Let’s Celebrate A Serious Milestone

“What A Long, Strange ‘Fun’ Trip It’s Been…”

By Massad Ayoob

On the 60th anniversary of this magazine, I still feel humbled to be part of it. I bought my first copies of GUNS for about a dime apiece from a cardboard box of used gun magazines at Stan Sprague’s Gun Shop in Hooksett, N.H., in the latter 1950’s. My dad bought me my first Colt .45 auto there in 1960. It was a great time to be an American kid interested in firearms. I never dreamed I’d be writing for this publication.

Time, of course, marched on. In 1973, my friends Dick Riley and Nolan Santy at Riley’s Gun Shop—literally across the street from Sprague’s at that time—were converting Lugers and 1911’s and such to fire blanks for a movie called Gordon’s War, and when I saw how complicated the procedure was, it struck me as worthy of a story. I queried Jerome Rakusan, then-editor of GUNS and he assigned me to write it “on speculation.” When an editor doesn’t know you, “on spec” means “We ain’t makin’ no promises, but if you write it and we like it, we’ll publish it.” The article titled “The Guns of Gordon’s War” was my first piece for GUNS, published in the December 1973 issue.

It was the start of a long relationship. When the great Bill Jordan came on board as field editor, it coincided with one of the demonstrations he did for NRA in my home state, and I got the assignment to write him up for his introduction to GUNS readers. It was the start of a long friendship. Bill wrote the foreword for my first book, Fundamentals of Modern Police Impact Weapons in 1978, and one of the great honors of my life was when Bill chose the publishing company I later started, Police Bookshelf, to produce his great books No Second Place Winner and Mostly Huntin’ when he retired from self-publishing.

John Taffin presents Mas with the Outstanding American Handgunner of the Year award in 1998.

Meeting The Greats

Jordan was the first of many giants of the firearms world I got to meet through GUNS Magazine. Another was Jan Stevenson, who was the man I replaced as handgun editor when Jan moved to England. My first regular column under that job description—I believe we called the column “Handguns Today” then—appeared in the April 1977 issue. Jan had moved to England and left big shoes to fill. Major George Nonte, another legendary GUNS contributor, once called Jan Stevenson “the most erudite of gun writers,” and I never saw grounds on which to argue the point.

Jan convinced me to come to Britain to compete in Pistol Anno Domini in 1979 at Bisley. Ironically, at the time, that match was the largest handgun-shooting tournament in the world, in a country the rest of the planet believed didn’t allow handguns. Jan and I won a team award and some gold medals. When he started his superb Handgunner magazine there, I became a regular contributor and also taught classes for him and later for our mutual friend Richard Law, until the British handgun ban actually did come into effect in 1996, killing both Jan’s fine magazine and pistol competition (and training) in England.

For many years, John Taffin has been a cornerstone of the writers’ stable at GUNS. One of the high points of my career was winning the Outstanding American Handgunner of the Year award in 1998. It was John who made the presentation. I’ll always cherish that memory.

Mas cherishes this autographed early ’70’s picture of him with mentor Bill Jordan,
who is holding the S&W Model 57 .41 Magnum he and Elmer Keith godfathered.

Jan Stevenson passed the handgun editor baton to Mas in the late 1970’s. Here they’re
shaking hands holding the Pistol 1979 2-man team trophy they won together at Bisley
Camp in England.

Ups And Downs

If you never have “downs,” you can’t appreciate “ups.” When GUNS printed negative things I wrote about flawed guns, some gun company execs were not happy, and a few called for my head on a platter. One pulled a million-some-odd dollars worth of advertising out of GUNS and its sister publications, and told them they wouldn’t get another penny until they fired me. Founder and publisher George von Rosen, God bless him, told them to take their money and shove it: His magazines’ duty was to its readers for truth, more than to its advertisers for money. I stayed writing for GUNS. My concerns with that particular company were addressed and fixed by the manufacturer, which eventually fired the guy who wanted me fired, and came back to advertising here.

George has passed, but his son Tom continues his father’s pledge for truth to readers ahead of dollars from advertisers. I am reminded of that every time I read someone on the Internet saying “Gun writers and gun magazines are just whores for the manufacturers”…and I laugh. (And, yes, there are more stories like that… but there’s no space for them here.)

What I’ve enjoyed more than anything else about writing for this magazine has been getting to meet its readers… at gun shows, at matches, at NRA Annual Meetings, the SHOT Show and the Gun Rights Policy Conferences. From the late Jerry Rakusan through Jeff John today, my editors here have been gun-savvy people who understood what George von Rosen established with GUNS: We work for the people who read this magazine, more than for anyone else.

It’s been a fun ride, and I for one hope to stay on board for as long as I can, a guest of the readers who is happy—and honored—to serve as such.

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