Personal Defense World

To quote Robert A. Heinlein, “An armed society is a polite society. Manners are good when one may have to back up his acts with his life.” Many Americans own guns for the same reasons they have spare tires in their cars, fire extinguishers in their kitchens and first-aid kits scattered throughout their homes. I own guns because they help keep me and my family safe. Of course, buying a gun doesn’t automatically make you ready and prepared for a violent encounter. You have to take classes from certified experts, start observing people to build up your situational awareness, play out “what if” scenarios with your loved ones, formulate an emergency plan, have a backup plan and create another solution in case those plans fail. As you can see, this isn’t just…

DURING THE PAST FEW YEARS, the folks at Canik Arms have been churning out a steady stream of affordable pistols that offer a level of performance and features well above their price point. Every so often, the company tweaks their designs with a few refinements, and it didn’t take long for its pistols to be in the top of the pack with regard to features and performance. In fact, Canik’s TP9 Elite SC won our sister publication’s Ballistic’s Best of 2020 award for the compact pistols category. For 2021, Canik took out all the stops and made a huge leap forward that’s more of a new revolution than the next evolution. The new METE line of pistols combines the best of the older TP9 series with an impressive suite of…

THERE’S NEW SHERIFF IN TOWN, and I met him at the Athlon Outdoors Rendezvous last October. Shot Show 2021 and NRA 2021 shows were cancelled since Covid hit us, and I’d like to cite that as the cause for SAR USA’s product line slipping under my radar. This is an embarrassment because they are exceptionally good. The guns are made by Sarsilmaz, which is to Turkey what Fabrique National is to Belgium, HK is to Germany and Sig is to Switzerland. Sarsilmaz has been making military arms for more than a century, and their SAR9 is currently the full-sized service pistol of the Turkish military forces. In a 90,000-round test trial, the SAR9 was selected over offerings from Sig, FN, Walther, Glock and Smith & Wesson. Was it a case…

With SHOT Show 2021 being cancelled due to COVID-19 restrictions, this year’s event was much anticipated by industry folks across the world. While compact pistols are not new, the demand for these smaller stature handguns has spurred gun manufacturers to release a bevy of new compact models. Here we round up the ones that caught everyone’s eye. KEL-TEC P15 If there was ever a pistol that needed to eat a cheeseburger, it’s the P15. At just 0.875 inches in thickness, Kel-Tec claims it to be the thinnest double-stack on the market. Boasting a 15+1 capacity, it certainly isn’t short on firepower and it’s not too shy in the features department either. Those features include a combo tritium/fiber-optic front sight, a fully adjustable rear sight and an accessory rail for a flashlight or…

A brisk November morning, a sip of coffee from my thermos, and my daughter sitting next to me. It’s a “see your breath and hear everything” kind of morning; a stillness and calm best explained by experiencing it. A morning where squirrels are at a big disadvantage, as they possess no ability to be stealthy. We’ll be able to hear their chatter and scurry through the leaves long before we see them. Both of us have guns at the ready, laying across our laps, hers a Beretta .410 and mine a Remington model 62 pump .22 caliber. It is picture perfect because this isn’t about hunting squirrels as much as it is a trip down memory lane, 33 years to be exact, when I was sitting next to my dad…

While the conversation in New York is short and to the point, the firearms laws are not quite as such. While it’s not uncommon to encounter a gun owner who is unknowingly in violation of one law or another, it is equally common to find someone who isn’t aware of the full extent of their rights. Nothing illustrates this better than the topic of concealed carry. Most of the country (and many New York residents) are under the impression that concealed carry permits aren’t issued in this state, but that is quite the contrary. At the time of this writing, there are more than 1.2 million “pistol permit” holders in the state with some level of concealed carry built in. To put it into perspective that is more than twice the…