How to Handle a Mugging
According to the most numbers from the Bureau of Justice Statistics, crime rates continue to fall in these United States. Violent crime and property crime in particular are approaching historic lows, and there’s an argument to be made that we live in the safest period in the country’s history. However, sometimes trouble come looking for…
Getting a CCW Permit? Do This First . . .
Getting your CCW permit for the first time is a multi-faceted experience. There's the personal freedom, the celebration of liberty, the deep sense of responsibility—and what may seem like an endless forest of legal and bureaucratic requirements. And Americans, as a species, are deeply suspicious if not resentful of officialdom. If you doubt this at…
AR15s and Home Defense: Some Thoughts
It's not secret that the AR15 is the most popular model of rifle in the United States. It's a flexible platform that allows for aftermarket additions and customization, can be adapted to a wide variety of calibers, and offers a user-friendly design. Its Eastern Bloc counterpart/arch-nemesis the AK family of weapons is also fairly popular…
Making Competition Part of Your Defensive Training
I write this a day after shooting the first IDPA match I have shot in about six months. I did not do as well as I hoped. I won my division of CCP (Compact Carry Pistol) and technically you only “compete” within your division in the shooting sports, but I try for top place at…
![[FIREARM REVIEW] Smith-Wesson M&P Ported 9L with Mini Red Dot 9mm](https://a.usacarry.co/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/smith-wesson-mp-ported-9l-mini-red-dot-9mm-review-325x200.jpg "[FIREARM REVIEW] Smith-Wesson M&P Ported 9L with Mini Red Dot 9mm")
[FIREARM REVIEW] Smith-Wesson M&P Ported 9L with Mini Red Dot 9mm
Don't look at the front and rear sights. Just find the dot and press the trigger. Is this really possible? Yes, with today's mini red dot sights on your handgun. As I mentioned in my previous red dot articles and reviews, there are several mini red dot sights (MRDS) on handguns that are compact, lightweight,…
CCW with Different Platforms
I’ll open with a confession: this article was written in part to help me work through some issues I had with CCW, and as a result it may raise more questions than it answers. Caveat Lector. Recommendations for CCW abound, as do thoughts about backup weapons and finding the right gun for the circumstances: what…
Protests, Demonstrations, and CCW
2016 was a tumultuous year politically, with a great many protest and demonstrations around the country over various issues. As 2017 seems to be following suite, I thought it might be time for us to talk about how to handle large, emotionally charged crowds when you’re carrying your CCW. First and foremost, let’s get one…
CCW vs. Multiple Assailants
Let’s get it out of the way: fighting more than one assailant, armed or unarmed, is really tough. The odds are not in your favor and you’re going to have to find a way to even the odds fast. First off, an observation. Just because you think an incident is one-on-one does not mean that…
5 Great Double-Action Pistols For Concealed Carry
The plastic striker pistol is a modern phenomenon; the double-action handgun was the dominant firing mechanism for concealed carry guns and service pistols since...basically around the start of the 20th century, as that was when the S&W Model 10 was released. But does that mean the DA pistol has gone away? Far from it. There…
[FIREARM REVIEW] XD-E – Springfield Armory’s Hammer-Fired 9mm Pistol
Springfield Armory officially introduced its new XD-E pistol at the 2017 NRA Annual Meeting in Atlanta, Georgia. They were nice enough to give me one to review and I want to give you my opinions and evaluations after testing it. The Springfield Armory XD-E is a slim-framed 9mm pistol with a Double-Single Action (DA-SA) trigger that features a manual…
Another Good-Guy with a Gun in Illinois!
What’s better than a feel-good story about a good-guy with a gun defending themselves even though they were in a state that strongly discourages gun ownership? How about two of them? This time it was in Elmwood Park, Illinois when a motorist defended his life from a robber at a gas station. Surveillance of the…
Concealed Carry on College Campuses: Issues & Updates
A very hotly-debated topic now is the right to conceal carry a handgun on college campuses and school property. What seems an obvious or pretty basic decision by many, is not by others. It can become complicated. Some even add the issue of faculty and students carrying a gun at ANY school-related event or activity…