IF YOU CARRY A CONCEALED FIREARM

TOM TESTOSTERONE: I'm going to get a concealed carry permit. Then I won't have to take any crap off of anybody.

SAM SENSIBLE: No. If you're carrying a concealed firearm, you have to take MORE crap off of everyone.

A self-defense firearm is  not meant to be an argument equalizer. It is meant to be a life saver. Self defense is not retaliation, it is the administration of the minimum force necessary to ward off an attack by another. When you carry a concealed firearm, you have on your person a mechanism whereby you can end the life of another human being. Beyond the injury you will cause to that other human being, his friends, and his relatives, you will cause injury to yourself, your friends, and your relatives.

In action-adventure books and movies, it's all over when the bad guy gets killed. In real life, it is just beginning. Having investigated and prosecuted hundreds of homicides, felonious, excusable, justifiable, I have had the opportunity to watch the consequences men suffer after having taken another human being's life. In no particular order, they are: 

(1) The guilt. No matter how justified the killing may be, you will suffer guilt. 

(2) The interrogations. You will be questioned and re-questioned by various authority figures, and it won't be pleasant. You could always stonewall, take the Fifth, and avoid the interrogations, but you pay a heavy price when you do that. In a later blog I will discuss when you should talk and when you should stonewall.

(3) The prosecution(s). The authorities just might not agree with you about your need to kill. If they don't, get ready to spend some time in jail, some more money on a bondsman, and some more money on a lawyer. Get ready for an extended roller coaster ride and you experience the ups and downs of a criminal prosecution which could last for years. And if you get acquitted, you have not won. You have simply minimized your losses. 

(4) The lawsuit(s). Even if you are acquitted, you may very well get sued. Get ready to spend some more money on lawyers, and possibly more money in damages to the estate of the deceased.

(5) The Mark of Cain. Some people will never look at you the same again. They will point you out behind your back. They will whisper about you behind their hands. They will cast disapproving glances at you

I could probably extend the list a little further, but you get the point. If you have a chip on your shoulder, don't put a gun in your pocket. It's a recipe for disaster. If you wind up shooting someone, that chip on your shoulder, those harsh words you spoke, those confrontational actions you took will all be interpreted as mens rea (criminal intent) sufficient to support a charge of unlawful homicide.