reason to rush into retirement as long as your health is still good.

    Not all people love their work. In my case, I liked my job for the first 15 years or so. However, as I passed the 20 year mark, my job became routine. Worse, it became a “rut” with the demands and “micro-management” getting worse each year. I was, frankly, ready and, even, eager to retire by the time I hit the 25th year mark. However, my pension and health benefits were structured so as to “push” each employee to remain for at least 30 years.

    When I hit that magic 30 year mark, I “pulled the trigger” on retirement and hit the door. It was a move that I have never regretted since I had come to (not hate) but to at least dislike my old job.

    Retirement is a personal thing. Just as one person cannot specify the best “concealed carry gun and holster” for another to use on a daily basis, retirement is a personal matter based upon one’s own views, desires, and circumstances.

    You need to do what makes YOU happy. If it is retirement, then retire. If you are happy working, then continue to work. The pursuit of happiness is a core American value and an unalienable human right (Reference the Declaration of Independence).

    Happy Birthday, Mas. I wish you continued happiness! 🙂

  32. Retire? Ha!
    And do what….nothing?
    Well, you can’t do nothing. You have to do something.
    And there is no more important something than you are doing now. Keep it up!
    I got ‘retired’ at 49. Now, at 78, I am too busy for a job!
    God Bless You!

  34. Happy Birthday Mas.
    Have a great day and year.
    And here’s a toast to your next quarter century!
    You are too good to stop being you and we love it. And love you.

  35. I am about six months ahead of your birthday, and yes there are some perks that go with it.
    I can get a better parking spot, I get called honey and sweetie by some pretty ladies, who are probably thinking, poor old harmless geezer. Oh if they only knew what I was thinking, and you should see their face when I pop those choppers out and do a Gabby Hayes. Yep I even had one pat my butt, after which I said take it easy with my Depends, even though I wasn’t wearing any. Boy did her face turn red, he he
    Got have a sense of humor at my age for sure.
    One other thing I think of at my age is a term I have heard Mas talk about is Disparity of Force and the fact that I know my limitations are not nearly what they use to be,with degenerative spinal arthritis and herniated discs, it has definitely s!owed me down, but not out.
    A Very Happy Birthday to you Mas, and many returns. I have enjoyed every article, every book, and every video I can find by you. Please keep up the awesome good work.
    JimmyK

  36. Happy Birthday and God’s Blessings Mas!

    May God give you many many many more.

    Thank you for staying on point and not growing weary or disheartened. We appreciate you!!

  39. Mas, I’ve been reading your articles and books since the 1980’s. Through them, you taught me how to survive a deadly force encounter and the legal aftermath, how to avoid having to survive same, how to choose my EDC, and how to effectively use a snub nose revolver. Taking MAG 40 was a milestone in my life. Thank you for your service to the community of law abiding firearms owners/carriers. I wish you a safe, happy and rewarding birthday. Joe Carter, MAG 40 graduate, 11/12/2010.

  41. Hey Mas, happy birthday to the both of us! Today happens to be my b-day too!
    I took LFI I, II and III back-to-back in Dunbarton, NH, in 1991. My first formal firearms training. I’ll always be indebted to you for that.

  42. Mas,
    A very happy birthday to you! Mine is in September and will have rolled around to 82. Thank You for all you do as you are the one who keeps us all with a ray of hope in this awful mess.

  44. NOTABLE JULY 20 EVENTS AND BIRTHS

    1903 – The Ford Motor Company ships its first automobile.

    1919 – Born: Sir Edmund Percival Hillary KG ONZ KBE was a New Zealand mountaineer, explorer, and philanthropist. On 29 May 1953, Hillary and Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay became the first climbers confirmed to have reached the summit of Mount Everest. (d. 2008)

    1938 – Born: Dame Enid Diana Elizabeth Rigg DBE was an English actress of stage and screen. Her roles include Emma Peel in the TV series The Avengers (1965–1968) and Countess Teresa di Vicenzo, wife of James Bond, in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969). She is a Primetime Emmy Award, BAFTA TV Award and Tony Award winner. (d. 2020)[17]

    1938 – Born: Natalie Wood was an American actress who began her career in film as a child and successfully transitioned to young adult roles. She is a two-time Golden Globe Award winner and multiple Academy Award nominee. (d. 1981)

    1944 – World War II: Adolf Hitler survives an assassination attempt led by German Army Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg.

    1945 – Born: Kim Carnes is an American singer and songwriter born and raised in Los Angeles. She began her career as a songwriter in the 1960s, writing for other artists while performing in local clubs and working as a session background singer. In 1981 Carnes released Mistaken Identity, which featured the worldwide hit, “Bette Davis Eyes”. It became the best-selling single of the year in the United States, spending nine weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, going Gold, and winning the first of her two Grammy Awards.

    1947 – Born: Carlos Humberto Santana Barragán is an American guitarist who rose to fame in the late 1960s and early 1970s with his band Santana, which pioneered a fusion of rock and roll and Latin American jazz. He experienced a resurgence of popularity and critical acclaim in the late 1990s. In 2015, Rolling Stone magazine listed him at No. 20 on their list of the 100 greatest guitarists. He has won 10 Grammy Awards and three Latin Grammy Awards, and was inducted along with his namesake band into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998.

    1948 – Born: Massad F. Ayoob is an American firearms and self-defense instructor. He has taught police techniques and civilian self-defense to both law enforcement officers and private citizens since 1974. He was the director of the Lethal Force Institute in Concord, New Hampshire, from 1981 to 2009, and now operates his own company. Ayoob has appeared as an expert witness in several trials. He served as a part-time police officer in New Hampshire since 1972 and retired in 2017 with the rank of captain from the Grantham Police Department in New Hampshire. On September 30th 2020, Ayoob was named president of the Second Amendment Foundation.

    1960 – The Polaris missile is successfully launched from a submarine, the USS George Washington, for the first time.

    1968 – The first International Special Olympics Summer Games are held at Soldier Field in Chicago, with about 1,000 athletes with intellectual disabilities.

    1969 – Apollo 11’s crew successfully makes the first human landing on the Moon in the Sea of Tranquility. Americans Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin become the first humans to walk on the Moon six and a half hours later.

    1976 – The American Viking 1 lander successfully lands on Mars.

    1977 – The Central Intelligence Agency releases documents under the Freedom of Information Act revealing it had engaged in mind-control experiments.

    1997 – The fully restored USS Constitution (a.k.a. Old Ironsides) celebrates its 200th birthday by setting sail for the first time in 116 years.

    2015 – The United States and Cuba resume full diplomatic relations after five decades.

    2021 – American businessman Jeff Bezos flies to space aboard New Shepard NS-16 operated by his private spaceflight company Blue Origin.

    Happy Birthday Sir!

  46. Happy Birthday, Mas!
    I feel fortunate to have met you, and to been able to take two classes from you, and hope to find the wherewithal to take more. If I cannot, I still anticipate learning more from you via texts and videos.
    Many Happy Returns!?

  50. Happy Birthday, best wishes an many more hopefully, I no longer remember that many exact dates but I remember this one, taking my older sister to her birthday lunch one of our favorite Beatles song was interrupted with the Moon landing broadcast. Your birthday will be another reason for me to fondly remember this date. Hoping to take another class from you before one of us retires.

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