Very well said Presto. If you're shooting THROUGH glass or sheet metal, then you are no longer in a "Self Defense" posture. People can try and rationalize the what-ifs all they want, but you're not going to convince anyone.
What if somebody were shooting at you through the windows and doors of your house? Would you not return fire if the indications were clear that the bad guy was behind a window or door (e.g. holes appearing in your door from outside)? That very thing happened earlier this year in a town right next to mine, so I'm not just playing the "what if" game here. Criminals have also occasionally plowed their cars (probably just stolen) through stores and homes as part of an extreme smash & grab tactic, and you'd want to be able to stop the driver of a deadly weapon (i.e. the car) in such cases, as well as anybody who might want to run you over for whatever reason. The latter happened to an off-duty cop in another neighboring town as a result of a road rage incident, and the same thing could potentially happen to anybody.
1) Self Defense is NOT the same thing as Home defense. Different guns and/or rounds for different purposes. I.e. I probably would never use a pocket gun for Home Defense, but I would for Self Defense. Same with the ammunition.
It could be very similar, as pointed out above.
2) In Self Defense situations, the bad guys chose you because they believed you to be an easy mark for robbery, rape, car jacking, etc... They would NOT be trying to rob you or whatever, if they knew you were carrying a gun. If they knew you had a gun, they pass you by for an easier mark. And if you pull a gun out on them, they aren't going to stick around.
That might happen, or they might panic and shoot you. And what if their goal is not to rob you but to kill you? Granted, not everybody faces such a situation, but many people do (usually from people they know rather than random criminals, but that makes no difference to the bullets).
3) You're NOT going to get into a "Shoot-Out" in a self defense scenario. You're not going to be hiding behind a car door and returning fire on someone hiding behind a dumpster. Again, the bad guys does not believe you even have a gun. If they did, you wouldn't be his victim. So producing a weapon changes the dynamics.
Lots of assumptions here. Obviously you have never been the target of somebody who is determined to kill you, or is at least making threats. I have been and still am, which is my punishment for spending six years trying to help an old friend overcome his addiction to pain medication. He suddenly relapsed after being clean for a long time and turned paranoid, ranting about me bugging his telephone, "redirecting" his web browser
, and crawling in his attic and under his floors in the middle of the night (his mother's house, where he lives now, is on a concrete slab! :banghead: ). I broke all ties with him when he suddenly, at least from my point of view, went nuts right in my own home and started shoving my family around, and this has pissed him off even more. If he wanted to kill me, as he said he would if I didn't stop doing all those things that I never did (including crawling under his floor), then I'm not going to use some pansy round that can't even penetrate light barriers to defend myself with, even in my own home. As far as I'm concerned, self-defense, home-defense, and LEO use are all the same with regard to ammunition capabilities.
4. When police are involved in shootings, it's not because the bad guy tried to rob or rape the police officer, and the officer is defending themselves. The bad guy, in their own rationalization, is actually feeling defensive in nature because of the police officer's presence. If you don't understand the difference between the environment of a bad guy's offensive attack on a victim and a bad guy's reaction to a police officer, then there's no explaining it to you.
Sure, a robber or burglar will sooner run away from an armed citizen than cops who are determined to apprehend him, but what about homicidal maniacs who may be just as determined to kill somebody? It doesn't have to be something like my case, it could be a jealous ex who can't let somebody go and feels spurned, sort of like OJ Simpson, for instance, except with a gun possibly.
I'm glad that you apparently don't have any known sources of such danger, but then again, there is always the danger that is unknown.
So, as for the Critical Defense round, it is a fantastic round for what it's designed for. Mainly, SELF DEFENSE.
Eh, there are other rounds that are just as good or better in addition to being more versatile.
If I'm in my car, and someone is trying to break in, and I shoot a round through the side window at 1-2 feet away, I don't care what the hell round I have; that's not a pretty sight. And assuming the bad guy didn't leave when I pulled the weapon out, maybe he didn't see it, he will definitely change his attitude after the first round. But this isn't hollywood. Self Defense scenarios are a lot more basic and simpler than some people want to admit. They want to believe they are under the same risk scenarios that a police officer is. They aren't, but there's no educating these people. They aren't going to change their mind.
Are you willing to change your mind, or do I just need further education on why my life would not be in danger from using ammo with inferior performance? Tell me why I'll never have to deal with a determined attacker, just random criminals who will always run away when I pull a gun on them.
They still think they need a 15-18 round magazine and 2 more for backup. That it's possible that it could be them against a gang of 5 in a shoot-out on the street.
Many home invasions involve more than one bad guy--it's not uncommon at all.
Well, if you're also a gang member, that's possible.
The only thing I've ever done wrong was trying to do good deeds for others. I'm a lot more careful about naive, dumb stuff like that now, based on experience--sad but true.
Then again, it wouldn't be a "Self-Defense" scenario. And I'm definitely all for gang members shooting each other. Maybe they'll all die.
Or maybe they'll drive by good citizens trying to clean up their disgusting vandalism, and take shots at them. That was a big story around here earlier this year, with the guy who shot back at them posting about the experience on forums including this one. I hope that he uses ammo that can penetrate light barriers--citizens justifiably killing gang members is a good thing, too.