How To Find The BEST Gun Lawyer For You, In Less Than 2 Hours

Call it good or bad I've had the opportunity to work with dozens and dozens of various types of attorneys in my career. When I talk to concealed carriers about the importance of having an attorney to represent them in firearm related incidents I often spend more time explaining why than I do explaining HOW. The HOW of finding the attorney is just as important.

This article will help you understand what to look for, where, and why. You can also download our free gun lawyer interview cheat sheet. It’s a simple, printable document that allows you to easily ask the lawyer you find a set of questions that will determine if he or she is qualified to help you. Remember this lawyer will be a critical part of your firearm defense team. They are as important as your CPA, your firearms instructor or your personal trainer. You want to find the right person, and know that he or she will be there when you need it.

With that in mind I would like discuss how you can determine if your attorney is the best one to represent you.

RESOURCE: Download our whitepaper “How to Find the Best Gun Attorney”

Why You MUST Have A Gun Lawyer If You Own A Gun

Today's gun owners cannot afford to wade out into public with a legal firearm concealed or open without having given some significant amount of thought to having a quality and appropriate attorney ready to call should a firearm related incident occur.

There are no drivers on American roadways who operate a car under the impression that they will NEVER get into a car accident. All of us as responsible drivers accept the possibility and inevitability that we will likely get into a car accident. That doesn't keep us off the road. Instead we purchase insurance to limit our risk.

For the same reasons any gun owner who intends to have access to a gun and use it in a self-defense situation should take steps to minimize that inherent risk.

So you need to take two key steps…

First, finding and retaining in advance the best possible attorney to represent your interests in a firearm related legal incident.
Second, finding and securing financial insurance to minimize the out of pocket expense associated with defending ones actions in criminal or civil court.

Please note, having some really quality gun lawyer insurance isn't enough… you also need to have the attorney pre-selected and ready to call.

Lastly, as you start this search it’s important that you might have a lot of gaps in your knowledge and some of this may make you uncomfortable.

Why?

Well, you’re entering the same realm as the people you are trying to protect your family from by owning a firearm.
The type of lawyer you’ll be talking with is likely a criminal defense attorney.

As a responsible gun owner, you are likely a law abiding citizen, who has little or no experience with this area of law other than what you’ve seen in movies and TV. It can be a little uncomfortable for someone who is a patriot and upholder of laws, to talk to a criminal defense lawyer, just remember that they are there to defend you and prove that you are innocent not a criminal.

While you are innocent until proven guilty, if you do need legal defense related to your gun, you’ll most likely be in criminal courts, in front of criminal judges, and next to criminals in the court room. You definitely want to have someone who has helped, even tried those real criminals on your side when you need them. So get comfortable with the fact that you are dealing with the criminal world, and this won’t be a simple “which contract should we use” lawyer.

Finally, most lawyers, are not anywhere near as intimidating or “scary” as we might think.

What Kind of Lawyer Do You Need and Where Will You Find Them?

There seem to be endless places to find lawyers online. There are directories everywhere, most people start with a google search and you end up finding someone fairly easily that way.

In a moment I’ll tell you exactly what to search for, before I do, you should know online directories, and google listings have 2 significant drawbacks.

First, they tend to highlight most the attorneys who spend the most on advertising and that will always be attorneys focusing on personal injury, auto accidents, and workers compensation.

These are the ambulance chasers and civil litigation kings of the legal profession and most are ill equipped to help you with a firearm related criminal charge. You are looking for a Criminal Defense attorney that specializes in firearm related case law.

Worse, those who are “criminal defense” attorneys, spending money on advertising or rankings, are usually not gun law specialists.

They want to charge you $1,500 when you’re in a pinch to handle a DUI or a traffic ticket or other very common types of criminal defense incidents.

Second, these websites do not give you any context about the attorney's specific emphasis if any on firearm related law.

Instead of looking in the phone book (physical or digital) you may be far better off to look to local firearm industry contacts for recommendations.

Your firearm instructor, gun club, and local chapter of the NRA are probably more informed about the best attorneys in the area.

The NRA keeps a list of attorneys who have identified themselves as willing to consider firearm related cases. This list of attorneys is available free of charge to NRA members. For assistance in obtaining a referral from the NRA please call (703) 267-1161

If you do decide to search, just type this into google:

“{Your City} Firearm Lawyer”

Now, you may be tempted to search for criminal defense attorney with gun specialty or something like that. It’s going to cause you a lot of extra work, because you’ll get every DUI guy in the book. Lawyers who specialize in Firearm law, use words like firearm on their websites and are easier to spot. While you may not see many good results, the actual lawyer websites you do find, will be more relevant as you’re searching for something less common.

How To “Interview” A Gun Lawyer For Free

Ok, you’ve asked some people you can trust for referrals, searched the NRA directory and possibly identified a few lawyers through google search it’s time to see who is right for you.

Think of this as a part of your training. You need to be accustomed to and prepared to talk to lawyers. We recommend that even if you have “the guy” already, you should still talk with 2 or 3 lawyers close to you, so you’re able to get a feel for how they would handle things if and when you need to use them.

How do you get the lawyer’s to be “interviewed” for free?

Once you have selected one or more attorneys that you would like to retain in the future you need to meet with them and qualify them in person. That in person meeting is extraordinarily valuable in giving you the needed assurance that you have the right person's phone number in your phone.

When calling to ask for the appointment consider this script:

“Yes, my name is %NAME% and I am looking for an attorney whose information I could store and call on should I be involved in a legal incident as a law abiding gun owner. I was wondering if I could schedule 15 to 30 minutes with %Attorney name% to ask some questions about the law firm and its experience with firearm related case law.”

NOTE: If the attorney you have selected requires you pay for a meeting or simple get to know you at their office that doesn't mean you should be put off. It means only that their time is very valuable and they are likely very good at what they do. Ask if you can send them some questions about their law practice over the phone or via email as an alternative to a paid meeting.

It will be time and money well spent if you do decide to pay for 30 minutes of the attorney’s time, yet you’re likely able to talk to someone about whether or not it makes sense first.

Remember, this is good practice.

What To Ask In The Interview:

There are a few basic things you are trying to determine, yet I’ve prepared a simple cheat sheet that is printable or can be used to take notes on the computer, click here to download it.

There are a few things you need to know when you talk with your potential gun lawyer:

1. Does the attorney specialize in Firearm Related Law

This may seem obvious, and it is, when you’re calm collected and not in immediate need of a gun lawyer. Remember, just because the lawyer you’re speaking with says he or she is a criminal defense lawyer, doesn’t mean they’re prepared to defend you as a gun owner.

Click Here To Get Download All The Questions in the official Lawyer Interview Cheat Sheet

2. How much does it cost to work with this lawyer?

It will be an issue. How much does a case cost an innocent gun owner, even if you’ve not even fired a round? We have some content coming soon to really illustrate the point yet it’s almost always more than you think, and criminal defense attorney’s don’t work on contingency because there isn’t a payoff for them. There’s several questions and considerations you need to understand to be prepared for the cost, we detail all of them in the free cheat sheet as well as a sample video from the American Gun Law Course. Just click here to download the cheat sheet and the free video.

3. Is the attorney pro gun, and very familiar with the specific laws in your State, county and city.

I think this goes without saying, yet many gun owners may be surprised if they aren’t prepared to find out that they have a lawyer assigned to them by the court or the first person to answer who said he or she could do criminal defense isn’t a believer in the second amendment, the use of deadly force to protect innocent life, or your rights as a gun owner. Of course, most lawyers are very professional and will do their job as best they can.

Just ask yourself, do you want a lawyer who is on your side 100% from the beginning or someone who you’re unsure about?

There’s some simple questions to ask and things you should know, that’s why we prepared this free download for you. (By now it should be obvious, download the guide and I’ll help you learn much much more 🙂

Lastly, the lawyer’s stance on guns in general usually influences how well they understand the laws in your exact area and how they may have changed. This is another reason why, the best short cut is to get great referrals from people in the industry.

[hr] Ok, so your next step is to download the free gun lawyer interview cheat sheet, and watch the video of me interviewing my gun lawyer, about how to find the right lawyer for you in your state and for your needs.

Please, above all, take action.  If you do nothing but look at 3-5 websites, and pick the one who looks like the best lawyer for you, and save his or her phone number you will be better off than if you need to search in the moment.

That said, not choosing a lawyer and making this an immediate priority, is a major risk.  You could be risking jail time, your life’s savings, and even  your rights an American. We believe in our justice system here at USA Firearm Training, yet that means we are full and responsible participants in the system.  It also means that we know the system is not perfect, mistakes are often made and it’s our job to protect our personal rights by being prepared and responsible.

Click Here To Take The Next Step To Being A Fully Legally Prepared, Responsible Gun Owner