The Armed Citizen® Feb. 28, 2025

by
posted on February 28, 2025
** When you buy products through the links on our site, we may earn a commission that supports NRA's mission to protect, preserve and defend the Second Amendment. **
The Armed Citizen

Armed Citizen® Today

A 24-year-old resident of Juneau, Alaska, shot and killed a teen in self-defense in a road-rage incident during which the teen pulled out what appeared to be a rifle and threatened the 24-year-old with it.

Police say that the situation started when the older driver called police after being followed by a driver in a 2001 Volkswagen Jetta. The two drivers then circled a roundabout before stopping alongside each other. An argument broke out between the two men, and the 24-year-old driver noticed what he thought was a rifle in the hands of the younger driver. The teen then pointed the rifle at the 24-year-old driver, prompting him to draw and fire in self-defense.

The older driver waited at the scene for responding officers, who pronounced the teen driver dead on the scene. An investigation found that the teen driver had actually been armed with a C02-powered pellet/BB gun.

"It looked very realistic, very much like a firearm,” Juneau Police Chief Derek Bos told KTUU News. “Responding officers also held the initial belief that it was an actual firearm. It was determined much later in the investigation that it was not.” (KTUU News; Juneau, Alaska; 2/3/25)

From the Armed Citizen® Archives – January 1971

Mrs. Deloris Ehle of Ft. Wayne, Ind., was suspicious of two men who parked in her driveway. Consequently, she did not respond when they knocked first on her front door, then on her back door. But when they took a ladder from her garage and removed one of her window screens, she grabbed a shotgun. Upon seeing the armed homeowner, the two men fled. (Ft. Wayne, Ind., The News Sentinel)

Latest

Canik Prime Radian Review 1
Canik Prime Radian Review 1

Range Review: Canik Prime Radian

With the new Canik Prime Radian, you can have your compensator and your flared magazine well, too, all inside an easily carried, compact handgun.

New for 2026: Franklin Armory 5.56 Rabbit Rounds

Franklin Armory's new 5.56 NATO Rabbit Rounds provide a spin-stabilized, multi-projectile ammunition option for America's rifle.

ATF Ends Enforcement of NFA Registration & Approval Requirements for Suppressors, SBRs, and SBSs Following NRA Victory in Jensen v. ATF

Today, the ATF confirmed it will no longer enforce National Firearms Act (NFA) registration, application and tax-stamp requirements for short-barreled rifles, short-barreled shotguns, suppressors and certain other concealable firearms.

Gun of the Week: H&K VP9CC

Hot on the heels of its CC9 micro-compact, Heckler & Koch introduced a micro companion to its popular VP9 lineup that includes some noteworthy features.

A Raven at 50: Five Days at Gunsite Academy

In Gunsite Academy's 50th year, NRA Director Jerry Kraus made his inaugural visit to the famed training institute and left a Raven.

The Armed Citizen® Oct. 9, 2026

Read today's "The Armed Citizen" entry for real stories of law-abiding citizens, past and present, who used their firearms to save lives.

Interests



Get the best of American Rifleman delivered to your inbox.