That's sort of my point. And not only does the 9mm offer more power (while stepping onto the slippery "bigger is better" slope) in quality affordable pistols that are roughly the same size as the 380's and maybe a bit smaller in some cases, the 9mm will always be cheaper to fire. Which means, at least in theory, you will be able to fire it more, which means you can get better with it. It seems that very few people who are part of the "gun culture", and carry a pistol for defense, put much effort into really getting proficient with these little 380's, 32's, and the like (I know there are exceptions). The ugly fact is that these same people don't realize that they will be fighting for their lives with whatever they have on them at the time and place that someone else decides to do them harm. Chances are, these same gun owners have access to something better in their home, whether its a full-size/full-power handgun of some type, or a shotgun, or whatever, should the lethal encounter happen in the home. One can look at all the threads on "nightstand guns", EDC guns, etc. to understand this. I CCW a 9mm shield for the above reasons, and here in the sunshine state, it is the compromise I can live with regarding things like power, size, weight, reliability, and so on along with the t-shirt and shorts weather we have here most of the time. Should the situation arise where its in my hand and all that matters is me placing fast and effective fire on an adversary with what's in my hand, somewhere in the back of my mind I will probably be wishing I had my fully loaded, yet irrelevant (since is in the safe) G21SF in my hand instead. But I would much rather have a 9mm I am proficient with than a lesser caliber I am less proficient with.