Legal defense insurance.

Just like a lot of people with a CCW, who does carry, I do have what is broadly (but falsely) know as legal defense insurance, in case I'm attacked and need to use one of my guns.

I opted for something different from the USCCA; but, since Kalya Giles, the dude who defended himself against a prankster, and a couple of other cases wherein the USCCA either decided to not defend the paying customer, or, the paying customer opted for a public defender -- I've grown skeptical that any of these "services" are worth it.

Anybody who has been through a CCW class -- at least in Arizona -- has heard about the horrifying legal costs that you could incur if you wound or kill a person who was trying to kill you.

The retainer on a lot of criminal defense lawyers is the average yearly American salary. I don't know how much Kyle Rittenhouse's legal defense ultimately cost; but, I'm sure it was a lot.

The thing is, organizations like the USCCA aren't insurance companies themselves. They contract with insurance companies, and the companies can decide to not pay out.

It's kinda daffy that so many of these companies put odd wording regarding your policy about not defending felons.

Well, first of all, that means that if you're convicted, even if it was a wrongful conviction, you're up shit's creek without a paddle regardless. Furthermore, in the case of Kayla Giles, the insurance company seemed to just decide that she was guilty and cut off the purse strings before the trial.

I don't know how many people need to hear this; but, criminal defense lawyers defend guilty people all the time. It's not that criminal defense attorneys are pro-criminal -- it's that it's a foundational value of the Western legal system to afford everyone due process and a competent legal defense.

If these organizations are taking people's money with the promise to defend them if they're ever indicted, and they're really leaving it up to a third party to decide outside of court, and pre-trial whether or not they like you, and want to pay up -- I'm not sure I see the value.