The six-day Legal Eagles seminar continued on Sunday with a powerful all-day presentation by attorney Mitch Vilos, author of “Self-Defense Laws of All Fifty States.” Mitch specializes in firearms law and has done a hundred or more such cases himself as trial lawyer, and has studied hundreds more such cases for research.  He has discovered the epiphany almost every attorney experiences in the courtroom:  law school teaches you the law, not trial tactics.  The latter is something that is learned on the job, or in specialized in-service training known as CLE (continuing legal education).M_Vilos

Mitch is smart, he’s funny (in a good way), and he’s a voice of experience. He pointed out that the defenses-with-firearms which seem to cause the least trouble to the good person with the gun are those involving home defense, interdiction of mass murder, and fighting off armed robbers.  The least defensible are those in which the defendant might be seen as “the initial aggressor,” or those in which the defendant was doing something illegal at the time of the incident.

Some of those epiphanies are counter-intuitive. Mitch, like veteran defense lawyer Jim Fleming who spoke the day before him, has found that cops make wonderfully favorable jurors in self-defense shooting cases.  And that’s just the tiniest sample of the experiential wisdom for which the dozens of attendees are paying a well-spent $3,000 over the course of this six-day seminar. It wouldn’t be right for me to give it all away here.

Let me share another bit of Mitch Vilos’ wisdom. I am not exactly the world’s biggest fan of pastel pistolas. However, Mitch revealed that his current concealed carry pistol in his stomping grounds of Salt Lake City is a purple-color SIG-Sauer.  Mitch, like others of us in this business, has seen more than one case where someone has claimed the defendant pulled a gun on him when he didn’t.  Mitch likes the idea of being able to say to the investigating officer, “Ask the complainant what color the gun was that he says I pulled on him.”  If the liar doesn’t say “purple,” Mitch has a strong reinforcement of the truth that the guy never saw a gun at all and is making up a story.

Damn…live and learn.  That’s the first good reason I’ve come across for carrying a handgun of a non-traditional color.  And learning, of course, is what I came for.

31 COMMENTS

  1. Excellent series of articles. THANKS

    I too am not a fan of pretty guns. I may have to reexamine that opinion.

  2. About ten years ago, I came very close to sending a cheap Taurus 85dao to be done in a rustproof finish. I could not decide between pink or purple (before so many pink guns came out).

    My thoughts were the same as above, to ask what color the gun was that I pulled.

    At least I’m not the only one to think that.

  3. I once had to collect a debt owed to me by a no-longer friend who knew that I carried a Colt Officer’s .45.
    I am always armed, so a few days before, I spray painted a CZ-52 pink and carried it instead.
    (This was before the days of factory colors)
    Fortunately, nothing went sideways that day.
    Removing the paint later was an unpleasant experience.

  4. We have enjoyed Mitch’s 3 or is it 4 books now, on Utah law. Had the pleasure of meeting him twice, once here in Vernal at a yearly shooting event held by Basin Sports. He is a good man to have in our corner. Interesting thought on the colored guns. Not sure I can bring myself to do it, but an excellent idea.

  5. Interesting bit of advice but I’m not about to have my carry piece refinished in hot pink! A counterargument, I suppose, could be made that bad guys might not think an odd-color handgun is “real” during an encounter and then you would have another problem.

  6. Thank You, Mr. Vilos. Vindication!

    I have always loved those funny color pieces. Texas BBQ guns and such.

    This is an interesting series of Blogs you have here Mas. Looks to be quite the seminar so far.

  7. As a “mature” woman, I believed basic black with a string of pearls was perfect for any occasion. Now, I’m not so sure.

  8. Damn, I already have a non-purple carry gun. Now I have to go buy a new one.

    The problem is, you’d have to make sure it’s not a common color. And now with this article, purple will be too common to be effective.

    I wonder if I can get a plaid one… Wait, nobody read this!

  10. When hunting knife manufacturers began offering their products with bright orange handles I scoffed at the idea at first, until I began to remember all the time I had wasted over the years trying to locate my knife after laying down in the leaves while dressing a deer in the woods.

    I can see the wisdom of a garishly colored concealed carry weapon, for the reasons Mitch Vilos stated, and also the possible hesitation it might cause with an attacker, should you have to defend yourself.

    Another example of practical being tactical?

  11. correction; “locate my knife after laying IT down in the leaves.” ………. Although I have been known to lie down in the leaves also, most times I find myself fairly quickly.

  12. This is certainly an interesting argument, but I feel as though it could go very wrong for you if your concealment isn’t perfect. If he happens to get a glimpse of your teal Glock because your shirt accidentally lifted up, the question of “what color your gun is” could be absolutely damning during a trial.

  13. Must say I love different colors and camouflage patterns. But that is just my artsy, silly taste. If Heaven’s not a lot like Disney, I’d just as soon not go! (I got that from a song.)

    But really, aren’t there too many black guns? I don’t even own an AR-15, yet I have two rifles, three shotguns, and one handgun, all black. Only my revolvers are gray, or silver. I think if someone still wanted a business-like looking gun, but didn’t want black, they might go with gray. We really are spoiled when we get to talk about the colors of our guns. I’m sure the girls abducted by Boko Harum wish they had a spear, a sword, or any-colored gun.

    But I must mention one more pet peeve. The military needs to be more creative when naming things. Consider the name, “M-1.” There is the M-1 Garand, the M-1 Carbine, the M-1 Thompson submachine gun, the M1A rifle, and the M1A1 Abrams tank. I’ll bet others can think of more “M-1″s.

  14. Don’t know how often people are falsely accused of brandishing or threatening others with their concealed handgun, but if I were to plan for that possibility, I would go with coyote tan or FDE rather than lavender or purple.

  15. Pink guns….Really?

    Really?

    I’ve seen them in gun shops, the odd over/under with a pink stock and forearm or a small .22 rifle, obviously intended to attract a female. The very first thing that came to my mind was, “That is absurd.”

    My daughter saw the same things during a visit to a sporting goods store and told me about it, and offered, unprompted, the same reaction.

    Now a carry pistol.

    I can understand the legal argument but you will never, ever see me with one.
    And I will assume certain things (not necessarily the sexual orientation) of anyone I do see with one. Mainly that, until you prove otherwise, you don’t know what you are doing and I am going to stay away from you, or that you aren’t really serious, and I am going to stay away from you.

  16. I can think of one other advantage to pastel colored carry pieces.

    Recently, my home was burglarized. They (three teenage boys by the description that the police got) set off the alarm system and the police arrived within minutes. So the thieves did not have much time. They got away but the only thing that they took was a small black .380 handgun that I sometimes used for concealed carry.

    I doubt, however, that your typical gang-banger would be too enthused over a pink handgun! It just don’t fit the gang-banger persona!

    I’ll probably buy another .380 to replace the old one. Maybe pink, lavender or purple would just suit the ticket!

  18. If I remember MAG-40 correctly,you taught us that most DGUs end without the weapon being fired but ironically only if the bad guy knows you’re resolved to use your weapon. Implicit in this is that he understands you have a weapon to use. An odd-colored firearm may hamper this understanding – leaving you with no choice but to pull the trigger. Such a Catch-22 leaves you reaching out to the Legal Eagles you’re spending the week learning from, albeit as a client rather than a student.

  19. You posters have got me thinking of good reasons to go with colors. Sheeple are not too afraid of flintlocks or lever-action rifles. They are deathly afraid of “black guns” which are killing machines made to mow down whole crowds of sheeple in seconds!!!!!!!!!! Maybe if we could soften the look of our evil black guns, the sheeple might not react as they do. I really like that Real-Tree winter camo look, the one where the gun is white, but has black twigs painted on it. Imaging police walking around town with light blue AR-15s. The sheeple just might be able to get used to that.

    I know, I know, then we couldn’t tell the toys from the real guns.

  20. I can’t seem to find a link at the moment, but I’m pretty sure Iver or H&R offered pink “ladies model” revolvers during the 1930s.

    It seems like a lot of manufacturers are making variously-colored firearms now. Since that’s how they come from the factory, I can’t see any point with people getting upset. After all, blue, black, stainless, chrome, OD green, and tan are common enough, and the Soviets and their allies built eleventy zillion AKs with “plum” furniture, and honor guard rifles worldwide painted white… half the colors are were in mass production already.

  21. Dennis, Fezzywig – man, do you have my head spinning with your “M-1-ness!” Memories (and not all bad, either). I attribute that to the passage of time, making nearly all things warm and fuzzy. Dennis – what happens those times when you don’t “find yourself fairly quickly?”

    Back to the thread – I must admit many different ploys have occurred to me to set my firearms apart, but I have never considered (until now, anyway) bright colors. I reckon that’s because concealment with me is #1 – SO far above #2 on my list of priorities. How ’bout a pop-up sign of some kind when drawing the pistol? And, no – NOT something asinine like “wait for the flash,” which to me, just illustrates your lack of maturity. Any suggestions?

  22. Don-Pa, Those are the times I just lay back and enjoy those moments of blissful ignorance, dreading the return to reality.

  23. I think I may start having my Glocks at the store duracoated purple. I cant wait to have you back in April!
    Ernie

  25. Stephen and William, thankfully, here in Texas, we lawful CHL holders are protected by law from accidentally brandishing; before Senate Bill 299 went into effect in 2013, it was an offense to fail to conceal a handgun. Today, it’s only an offense to intentionally (and that’s the key word) display a handgun in plain view of another person in a public place.

    Of course, that’s not to say you still couldn’t be charged (he said-she said), but at least the law in there…CHL’ers in other states aren’t so fortunate, I understand.

    TXCOMT

  26. A bit of an aside, but I helped out as a line coach for a CCW class yesterday in central Illinois. We ended up shooting well after sundown, but the girl with the pink Ruger had no trouble locating it on the table. She said she picked pink because it’s her favorite color on the stripper pole—everybody has to make a living. I’ve seen LEO’s shoot worse, btw.

  27. “A counterargument, I suppose, could be made that bad guys might not think an odd-color handgun is “real” during an encounter and then you would have another problem.”

    No you wouldn’t, you’d have the same problem as if you shot the gremlin with one of those “evil black” guns most carry.

  28. Sorry, I disagree. A gun should be black, silver, and/or wood color. All these stupid colors are only endangering children with “TOY” guns. Read and watch the news, children are being harassed or shot for carrying “TOY” guns. If Weapons were made to be Black, Silver, and Wood and “TOY” guns where made to be any other color then there would be no confusion unless introduced by criminals or children whose parents are not watching what there children are doing…. If you cannot live with black, silver or wood colors in your weapon for children’s safety, then you don’t need a gun in the first place… If you are carrying a weapon, the weapon is not a fashion statement, it is not part of your identity, it is a tool for self defense. If you feel otherwize, you don’t need a gun in any way, shape or form…

    If you carry concealed nobody should ever know you have a gun with you, and that includes, don’t open your big mouth and tell anyone. If you carry open, then you are risking a he or she said/he or she said. You will have to let the police figure it out. If you are “banishing” your weapon in public (which is everywhere) you don’t need to be carrying a weapon. And if you are trying to win a non life threatening argument by banishing a weapon, you need to lose any licence you have and go to jail….

  29. Sir:

    I was just reading your “Files” entry in the current issue of “American Handgunner” and, wanting to follow up, I searched here for more information on Mr. Vilos’ book you mentioned. Would I be missing anything (significant) if I just purchased the one revised/published in 2013?

    Thanks very much.

    Russ

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