When you carry a handgun in bear country, you are betting your life on a few pounds of metal and a handful of cartridges. The caliber stamped on the barrel matters, but not in the simplistic “bigger ...

Let’s get something straight up front: a handgun is not a bear gun in the same way a rifle or a 12 gauge can be a bear gun. A pistol is what you’ve got on you when you’re hiking, fishing, checking ...