4 Ethical Lessons of Bearing Arms

The bearing of arms is the essential medium through which the individual asserts both his social power and his participation in politics as a responsible moral being... (Historian J.G.A. Pocock, describing the beliefs of the founders of the U.S.)

There is nothing like having your finger on the trigger of a gun to reveal who you really are. Life or death in one twitch — ultimate decision, with the ultimate price for carelessness or bad choices.

How to deal with a traffic stop when you're carrying a gun

Getting stopped by police is nerve-racking. But it's even more stressful when you're carrying a firearm.

It's important to understand that the officer doesn't know you personally and must consider you a potential threat. So you must see the stop from his point of view and have a well-rehearsed plan to deal with the stop in a way that puts the officer at ease and avoids any misunderstanding.

The Reid Interrogation Technique

If you've ever been involved in a traffic accident with another driver, you know that responding police have one primary task: to assign blame. One way or another, either you or the other driver is going to get nailed for the accident.

Shooting investigations are similar. Once police show up, their task is to find someone who is most likely to be guilty of a crime and gather evidence to prove it.

Traveling with your gun legally

Whether for fun or business, traveling presents many challenges if you're transporting or carrying one or more firearms. The last thing you want is to have your trip interrupted by an unexpected detour to a local jail.

This is a quick guide with 5 simple tips and some reference material to help make your trip go smoothly. Remember, laws change regularly and while it doesn't seem fair, it's ultimately your responsibility to know and abide by current law.

Violate these 4 gun safety rules at your own risk

The single most important subject for every gun owner is also the subject few gun owners ever want to talk about: safety.

Why? Because to many, it's boring. It's a lot more fun to talk about the latest and greatest firearm or debate the best caliber for self defense. Right?

But let's face it. Accidents happen. And there's only ONE reason they happen. In every case, without exception, an accidental shooting results from a violation of one or more of these basic gun safety rules:

Should you use your gun to stop a crime?

Most of us own or carry a gun to defend ourselves and our loved ones. But should you try to defend someone outside your immediate family? Should you attempt to stop a crime in progress when you're not directly involved?

Steve Adcock of The Shooting Channel discusses using a gun to stop a crime in a recent article published at The Daily Caller.

The sad story of Jay Rodney Lewis

We all like to think that justice isn't about money. But the fact is that if you defend yourself with a firearm and can't afford basics like legal representation or bail, the consequences can be devastating.

That's what happened to Jay Rodney Lewis. He didn't have enough money to hire a lawyer or pay bail and it destroyed him.

9 ways your firearm can be attacked in court

To most level-headed people, a gun is a gun is a gun. So the equipment you own or carry shouldn't matter if you find yourself in court after a self defense shooting.

After all, when your life is on the line, you're going to use whatever weapon you have at hand.

But as crazy as it seems, some prosecutors will do anything to get a conviction, and that includes trying to turn a jury against you based on the specifics of the firearm or ammo you used to defend yourself.

Here are a few examples:

Why brandishing, shooting to wound, and warning shots are BAD ideas

For every bit of good advice out there about self defense, there are at least 10 pieces of bad advice.

Some of the very worst advice is about how to avoid the legal fallout of self defense by using a firearm in a non-lethal way, such as brandishing, shooting to wound rather than to kill, and firing one or more warning shots to scare off an attacker.

You decide: Is it self defense or murder?

Here's a video we first saw on Greg Ellifritz's blog showing a woman shooting a man with a rifle during an altercation at a gas station in Houston.

LiveLeak.com provides some details about the shooting: