Is the "scariness factor" important for an SD gun?

[Skans]

Sounds like you have your opinions based on your circumstances regarding home defense. I sincerely hope that you never have to go through any type of home invasion; and live with the aftermath.

Thanks. Believe me, I have no desire to ever have to deal with this either. I was born and raised in Florida and boy, has this place changed! Teens are totally out of control - bashing each other into indistinguishable lumps of flesh with baseball bats over X-boxes. All of the native Floridians have picked up and moved to North Georgia and Western North Carolina (where we know they refer to us as "Floridiots")

If I were single and a few years younger, I'd seriously consider picking up and moving to Alaska. I've never even visited there, but it's top on my list of places to visit.

 

[KAB55]

I shoot weekly with the police chief of our city. Had a conversation with him a few weeks ago about putting a laser on my wife's new Glock 19 to make it easier for her to get on target in a low light, high stress self defense situation. His response was that it would probably keep her from having to fire in such a situation, as even the young punks on the street, that think they are infailable, know that the bullet hole soon will be where the red dot is from video games and movies. I believe that the deterent effect is huge.

I've been a carrying for 27 years and I've never had to draw, but it did save me once. When I was going through my divorce back in '82, my ex's body builder brother (had a history of violence) and three of his rather large friends showed up and confonted me in my driveway after I exited my car. He announced that they were here to kick my ass from about 20 feet away. He was upset because I wouldn't let her remove a van load of belongings in violation of a court order. (My attorney told me to block it in the drive and I did.) I had my 1911 45acp on and simply pulled my coat back, unsnapped the thumstrap and placed my hand on the gun, asking, who's going first? (Had they been closer I would have drawn while asking the question) This diffused the situation and they left, don't know that a small chief's special from that distance, would have had the same effect.

 

[Old Grump]

The last time that I had bullets whizzing by my head, I chose cover and retreat with a gun in my hand. I was not pursued. I did not fire a shot. I lived to contact law enforcement and let them deal with the drunks shooting at me.

Now, had I followed your advice, you would not likely be seeing mine here today. Multiple assailants all armed. However, the fact that I did have a gun allowed me more options at that time. The "deterrent effect" of having a gun may have bought me the time to escape without firing a shot.

And all in all is not that what a "self-defense" gun is for, being able to walk the next day; as opposed to lying in a hospital bed, or lying six feet under?

Rephrased, were you prepared to use it or did you just want to scare somebody with it. To many people think a gun only needs to be displayed and that is often the case but if you are not prepared to use it then the biggest baddest gun on the planet is good for nothing. I misspoke, I do that often and the older I get the more I......what were we talking about?

It seems that in someone's part of the world there are only three kinds of handgun finish... And two of them are pink

If it works to get the women folk to pick it up I don't care what color it is. The only time I want to see the bore end of the gun is if it is empty and open for cleaning and inspection. Best small bore shooter I know is the daughter of a friend of mine. Fluorescent pink stock with unicorn and rainbow decals. She made the gun herself, (daddy didn't touch it), when she was 14. She is a freshman in college now and still can shoot the dickens out of a 50 yard target with that cute little thing.

 

[MLeake]

Other things that can make people appear drunk or stoned...

... include, but are not limited to:

The initial onset of diabetic shock; has been mistaken for DD, DUI, etc many times, sometimes with tragic results;

Neurological disease - not likely to break into your house, but can cause loss of balance, slurring of speech, unintentional collisions with others. I bring this up because a female friend of mine in Florida suffered from one of the MD family of disorders. On bad days, she was often mistaken for drunk or stoned. You'd be amazed at the horrible assumptions people would make (well, maybe you wouldn't), and you should be disgusted at the judgmental comments complete strangers flung her way. If ever people deserved to be slapped for stupidity and sheer ugliness, they did on some of those occasions;

As previously mentioned, hypothermia - again not too likely in Florida, but possible in north Florida, especially on a wet winter night - if only because some people get caught completely off guard when the temperature drops from 70 to 40 in the space of two or three hours.

Fear; this could be caused by "poor life choices," in the form of the dangerous boyfriend. Then again, it could be caused by the friendly neighborhood rapist trying to chase an early morning jogger, or by somebody's unleashed dogs trying to chase an early morning jogger, etc.

Alcohol and drugs are other possibilities, of course. However, there are plenty of non-violent yet very stupid drunks.

Decide ahead of time that any intruder gets shot, and I think you'll find the Castle Doctrine isn't quite as expansive as you seem to think it is. At least, you'll find that the jury will have some say in whether a break-in that did not stem from criminal intent will qualify as the type of forcible felony that triggers Castle Doctrine protections.

And trust me, shoot some drunk, unarmed high school girl with no criminal record, without proving that she had otherwise threatened you in any way that a reasonable person would find threatening, and you will not want me on your jury. I'm pretty sure I'm not the only forum member who would feel that way, and I'm in favor of Castle Doctrines. Now try to imagine the emotional responses of jurors who are anti...

 

[Jim March]

MLeake, we agree completely. If it's possible for me to solve a problem without getting anybody dead or maimed, I'll do it.

 

[JohnKSa]

Seems we've left the original topic of this thread and wandered into tactics territory and even farther afield...