There are four actions you must undertake if you decide you are going to conceal carry. The first is to select the right carry gun for you. The second is to select the right carry method for that gun (holster or other). The third is to get trained. If you decide to carry without getting trained, you are nothing more than a thug.
But the topic here deals with the fourth action you need to undertake if you decide to conceal carry, and that is to get some kind of legal protection. It goes by many different names. Gun owner’s liability insurance and self-defense insurance, are just two of the names this protection goes by.
Your homeowner’s insurance will not cover you if you use your gun in self-defense, even inside your own home.
And if you are one of the many who carry concealed without such protection, you need to stop being in denial. Get your head out of your ass and get yourself protected!
Just one incident where you have to defend yourself with your gun is all it takes for your life to be fucked up forever. If you think I am bullshitting you, click on this YouTube link. At around the 6:30 mark of this video, the author indicates that the defendant amassed close to $700,000 of legal bills, that unfortunately after he passed away in 2012, left his family burdened to pay.
All the defendant wanted to do that day was go for a hike in a national forest in northern Arizona. But as the events transpired, his life and his family’s lives were forever changed. It was bad enough that he took a life, was arrested, tried, convicted and incarcerated until the Arizona Supreme Court overturned the conviction. But then insult was added to injury by the suffocating legal bills.
Now I don’t know about you. But I don’t have money deliberately saved up and earmarked for bail much less any potential gun-related legal defense.
Yet, here are some common excuses I hear as to why concealed carry gun owners do not get legal protection:
- I can’t afford it. You cannot afford not to be protected if you carry. If you cannot afford legal protection, then you really cannot afford attorney’s fees.
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- I can’t pick my own lawyer. With some of the programs out there, you can. Just make sure the lawyer you choose is an expert in your state’s gun or self-defense law. Don’t choose an ambulance chaser simply because the lawyer is your cousin and offered to handle your case pro bono. For me personally, I want the absolute best unbiased gun or self-defense lawyer I can get if the possibility exists I may be incarcerated for 15 to life. So, in my case, I don’t want Cousin Vinny simply because we are family. And with all these plans that allow you to choose your own attorney, the plan will not pay the attorney fees unless the plan underwriters have vetted the attorney. THIS IS THE BIGGEST EXCUSE I HEAR. In my training classes, I ask all students to raise their hand if they have an attorney on retainer that will drop everything and come to their aid. No one raises their hand, yet many of these students are the first ones to need to be able to pick their own lawyer. WHY? By not raising their hand, that student is indicating to me they don’t even have a lawyer, much less one on retainer. So when the excrement impacts the rotary oscillator, the students and others in denial will turn to Google to help them choose a lawyer. AND THERE IS NO GUARANTEE THE ATTORNEY THEY CHOOSE WILL EVEN TAKE THE CASE.
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- The plan doesn’t pay me for the days I have to miss work because of trial. Then pick a different plan, if that is what is important to you. If this is a deciding factor, how many days are planning to be at trial anyway? Review your employee handbook. Some employers will terminate employees simply for being arrested.
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- I have to ask my spouse. Seriously?! You have to ask your spouse about what? You need to get your spouse’s permission to get legal protection? Are you shitting me?
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- I have to wait until payday. Seriously?! You are that strapped that you cannot afford $15.00 per month. If so, then maybe concealed carry should not be your primary focus.
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- These programs are not available in my state. MOVE! Do you really want to live in a state where you are not permitted to defend yourself and if you do defend yourself, are not even afforded the opportunity to do so without bankrupting the family.
If you haven’t figured it out yet, I have no mercy for any concealed carry gun-owner out there to not have some form of legal protection. Everyone of these excuses are like assholes…everyone has one and they all stink.
Below is a chart of the most popular legal protection plans available in the U.S.
Look over this chart and highlight the boxes which are important to you. Then go to the respective websites of these companies to see if additional perks exist for members. For example, do any of these companies / plans offer you the ability to call or speak to an attorney for non-emergency legal questions? Do any of these companies / plans offer you the ability to get insight on laws of other states if you plan to travel and conceal through another state?
