Massad Ayoob, 60, is a 35-year veteran law enforcement instructor and part-time officer. Ayoob was in Tombstone as part of the Annual Western History Symposium and Book Exposition, where he gave a detailed presentation debunking many conspiracy theories surrounding the assassination of John F. Kennedy.
An author of nonfiction books and countless articles for weapons magazines, Ayoob drew on his knowledge to point out flaws in popular theories, like the possibility of multiple gunmen, to conclude that Lee Harvey Oswald killed Kennedy.
 Firearms expert and writer Massad Ayoob lectures at American Legion Post 24 Thursday in Tombstone. Ayoob’s subject matter was the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. (Mark Levy-Herald/Review ) |
So, why have a presentation about the Kennedy assassination at an event catered towards legends of the West, such as Billy the Kid and Wyatt Earp?
“That was my first question to Mr. Hickey,” Ayoob said, referring to Talei Publishers Inc. owner Michael Hickey, one of the main organizers and sponsors of the symposium.
“The fact is, it doesn’t say Old Western history, it says western history,” Ayoob said, “and at least to us easterners, it doesn’t get much more western than Dallas, Texas.”
Ayoob currently lives in Florida and New Hampshire but spends half the year traveling throughout the country teaching his 40-hour courses on weapons training and self-defense.
“I turned out to be one of those lucky people who get to make a living out of their hobby,” he said.
His extensive knowledge about the assassination stems from the mid-1990s, when he was called as an expert witness to testify in a trial in which an author, Bonar Menninger, had written a book supporting a theory that a Secret Service agent, George Hickey, had accidentally shot and killed Kennedy while riding in the car behind him in the presidential motorcade.
“I’ve been giving expert testimony and this type of thing since 1979,” he said.
“I show the Zapruder film in some of my classes when I’m lecturing on witness dynamics, as the most classic example of, if we’re not looking for it, we won’t see it.”
Ayoob is referring to the instance in which then Texas Gov. John Connally, sitting with Kennedy in the car, involuntarily reacted to being shot by lifting his arm suddenly, a movement that Ayoob said went unnoticed for decades after the incident.
“Tens of millions of people have seen that over the years, and it takes 20 years for one guy to spot a big white Stetson hat flipping almost a foot in the air.”
His classes, with names like the “Judicious Use of Deadly Force” and “Advance Handgun Skills,” take him all over the country.
“It’s way easier to bring one instructor to 20 or 30 students than vice versa,” he said.
His classes are normally comprised of a mixture of professionals and individuals who may face or have faced violent situations.
“We get a lot of high-risk retailers, and I would say a higher-than-average percentage of people who are stalking victims, (people) who have had death threats,” he said.
Those in the medical field, engineers and attorneys consistently make up part of the top five jobs of those that attend his courses, he said.
Ayoob had previously attended the Tombstone symposium in 2006, when he gave a lecture on the ballistics of the O.K. Corral shootout.
He said he’s planning on remaining in town for the remainder of the event, which lasts until Sunday, and is looking forward to the discussion of the death of Billy the Kid today.
“That is going to be fascinating,” he said.
It’s an opportunity, he said, to learn a little history.
“What you got here, with this group, (are) the premiere cowboy-western historians.”
For information about the Annual Western History Symposium and Book Exposition, go online to http://www.tombstonetimes.com/images/talei0808.jpg.
Herald/Review City Editor Ted Morris can be reached at 515-4614 or by e-mail at cityeditor@svherald.com.
