Mike, I have testified in many trials and Grand Juries. I have seen attorneys pull many surprises on myself and others. I have also pulled a few of my own. I have always testified for the prosecution and I can tell you that I respect and admire the attorneys I have worked with. I can’t speak for todays prosecutors, I retired from law enforcement in 1999, but the men and women I worked with were serious, hard working people. They took the evidence presented to them by competent investigators and presented it to the Judge and jury intelligently and never was there any attempt to “play games”, confuse, or mislead any judge or jury. If the defense does their job as well as the prosecution you will have a fair trial and the defendant will have a fair chance.
To the opening questions…
On the insurance issue, my response would be this. I bought life insurance for my kids when they were very young. I have no intention of killing them or of seeing them die. I expect to outlive them and never collect on the policy. I bought life insurance for myself. I have no intention of committing suicide or being reckless with my life. I hope neither my wife nor my kids ever have to file a claim on my life insurance. I have health insurance for myself and my family, but I don’t want any of us to get sick. I have homeowners insurance but have no intention of destroying my house. I’ve been in my home for 19 years and never filed a claim. I have sufficient equity that my mortgage holder does not require me to have insurance. My homeowners insurance has a rider for identify theft, but I have no intention of being reckless with my personal information. I have car insurance, but I don’t intend to run over a crowd of people with my vehicle or wreck my vehicle. All of these insurance policies are risk mitigation strategies. I hope I never collect on any of these policies. Right? None of us buys insurance because we want to use it. We buy it hoping we never have to use it. I have self-defense insurance as one more tool in my personal risk mitigation strategy. And I hope and pray I never need to collect on this policy just like I don’t want to collect on those other policies.
Furthermore, I think it is relevant that many on the other side are pushing to make self-defense insurance a requirement for gun owners. That is not required in my state or the states I carry in. I am actually going above and beyond the legal requirements because I am a responsible citizen. What percentage of gun owners buy self-defense insurance? Likely a very small minority. We represent the most responsibly armed citizens in America. I think the argument can be turned to prove that you are a very careful individual.
As others have stated, I have spent weeks of my life training hoping that I never need the firearm. Again, what percentage of gun owners and even those who regularly carry a concealed firearm actually train? We represent the best and brightest of the gun-owning, gun-toting community.
I have firearms, carry effective ammo, use quality carry equipment, bought insurance policies, and trained not because I want to be a more adept killer. But because I LOVE THE PEOPLE AROUND ME SO MUCH THAT I HAVE GONE TO GREAT LENGTHS TO BE READY AND ABLE TO DEFEND THEM against threats which seem to be expanding exponentially.
That makes me a good guy, not a bad guy.
I think that an appropriate and even emotional (thus the all caps, pardon me) appeal can be made to a jury along those lines.
I also think that the fact that all kinds of typically gun eschewing people are now buying firearms in droves. This is not a middle class white male thing anymore (if it ever was). All kinds of people are arming up in nearer-before-seen numbers. I do think that this dynamic could also be used by a clever attorney to indicate that what his client is doing is mainstream, normal, and even more responsible than those other gun owners.