Massad Ayoob is the Director of the Lethal Force Institute in Concord, NH, National Chairman for Firearms Training for the American Society of Law Enforcement Trainers (ASLET), and a member of the International Association of Law Enforcement Firearms Instructors (IALEFI). An international leader in self-defense and firearms training for both law enforcement and civilians, Ayoob holds over two dozen professional special weapons and tactics certifications, a dozen professional awards, and dozens of competitive combat shooting awards. As a sworn police officer presently at the rank of Captain with the Grantham, NH, PD, he has 20 years experience as a patrol and training officer. In addition to enforcing the law, he has extensive experience on both sides of the courtroom, for the prosecution and for the defense, as a homicide investigator, as a certified police prosecutor for the State of New Hampshire, as an expert witness, and as Vice Chair of the Forensic Evidence Committee of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL), the only non-attorney ever to hold this position. Ayoob has served as an expert witness, consultant and defense architect in a multitude of court cases across the nation on the defensive use of deadly force. His course for attorneys entitled “The Management of the Lethal Force/Deadly Weapons Case” was, according to Jeffrey Weiner, past President of NACDL, “the best course for everything you need to know but are never taught in law school.”
Ayoob is also a prolific writer; his books include:
- Armed and Alive (a Second Amendment Foundation monograph)
- Fundamentals of Modern Police Impact Weapons
- In The Gravest Extreme
- Gunproof Your Children/Handgun Primer
- Hit The White Part
- The Semiautomatic Pistol in Police Service and Self-Defense
- StressFire: Advanced Handgun Tactics and Techniques
- StressFire II: Advanced Combat Shotgun
- The Truth About Self-Protection
- The Ayoob Files: The Book
In my opinion, anyone who even thinks about having — let alone using — a gun for self protection ought to read In the Gravest Extreme . It is a landmark study in the tactical, legal, and ethical issues surrounding civilian use of deadly force. Anti-gunners call it a manual on how to commit murder and get away with it. Pro-gunners find it chilling, as it brings to light what happens after a gunfight (likely arrest, possible trial, almost certain lawsuit, depression, nightmares, impotence, etc.). Prosecutors, judges, and lawyers claim that it taught them more about the legal issues surrounding uses of deadly force than anything they learned in law school.