By Dave Workman
When deep-voiced Massad Ayoob talks, people listen, and in Salt Lake City during the Gun Rights Policy Conference, they did so intently as he took the audience back 50 years to the mid-1970s.
“We’ve come a long way. If you think we’re in a bad situation now, you weren’t around 50 years ago,” he observed. “Look where we are.”
Ayoob, a nationally-famous firearms and self-defense instructor, expert witness, accomplished writer and author, firearms authority and president of the Second Amendment Foundation, provided not only a history lesson, but provided a bit of Scripture in the process.
It was in the mid-70s when the Second Amendment Foundation was founded. In the half-century since, SAF has been on the front lines, bringing court cases challenging gun control laws all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
At that time, Ayoob recalled, there were seven states where lawful carry of defensive firearms was not allowed. Today, there are no states. The final holdout was Illinois, which changed its law in 2014, thanks to lawsuits involving SAF and others.
“By the 2000s that had flip-flopped,” Ayoob said. “The vast majority of states were ‘Shall Issue.’ And the final stake in the heart of that bulls–t ‘may issue’ scheme came in 2022 with the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Bruen.”
Back then, he continued, only one state—Vermont—trusted its citizens to carry without the need of a license or permit. Today, there are 29 states with so-called “constitutional” or “permitless” carry, where no license is required. North Carolina may be getting close.
As his narrative continued, Ayoob reminded the audience about the pandemic that gripped the country from 2020 to 2023. During the early part of that health scare, the media told the public that emergency responders—police, firefighters and others—would have to be quarantined if they came in contact with people suffering from COVID 19.
“It was a wakeup call that emptied the gun shop shelves, remember,” he asked.
Reciting estimates from the National Shooting Sports Foundation, Ayoob said between 2020 and 2025, approximately 26.2 million people bought guns for the first time.
Moving forward with the effort to fully restore the right to keep and bear arms which is protected by the Second Amendment, Ayoob said, “Our job is to point out the obvious lies of the prohibitionists.”
Noting how anti-gunners repeatedly complain about the 30,000 to 40,000 lives lost annually to gunshot wounds, Ayoob pointed out that many of those killed are gang-bangers, often in the 18-19 and 20-year age group, who are then identified as “children” by the gun control crowd.
Additionally, the deaths include criminals shot by police officers in the line of duty, or those justifiably shot by armed private citizens in self-defense. Also, “in any given year,” he said 60 percent or more are suicides. The numbers all get lumped together as “gun deaths.”
Ayoob noted that the firearms community is doing more in suicide prevention efforts than the gun prohibitionists.
Shifting gears slightly, Ayoob turned his attention to religion, telling the crowd that in the original Scripture, “Thou shalt not kill” actually referred to murder with evil intent.
“The Bible is filled with justifications with the use of deadly force,” he explained, “to protect the innocent from evil. The shepherd boy David faces the Philistine giant, Goliath. The ultimate example of disparity of force. And (he) prevails because he has the sling and the stone, the projectile weapon that gives him range, that is small enough and light enough that he can discreetly carry it concealed and have it available when he suddenly needs it.”
Ayoob suggested the same condition exists today, with people carrying concealed defensive sidearms. Essentially, times have changed, but the desire for personal protection remains the same. The tools may be different, but the intent hasn’t changed.
He quoted the Bible, Luke 22:36, which states, “Then said he unto them, But now, he that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise his scrip: and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one.”
Ayoob posed this rhetorical question: “Why might a Christian carry a gun?”
“The other side,” he observed, “accuses us of being hungry to kill because we carry deadly weapons. And they do not understand. All they see in the gun is the power to kill. But from that power also comes the power to deter.”
He noted that every study of defensive gun uses has shown that some 90 percent or more of such firearms use involves no shots being fired, and no blood spilled, “because of its deterrent effect.”
Ayoob left the microphone encouraging people to learn something during the conference, acknowledging in the process that he has always learned something.
