Tactics aside.
You are put in a position and use your firearm in a home defense situation and you put on electronic or digital(I’ve heard them referred to as both) ear muffs as you grabbed your firearm to address the situation.
Would wearing earmuffs affect anything from a legal standpoint?
Great question. I’m not a lawyer. My 2 cents is this: Anything and everything can hurt your defense if the prosecutor is zealous enough, and some are.
Can you articulate why and how you put on your ear muffs? Meaning can your lawyer explain why you would stage these as part of your home defense plan?
My advise would be to ask your criminal defense attorney about this. If you dont have a criminal defense attorney on speed dial, you need to get one. Interview 2 or 3 in your area and pick the one you trust and get along with the best. Sure, you could call USCCA and they’ll send a competent attorney, but I look at it like this… after a self defense situation, you wont be looking for the best criminal defense attorney, you’ll be looking for the first.
Simply ask your attorney, “will this scenario make your job harder or easier?”
I was sent videos to watch in preperation for a training course, and it was mentioned having them staged next to your home defense weapon. I’ve never given it much thought but it wouldn’t be difficult at all. The ones I use actually amplify sound so I would hear better with them on.
I am just curious on peoples thoughts and opinions on it. Never hurts to hear different thought processes and opinions.
It was a rhetorical question. A question your lawyer would NEED to answer for you should a prosecutor make an issue of it.
I too started with the premise that ‘just’ earmuffs attenuating the sonic crack of any ammunition - that I may, or which a home invader fires - is a good thing. You don’t have nearly the delay for recovery of even marginal hearing and the physiologic “ring” would not be an issue at all.
If I have more than one set of electronically amplified, gating high transient suppressed ear muffs and one set happens to be next to my bed, there are very good benefits to me, the homeowner, defending my family and self; being able to hear better than I normally would and providing protection of my hearing equal to a non-active headset should gunfire occur.
The question you have to weigh, all other things being equal: is it better to protect your hearing during a home invasion incident or not? Survive the incident in the first place and you can worry all you want about political correctness because you will, in fact, be alive to do so. Not only that, you will still have your hearing in your old age.
When I asked this question from a tactical standpoint, I was repeatedly advised not to wear them, just from the time required to in a life and death situation with family in the house.
I don’t see how it could effect a legal situation, but things that I don’t think could effect a legal situation often do exactly that.
I put them on not to protect my hearing but to amplify the sounds I was hearing to better discern what the sounds were that drew my attention in the first place.
I’m not putting them on. I can tell you first hand, when the adrenaline is pumping, you won’t even hear the shots, and there won’t be any residual effects from firing without them. Your bodies fight or flight mode protects your hearing.
I’m not a lawyer, and understand the benefit. I’d be afraid a prosecutor would say that by putting on the ears, it showed you intended to shoot—premeditation.
I would wear them time permitting. When I first read this topic I thought it such was a good idea
I staged my muffs next to my shot gun. I have already lost much of my hearing and amplifying ear muffs would be handy. If your worried about the law then take them off before the LEOs arrive.
I understand that point of view but just having a firearm could be twisted into someone intending to shoot someone. Personally I try not to worry about what a prosecutor can and can’t twist. Operate inside the law and train accordingly. Too much focus on consequences based on someone’s opinions could cripple you to the point of freezing in a life or death scenario.
If it were an emergency I wouldn’t bother with them as stated above once that adrenaline hits you probably wouldn’t even hear the shots. However if it were my wife waking me up saying I think I heard something, I’m gonna grab my gun and a flashlight the couple of seconds it’d take wouldn’t change much but the amplified hearing could be a very big tactical advantage.
I have moderate to severe hearing loss already (combination of military noise and just plain aging process. I just recently placed a pair of electronic earmuffs that will both suppress the “bang” while increasing my ability to hear without my hearing aids in (can’t sleepwith them in my ears.). So for two reasons I have decided to have them available for use in an emergency:
@Jack21 Welcome to the community. I agree for the same reasons. Stay safe, Bruce and Nancy. 
I know this is an old thread, but I have $0.02. I believe that if you put hearing protection in, in the moment of trying to defend your home, I believe the defense would say 1# you are automatically planning to shoot who ever came into your home. 2# he would argue, how could you deescalate the situation if you were unable to hear the suspect. What if the suspect said don’t shoot or I’ll leave if you put the gun down or a thousand other things that the prosecutor might say.
I think that we (gun owners) have to be so careful these days. There are so many people that want to victimize the criminals and cuffs on law abiding citizen’s. So don’t give them any reason to slap cuffs on you brother.
For the record, I am not a lawyer and this is all an opinion.
Electronic ear pro, FTW. Keeps your hearing intact and actually helps amplify all ambient sounds helping you locate any possible intruders. “If you put the gun down then I’ll leave” is not how that works.
I don’t know anything about electronic ear pro… I thought they were sound dampeners. He said ear muffs. My bad for assuming. As for the other thing. A prosecutor will say any damn thing that will make you look bad, whether it’s right or wrong the point being is the prosecutor will say anything to put you behind bars. I should know. My dad was accused of some things in the court of law that were false, we proved it was false, all the evidence the prosecutor had was circumstantial and everything he said was a lie, in fact that’s pretty much all he did was lie. My dad was found not guilty because the jury seen past his lies. So trust me when I say a prosecutor will say anything to put you behind bars.
I was just thinking about this ear protection recently. The premise seems to be that with predetermined use to add earmuffs before engaging in possible future, yet eminent, conflict beyond typical social verbal skills…this will be looked on as negative. I disagree, and let me explain.
• if you hear a bump in the night, and you get dressed (cause ppl sometimes sleep naked), before you arm yourself…
• if you hear…, and you put on slippers before you…
• if…and…put on your prescription glasses before…
• if…need sunglasses because this time it’s bright outside…
• if…you push on the ready button for Red Dot accuracy…
• if…you happen to own a pair of night goggles…
• if…you have a choice of weapon caliber, do you start with the LEAST effective and work your way up as need arises, or do you just grab what you know will work MOST effective?
• if…it’s the dead of winter and you choose to clothe yourself with pair of gloves…hat…maybe some earmuffs…
• so ear muffs for cold is OKAY??? But ppl are questioning the benefit to having muffs protect Sound Percussions…or to amplify the ambient sounds…???
• come on ppl, if you can upgrade the trigger or add thingy-Mac-bobbs on whatever doo-hickey you plan to carry, surely I’m still free enough to know how to dress myself before I go outside to “play”.
P.S. might want to think about using body armor on you if time allows…or adding your EDC knife…maybe a extra magazine/clip of ammo…do you need more than (1) weapon besides the one you plan to carry in holster…maybe (1) slung around the neck…add a backup to the ankle…oh, oh, oh, an IFAK would be good to have on the body…cell phone…
• #snicker snicker: but what ever you do…don’t go looking for trouble with them damn electronic earmuffs activated…God forbid. Shoot that first; you won’t be needing them, let me make that freedom choice for you, NOT.
Cheers.
@Justin47 you are 100% correct that the DA may make up any manner of charges and accusations (we’ve been seeing a lot of that lately). But its extra important for us, as law-abiding well-meaning citizens, to know where the boundaries of legal behavior are and make sure we stay on the right side of the law.
If we do our part, it makes it harder for the DA to make up charges in the first place and easier on our defense attorneys to do their job and get us out of those made up charges. As long as you have a good and sound reason for using whatever it is you are using, you should be GTG.
I didn’t assume non-electronic ear muffs since that would actually hinder your hearing and lower your situational awareness. Electronic ear-pro can give you a massive advantage not only because you save your hearing if you shoot, but it helps you determine whether or not you should shoot at all. Maybe you can tell with better hearing that its just your kid rummaging in the fridge at 2am because teenagers like to eat everything all the time. Or maybe you can determine the intruders location and now you know where they are you can barricade in place instead of clearing the house looking for them.
Thank you for that. Yeah I didn’t mean to sound ignorant. I had never heard of Electronic ear muffs. My family and I live for the most part very humble. No cable, no direct internet. Yes I have this phone witch has internet but it’s for my work. Before joining USCCA the only thing I used it for was work, and emails for work. I don’t really surf the web and we don’t watch TV so gizmos and gadgets like that are mind blowers 
I will now educate myself by looking this up. Thank you for helping me understand these things.
Hearing and Self Defense are near and dear to my hear because my ears are totally jacked up. I went deaf for three days in 1990 when a 25 mm chain gun went happy 12’ over my head and literally beat me into the ground. The down side was I was deaf (it was the last time I ever heard NOTHING) the up side I was alive as that T-72 would have killed us all had the gunner on the Bradley not been on target. I had suffered with my hearing loss for years and had not really known what it was doing to me as a person. It removed me from social situations and made me appear less cognitive simply because I could not hear the questions asked. To this day I don’t know whether I am just anti social or if it is because I can’t hear you, let me clarify that, I may be able to hear you but I may not be able to understand what you said.
The first time I used amplified hearing protectors when not on the range was while hunting and it was sub zero. I put them on to keep from freezing my ears off. I was amazed. At that time hearing aids only amplified sounds and I was told due to my condition that if I wore hearing aids it would be like wearing headphones cranked up to “Eleven”. (Spinal Tap reference there) .
Fast forward to 2012 and I hear this radio guy saying that it cut the “tinitus” (the ringing in your ears) down to nothing. I made an appointment the next day. Up to that time I was told hearing aids could not help me, that day I learned that the could. With my hearing aids I heard a “Cricket” for the first time since 1991, I cried like a baby.
If in your situation you can take the seconds to put on electronic hearing protection DO IT.
Cheers,
Craig6