Daily Caller article on searching for a home defense gun

[Mike Irwin]

Stumbled across this a bit ago.

It's sort of an "Emily Miller of the Washington Times goes looking for a gun" type article.

http://dailycaller.com/2013/06/15/w...reporter-shopping-for-a-home-defense-handgun/

I just find it to be very interesting that (as noted at the bottom of the article) not a single revolver was recommended.

I'm wondering if that has anything to do with the current sales climate, as revolvers have seemed to be in somewhat short supply, or if it's just the clerks at the various stores were all semi-auto guys...

Not particularly in depth.

 

[Evan Thomas]

It's a decent article -- as you say, not in depth, but for an article that seems to be written to encourage women to buy a self-defense gun, I thought it did a good job of demystifying the first steps, without going into so much detail as to overwhelm someone who's not yet even a beginner.

My guess is that the lack of mention of revolvers is a supply issue. I was more disturbed by the fact that the author didn't mention taking a basic handgun class as a first step and opportunity to try out several guns -- or that the next step, once you've bought one, is to get more training.

 

[bob.a]

There seem to be fewer revolvers available in gun shops, probably a response to the fact that most people want semi-autos. Manufacturers put their production lines where the money comes from.

There's a popular perception that revolvers are"old-fashioned". This works against sales as well. Then there's the capacity issue: can you get the job done with five or six, or do you need a dozen rounds or more? (OK, 7 if you live in NY).

There's the fact that at the LEO level it has been demonstrated that there's a higher level of performance regarding accuracy with semi-autos; less problem with the lighter trigger force [presumably contributes to this.

Nevertheless, the inherent increase in complexity of the semi-auto mitigates, in my opinion, against making it the first choice for a novice for self-defense. Of course, I'm pretty old-fashioned myself. (Fashioned in 1947, if the paperwork is accurate).

 

[Tom Servo]

What Ms. Stanton failed to realize is that she just opened the Great Internet Gun Board Flame War of 2013:

The overall consensus was that 9mm handguns are superior for personal defense because there is less recoil, they allow for accurate follow-up shots and the ammunition is equal to the effectiveness of that of a .45 or .40 caliber pistol.

I hear the macho howler monkeys rushing to their keyboards to pound out vitriolic rebuttals as we speak.

I'm wondering if that has anything to do with the current sales climate, as revolvers have seemed to be in somewhat short supply, or if it's just the clerks at the various stores were all semi-auto guys.

I'd say it's a little of both. My two traditional recommendations for home defense have been the S&W 686 and the Ruger GP100. I have seen very few of those since December. That leaves the J-Frames and LCR's, and those are really intimidating guns for a new shooter.

(I was surprised Ms. Stanton didn't encounter more "hey little lady, get a [snubby/pocket 380/something in pink]" tomfoolery.)

So, in what's available, guns like the Glock and M&P are good recommendations.

 

[Aguila Blanca]

What Ms. Stanton failed to realize is that she just opened the Great Internet Gun Board Flame War of 2013:

The overall consensus was that 9mm handguns are superior for personal defense because there is less recoil, they allow for accurate follow-up shots and the ammunition is equal to the effectiveness of that of a .45 or .40 caliber pistol.

I hear the macho howler monkeys rushing to their keyboards to pound out vitriolic rebuttals as we speak.

Unnecessary. The debate has already been settled:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2_kHtCKEwQ

 

[DaleA]

You mean nobody even TRIED to sell her a Taurus Judge?

I wonder how the 'Lady Smith' would be doing in sales today if it were being promoted.

Seriously somebody should have pointed her toward this thread and story as a good real life example of what can work well in a home defense situation.
http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=526903

PS Thanks Aguila Blanca for the video link.

 

[Dr Big Bird PhD]

Read the article those morning while doing the morning drudgery

Liked it and was glad not to see the generic .380 or pink gun stuff. I know very little about handguns, but the article seemed to communicate good basics.

 

[Patriot86]

the ammunition is equal to the effectiveness of that of a .45 or .40 caliber pistol

Effectiveness is a good word for it. A lot of factors go into that; if you can't hit the person then it doesn't matter if a 45 ACP round does more damage to the body or not. If you can't hit them in a vital area they probably won't go down quickly either so the most effective round is simply the largest round your average Joe can make successful initial and follow up shots with out of a semi automatic handgun.

IMO the most overall "effective" handgun round is probably the 9MM because it is the easiest to shoot for the largest number of people.

Me I like to keep my option open, I can shoot the 9MM or 45 ACP with the same effect on target. I will admit my follow up shots are a little slower with 40S&W.