ARRESTED 2 DAYS BEFORE HIS WEDDING

Jonathan identified himself as the one with the firearm. He pointed to his truck, where he had already placed the Ruger on the dashboard above the steering wheel … magazine beside it, slide locked to the rear, CPL close by.

Everything exactly where it should be.

He gave the officers his account. One officer went across the street to interview the dog's owner, who had also called police.

The dog's owner told them Jonathan had stuck the gun in his face from five feet away and threatened him.

Jonathan had never been within 30 feet of the man.

The police took no statements from his brother-in-law, his nephew, or any other witnesses.

It was Jonathan's word against the dog owner's.

"It blew my mind they didn't even ask anybody else what happened," Jonathan said. "That guy said that I did this, and that's what they ran with."

He was handcuffed and placed in a patrol car.

On the way to the station, the officer assured him it would be quick. He'd be home in a couple of hours. He'd be laughing about it with his veteran friends at the wedding.

Nothing the officer promised came true.

Jonathan was booked into jail on Thursday evening.

Friday morning came. No phone call. No information. No answers to the one question he kept asking.

"Am I being charged? What's going on?"

A rush of thoughts piled on.

Would the dog's owner come after his elderly mother?

What about his business?

And what about the wedding?

Then an officer opened the cell door.

"You're being charged with felony assault with a firearm."

Jonathan replied: "For protecting my nephew from a dog?"

The officer said he didn't know the details and slammed the door.

"A felon for protecting my family," Jonathan thought. "How is this even possible?"

About 15 minutes later, a less hostile officer opened the door and told him something he wasn't expecting.

"Your lawyer's here."

Jonathan didn't know he had a lawyer. He hadn't been allowed to make a single phone call.

What he didn't know was that friends and family on the outside had been working to free him. A fellow American Legion member had reached USCCA Certified Instructor Chuck Norton, who recommended attorney Jim Makowski. Cindy had called Makowski at 1 p.m. and told him her fiancé had been arrested the night before.

She also told him they were supposed to get married in 29 hours.

Makowski had a hunch Jonathan might be a USCCA Member. He contacted the Delta Defense Critical Response Team to verify.

Less than 90 minutes after Norton's first call, Makowski was at the jail.

He confirmed Jonathan's USCCA® Membership benefits would cover his legal expenses.

"It was like this giant weight was lifted off of me," Jonathan said. "It was like instant relief."

At his arraignment the next morning, Jonathan faced two charges: felonious assault and felony firearm. Combined, up to six years in prison. The magistrate, according to Jonathan, seemed determined to keep him locked up.

He was released on a $50,000 personal bond at 1 p.m.

Most of the guests had no idea he had spent the last two days in jail.

The legal fight, however, was just beginning.

Makowski hired private investigator Linda Bishop to dig into the case. She ran background checks, canvassed the neighborhood for security cameras, and interviewed the witnesses police had never bothered to talk to.

What she found painted a clear picture of who the real threat had been.

The dog's owner had a criminal record. Gang affiliations. Animal-abuse charges. Multiple complaints from neighbors at every address he'd lived at. He wasn't even supposed to be living in the house — he wasn't on the lease.

"Just a not good guy," Bishop said.

Her investigative work added thousands to the defense costs. Every dollar was covered through Jonathan's USCCA Membership.

On October 23, 2023 … two and a half months after his arrest … Jonathan faced his preliminary examination. If the judge found probable cause, the case would go to trial.

The dog's owner testified that he had feared for his life and blacked out. He claimed again that Jonathan had pointed the Ruger directly in his face.

"His story just did not add up at all," Jonathan said. "It seemed so choreographed."

Makowski used Bishop's evidence to dismantle his credibility on cross-examination. Jonathan's nephew, brother-in-law, and sister each testified. The judge had heard enough before Jonathan or his character witnesses ever took the stand.

His exact words, according to Jonathan: "This is questionable at best."

"When that judge dismissed it, it was just this huge weight off my chest," Jonathan said.

Makowski said cases are rarely dismissed at that stage. Most judges give prosecutors the benefit of the doubt and send the case to trial.

Not this time.

Jonathan's total legal costs came to roughly $15,000. He paid nothing out of pocket.

"I never thought I'd use it. I never thought I'd need it," Jonathan said of his USCCA Membership. "Glad I had it though."

He still doesn't fully trust law enforcement the way he once did. It took four months of daily visits to the police station before they returned his Ruger.

The dog's owner was never charged with anything.

But Jonathan made it to his wedding.

He made it home.

Because preparedness isn't just about what happens in the moment.

It's about training before danger finds you.

Making the right decisions when it does.

And having a plan for everything that follows.

The Dowling story is a reminder that self-defense doesn't end when the threat does.

It's what happens before, during, and after.