Everyone wants the best self defense weapon. Everyone wants the perfect self defense weapon. We want even better than that. We want the magic talisman that will protect us from everything and everyone.
Some people are convinced it’s a gun. Guns fail all the time. Consider the police officer in this article that shot a suspect 14 times with a .45 ACP. Six hits were considered fatal (hits included heart, right lung, left lung, liver, diaphragm, and right kidney). My own experience in combat with an M16 was the same. I watched us hit a terrorist over 6 times and then watched him run off, only to have us chase him through the brush.
A lot of people say pepper spray is great. Not so much. I’ve been sprayed and watched my entire company of Marines get sprayed and finish an obstacle course before getting rinsed off. So that doesn’t work.
Tasers are one of the latest and greatest, but they don’t always work. The device can and has failed or you could miss. One of the funniest police stories I’ve ever heard was of a Sergeant trying to use a Taser through the bars of a jail cell because the person arrested was going nuts and trying to hurt himself and everyone that came close. The Sergeant fired the Taser through the metal bars. Taser struck the suspect, wires from the Taser touched the metal bars so when the police officers touched the bars to open the cell door, they where zapped by the Taser. The officers called the Sergeant shocking for years. The problem was once the officers starting taking the brunt of the shock, the suspect was no longer incapacitated.
The point is nothing works all the time. We have to have a back up plan and a third plan for when the first two fail. You need layers of security with you and you need to be prepared for all of them to fail. When you practice or think about what could happen to you while you are out, plan for something to go wrong. Think about what you would do if that first plan fails.
Stay Safe,
Ben
Question: Many believe that 9mm, 40 and 45cal are pretty much equally effective stoppers in a hit to the spinal cord or brain. Considering that in a real self defense situation, especially if both parties are moving, the majority of hits would most likely not be to those areas but to less optimal areas such as arm, shoulder, leg, hip… In the latter situation of less optimal hits, do you think caliber selection, might become more important in the immediate effect on the threat/assaulter? ie; would the 9mm still be equally effective as the 45cal in less optimal hits?
William, thanks for the thoughts and for reading. The reality is you are splitting hairs and the answer is maybe and maybe not, because all three suck! A handgun is not a fight stopper it’s just a tool. There isn’t a magic answer. The only thing I have seen stop someone for sure in a arm or leg hit is a 50 BMG. A sniper hit the guy in the leg at about 1,000 yards. It almost ripped his leg off and the guy bleed to death really fast. Anything else is only going to be useful if the person being hit believes it’s over.
I don’t care the caliber. Whatever it is double your stopping power buy hitting them again. Be prepared for it not to work, and you can’t have too much ammo unless you are swimming.
So really the only part of that debate I care about is the amount of ammo in the gun. A 20 shot 45 beats a 5 shot 9mm and vise versa. But 5 shots of something beats a sharp stick. I’m just going to plan on any hit not to work.
I hear you, excellent answer. I was just looking for an edge in stopping power in an urban environment with a goal of fewer discharges, you know, the old saying that every round down range comes with a lawyer attached, or a possible trajedy if you miss the intended target.
I guess I’ll just have to find a way to carry a 556 carbine, concealed, unfortunately they frown on full length dusters these days, especially in South Florida.
Thanks, keep up the good work.
It would be nice to get an edge with hardware. The AR would be an edge, but… Your edge is in your mindset and ability to make a body hit from any position, moving or standing still.
Thanks for the comments!