Posted: Thursday, April 19, 2018

Ted Wafer shot Renisha McBride on the porch of his house in the Dearborn Heights suburb of Detroit, Michigan. McBride -- who was highly intoxicated and potentially suffering from an injury obtained in a single-car accident hours earlier -- woke Wafer at quarter to four in the morning with loud banging on the side and front doors of his home. He thought it was more than one person. At trial, he testified, “This was unbelievable. I still can’t wrap my head around it that a woman would be making these sounds.”

Posted: Monday, April 16, 2018

This drill is one that is designed to ingrain in you proper trigger control that will result in better accuracy. First, make sure that your firearm is unloaded, and take any ammo out of the equation. Place a dime on the front site, present your unloaded firearm, to a shooting position, and pull the trigger. If done correctly, the dime should not move and stay on the front sight. If it falls off, then you need more practice.

Posted: Thursday, April 12, 2018

Ted Wafer, a 54-year-old airport maintenance worker, fell asleep in front of the television in his Dearborn Heights home on the night of November 1, 2013. He lived alone in the house he had purchased in 1994. The intervening twenty years had seen many changes to the Detroit suburb -- including a rising crime rate. In the middle of the night (around 3:45 am), loud banging startled Wafer out of his sleep. The noise came first from the side door, then from the front door. It was a “boom, boom, boom pounding” his lawyer Cheryl Carpenter told jurors at trial. “The floor was shaking.”

Posted: Monday, April 9, 2018

We have learned a lot from correlating the data on shootings over the years, and I think it is pretty clear that the effectiveness of 9mm is not much different from .40 or .45. Also, the fact that it holds more ammunition than other calibers, especially when talking about concealed carry, the affordability, and the fact that it is easier to shoot accurately than a lot of other guns, make it a top choice for self defense.

Posted: Monday, April 2, 2018

Confidentiality following a lethal self defense case should be of upmost importance for your emotional and legal survival. You will want to talk to someone about your experience, and that is perfectly normal. You just need to make sure that your discussion is confidential and protected. The number one person who you can have a conversation with that is protected will be an attorney. It is always good to have an attorney if you are involved in a lethal self defense incident so you can dump all of those feelings of anger, fear, consternation and worry, with full confidentiality. You may also talk to a trauma specialist, or other licensed mental health professional, or possibly an ordained minister.

Posted: Thursday, March 29, 2018

We would like to introduce our new audio podcast series, "In Self Defense" featuring Don West and Shawn Vincent. Don West is the National Trial Counsel for CCW Safe, and Shawn Vincent is the contributing author of our ongoing legal case analysis series, where we look at high profile self defense cases for lessons learned. The podcast is available here or on the iTunes store under CCW Safe. You can also get to the podcast by visiting www.ccwsafe.com/podcast.

Posted: Monday, March 26, 2018

In the immediate aftermath of a critical self defense incident, or any critical incident, it's very normal for people to think about what happened, and play that over in your mind, however, sometimes people get stuck there. Second guessing is really irrational, and when people do get stuck in intense second guessing, it's usually about things that they couldn't change, or had no control over. At some point, you have to move on, and accept the facts of what occurred, or you will start experiencing guilt, loss of confidence, or other feelings that can cause greater problems.

Posted: Thursday, March 22, 2018

Byron David Smith, who had been the victim of multiple burglaries, shot and killed two teenagers after they broke into his Little Falls, Minnesota home on Thanksgiving day 2012. Earlier in the day, Smith parked his car down the street so, as prosecutors argued at trial, it would appear as if he we're not at home. When security cameras captured cousins Nick Brady and Haile Kifer snooping around his property and peeking in windows, Smith retreated to his basement where he waited in a chair near the bottom of the staircase armed with a Ruger Mini-14 and a .22 revolver.

Posted: Monday, March 19, 2018

Cognitive issues can happen in any event and become critical to all three areas. Most of us think we have good memories, but research shows that our ability for to account for accurate details is quite impaired. Our memory for detail is bad because we are almost never challenged on it. Our view is almost always a sketchy representation.

Posted: Thursday, March 15, 2018

Byron David Smith claimed he was burglarized so many times in his Little Falls, Minnesota home that he no longer felt safe and had resorted to wearing a holstered pistol around the house. On Thanksgiving Day 2012, his security cameras revealed two teens casing his house and peeking in windows. Smith retreated to his basement where he waited for the intruders. Seventeen-year-old Nick Brady came down the basement steps first, and Smith shot him three times, killing him. Brady's cousin, eighteen-year-old Haile Kifer followed ten minutes later, and Smith shot and killed her as well.

Posted: Monday, March 12, 2018

Cognitive issues can happen in any event and become critical to all three areas. Most of us think we have good memories, but research shows that our ability for to account for accurate details is quite impaired. Our memory for detail is bad because we are almost never challenged on it. Our view is almost always a sketchy representation.

Posted: Thursday, March 8, 2018

Byron David Smith had suffered several burglaries at his Little Falls, Minnesota home. “I don't know who is going to break in when,” he told investigators. He had started wearing a holstered sidearm around the house. “I was no longer willing to live in fear.”

Posted: Monday, March 5, 2018

Dr. Alexis Artwohl, Behavioral Science Expert, and panel advisor for CCW Safe, starts an exciting new series on The Survival Triangle. The Survival Triangle that Dr. Artwohl talks about involves your physical survival, your emotional- psychological survival, and your legal survival.

Posted: Thursday, March 1, 2018

Byron David Smith shot and killed two burglars as they descended the stairs leading to the basement of his Little Falls, Minnesota home on Thanksgiving day 2012. The Morrison County Sheriff's Department investigated a burglary at Smith's home just a month before, and Smith claimed there were several other incidents in the preceding months. He was in such fear of another break-in, he had begun carrying a holstered pistol around the house on a regular basis.

Posted: Thursday, February 22, 2018

Less than a month before, Smith reported a break-in, claiming burglars had absconded thousands of dollars worth of gold coins and sentimental items such as medals he earned serving as an airman in Vietnam. He claimed to have been victim to several other break-ins over the preceding year, and he felt so insecure in his own home that he had resorted to carrying a holstered pistol -- even when simply doing household chore

Posted: Monday, February 19, 2018

Let’s have a very blunt conversation about interacting with law enforcement while in possession of a firearm. This article is not meant to focus on when a police officer has a legal right to stop you, but instead is meant to cover the less analyzed issue of what are the legal implications of informing an officer that you are carrying a firearm? I am going to offer this article from a purely legal standpoint, the same way I would advise a client. There are obviously differing opinions on how you should handle a police stop. It is not my intent to address how you should, but instead to analyze what the legal implications are of certain conduct during a stop.

Posted: Thursday, February 15, 2018

On Thanksgiving Day 2012, Byron David Smith confronted two teens who had broken into his home, and he shot them both. 18-year-old Haile Kifer and 17-year-old Nick Brady died in Smith’s basement. These are the facts of the case.

Posted: Monday, February 12, 2018

Recently we had a new member send in a question for Dr. Alexis Artwohl, our panel advisor in Behavioral Science. "I was wondering in the event of a self defense shooting what exactly would my physological support concuseler do for me from start to finish?" Welcome to CCW SAFE. A psychological counselor should be able to provide education about the mental and emotional factors that are part of a high stress situation and the aftermath. This information would help you not get confused about your reactions, and to know the usual timeline for people to come to terms with what happened. These events can impact family and friends as well, even if they weren’t there. One session is probably all you would need. However, if you or your loved ones go on to develop PTSD or other issues the education would help you to know if you need further help, and where to get it.

Posted: Thursday, February 8, 2018

When Markus Kaarma discovered a dark figure lurking in the garage of his home, he grabbed his shotgun, exited his house, and fired four shots into the darkened garage. Kaarma likely felt a combination of fear and anger. The fear would have come from the threat that the unknown intruder posed to his partner and their sleeping baby. The anger would have come from a desire to punish someone for the burglary that victimized the family just ten days before. Seven months later, a Montana jury would be tasked with looking into Kaarma’s heart and deciding what motivated Kaaram to shoot: fear or anger.

Posted: Thursday, February 1, 2018

When Missoula, Montana homeowner Markus Kaarma detected an intruder in his garage around midnight on April 27, 2014, he grabbed a shotgun, exited his front door, and fired four shots into his darkened garage killing the intruder, seventeen-year-old foreign exchange student Diren Dede. At 9 A.M. the following morning, a detective for the Missoula Police Department arrested Kaarma for deliberate homicide. In the intervening hours, Kaarma made multiple statements to police without the advice of a lawyer. Those statements would end up haunting the defense team at trial.

Posted: Tuesday, January 30, 2018

Have you heard there is new federal legislation that will allow someone with a concealed carry permit from one state to carry in all 50 states? It actually might not be as awesome as you have heard. The purpose of this article is to dispel some of the myths associated with this proposed legislation and give an update on its status.

Posted: Friday, January 26, 2018

We recently hosted a live panel at Shot Show on Women in the Firearms Industry. This panel was hosted by Maggie Mordaunt, founder of the Women's Defense Network. CCW Safe is proud to be a sponsor of the WDN, and host of this great panel.

Posted: Thursday, January 25, 2018

When Markus Kaarma discovered a dark figure lurking in the garage of his home, he grabbed his shotgun, exited his house, and fired four shots into the darkened garage. Kaarma likely felt a combination of fear and anger. The fear would have come from the threat that the unknown intruder posed to his partner and their sleeping baby. The anger would have come from a desire to punish someone for the burglary that victimized the family just ten days before. Seven months later, a Montana jury would be tasked with looking into Kaarma’s heart and deciding what motivated Kaaram to shoot: fear or anger.

Posted: Thursday, January 18, 2018

Markus Kaarma, a homeowner in Missoula, Montana, shot foreign exchange student Diren Dede when he caught the teen trespassing in his garage around midnight on April 27, 2014. Kaarma had been victim of a burglary just ten days before. With the perpetrator still at large, Kaarma became frustrated and angry with law enforcement, and he and his partner Janelle Pflager, according to prosecutors, decided to take matters into their own hands.

Posted: Thursday, January 11, 2018

Markus Kaarma shot Diren Dede while the teen was allegedly “garage hopping” -- raiding neighbors’ garage refrigerators for alcohol. By all accounts, Dede was stealing from Kaarma, and Kaarma was in his home. Generally speaking, thanks to the long-established Castle Doctrine, a person is seldom more justified in the use of deadly force than when they are defending against an intruder in their home. But with Kaarma’s admission that he’d been staying up “waiting to kill some (expletive) kids” in the wake of a burglary ten days earlier, Kaarma had damaged the forgivable subjectivity jurors often instill upon homeowners in self-defense cases.