Honest Citizens Carry Concealed Weapons Because Bad Things Can Happen To Good People -Anytime, Anywhere.

Many honest citizens know this, and they know that when seconds count, the police are minutes away—at best! These honest citizens take responsibility for their own safety and choose to carry a concealed weapon for the protection of their own lives and those of their loved ones. They are not vigilantes; they are not cowboys, wanna-be cops, or wanna-be killers. They are people like you and me who realize that life and family are worth protecting in a dangerous world, and they want to have a fighting chance should crime come unbidden to them. By so doing, they protect not only their own lives, but the lives of those around them. They do this by being a de- terrent to those who would do us harm.

Before 1987 (when Florida laws changed to allow “shall- issue” carry permits), criminals knew it was very unlikely that their would-be victim was armed. No more! With the majority of states now being shall-issue, and with more citizens carrying guns for protection on more American streets, criminals cannot know who is armed and who is not.  This deters criminals, and contributes to the decreasing trends in violent crimes nation-wide.

Carrying a gun is easier than carrying a cop. While the missions of the police officer and the armed citizen are different, guns in the hands of trained citizens can be just as effective against sudden attack as guns in the hands of trained police. The difference is, the responsibly armed citizen has the gun he carries immediately at hand when the danger strikes, and need not wait minutes or even hours for help to arrive. Any honest cop will tell you that most of the time, when they are called for help, they arrive after the danger has passed.

Violent crime has gone down in the United States for the last several decades, while the number of guns in civilian hands has gone up. But there is still more than enough violent crime to give the prudent citizen cause for alarm. Violent crime is still a real threat that can strike anyone anytime and anywhere. For the last year statistics are available from the FBI, there were 14,748 murders, 84,767 rapes, 367,832 robberies, and 797,500 kidnappings. These numbers are hard for some of us to understand, but that is because we are rational, law abiding members of society. We are the sheepdogs that have to help our loved ones, our friends, and even complete strangers from the wolves out there.

Facing the prospect of criminal attacks, many citizens choose to arm themselves with a handgun for the same reason police do: to protect themselves and others from deadly danger. Handguns are more convenient for full-time carry than rifles and shotguns, and given modern ammunition, they can be effective for defensive purposes. There are other options for personal protection, such as martial arts, knives, or sub-lethal devices such as OC pepper spray and noise-makers. Such devices have the disadvantage of being less effective at quickly and decisively stopping an aggressor, and they also have the added disadvantage of needing to be used at close-contact range if they are to be effective at all. By contrast, a gun delivers a powerful deterrent blow at a safer distance than can knives or pepper spray. In the face of a potentially lethal attack, the number one goal is the protection and survival of the innocent: that’s you, someone you love, or another innocent person.

~ Tim Schmidt

Tim Schmidt is the founder and CEO of the United States Concealed Carry Association and its sister organization the Home Defense Association of America (HDAA). The USCCA is “The Ultimate Resource for the Armed Citizen” and has over 65,000 active members. He is also the founder and publisher of Concealed Carry Magazine, a national magazine dedicated to the responsibly armed citizen. Tim is an avid shooter, loves to ride big, black motorcycles and holds a black belt in Tae Kwon do. He lives in South-Eastern Wisconsin with his wife of 18 years and three young children.

Why Carrying Concealed is More Complicated Than You May Think

Who do you tell about your defensive handgun? While many people may be understanding and supportive, many others may not share your enthusiasm for carrying a firearm for personal defense, and may be uncomfortable, or even offended, by your carrying in their presence. Others may be unable to keep from talking about it and drawing often unwanted attention to the fact that you are carrying.

Personally, I focus on the word concealed in the phrase “concealed carry,” and choose to tell very few people that I routinely carry a pistol on or about my person almost every time I walk out my door—and usually inside that door as well! Your spouse or significant other will certainly know, and close friends may know, but I keep the number in the know as small as possible. Most people don’t need to know that you are carrying, and if a situation arises where its use is needed in their presence, they will find out soon enough!

This gives rise to another important social consideration of carrying a gun: What do family and friends do should you need to use your gun when you are with them? Un- less you and they are properly trained in advance of the event, it can needlessly complicate things at best, and lead to possibly tragic results at worst. The short answer to this problem for me is: The one with the gun is in command. I intend to only draw my weapon in extremis, when there is no other choice except to use the gun or see myself or other innocents die or be seriously harmed. My wife and close friends know they are to do what I tell them in such situations, and to get out of the way and under cover and stay there until I tell them otherwise.

Another important topic is your social contacts after a defensive gun use. This is the confrontation with the criminal justice system discussed earlier. You’ve defended your life with a gun, and the police have you in custody. Your one phone call is to your spouse. Does he or she know what to do in that situation? A full discussion of this topic, though of vital importance, is outside the scope of this survey report, but it is of such importance that I commend to your attention the serious, deep, and frequent study of the le- gal aftermaths of a defensive shooting.

For now, give serious and sober thought to what you will do in the immediate aftermath of a defensive shooting. For example, what do you say when you call the police, whether and when you need to call an attorney, should you ask your attorney to come to the scene, etc.? Probably most important is: Do you have an attorney lined up ahead of time that you can call as needed? After that, how will you pay the legal expenses associated with even a righteous shooting, one where you are not criminally charged or sued civilly after the fact? The very worst of all possible times to look for a lawyer is when you are sitting in a jail cell after successfully defending your life with a gun. You need to think about it NOW, when you are calm, when your life and freedom are not in jeopardy, and you can take your time, ask for advice, study the available literature (there’s plenty out there!), study the several products on the market designed to aid you in this very situation (including paying legal fees), and choose the one that best meets your needs and your purse, all in the quiet of your own home with no pressure on you at all! The Self- Defense SHIELD consists of an insurance policy owned by USCCA, Inc. that designates the members as beneficiaries. No individual underwriting is required. The USCCA, Inc. owns and pays for the policy while YOU, as a PLUS member, automatically get the benefits. This liability insurance policy is underwritten by the Savers Property and Casualty Insurance Company, a subsidiary of the Meadowbrook Insurance Group. Meadowbrook Insurance Group, Inc. and its insurance company subsidiaries have been rated A- (Excellent) by A.M. Best Company. In 2010, Meadowbrook Insurance Group, Inc. wrote $801,900,000 in policies.  See more information at http://www.USConcealedCarry.net/join-now/

As always, take care and stay safe,

-Tim Schmidt

Tim Schmidt is the founder and CEO of the United States Concealed Carry Association

Until 1934, guns were unregulated in the United States.  That was the year the National Firearms Act made it illegal to possess a submachine gun unless a $200 excise tax was paid to the U. S. Treasury. Interestingly, Congress did not attempt to prohibit the possession, manufacture or sale of machine guns, instead opting to discourage and thus limit their ownership through the federal government’s taxing authority. In 1934, $200 was the equivalent of $3,277 in 2012. Why do it that way? Simply because at that time, few people, including lawyers, judges, and legal scholars, questioned that the Sec- ond Amendment meant what it said about the right of the people to keep and bear arms not being infringed.

That changed with the Gun Control Act of 1968 (GCA68), passed in the wake of the John and Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr. assassinations. To own a gun today, one must be a U.S. citizen or legal Resident Alien. Persons prohibited from owning firearms under GCA68 include:

- Those convicted of felonies and certain misdemeanors except where state law reinstates
rights, or removes disability.

- Fugitives from justice.

- Unlawful users of certain depressant, narcotic, or
stimulant drugs.

- Those adjudicated as mental defectives or incompetents or those committed to any mental institution and currently containing a dangerous mental illness.

- Non-US citizens, unless permanently immigrating into the U.S. or in possession of a hunting license legally issued in the U.S.

- Illegal Aliens.

- Those who have renounced U.S. citizenship.

- Minors defined as under the age of eighteen for long guns and handguns, with the exception of Vermont, eligible at age sixteen.

- Persons convicted in any court of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence.

- Persons under indictment for a crime punishable by imprisonment for more than one year are ineligible to receive, transport, or ship any firearm or ammunition.

As long as you are not in one of the prohibited categories, you are federally eligible to own firearms in the U.S. and to apply for a Concealed Carry Permit in most states.

State and local laws regarding gun ownership vary. Most closely follow the federal requirements, but a few do not. Check the law in your state for the particular requirements, and follow them scrupulously. You can check out all of the details inside our website member’s area for a complete listing of each state’s Attorney General and the specifics of gun ownership and CCW Permit regulations.

Forty-nine states now allow some form of concealed carry. Four states allow “Constitutional Carry,” that is, concealed carry without a state-issued permit. Three of those states also allow citizens to voluntarily apply for a carry permit.

Thirty-eight states are officially “shall-issue” states. In shall-issue states, the requirements for getting a concealed carry permit are laid down by law. If you meet the requirements, the state shall issue the permit. Your right to carry in these states cannot be thwarted by a lone bureaucrat.

In ten states, the laws are “may-issue.” May-issue states also have a list of requirements laid down by law. When you meet these requirements, the state may issue your permit—or it may not, if the pertinent authorities decide not to do it. Two of these states are shall-issue in practice, but they are still technically may-issue by law.

Illinois and the District of Columbia are “no issue” jurisdictions. In these areas, no law-abiding citizens may carry a concealed firearm—although a glance at the headlines shows us that the criminals certainly do!

Getting Your Permit

If you live in a state that is shall-issue, your task is simple: Find out the legal requirements for a concealed carry permit, meet them, apply for your permit, and enjoy your new carry privileges. Shall-issue states typically have eligibility requirements pertaining to:

- Age

- Residency

- Substance abuse

- Criminal history (felonies are an automatic disqualifier, as are domestic violence convictions)

- Firearms possession

- Training in the legal use of force, self-defense laws, and marksmanship instruction

- Sometimes a requirement to demonstrate firearms proficiency

If you live in a may-issue state, getting a CCW is more difficult, and the outcome is far from certain. Most may- issue states have criteria similar to shall-issue states, but some do not. Find out the requirements of your local- ity, try to meet them, and hope you get it. If you don’t, if your jurisdiction has an appeal process, and if you can afford it, appeal the adverse decision as far as the system and your resources allow.

The United States Concealed Carry Association has an active forum that can often answer questions that you may have. The members of the USCCA are a helpful and supportive group and may be able to share with you the methods that have been a proven success.

No matter where you live, and no matter how much experience you have, it’s important to know this one universal truth:  Knowledge is power.  If you know your rights and know the law, you will be able to confidently and responsibly carry your concealed pistol without an ounce of concern.  The most prepared citizen with a gun is the one who knows their rights and knows how to use their rights to defend themselves, their loved ones, and their communities.

Take care and stay safe,

Tim Schmidt

Tim Schmidt is the founder and CEO of the United States Concealed Carry Association and its sister organization the Home Defense Association of America (HDAA). The USCCA is “The Ultimate Resource for the Armed Citizen” and has over 65,000 active members. He is also the founder and publisher of Concealed Carry Magazine, a national magazine dedicated to the responsibly armed citizen. Tim is an avid shooter, loves to ride big, black motorcycles and holds a black belt in Tae Kwon do. He lives in South-Eastern Wisconsin with his wife of 18 years and three young children.

Most states require some level of training before they grant a license to carry a concealed hand- gun. That training typically teaches safe gun handling, basic marksmanship, and local laws about self- defense. The class teaches students where guns may and may not be legally carried. Many, but not all, states also re- quire you to demonstrate that you can safely fire a gun.

This state-required training should be regarded as the beginning, not the end, of learning what you need to know. Permit-related training will familiarize you with the basics of handgun operation and use. It will give you a nodding acquaintance with self-defense laws, but it will not make you a responsibly armed citizen, which should be your goal to become and remain.

As a responsibly armed citizen, what’s a good goal? Try this: with your carry gun, shoot accurately (keeping all rounds fired in the center of mass of a man-sized target) out to at least 25 yards. Can you do it? Can you do it with your strong hand only? Can you do it with your support hand only? (In case you are wounded in one hand.) This may sound hard to believe, but you have to prepare for anything. You have to be ready to defend your loved ones when they need it. If your “shooting hand” is injured you have to be ready to fire with your less dominant hand.

Another good goal is to learn the laws about self-defense well enough that you easily, almost reflexively, recognize situations where you are legally entitled to use deadly force. When you read the news, look for stories of violent crime. When could the victim have legally defended himself with a firearm? When could he not? What elements in the story would need to change to make deadly force appropriate and legal for the victim?

You will also want to become well trained in situational awareness. This will help you recognize potential threats before they happen! When you see a problem coming, you can take action to AVOID a confrontation if at all possible.

This necessary level of skill comes only from study and practice at the hands of people who have themselves studied and practiced for a long time. For the responsibly armed citizen, such training never ends. There’s always more to learn. Laws about self-defense change at the whim of legislatures and judges, and you must stay abreast of those changes. Maintaining your physical skills and your knowledge of the law is the duty you take up when you decide to carry a gun for the defense of yourself and your loved ones.

Finding a trainer is not difficult. A web search or tele- phone book will yield many in your area. Finding good ones is a little harder. Check the gun store where you bought your firearm to see if they offer courses in self-de- fense and handgun tactics. Ask around at your gun club or shooting range. Talk to local police or contact the NRA

Check gun magazines for ads and training reports for nationally-recognized firearms instructors . The USCCA is friends with some of the top trainers in the country. Check out http://www.USConcealedCarry.net/join-now/ for more information. The trainers featured in those ads and magazines have national reputations for a reason, and instruction from them is usually well worth the price. “You get what you pay for,” is as true in the gun world as anywhere else, and getting good training in gun-handling skills is more important than in almost any other endeavor.

CHOOSE YOUR WEAPON

As Americans, you have a huge advantage when you want to carry a concealed pistol.  Every citizen and legal resident has the right to keep and bear arms, and there are more firearms available to the average U. S. citizen than anywhere else on the planet.

Defensive carry handguns will typically be of two types: revolver or semi-auto pistol. While available calibers range from .22 to .50 Action Express, the usual caliber range for serious self-defense consideration starts at .380 ACP and goes to .45ACP, with stops along the way at .38 Special, .357 Magnum, 9mm, and .40 S&W.

Until police departments moved to the semi-auto pistol to arm their officers in the 1980s, the six-shot revolver, usually in .38 Special, or its more powerful big brother, the .357 Magnum, was the standard sidearm for America’s thin blue line. The modern double-action revolver is inherently safe, with few moving parts to go wrong. It is simple to operate, easy to learn to use (but difficult to shoot well), capable of excellent accuracy, and when loaded with today’s ammunition designed specifically for self-defense, will give good service to the responsibly armed citizen. The chief drawback of the revolver is its capacity of five or six rounds, which some find to be too few.

The other choice is a semi-automatic pistol, most commonly in calibers .380 ACP, 9mm, .40 S&W, and .45 ACP. The advantages of the semi-auto are larger ammunition capacity, faster reloads, and greater ease of concealment. Since a semi-auto does not have a bulky cylinder, they are flatter and a little easier to conceal than a revolver. The downside is their having more moving parts and thus more things to go wrong, which makes for a greater tendency to malfunction than a revolver. But with modern production techniques, proper training, and proper maintenance on the part of the shooter, semi-automatic pistols are capable of great reliability, and are widely chosen for concealed carry.

Try out several revolvers and pistols in the different recommended calibers. While shopping for your carry gun, you should know that what you enjoy holding in the shop may not feel quite so good in your hand when you shoot it! For this reason, if possible, get to a shop that allows you to rent firearms and try them out on their range before you buy. Your choice for a self-defense sidearm should be the one you can shoot most comfortably and most accurately, and that you will carry every time you walk out your door.

Given careful shopping, and the very wide range of handguns developed and tailored specifically for the U. S. concealed carry market, there is no reason your choice of a daily carry gun cannot be that of a powerful and concealable weapon in one of the effective calibers mentioned above. Once you choose one, practice with it until you can quickly and consistently hit the center of a man-sized target at ranges from three feet to 25 yards.

CHOOSE YOUR AMMUNITION

Self-defense ammunition is the next important part of a self-defense system.  It must be accurate, reliable, and capable of delivering a hard hit.  Any effective defensive round must hit its target, preferably stay inside its target, and deliver enough power on impact to stop that target from continuing aggressive action against the intended victim.

Your best bet for defensive ammunition includes a hollow point bullet, which is designed to expand on impact. You may also choose ammunition with a frangible bullet, which is designed to come apart on impact. Both of these ammunition types dump the bulk of their energy into the target and deliver maximum energy where it is needed the most.  Both of them put the brakes on when you hit the target, so they are less likely to go through the bad guy and hit an innocent bystander.  All of these factors combine to make hollow point and frangible rounds good choices for civilian self-defense.

Modern hollow point and frangible rounds hit the target accurately and provide a good chance of stopping an aggressor. If you’re not sure what ammunition or bullet shape to choose, check what your local law enforcement agencies are using. Police officers carry guns for a living, and their departments have a strong interest in ammunition that will help their officers stay safe. Whatever ammunition they adopt is likely a decent bet for you.

CHOOSE YOUR GEAR

Once you choose a gun to carry, you need to carry it. Your carry gear and mode is just as personal a choice as that of your handgun and ammunition. You want your mode of carry to be convenient, very discreet, and comfortable. With proper design and construction of the holster/carry system, even a full-size handgun can be carried comfortably and discreetly all day.

Carry modes vary from strong side, back pocket, front pocket, shoulder holster, small-of-the-back, ankle holsters, off- body carry in a purse, briefcase or fanny pack and just about anything in-between you can think of. I know people who carry the new Ruger LC9 in 9mm in their strong-side front trouser pocket, with an extra magazine of ammo in the weak-side pocket. Some like strong-side hip carry for a full-size 1911 Government Model .45 un- der a jacket or shirt; some prefer a weak- side shoulder holster for a short-barreled 5-shot Smith & Wesson Chiefs Special in .38 Special caliber. It truly is a matter of personal preference. Give thought to how you typically go through your day. Are you in a car a lot? If so, perhaps a shoulder holster may be for you. Are you usually in a coat and tie while at work? That may make it easier to discreetly carry a full-sized semi-auto pistol most of the time. Per- haps a small-frame semi-auto in .380ACP or 9mm in a strong-side front pocket holster may fit the bill. Give thought to your typical routine and how you dress; try out different carry modes and go with what works for you. If you are like most responsibly armed citizens, after a while you will have a drawer or box with holsters you tried and retired for something else. That’s okay. Being a responsibly armed citizen is a journey as well as a destination. If we’re lucky, we all learn and grow over time. It’s the same with guns and gear. It’s an art form, not a science. The important thing is to find what’s right for YOU, to know when and how to use your gun to good effect, and to carry 24/7 whenever it is possible to do so.

We’ve all heard the saying, “one size fits all.”  Well, at this point I hope I don’t need to tell you that this age-old saying just isn’t true when it comes to responsibly carrying concealed.  No matter what you kind of gun, ammo, and equipment you choose to optimize for your needs as a responsible armed citizen, just be sure that you are investing in the kind of quality that will last for generations.

Take care and stay safe,

Tim Schmidt

Tim Schmidt is the founder and CEO of the United States Concealed Carry Association and its sister organization the Home Defense Association of America (HDAA). The USCCA is “The Ultimate Resource for the Armed Citizen” and has over 65,000 active members. He is also the founder and publisher of Concealed Carry Magazine, a national magazine dedicated to the responsibly armed citizen. Tim is an avid shooter, loves to ride big, black motorcycles and holds a black belt in Tae Kwon do. He lives in South-Eastern Wisconsin with his wife of 18 years and three young children.

The responsibly armed citizen trains in the use of firearms. When you are a responsibly armed citizen, you maintain a high level of skill at arms. You study tactics and laws about use of force and self-defense. You learn to stay aware of your surroundings so you can avoid trouble or deal with it promptly and effectively if you need to.

A responsibly armed citizen is not a law enforcement officer with a duty to deter crime and seek out and apprehend criminals. That’s not the goal! The goal is to defend innocent life: your own life and the lives of those you love. As a responsibly armed citizen, you know that guns should never be brandished without need. You know you will draw the gun only when you genuinely need to do it, and that if you do need to use it, you will use it decisively and effectively, and only as much as necessary.

Carrying a concealed firearm for self-defense is both a citizen’s most basic right and most awesome responsibility. If, after careful consideration and study of the matter, you are not sure it is right for you, you should not do it.

~ Tim Schmidt

Tim Schmidt is the founder and CEO of the United States Concealed Carry Association and its sister organization the Home Defense Association of America (HDAA). The USCCA is “The Ultimate Resource for the Armed Citizen” and has over 65,000 active members. He is also the founder and publisher of Concealed Carry Magazine, a national magazine dedicated to the responsibly armed citizen. Tim is an avid shooter, loves to ride big, black motorcycles and holds a black belt in Tae Kwon do. He lives in South-Eastern Wisconsin with his wife of 18 years and three young children.

You will almost certainly deal with the police after a defensive gun use. They will in all likelihood respond to the scene of the shooting, and they will treat it as a crime scene. They will treat you as a criminal suspect, until and unless they determine differently.

You will likely be handcuffed, you may spend a night (or more!) in jail, and you will most definitely need to explain and defend your actions to the criminal justice system: the police, prosecutors, and possibly a jury of your peers. How well you do that, and the resources you may or may not have at your disposal to help you through that process, will have a huge impact on the rest of your life.

Even the most justifiable shootings can be cast in a bad light by sloppy police work, anti-gun prosecutors looking to make a name for themselves by hanging your scalp on their belt, or by you yourself if you cannot convincingly articulate why you resorted to deadly force at that place and time. If the police or prosecutor decides criminal charges against you are appropriate, you must defend those charges.

Even a losing criminal defense is expensive, and even bad lawyers don’t work cheap! The usual rule of thumb for a criminal defense is $100,000 and it can be much more, depending on the nature and complexity of your case. While a defense of criminal charges may not be necessary in your case, it may well be, too. These things can never be predicted in advance, but they must be thoroughly considered before you decide to carry a gun concealed for self-defense and in advance of your pulling the trigger.

Assuming you survive the gunfight and your encounter with the criminal justice system, the criminal or his surviving family may sue you for using a gun to defend yourself! As a lawyer once told me while I was interviewing him about defensive gun uses in general, “If you shoot someone, you WILL get sued!”

If you are sued, you must defend the suit, or you lose by default.

The standard of proof required to win a civil suit is not beyond a reasonable doubt, like it is in a criminal trial. No! It’s by a preponderance of the evidence, which is a much lower standard. That means even if you survive the criminal trial unscathed, you could still lose the lawsuit.

The full legal aftermath of a defensive gun use, with its range of possibilities and how to prepare for them, is beyond the scope of this article, which focuses on get- ting a concealed carry permit; but it is something you must consider, and consider well, as you think through and decide whether carrying a concealed weapon is for you.

In Civil court, even after you have been successful in criminal court you can still be made to feel guilty. The Self-Defense SHIELD will be there to protect you one step further. The USCCA carries the policy with each of the members the beneficiary. This means that a lawyer will be provided for you to defend your good name and your livelihood.

The United States Concealed Carry Association does not want to see you become a victim of the courts after you have made the decision to protect the ones you love. The USCCA has developed an insurance backed benefit (Self Defense SHIELD) that is set up to help you after a self-defense incident has occurred. Depending on your level of membership, the Self-Defense SHIELD will help you to hire an experienced attorney who will work hard to protect you.  You can see more about it at
http://www.USConcealedCarry.net/join-now/

Editors Choice!

Self-defense with a gun is a fight for survival.  The stakes are literally life and death.  Nothing less justifies using deadly force.

But no one really wins a gunfight. The best you can do, the very best you can hope to achieve in a defensive gun situation, is to keep what you have–your life, and the lives and well-being of your loved ones.

There will be consequences of your use of deadly force for self-defense, even if it is successful. One of those consequences is having to live the rest of your life knowing you may have taken someone’s life or seriously injured another person. There can be serious criminal and civil consequences for even the most justified of self-defense shootings. These consequences can best be summarized by observing that there are three separate and distinct problems associated with defensive gun uses:

1)     Surviving the gun fight
2)     Surviving the criminal justice system
3)     Surviving the civil justice system

Surviving the gunfight can be the easiest of the problems, but it is the most important. If you don’t survive, there’s nothing else for you to worry about—at least in this life. That makes surviving the gun fight Problem Number One. You do that by being a responsible gun owner and gun carrier, and working diligently to achieve a level of skill with your arms so that you are in the best possible position to prevail if ever you must struggle for your life with a firearm. More on that later, when we deal with training.

~ Tim Schmidt

Tim Schmidt is the founder and CEO of the United States Concealed Carry Association and its sister organization the Home Defense Association of America (HDAA). The USCCA is “The Ultimate Resource for the Armed Citizen” and has over 65,000 active members. He is also the founder and publisher of Concealed Carry Magazine, a national magazine dedicated to the responsibly armed citizen. Tim is an avid shooter, loves to ride big, black motorcycles and holds a black belt in Tae Kwon do. He lives in South-Eastern Wisconsin with his wife of 18 years and three young children.

It seems that the days of reasonably cheap ammunition are over. Centerfire rifle ammunition has almost doubled in price over the last ten years, and as shooters have increasingly scoured gun store shelves and Internet retailers for bargains, even the supplies of foreign surplus ammunition have largely dried up. Where people could once feed their AK-style rifles and SKS carbines with commercial 7.62x39mm ammo for four dollars per box, paying twice as much for corrosively-primed WWII surplus ammunition seems like a really good deal these days.

When a fun afternoon at the rifle range requires a cash outlay that’s the equivalent of a text-happy teenager’s monthly cell phone bill, and the only alternatives are either taking out a second mortgage, or letting the rifle collection gather dust in the gun safe, one starts looking for other solutions to keep shooting long guns on a regular basis.

A time-tested solution to the problem of ammunition economy is the pistol-caliber rifle. Using the same size of lead ball for both rifle and pistol is an idea that dates back to the days of the flintlock, but in those days, people hardly ever owned and carried both at the same time. The concept really came into its own with the advent of the metallic cartridge, and the westward expansion of the United States in the 19^th century.

For an explorer or adventurer striking out for the uncharted wilds, having a rifle and handgun in the same caliber made a lot of sense. It meant having to buy and store only one kind of ammunition, a valid consideration when all one’s provisions and supplies had to fit on the back of a mule or in a Conestoga wagon. It also provided a level of redundancy in the event of a lost or broken gun. If the rifle broke, the ammo for it could be used in the handgun, and vice versa.

What made sense for a 19^th century wilderness explorer also makes sense for a 21^st century rural or suburban gun owner, albeit for different reasons. Sure, it’s nice not to have to throw out a few boxes of cartridges when the home defense rifle breaks, but modern-day gun owners don’t usually put a carbine into their minivans for the long and dangerous trek to the pizza buffet, and a competent gunsmith is usually closer than a three-week ride on horseback. Owning a pistol-caliber rifle does have its own set of modern advantages, however.

One major selling point for the rifle in a handgun caliber is the ability to use cheaper ammunition. While handgun ammo has seen as much of a price jump as rifle ammunition, it’s still cheaper in absolute terms to shoot a 9mm Luger or .357 Magnum than a .30-30, .308 Winchester, or .223 Remington. When you own a rifle chambered in a caliber that’s almost exclusively available with hunting bullets—try finding some FMJ surplus .30-30, for example—you’ll pay easily eighty cents per round, whereas you send only twenty-five or thirty cents downrange every time you pull the trigger on a carbine loaded with 9mm Luger FMJ ammunition. Saving money on ammo means more practice per dollar spent, and for people on a slim budget, it can make the difference between getting some range time, or not being able to take the rifle along for range trips at all.

Another advantage of the pistol-caliber long gun is the increased availability of places to practice. Many indoor pistol ranges allow the use of long guns in handgun calibers, but very few have facilities for rifle shooters to stretch the legs of their .308 Winchester deer-getters or AR-15 home defense rifles. While most indoor ranges are limited to 25 yards at most, the pistol-caliber rifle is still useful for practice because you can compensate for the sorter range with proportionally smaller targets.

Lastly, pistol-caliber long guns have an intangible advantage over their higher-powered cousins: they are easier to shoot, and a lot of fun. This makes them especially suitable as long guns suitable for the entire family, or for the gentle introduction of new shooters to centerfire rifles. While you wouldn’t want to start a new shooter on a Marlin lever-action rifle in .30-30 or .45-70, there are few guns more fun to shoot than the same lever-action rifle in .357 Magnum, loaded with mild .38 Specials. Incidentally, the low recoil and limited power of most handgun-caliber rifles also makes them an outstanding choice for home defense. They generally have very low recoil and can be used proficiently by most people regardless of stature and strength, and they won’t shoot through things as thoroughly as full-powered rifle, a consideration in urban environments. And since shooters can practice with their rifles at indoor ranges at precisely the distances likely in a home defense event, they’ll be more likely to hit their targets.

Like most things in life, handgun-caliber rifles have disadvantages as well. They tend to be underpowered for their weight and length, their ammunition makes them 150-yard rifles at the most, and they are not very flexible for hunting. But for many common scenarios, those disadvantages are precisely the strength of the handgun-caliber rifles, and for many uses, they’re actually more suitable than full-powered rifles.

Those who decide that the concept makes sense have many good options when it comes to selecting a rifle or carbine to match the caliber of their handgun. Lever-action rifles from Winchester or Marlin come chambered in competent revolver calibers that are easy to shoot in a rifle, but offer substantially increased power over a handgun in the same caliber. A .357 Magnum load that clocks 1,400 feet per second out of a four-inch revolver barrel will leave the muzzle of an eighteen-inch carbine barrel at over 1,800 feet per second, and develop eight or nine hundred foot-pounds of muzzle energy. That kind of ballistic performance puts it well above the best handgun rounds when it comes to stopping power, and even makes it sufficient for hunting deer-sized game, all while offering moderate recoil, high capacity, and the fast handling of a lightweight carbine. For those willing to trade the extra power of a Magnum round for faster reloads and ammo commonality with semi-automatic pistols, companies like Kel-Tec and Beretta offer carbines that will in many cases even use the same magazines as their companion pistols. And for the tactically inclined, the popular AR-15 rifle system has many upper receiver assemblies in pistol-caliber rounds available for it. This enables owners of the AR-15 to turn their familiar .223-caliber rifles into lower-powered training tools, plinkers, or fast-handling home defense carbines. The modular nature of the AR also makes it possible to put together a dedicated pistol-caliber training rifle that looks, works, and handles just like the same rifle in a bigger caliber.

A note on the lever-action carbines widely available due to the current popularity of Cowboy Action Shooting: some people consider them obsolete old-time technology, but they have several real-world advantages relevant to modern-day use. They have tubular magazines, so besides offering a reasonable capacity for most uses—six to ten or more rounds depending on caliber and magazine tube length—they can be topped off after every shot if needed. Lever-action rifles also don’t have detachable magazines, which means that shooters on a budget can own a practical rifle without having to invest in a stash of magazines. They offer adjustable power levels—you can load a lever-action carbine chambered in .357 Magnum or .44 Magnum with soft-shooting .38 Special or .44 Special loads. Lastly, lever-action rifles look traditional and non-martial, a consideration in some unfriendly jurisdictions where even SKS rifles and Ruger rimfire carbines are sometimes labeled “assault rifles”, and the sight of a collapsible-stock, all-black AR-15 will result in unfriendly looks or law enforcement attention. Political realities being what they are in some parts of the United States, a wood-stocked “cowboy gun” gets less attention at the range, and looks like less of a liability in the courtrooms of jurisdictions hostile to gun rights.

The “Frontier Logistics” setup of a handgun and long gun that can be fed from the same ammo box has its limitations. A pistol-caliber carbine is not as powerful or far-reaching as a rifle firing a bottle-necked cartridge. For those of us who would like to have a sensible defense battery on a budget, however, the idea has a lot of merit. There’s only one kind of ammunition to buy for both rifle and handgun, and it’s much more affordable than full-power rifle ammunition. It’s possible to practice more for the same ammo budget, and in locations closed to most other rifles. A pistol-caliber rifle does an adequate job for many tasks for which the average suburban gun owner needs a rifle. For home defense use, its limitations actually make it a better choice for many people than a more powerful rifle. And lastly, all the rifles in pistol calibers out there are just a lot of fun to shoot.

Anyone looking to buy a long gun for plinking, practice, or home defense ought to consider the merits of having a low-recoil companion to the pistol or revolver they may already own. The pistol-caliber rifle is a fun, useful, and economical addition to the gun safe.

As a full-time firearms instructor, I get daily questions from beginning shooters about the best caliber for concealed carry.People new to carrying a gun on a daily basis have lots of questions about how bullets work and want to choose the most effective firearm they can carry.

I went through the same learning phase myself.As a rookie cop who decided to carry a gun off-duty (which isn’t as common as you might think), I obsessed over my personal firearms selection.I started off with a .38 snub because I could carry it as a backup gun on my ankle while working as well as a primary gun for off duty carry.I quickly realized that, while easy to carry, I couldn’t shoot it very well.Money was tight and I couldn’t afford another gun for awhile, so I defaulted to carrying a gun I had owned since a teenager… a S&W Model 19 .357 Magnum with a four inch barrel.I carried it in an inside-the-waistband holster for more than a year before I got a raise and could buy another gun.

That new gun was a Smith and Wesson Model 3913 9mm.I loved the gun, but I was worried about the stopping power failures I heard were prevalent with the 9mm cartridge.I upgraded to a .40.Shortly thereafter I moved to a bigger .40.Then I upgraded to a .45.I’ve carried just about every caliber available over the years as I stayed on the quest to find the perfect concealed carry caliber.

All the while, I was keeping data on the results of every shooting I could find.I went to autopsies.I talked to gunfight survivors andread police reports.I wanted to put to rest all the rumor and propaganda I had seen about handgun effectiveness.I would prove once and for all which cartridge was the “best” and I would carry that until my research identified something better.

I collected data on nearly 2000 shootings over the course of 10 years of research. For this study, I excluded all cases of accidental shootings or suicides.Every shot in the data set took place during a military battle or an altercation with a criminal.

I looked at many different factors, but the variables I think are most important are the following:

1)      What percentage of people shot stopped their aggressive action after one hit to the torso or head?

2)      On average, how many shots did it take to stop the attacker?

3)      What percentage of attackers did not stop no matter how many rounds they took?

Here’s what I found:

Before I get into too much detail about the results of my study, a littleeducation in handgun ballistics is required.

There is nothing magical about a handgun bullet.Handgun bullets don’t explode inside the person shot.They don’t knock someone off his feet.They merely poke holes and cut flesh.Obviously, where those holes are located on the body is of prime importance.If the bullets don’t hit a vital structure, they can’t physically incapacitate someone.Besides the location of the wound, the other important factor to consider is the size of the hole.A bigger hole is statistically more likely to hit something vital than a smaller hole, all other factors being equal.

No matter where the bullet hits or what caliber is used, a person can only stop an aggressor three ways:

1)      A Psychological stop- This is when the attacker stops fighting because of the pain or the shock from the bullet wound.Oftentimes, criminals will stop their attack even though they weren’t physically incapacitated by the bullet.They just don’t want to be shot anymore!

Even though it happens on a regular basis, we can’t rely on this mechanism to reliably stop an attacker.Many criminals are mentally ill or under the influence of drugs or alcohol.Those factors diminish the body’s pain response.We just can’t count on the attacker feeling the pain of the bullet wound and stopping his attack.

2)      A Central Nervous System Hit- If your bullet hits the bad guy’s brain or upper spinal cord; it is likely to be immediately incapacitating, and generally fatal.The only problem with relying on this mechanism to achieve a stopping of hostilities is the fact that the brain and spinal cord are relatively hard to hit under the pressure of someone shooting back at you.Besides being small targets, they are relatively well protected by dense bone which will occasionally deflect bullets.

3)      Loss of consciousness due to blood loss-If you poke enough holes in vital organs and blood vessels, you will facilitate bleeding.Depending on the number and size of the holes, a person can go unconscious in a matter of seconds or stay in the fight for several minutes.

Let’s combine the knowledge we have about handgun ballistics and the results I obtained in my study to discuss some of the issues involved in your choice of the best caliber for your concealed carry pistol…

I think the most interesting statistic presented is the percentage of people who stopped with one shot to the torso or head. There wasn’t much of a variation between calibers. Between the most common defensive calibers (.38, 9mm, .40, and .45) there was a spread of only eight percentage points. No matter what gun you are shooting, you can only expect around half of the people you shoot to be immediately incapacitated by your first hit.

The average number of rounds until incapacitation was also remarkably similar between calibers. All the common defensive calibers required around 2 rounds on average to incapacitate. Additionally, all four common defensive cartridges have very similar failure rates. If you look at the percentage of shootings that did not result in incapacitation, the numbers are almost identical. The .38, 9mm, .40, and .45 all had failure rates of between 13% and 17%.

Although this study showed that the percentages of people stopped with one shot are similar between almost all handgun cartridges, there is more to the story.Take a look at the percentage of people who did not stop no matter how many rounds were fired into them.The lower caliber rounds (.22, .25, .32) had a failure rate that was roughly two to three times that of the higher caliber rounds.

What matters even more than caliber is shot placement. Across all calibers, if you break down the incapacitations based on where the bullet hit you will find some useful information.

Head shots = 75% immediate incapacitation

Torso shots = 41% immediate incapacitation

Extremity shots (arms and legs) = 14% immediate incapacitation.

No matter which caliber you use, you have to hit something important in order to stop the bad guy!

How do we use this information to choose a defensive handgun?Here are some things to consider:

1. The “mouse gun” calibers (.22, .25, and .32), while easy to carry, have a very high failure rate as compared to the larger caliber cartridges.If the criminal is likely to be affected by a “psychological stop,” these rounds are as good as any others.I believe that’s why they compare favorably to the larger calibers in the statistic regarding the percentage of people stopped with one shot.Those are likely psychological stops rather than physical incapacitations.

While any gun is better than no gun, I can’t advise you to carry pistols under.35 caliber.They work any many cases, but if you do happen to encounter a motivated attacker, they are far more likely to fail.

1. The .380 seems fine from a ballistic standpoint.My only concern is the general reliability of the pistols.They just don’t run as well as the larger guns.Some of the really small .380s are also difficult to hold on to when firing.That contributes to slower subsequent shots.Knowing that we are likely to need at least two shots to stop an attacker, this is somewhat of a concern.

If you have a reliable .380 pistol (200-300 rounds between malfunctions) and you can shoot it fast and accurately, I would consider it the bare minimum defensive cartridge for concealed carry.

1. The .38 Special and .357 Magnum are adequate and superior cartridges respectively.That should make you revolver fans quite happy.My only concern is the rate of fire.Some of the smaller .38 snubs are difficult to shoot well because of their diminutive size, horrible sights and tiny factory grips.The .357 Magnum in a short barrel has very stout recoil and a lot of muzzle blast.Both of these factors make for slower follow-up shots.

Like the .380, I would only carry these two calibers if I had a revolver that I could shoot both fast and accurately.

1. That leaves the 9mm, .40, and .45.Go back and take a look at the chart again.There is a remarkable similarity in performance between these three rounds.They all stop about half of the attackers with one shot and have a failure rate of 13%-15%.

Despite all the bluster you see on the internet about not carrying a defensive pistol unless the caliber “starts with a 4,” the .40 and .45 do not perform significantly better than the 9mm in real life gunfights.

That doesn’t mean that the .40 or .45 is a bad cartridge, it just means that these cartridges don’t live up to their hype.While at the top of the heap, the .45 is far from a stopper 19 out of 20 times as Col. Cooper asserted.

I would feel completely comfortable carrying any of these three cartridges as my primary defensive weapon.Rather than worrying about the inconsequential differences in stopping power, I would focus on finding the most reliable and accurate firearm I could carry in any of those three calibers.

The mail truck just left. You tear open the envelope and there it is: your first carry permit. Depending on where you live, this could have been quite the journey. Classes, tests, fingerprints, photos, background checks, recommendation letters, law-enforcement sign-offs and wait periods.

…Or perhaps not. You may be lucky enough to live in a state where no permit is necessary and you just woke up this morning and decided to strap on a gun for the first time.

You may have just turned 21 or 81, been a lifelong shooter or a recent convert to the right of self-defense.

Whatever your circumstances, welcome.

• Welcome to the world of dressing around your weapon and selecting your weapon around your dress.
• Welcome to the world of belts, holsters, cover garments, ammunition choices and more.
• And welcome to the world of paying attention—to the new weight on your hip, shoulder, ankle or purse, to your surroundings, and to the laws that govern where and when your new companion is decisively not welcome.

So what now?

First things first. You have to find a comfortable and concealable method to carry your firearm. Hopefully you have already thought this through and have been carrying concealed in the comfort of your own home while waiting for the permit to arrive.

Even if you have, chances are you won’t have the perfect setup your first time through, and no method is perfect for all occasions. You may carry one way for months before you decide you want something different. Your health or body type may change and require you to adapt. Like most of us you will probably end up with a drawer full of holsters with one or two go-to setups that work most of the time.

Watch your attitude

So you’re finally ready to go out. The tongue-in-cheek tradition on Internet gun forums dictates that your first concealed carry outing be to the local WalMart. I’m not sure where that started or why, but it’s as good a place as any.

Wherever you go, you’re going to feel different. You’ll probably feel a little self-conscious and worried that everyone will automatically know you have a gun. The fact is, most people aren’t observant enough to notice even if your pistol is in plain view. They are much more likely to pick up on someone acting different than a small bulge at waist level. If you can keep from constantly adjusting your holster, walking or moving differently, or acting nervous you will be just fine.

True concealment requires finding a method that works, and practicing it consistently until you can eliminate “tells” from your daily routine. If you can make carrying a gun feel as normal as say, wearing shoes, chances are no one else will notice either.

Attitude is everything. This is especially true once you become comfortable with the fact that you are carrying.

You are not Superman. That feeling is not power… it is empowerment. There’s a difference. You have the ability, but must carefully consider the consequences.

The interesting part is that if you keep the proper perspective, you should find that having a gun on your hip actually makes you less confrontational and less likely to take offense at minor things. When the consequences are final, and can result in the loss of life or liberty, a smart citizen thinks twice. Or as Heinlein so aptly put it: “An armed society is a polite society.”

Adults don’t get in schoolyard fistfights, don’t have to “save face” or engage in frat-boy drunken brawls. Adults treat each other with respect and exhaust all possible avenues of conflict resolution (including walking away) rather than fighting. Mature adults do everything to avoid a fight, because when adults fight, people die.

Recent high-profile events have illustrated that while you may be well within your rights under color of law, all it take is a reporter with an axe to grind and dreams of a Pulitzer to turn public opinion and sometimes the legal system against you.

Don’t tell anyone

Outside of your family and very trusted friends (preferably friends who also carry) no one should know that you have a gun. I have found some new permit holders love to talk about their permits with coworkers and acquaintances. This invariably turns ugly when word gets to the wrong people who have their own misconceptions and irrational fears regarding self-defense.

Human Resources departments justify their existence by protecting their company from perceived liability, and more than one person has been warned not to carry or lost their job to the bureaucratic stroke of a pen. People who just don’t understand or haven’t matured in their own view of self defense may not be able to leave well enough alone and may constantly bring the subject up at inappropriate times.

Trust me, it’s better to just keep your mouth shut. If you have trouble with this, wait to carry until you can.

Get some training

Then get some more. A gun is not a magical talisman. It won’t keep bad things from happening just by being there. You have to practice and train, preferably with professionals. You may have taken a class before you got your permit. It is not enough. This will cost you time and money, but with the proper instruction you will learn the skills and mindset you need to really use your pistol effectively if you ever need it. You will gain confidence. You will find out what the strengths and weaknesses of your chosen firearm, carry method, and individual skills are.

Training can be a lot of fun. Join your local IDPA or IPSC league. Compete. Just remember that these are games, and can ingrain bad habits as well. They will make you faster and better shooter, but make sure you supplement them with additional training as well. I personally try to approach an IDPA match as realistically as possible from a self-defense standpoint. Sometimes this costs me points and I don’t win “the game” but I am personally there for the training rather than the sport.

Be ready

Be mentally prepared. Train your mind as to how you would react under various scenarios. Train yourself to be more alert and pay more attention to the world around you. Read as much as you can. Prepare yourself for what might happen if you do have to use your weapon in self-defense. I would suggest carrying the card of a good attorney in your wallet and looking into how you will afford an attorney should you need one.

Congratulations. You have made the decision to embrace the height of individual responsibility by choosing to carry a weapon for self-defense. Enjoy the opportunity to exercise your right and the freedom you have to do so. Our country has become a much safer place with violent crime dropping dramatically since the first concealed carry laws went into effect. Stay safe.