Massad Ayoob on Gunfighting Myths

In an interesting article, noted gun writer Massad Ayoob has taken on “5 gunfighting myths.” As a fellow writer, I’m not interested in stealing his thunder; but I will share the high points and encourage you to explore the full article for more info.

These are the myths that he takes on:

• If you can’t do it with six, you can’t do it at all.
• My car is never far away, so I’ll just keep my handgun/long gun/spare ammunition there.
• You must practice only point shooting because you’ll never be able to see your sights in a gunfight.
• You must practice only aimed fire because you’ll never be able to hit anything pointing.
• You can never justify shooting a man more than 7/15/25 yards away.

Ayoob uses known incidents to prove his views and disprove the myths, such as the would-be cop killer who confidently approaches a state trooper after counting six shots–only to learn that Illinois troopers had recently begun carrying semi-autos. Doh!

Check out the article for his arguments against these myths.

Russ Chastain

Editor & Contributing Writer Russ Chastain is a lifelong hunter and shooter who has spent his life learning about hunting, shooting, guns, ammunition, gunsmithing, reloading, and bullet casting. He started toting his own gun in the woods at age nine and he's pursued deer with rifles since 1982, so his hunting knowledge has been growing for more than three and a half decades. His desire and ability to share this knowledge with others has also grown, and Russ has been professionally writing and editing original hunting & shooting content since 1998. Russ Chastain has a passion for sharing accurate, honest, interesting hunting & shooting knowledge and stories with people of all skill levels.