Massad Ayoob Course in Memphis

[Guest Tom Givens]

Massad Ayoob, MAG 40, Armed Citizens’ Rules of Engagement

Massad Ayoob is one of the best known writers and lecturers on self defense subjects in the United States, as well as one of the country’s most respected expert witnesses. For 28 years he has offered this immersion level, 40 hour course in managing lethal threats and the legal ramifications of the use of force. This four-day, ten hour per day course includes both in-depth classroom training, and live fire training, with documented qualification firing on several law enforcement handgun courses.

The classroom training will include an emphasis on legal issues, tactical issues, and aftermath management. Topics will include interacting with suspects, witnesses, and responding officers…threat recognition and mindset… management of social and psychological aftermath after having had to use lethal force in defense of self or others…and preparing beforehand for legal repercussions and minimizing exposure to them. Situations in the home, at the place of business, or “on the street†will all be covered. Two full days are devoted to these critical issues in the classroom.

The live fire portion of the training will take place over two full days of training on the spacious ranges of the Memphis Police Department training academy. This is a 20 hour immersion level course in the use of the defensive handgun under extreme stress. Draw from concealment, two handed stances, shooting from cover, one-handed stances with either hand, speed reloading, and more are taught with an emphasis on fast, accurate shot placement. The course will culminate with a police-style qualification course. Estimated ammo count- 500 rounds.

All of this training will take place at the Memphis Police Academy Firearms Trainining Unit, one of the most modern, well equipped, and up to date training academies in the South. We will be using their modern classrooms, and a spacious outdoor range with modern target systems. Advance registration is required. You may opt to take only the two academic days or the two range days, at $400.

DATES: 28-31 August 2010, Saturday through Tuesday, 8am-6pm each day.

TUITION: $789.00 A deposit of $200 will hold a space, balance due no later than 13 August 2010. Deposits or tuition become non-refundable 15 days prior to class.

REGISTRATION: Call 901-370-5600 to register, or mail a check to Rangemaster, 2611 S. Mendenhall Rd, Memphis, TN, 38115. All registration will be handled through Rangemaster. For further information, contact rangemaster.tom@rangemaster.com or mas@massadayoob.com

[Guest guardlobo]

Looks like fun. Wish I could go, but I already have plans.

[Punisher84]

Dammit. Wish I had the extra money. I met Mas once, he's a heck of a guy. Should be a fun class.

[Proscene]

I registered!

[eapking]

I registered!

Full report after your class please! I'd have loved to get in this, but the $ are just too much at the moment. I think Mas is great. Have fun!

[eapking]

Bump. Can we get a review from any attendees?

[tntnixon]

Was this course actully taught by Ayoob or ws it just his course plan?

[eapking]

Was this course actully taught by Ayoob or ws it just his course plan?

Supposedly Mas himself was one of the instructors.

[Guest Tom Givens]

Actually, Mas taught the entire class, assisted on the range by Rangemaster staff. Here is a review posted on another forum by one of the students.

tnedator

Lifetime Member

Join Date: May 2009

Posts: 296

Review of MAG40 course put on by Massad Ayoob in Memphis this weekend

There are quite a few reviews posted about Massad Ayoob's course, so I won't go into minute details, as others have done so. Instead, I'm going to give some highlights of what he teaches and give my thoughts that I think others should know when considering whether or not to spend the time and money to take the course. The course is now called MAG40 (Massad Ayoob Group 40), but before he left LFI, I think it was called LF1 or it was both the "Judicial Use of Force" and LF1, or something like that. Maybe some others that know what course or courses at LFI were equivalent can chime in, so when you are looking for other reviews, you can Google and find both MAG40 (of which there are fewer courses taught and therefore fewer reviews) and the old LFI equivalents.

The first thing to point out is that when I was reading reviews of the class, even after I registered, the theme I kept seeing over and over was that nobody else teaches the legal side of concealed carry and use of deadly force like Mas Ayoob does. Others might touch on different parts of it, but nobody else gives you the same type of foundation in all of the critical components:

1. A clear understanding of when you can and cannot use a weapon to defend yourself and your family.
   
2. What you need to learn, know and document to ensure that even though we all hope we never have to use a gun to defend ourselves, that if we do, we are in the best possible position to defend ourselves.
   
3. How your body will react if you find yourself fighting for your life, and what you can do NOW, to prepare yourself for the time when it has to be automatic.
   
4. What to expect and how to handle the emotional, legal, and social aftermath of having to use your gun to defend yourself.
   
5. Possibly more important than the other topics, is how to keep yourself out of situations that may result in a need to defend yourself with a weapon. How to be more aware than most of us are now and how that awareness can keep you from having to ever draw and/or use your gun in self defense, and, to use that awareness to use it IN TIME, if you must use it.
   

Those points really don't do the first two days justice. There was so much more. Detailed explanations of why different targets on the body should be the aiming point for different self defense situationsm etc. It's hard to explain how much information is jammed into two 10-hour days. I brought a laptop and took notes on it, and to qualify that amount of notes I took, I did it in outline form with bullets, so not every sentence was full width. That said, I took 39 pages of notes (just under 16,000 words based on Word's little word counter) in those two days and I have a few pages of hand written notes I need to add to it. At one point I almost asked Mas if there was a record for the most pages of notes ever taken, but I was afraid he would respond with "no, forum Boy, this is a class about shooting, not typing...." Ok, I admit I am a little competitive, which I will get to a bit later, along with my biggest disappointment/regret of the class.

Needless to say, it is a mountain of INCREDIBLY useful information that EVERY one of us that legally carries a gun needs to know, but are not going to get anyplace else. He refers to those two days as trying to fit 80lbs in a 40lb bag.

Each state has its own requirements for training to have a concealed carry license. Some states emphasize shooting skill, some emphasize knowing the legal statutes, and some both. In many states, there is a fair amount of latitude in what the course must contain and how it is taught. In Arkansas, I have been to two different instructors, and the vast majority of time was spent on learning the Arkansas statutes (concealed carry, use of force, etc.), but most of us leave those courses a little muddy on exactly when we can use a weapon to defend ourselves. When it comes to shooting, it's kind of like "see that barn over there? Put ten shots into the side." If all your shots hit wood, and don't hit the dirt or fly into the sky, your good to go. Therefore it's left up to us to REALLY be prepared and properly trained if we are going to carry a gun to protect ourselves and our loved ones.

I typed that last part to say this. Most of us don't know what we don't know. A common theme you will read in reviews about Ayoob's classes are that they says stuff like, "the first two days was worth every penny I spent on the course, the fact we spent an additional two days learning how to shoot better was just a bonus." I couldn't agree more. Until you sit in the classroom and hear the detailed explanations of what you need to know, what you need to do, AND hear Mas recount details from previous self defense cases (cases that turned out well for the defendant, and those that didn't end well and WHY), you just can't fully understand how valuable those 20 hours of knowledge that Ayoob shares with you are.

Now, I've talked about my 39 pages of notes, and this wealth of information, but it's important to say that while two ten hour days are long and mentally draining, Mas is an amazing presenter. He manages an excellent mix of professorial (he might not like that term ) legal presentation of case precedents; energetic and animated teacher; and, some standup comic routines. He does a great job of keeping it light and upbeat, as he weaves legal doctrine, case law, tactical theory, stories and jokes into an incredible two day immersion program that covers topics that we didn't even realize we needed to know.

My best advice to everyone that hasn't gone to MAG40 or the LFI equivalent is do it. Check his schedule for one near you, and sign up. If you don't think you can afford it, you need to ask yourself if you can afford NOT to go. I'll answer for you. If concealed carry is a part of your life, then you can't afford NOT to go. How many of us HAVE to buy that next pistol or rifle. We need to get those spare mags, a couple holsters, a laser, etc. Put off that next gun purchase and you probably have covered the cost of the course. Cut in half how often you buy the $5 Starbucks fancy, dancy coffee or cut back elsewhere, JUST find a way. You owe it to yourself and your loved ones to attend his class if you are carrying for self defense.

Ok, since I rambled on longer than I expected (now you can see how I typed 40 pages of notes), I'll just touch briefly on days three and four. The last two days are shooting techniques. What he teaches here is basically the techniques in his Stressfire book. However, having read the book and now taken the course, it's MUCH harder to fully understand and implement the techniques just from the book. I would strongly recommend that book, along with some of his other books, but that would be for another post, but seeing him demonstrate and walk you through it is FAR different than just reading it.

In essence, he teaches you a core of solid fundamentals, but fundamentals that are designed and proven to work reliably when you find yourself in that fight for your life, when you might be short on breath, have adrenaline coursing through your body, and you won't be able to take a nice bull's-eye stance and take 10 seconds per shot. The focus is on techniques that will work when you are essentially in the middle of a near death situation (that's what a fight for your life is) and that let you hit your target accurately and manage recoil. He focuses on the skills needed to survive the fight, so the training in MAG40 is between 4 and 15 yards (it goes out further in MAG80), with a combination of one hand, two hand, crouching and kneeling, as well as teaching the pros and cons of the three major shooting stances.

At the end of it all, you shoot a police style qualification course. Anyone that has read Mas's books will have seen that for years now he has been first shooting the course himself to set the 'pace' for his students (most of us think we have to go much faster than we actually do and therefore rush shots), and set a target score. Anyone that ties his qualification score gets an autographed dollar bill from Mas that says, "you tied me at my own game." If you beat him, you get a $5 bill stating that you beat him at his game.

This was my first shooting course (other than two full Arkansas CCL classes and two renewals -- see barn comments), and while I have been shooting for years, had basically zero experience in this type of a qualification, and had never shot from some of the stances we learned yesterday and today. Still, I'm competitive, and while I knew I would need the power of Zeus to win the $5 bill, I was determined to get a $1 bill from Mas.

I started off with the one handed stuff and while one handed isn't a strong point for me, I was doing fine -- front site, roll the trigger, front site, roll the trigger. Not all 10's, but in the qualification ring. We move to the third stage, the easiest stage, which is draw from holster, two-handed fire to slide lock, reload and fire to slide lock. Plenty of time to do it nice and smooth. I was being deliberate, so I take a firm grip before drawing the gun, get up on target, take a second to get a good site picture, then front site, roll the trigger, front site, roll the trigger, cruising along, drop the mag, reload, front site, roll the trigger and then this little voice in my head goes "you're taking too much time" and I snap off two quick shots, and then calm down and realize I have plenty of time (you shoot faster than you realize, therefore you typically have more time than you think) and finished out the string. When I finish, I see one lone hole in the 7 ring, real darn close to the 8 ring, but I can tell it's not going to be touching the line. At this point I'm dejected. I know that was the easiest of the five stages, and I blew my perfect qualification score and the chance to get the autographed buck from Mas. Anyway, that was over, time to shake it off and prove that was a fluke. We move back for each of the next two stages and I fire the final 36 rounds, with the vast majority of those going in the 10 or X ring. When I finished, I had 41 of 60 in the 10 or X ring, 18 in the 9 ring and that one solitary flyer in the 7 ring.

Now, while I was angry at myself over that one bad shot, it goes to the fundamentals that Mas teaches. EVERY shot counts when you are in a fight, so EVERY shot should count every time you fire that gun. I had some mental lapses, certainly in that one flyer in the 7 ring, but also in the 18 that wound up in the 9 ring. I now have a starting point and next time I shoot that qualification, I'll shoot it better. When I go back to Mas's course, which I will do to get my damn autographed buck, I'll shoot the perfect qualification score and tie him. Who knows, I might even put most of them in the X ring and beat him and get the autographed fiver. My wounded pride and need to win my buck aside, I probably will attend another MAG40 in the future, because the information is simply that valuable, not to mention that case law and precedents are dynamic, so getting updated information can be invaluable.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention the guys from Rangemasters (sorry Tom, half the people probably won't have read this far in my post). Tom Givens runs Rangemasters in Memphis and he hosted this course. So, it was Tom and the Rangemasters' instructors that helped Mas run the course once we hit the range. They operated as safety officers, but also along with Mas kept an eye on us and pointed out areas of improvement. There was roughly one Rangemaster instructor for every four students and Mas paced up and down the line giving advice as he went. These Rangemasters' guys know their stuff, and are nice guys to boot. There are posts on GT and other forums talking about Givens as one of the top nationally known instructors, and getting training at Rangemasters with Tom is next on my training schedule.

[eapking]

Thanks for the post Tom. Maybe next year.

[tnhawk]

I'd like to have attended, but that's a lot of $$ when you're out of work.

[Stainless]

By chance is there any of the training materials availiable for sale? Wish I could have been there! Maybe next time!

[midtennchip]

By chance is there any of the training materials availiable for sale? Wish I could have been there! Maybe next time!

Well, Mas's full course is not available in DVD or book form, but a lot of the material Mas covers regarding the legal issues is available as a member benefit of the Armed Citizens Legal Defense Network. When you join, you get 4 or 5 DVDs (not sure what is now being sent because I just received a new DVD in the mail last week that appears to now be included in the package). One of the DVDs is an hour-long discussion with Mas covering the basics of his thoughts on the legal side of carrying a weapon.

Obviously, in a 40-hour course, Mas does a lot more than what is included in the DVDs, but it's a start.