Personal Defense World February/March 2022

According to the latest FBI reports, there were 1,203,808 violent crimes and 6,925,677 property crimes in the U.S. in 2020. That comes out to 8,129,485 total crimes or, doing the math, roughly one crime committed every 4 seconds. Compare that to the average police response times offered by several jurisdictions: 20 minutes for the LAPD, 7.7 minutes for the NYPD, 8 minutes for the Dallas Police Department and 7 minutes for the Seattle Police Department. The average for all four of those cities comes out to 10.8 minutes, which means close to 200 crimes can potentially be committed before the police can respond. So, in short, while crime happens in seconds, help can be minutes away. It’s no wonder many people have taken their safety into their own hands. Which brings us…

SARSILMAZ has been making firearms since 1880. In 2017 I first became familiar with some of their handguns when they were imported by TR Imports. In 2018, SAR USA was formed as an official U.S. presence and importer for Sarsilmaz. I own and am familiar with the Sarsilmaz 2000, CM9 Gen 2, B6C, P8L, SR 38 (not currently imported) and ST9 models. All of those pistols had one thing in common—they were all heavily inspired by existing guns from other makers. Furthermore, aside from the larger-sized ST9, I had limited experience with what many would consider a modern, polymer-framed, striker-fired pistol from the company. Sarsilmaz’s SAR9 C escapes the “clone” label and represents a truly new design. Externally the SAR9 C looks like a modern rendition of the decades-old Glock 19…

Aero Precision started offering an EPC (Enhanced Pistol Caliber) lineup of AR9-style parts and accessories in early 2021. The EPC shares many features of their flagship M4E1 line of products. But this was the first time I had any experience with any of their products, and I have to say I am completely impressed and blown away about the fit and finish of the EPC parts. Just by picking up the parts, I knew I was in for a treat. Before we get into the nitty-gritty details of the EPC, it might be best to explain my plans for it. Part of my home defense is my ZEV OZ9c, which my wife knows how to use I figured it would be great to get a Pistol Caliber Carbine (PCC) that uses…

A self-defense shooting case is what is called an “affirmative defense.” It’s no longer a matter of “whodunit”; your defense attorney has already stipulated that you were the one who fired the fatal shot(s). It has now come down to, “Why did the defendant shoot him,” and therein lies the heart of “the ultimate issue,” guilt or innocence. From police to military to armed citizen classes, students are taught that when the only alternative is shoot or die, they should aim for “center of mass,” which is generally interpreted as the center of the upper chest. Practically speaking, given the degradation of marksmanship that occurs under life-threatening stress, it is the most forgiving point-of-aim when the purpose is to render the opponent incapable of pulling a trigger. But now we are…

Sometimes it is hard to step back and remember the exact reasons you started carrying a gun. For some it was out of necessity, others because of fear and some started carrying just because they could. It is a very different world we live in now, and there is no point in beating a dead horse here on why you should be carrying a gun every day, so we are just going to skip all of that. Let’s just face it, if you are not sold on protecting yourself at this point, you’re probably not reading this magazine anyway. I want to take some time to tell you how I carry, what I carry and a few lessons I have learned from my experiences carrying. HOW IT BEGAN My journey carrying a gun started…

Shooting 12-gauge shotguns for sport, trap and skeet, tactical training and for pure overall enjoyment has to be at the top of my list when it comes to all around fun-to-shoot firearms platforms. But if I’m being really honest, when it comes to 12-gauge shotty’s there really aren’t often new releases that hit the radar that genuinely shake up the market in terms of innovative design styles and aesthetic standouts get me super excited. Some will say “If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it,” but I’m more of the “Let’s push this shit to the bleeding edge and see how far we can take it” camp. Sure, every now and then we get some newfangled recoil-reducing stocks that promise to make your gun punch like a kitten, or some new…