Funny that “a high level of self-confidence” should be mentioned.
That came pretty early in the first session on Day One. He asked, "How many of you have heard that I'm arrogant?" (He's obviously heard this a lot.) Several hands went up. And then he delivered the classic line.
I took LFI-1 in 1988, and had to travel through several gun-unfriendly states to do it. I shot it with a 4” Colt King Cobra. Would like to have used my limited-run S&W M66 3”, but didn't want to risk it on the “unfriendly” journey. Liked LFI-1 so much I went back in '89 for LFI-2. By this time Ashland had done a second run of the 3” 66s so I bought another one and took it this time, along with a homebuilt Commander for the double-speed qualification. Learned a lot of great stuff, including how to reload a revolver one-handed, with either hand. The Lovely Mrs. Snake went with me and we both took the evening Kubotan class. TLMS was 7 months pregnant at the time.
In 2004 I learned that Mas would be doing an LFI-1 class only about an hour from me. I called him up and asked if he could use a range assistant. He said sure, he'd be glad to have the help. I took vacation time to do it (it's four days, Thursday through Sunday). There was a woman in the class who was apparently VERY new to shooting—she was probably out of her league even at LFI-1. She was shooting some kind of stubby revolver, I forget whether it was a Ruger SP-101 or a Smith J. I asked Mas if he'd like me to “ride herd” on her and he seemed happy to have the help. I spent all of the range time for the next four days working with her personally one-on-one, freeing up Mas's two professional assistants to watch everyone else. If I hadn't done this, she'd have been a major drag on the class. I was able to keep her “up to speed” and moving along with everyone else. Mas seemed grateful for the help. She passed the graduation qualification with flying colors.
I asked if I could bring my son Jack—the one TLMS had been pregnant with in 1989--along to observe on Sunday and Mas said sure. Much of the LFI-1 class is taught by video to ensure that EVERY student gets the same experience. While the tapes are running, Mas and his assistants sneak down to the range for some personal shooting. I was honored when Mas asked if Jack and I would like to get in on one of these private sessions. Mas got to shoot my brand-new Ciener .22 conversion Browning P35, the first he'd ever seen. He invited Jack to shoot the 1911 he was testing—a brand-new Springfield Armory 1911 of some sort. Jack (now 14) handled himself well all day and shot the SA 1911 .45 passably well, even though most of his handgun experience had been with a Ciener-converted .22 1911. Mas watched him shoot with a big smile on his face, and I tell you, I couldn't have been any prouder of the kid if he'd just won the Super Bowl. Luckily I had my camera and recorded the moment.
So, yeah, I like Mas Ayoob. He's been good to me and it's a comforting feeling knowing that if I'm ever involved in a shooting, I can have the state subpoena him as a material witness to my training, and have him on my side as a professional expert witness—something that would normally cost thousands of dollars—at the state's expense. That alone is worth the time and expense of the LFI training. I'm proud to call Mas Ayoob a friend. If that makes
me "arrogant" too, then so be it.
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