More about Using Your 2nd-Amendment Rights

Are you prepared?

This much, and more, should be clear even after my first article.

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Ten days ago, I offered a rudimentary introduction to the Right to Bear Arms for those who have never handled a firearm for more than a few minutes and have just made a new purchase or are planning one:

This time, I am adding what I should have included (but also added a few things to the previous post, because they belonged there).

Home defense

Assuming you are not planning for keeping a whole arsenal at home, for home defense, if there is enough room for moving around with it, a .300 Blackout pistol with a suppressor is the best, because as opposed to the AR-15, suppressing the sound of subsonic bullets actually works, and (especially the supersonic version of) the ammo is powerful enough to hunt elk or even bear, but does a better job with deer, too than the AR. Most handguns can also fire subsonic, and they are more maneuverable. If you can handle a 16” barrel plus the suppressor’s length, you are all set, because your weapon is fit for suppressed home defense as well as for hunting. For hunting, of course, the longer the barrel, the better, and it’s not against the law to have multiple barrels for the same gun (but using a pistol with a barrel shorter than 16” with a stock, strangely, requires a $200 tax stamp and official approval). And no, you don’t necessarily want to hunt with subsonic, because fast projectiles work better, especially from longer distances. Suppressors also help, because the game cannot identify the direction of your first shot, and you might have another chance, if you miss. The bullet weight is also a factor to consider:

https://firearmwiki.com/wiki/Velocity_by_Barrel_Length_of_Various_Calibers

If you want a pistol-length barrel for your .300BLK, there is a “short-barrel” tax for anything with a stock and a barrel shorter than 16”. Strangely, you don’t have to pay a $200 stamp fee, if you buy the upper and the lower receiver separately¹, and take the 5-10 seconds to put them together, but using a short-barreled gun with a stock is against the law. Also, not all states allow suppressors, and you have to look into the laws of your residence to find out the details.

No shorter than 8.5” barrels are the recommended shortest for .300BLK for proper sycling. For flawless subsonic/supersonic functioning, 10.5” is preferred by manufacturers. At the same time, you can even get a 7” barrel, which you might not mind to clean more often on the hopefully rare occasions when you will be forced to defend your home. So, the ideal home-defense gun is a .300BLK with a pistol-length barrel (7-8.5”) and a suppressor, because it doesn’t necessarily deprive you from your hearing (you can still lose some of your hearing, if you fire a suppressed weapon in a confined space), while representing tremendous firepower. Watching out for potential overpenetration is strongly advised, which can be usually achieved by using self-defense ammo. You might want to select the ammo for it that matches the environment in which it might be used. Your home-defense tool would look something like If it meets the legal definition of a “pistol,” an NFA stamp is not needed:

Specifications:

• AR-15 Rifle – Barrel length 20”; Overall length 39”; Weight 6.7 lbs (w/20 round load)

• AR-15 Carbine – Barrel length 16”; Overall length 35”; Weight 6.5 lbs (w/20 round load)

• AR-15 Pistol – Barrel length 9.5”; Overall length 23”; Weight 5.75 lbs (w/30 round load)

For more, check out https://primearmor.us/difference-between-ar-15-rifle-and-ar-15-pistol/).

The $200 NFA tax

Since 1934, a $200 federal tax and an application for federal approval of owning certain items regulated as weapons have been mandated.

NFA Firearms Include:

• Full-auto Machine Guns

• Silencers

• Short Barreled Rifles (under 16” barrels)

• Short Barreled Shotguns (under 18” barrels)

• “Any Other Weapons” (AOW) (Pen guns, cane guns, etc.)

(https://guntrustnfa.com/the-ultimate-guide-to-legally-owning-a-machine-gun/)

In the US, you can even own a machine-gun, although it’s quite counteradvised because of potential unwanted damages, unless you are shooting at an army of zombies.

Transporting a firearm

This is where is gets a bit upsettling, and it would be ridiculous, were you not liable go to jail, if caught with a gun that is not legal in your transit or destination state or you are not following all relevant laws. You CCL license² might not be honored and you home state might have different laws that the one you are traveling through:

https://www.uslawshield.com/3-things-every-gun-owner-needs-to-know-about-traveling-across-state-lines/

You can get into an accident and have your vehicle searched. Also, if the cop asks your permission to search your vehicle, you can cite your constitutional right to avoid searches without a reasonably cause, but these days, your disagreeable attitude might provoke the cop to cite you for “t*ism,” and they can lock you up and throw away the key.

Righteous self-defense

If you think, there are clear-cut cases of self-defense, think again. Some states are hell-bent on punishing the innocent, and you would be forced into a plea bargain, if you cannot afford your defense. The USSCA is one of the flagships of legal defense teams offering gun owners protection in litigation. There are other companies, too:

https://obsidiandefense.com/uscca-vs-us-lawshield-vs-ccw-safe/

Once you fire a gun in self-defense and the cops are coming, make you you won’t brandish your weapon, when they arrive; you could be mistaken for the criminal and summarily shot.

Never talk to the cops, unless your attorney is present. You can politely say this, and you have every right to do it.

When choosing gun-owners insurance the ones that pay your legal fees and your bail are better.

Are you prepared to hurt someone?

As opposed to common misconception, fight or flight are not the only reactions to a threatening situation. The third option, freeze, is a lot more common than one would like to acknowledge. Recently, a fourth, “fawn,” has been introduced, which boils down to trying to please the opponent in order to prevent any further conflict.

Even shooting a dog can cause a trauma that can last for weeks or months. Your psyche understands that the dog was attacking you or a beloved one, but that doesn’t exempt you from your automated responses.

Shooting a person can cause a lifetime trauma, especially if you witnessed something graphic as a result of your action. The worst scenario is when you hurt someone by accident. Going to jail for manslaughter is not going to revive your victim.

When shooting a violent intruder, legalities can be mixed. In fact, I’ve heard about a burglar who sued the homeowner for not cleaning up, and the criminal claimed he had been invited and broke a limb. The homeowner couldn’t establish that the visitor was uninvited, because the burglar had been casing the premises long enough to know intimate details.

Then, there is the problem of your victim’s friends and family. O. J. Simpson won the criminal case on a technicality, but he lost everything he had in the subsequent civil lawsuit. Civil suits don’t require a unanimous decision by the jury, so besides the judge allowing/disallowing evidence, jury selection and courtroom performances can determine the outcome of a case. If you lawfully shoot someone, chances are you’d have to change your name and move a few states away, but these days, it’s easy to find anyone who leaves an electronic trail behind.

I heard someone joking about a midnight intruder. He said, if he’d have one, he would invite him for a mug of coffee, and would shoot him only if the jerk wouldn’t like his coffee.

Either way, if you are prepared for the elements in the first and in this second article, I’m sure, you can make your own decisions, and that must remain your secret.

1. While putting a shorter barrel that replaces the 16” one or adding a stock to a pistol is technically possible, it also means breaking the law.

2. CCL license is a concealed-carry license, which has become unnecessary in about half of the states (“constitutional carry”), but a few states might still not be a constitutional-carry one, but honor your CCL license (reciprocity between states existed long before the list of constitutional-carry state expanded).