Reviewing the bidding:
The purpose of this thread is to urge people to consider and challenge the assumptions regarding their choices of carry pieces. Several ideas were provided in the OP to serve as a framework for that process.
It was also stated that, absent the proper mindset and skill-set,
no firearm should really make anyone "comfortable" by itself.
The importance of good defensive training was emphasized.
There can be no one answer about what is the "best" defensive firearm. People vary in terms of strength, size, and stamina. Clothing needs vary. Hand sizes vary. Strictness of concealment rules differ. Skills vary. Not all firearms are approved for all jurisdictions. For each person, the best firearm choice is a compromise of several things, including shootability, weight, and concealability.
One thing is constant. The defensive firearm is intended for use in the most serious of all possible circumstances--an unexpected, sudden violent criminal attack--for the purpose of self preservation. That differs from slow fire at stationary targets at the square range. It differs from what is portrayed in screen fiction.
Many people buying firearms for the first time have based their selections on what they have seen in a gun store or a magazine. Some have had the opportunity to try them before buying--at a range, in conditions that do not really simulate defensive shooting.
It might be useful to take the several points listed in the OP and reformulate them into succinct declarative sentences:
- Defensive shooting differs markedly from shooing at the gun range, in terms of the speed at which things happen; of the usually short distances involved; of the fact that the target is likely moving quickly; and of the fact that speed is as important as precision. No one scores the target in a defensive shooting.
- Unlike screen fiction, where big guns knock the bad guys out through saloon doors, bullets in real shootings do not knock people down. They wound by damaging specific parts inside the body, hidden from the shooter. For that reason, several shots may be required to give the defender a real chance that his bullets will actually hit any of those internal "stop buttons". That's why we see police dash-cam videos showing several rapid shots being fired at armed attackers.
- Studies have shown that a practiced person can draw a firearm and fire one shot in about a second and a half, and that a reasonably fit attacker would be able to reach the defender with a bladed weapon from a distance of 21 feet in that time interval.
These are not the subjective opinions of a few internet theorists. They are observations made by recognized defensive shooting trainers, some of whom are members of THR. They reflect the findings of the FBI Training Academy at Quantico, VA, whose research on, and testing of, ammunition serves as the basis of selection for most of the police departments in this country. They reflect the experience of a number of THR members in training and in their law enforcement duties.
One other thing: its is quite natural to believe that, if our circumstances are such that we believe the need to use a gun to be unlikely (and if we don't, we should change something quickly), we should therefore not really need fo carry a serious defensive weapon.
Things don't work that way. Once the action starts, it will be what it will be, regardless of how likely we believed it to be beforehand.
For more information,
The Best Defense TV program episodes are excellent. Also look into books and DVDs by the late William Aprill, Lewis Awerbuck, Massad Ayoob, Andrew Branca, Tom Givens, Gila Hayes, Marty Hayes, Kathy Jackson, Rory Miller, Rob Pincus, Karl Rehn, and Claude Werner, to name a few.
