Today is my 72nd birthday.  Been a fun ride.  So far, my eighth decade has been good to me, not counting the pandemic and culture war taking to the streets and all.  (Murder hornets don’t seem to be here yet, but they say the cicadas are due…a plague of locusts on top of everything else.  How many Horsemen of the Apocalypse do we have on the racetrack now? I’m losing count.)

I feel 27 on the better days, but that could just mean I’m old and dyslexic. (And repetitive, ‘cause I seem to remember saying something similar on my last birthday…old people do that, you know.)

Backwoods Home founder Dave Duffy has asked some of his writers for short biographies. Mine is up currently.

97 COMMENTS

  1. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Mas! Thanks for all you’ve shared with us, and allowing us to comment on your blog.

    No way should your father have given you a 12-gauge when you were seven. It should have been a 20-gauge.

    It’s fantastic to have a birthday when Neil Armstrong is walking on the moon.

    The only good thing about time is that it is fair. It is the same for everyone. Days and years are the same in every culture.

    Thanks again for sharing your “talent on loan from God,” with us, as Rush would say!

    • Way to go Mas. May you be blessed with many more yrs of health and happiness for you and yours. Always find your articles and perspective on life and firearms very educational and inspiring. Take care,and keep your powder dry. Regards from John Paul in Florida.

  4. From one of your MAG80 students….Happy Birthday. You’ve lived through some pretty cool decades and you have a few more to go. The show keeps getting more and more interesting. Stay healthy and stay away from the doctors.

  5. Happy Birthday to one of the nicest man Larry and Mike and Bob and of course me, since the man goes first. May you have many more.

  7. Mas,

    Happy Birthday.

    Since about 1980 you have been one of my… date I say it?… heroes. Your articles, your thoughtful reflection, your knowledge, your calm, considerate and patient teaching have all made a a positive impact in my life. I’m honored to know you and your teaching and books inform my instruction and teaching- but my efforts always point back to the Master /Sensei.

    Many good wishes and a thank you for all the people you have helped, including me.

    Greg Taggart

  8. Mas…

    Although we have never met, I feel very connected (not in weird way). My family also migrated from Syria same time as your parents did. Both my mother and father’s family, so I am 100% Syrian decent. They migrated to Boston, Brooklyn, and Miami. I am from the Brooklyn clan now living in Miami. Over the years I have followed you and you have been an inspiration and one of the main reasons I have such an appreciation for firearms with the proper respect and attitude which you have preached to gun owners for many years. I have learned so much from your videos and books. I still read this blog every day it’s published. On this special day I want to say thank you for what you have done for me and the entire firearm owning community for decades. Happy Birthday sir, and many more. Thank you.

  9. Happy Birthday Mas from Canada! I have followed you on and off since 1985 from articles back in Gun Digest to SOF magazine to many of your online articles and videos. A big thank you for all your knowledge, experience, and philosophy on defensive use of handguns. I hope we may one day get that freedom back we once had here in Canada.

    PS, thank you for the link to Eldon Carl’s webpage. Amazing reading from one of the original leather slappers.

    • You have to get rid of the entire Liberal Party, just like the cancer that they are. Remember a skank named Campbell? I know. I’m from BC but now live in our freest State of Idaho.

  11. Thank you for sharing your extensive biography. It was very entertaining and informative. The photo of you and the “300” target is a keeper. It goes to show what 72 year old eyes can accomplish when they want to. Hope to see you soon. Happy Birthday Mas

  12. Happy Birthday My Friend! I’m right behind you but still feisty and shoot as accurately as I ever did but they time me with a sun dial these days. Stay the course and only retire fully when you are no longer having fun doing what you do best. Be Well and Stay Safe!

  13. Happy Birthday Mas! Your biography was very interesting. I’ve been following you for years and was never able to put all of your work life together. Very interesting. I’m 76 and enjoy the gun world as much now as ever. Thanks for all you’ve done for our sport and our safety.
    Best Wishes,
    Bob Whatley

  14. Happy Birthday Mas from North Idaho. Although I have never had the opportunity or maybe time to take one of your classes, I very much enjoy reading your blog finding it very informative and helpful. I am 79 and don’t shoot as much as I should but still enjoy it when I can. May you have many more Happy Birthdays!

  15. Happy Birthday, Mas!!! Congratulations on the completion of your latest trip around the Sun. I am only three years younger than you & I share many of your interests, which is why I have been following you since at least 1980. I can’t remember exactly when or where I first became aware of your writings, either in gun magazines or In The Gravest Extreme, but I have been accumulating them & studying them ever since then. Although I have only had the pleasure of taking one LFI-1 course with you, I believe that I have learned so much more from you because of your extensive writings & videos, for which I am eternally grateful. It is such a blessing to be able to learn from you when I have neither the time nor the money to take as many training courses with you as I would like to do. I believe you to be the absolute best at what you do, as a trainer, as a writer, & as an expert witness. Very few people can accomplish that even in one field of endeavor. Many things set you apart from others in these areas, not the least of which is your knowledge of & emphasis on the legalities of personal defense, not just on the techniques, which makes both you & your students more well-rounded than most. I am very happy to see that you still enjoy writing & teaching enough to continue doing them at such a high level & I hope that you will continue to do so for many more years to come. If there is a Hall of Fame for gun writers & trainers, I am sure you will be in it. Thank you also for the short autobiography that you wrote for Backwoods Home Magazine & for directing us to it. I thought I knew you pretty well already, but now I know you even better. This blog continues to be a great source of information & entertainment for me, too, & I thank you for that as well. Best wishes for your future travels through space & time.

  18. Happy birthday! May the best of your past be the worst of your future!

    I greatly enjoyed spending the other week with you in Phoenix at the Instructor Course. (I learned a lot, too!)

    Tim

  19. Very best birthday wishes, with thanks for all your many books and articles have added to my life. Not the least of which is my appreciation for Berettas.

  20. Happy Birthday Mas, thanks for all the books and advice you have given me in directly answering emails from me over the years on ammo selections for my duty pistols. Yes, I have been carry a firearm daily on duty and off duty for 40 years.

    Winfred T.Dotson
    wdotson54@yahoo.com

  21. Happy B-day. I first started reading your stuff in the gun mags circa 1979-80. I still got your Gravest Extreme book that I purchased around 1981. It went thru my apartment fire in 1991. The book still has a burnt smell to it, but I salvaged it !!

  23. Happy Birthday young man. As one who passed through the gates of the Land of Septuagenarians some time ago, I can attest that at your age it is perfectly normal to feel 20 years younger, at least until you try to get out of bed. I agree with others that you should not consider retirement until you can no longer lovingly grasp your mouse or when you have to buy your magazines preloaded. Your bio was one of your best works in my opinion. Keep doing what you love.

  24. Happy Birthday Mas! I’ve been blessed to take three of your classes (2-Mag40’s and 1-Mag80). These were bucket list items for me. I only hope I can take another one some day.

  25. Friend Mas, congratulations on your continued progress, and thank you for all your hard work, and excellent writing and speaking. You have helped keep a lot of us alive, well, and out of too much trouble, at least so far. Regarding your autobiography, you should never underestimate the ability to swim under water. Many lean young people swim better under the surface than on it. All you have to do is come up for air once in a while.

  26. Happy birthday and Godspeed Mas, from upstate NY!

    Your books and the ProArms Podcast are educational and entertaining and I look forward to more.

    Years ago I had the opportunity to attend one of your MAG classes but foolishly didn’t. As a new shooter at that time, I didn’t feel worthy to be in the presence of a true master.

    I hope to have another opportunity to take one of classes in the future.

    Best wishes,
    Joe Cieply

  27. Mas – Here is a birthday present. An updated story about the “Lawn Lawyers”.

    https://www.redstate.com/nick-arama/2020/07/22/mccloskey-gun-inoperable-when-police-seized-it-but-prosecution-ordered-crime-lab-to-make-it-operable-and-lethal/

    The case cooked up against the McCloskeys badly needs to be dismissed by some honest judge. I keep hoping for it to happen so as to stick it to the politicized DA driving this witch hunt.

    It appears that the lawyer’s wife not only faced down a mob with nothing but a JA-380 but, to top it all, it was not even a functional one. Given the way she can bluff, I would not want to play poker with this lady! 🙂

    • Thanks for linking to this article, TN_MAN. I’ve read that Mark refused to answer whether or not his AR-15 was loaded. That’s what I want to know next.

      This is a good test case for America. Two liberals defend themselves with guns, and get prosecuted, while other liberals riot, loot, burn down businesses and literally get away with murder. This will be a test for our legal system.

      I’m glad the case is so public and Mark is talking to the media. I saw him talk to Sean Hannity last night and he did a good job of communicating his message.

  29. Happy Birthday, Mas!

    Liked reading your bio, and I was at the Indy NRA meeting when you and John were in the booth together – Marty Hayes and Dennis Tueller and other luminaries were there as well. I feel blessed to have had all of you as instructors at one point in my journey.

  30. Happy Birthday Mas. I sincerely enjoy your writings and appreciate the knowledge and experience you share us.

  33. Good resume Uncle Mas, and of course Happy Birthday! I have a suggestion too. I would love to see reprints of a couple of your 1980s “Cop Talk” articles. One talked about your different chiefs, I got a kick out of the guy who who said was the most “anti gun” but who let you qualify the troops on the issue 4″ S&W 66s with 125 gr full power Magnum hollow points on a special course you had designed. But the catch was that if one failed you would all have been stuck with 158 gr .38 RNL crap….no one flunked! Another article was about the shift you took a new rookie, a former EMT, out with your prized Colt Python in your holster instead of the then standard S&W 13. There are more, but those two come to mind right away. How about it?

  35. Mas,
    Belated Birthday wishes, hope your day was awesome. Your training and skills you taught me and others are for the ages. I cannot thank you enough for the skills and understanding of our Justice system. Hope to see you back in Harrisburg soon.

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