Posted by megatronrules: ... I don't think a bad guy is gonna stand there and say "hey that only a .25 beretta" All they know is A. its a gun B. it can kill them C. they picked the wrong guy/girl ...
While I agree that a majority of the time the mere presence of a gun will end an encounter before it even gets started, and the few times when shots have to be fired, usually only one or two rounds are used, I would like you to consider what happened to a deputy I once knew (
I actually didn't know him personally but I knew who he was as we sometimes nodded hello to each other in the locker room).
He frequently worked the evening shift and because he knew first hand what crime was on the rise, he felt uncomfortable with his young wife being home alone & unarmed while he was patrolling the streets and so, he bought for her a Raven .25ACP pistol. His wife was a small woman less than 5 feet tall and weighing about 85 pounds which is why, I guess, they went for a small gun -- something that would fit her hand well without too much recoil.
One night she heard someone breaking into her home. She grabbed her gun, chambered a round, locked her bedroom door and called the police.
From what I understand, the police were at the house in under five minutes (
especially since it involved the wife of a fellow deputy). When they got there, they found the intruder dead a few feet from the front door and they also found the woman dead in her bedroom.
Nobody knows what really happened because the two people involved were dead but from the physical evidence, the investigators were able to put together the following ...
The intrudor kicked in the bedroom door and the woman starting firing. We don't know the order of bullet placement but one shot missed, two landed in the chest, one in the stomach, one in the shoulder and one in the leg. When the woman stopped shooting (because her gun was empty), the intrudor strangled her and tried to make his way out of the house.
Interesting enough, it was the shot in the leg that caused his death since it hit a vein or something causing him to pass out from the drop in blood pressure and caused his heart to stop.
The gun quickly killed him (
in five minutes or less) but it was not successful in stopping him.
This happened nearly two decades ago and it has always stuck in my mind. For this reason, I am of the opinion that a person should have the largest & most powerful gun that they are comfortable with and can shoot accurately.
Posted by megatronrules: ... I'd rather have my little jetfire then a nothing ...
However, those are not your only two choices.
I, too, live in Southern Florida (
halfway between Fort Lauderdale & Miami right at the intersection of I-75 & I-595) so I know first hand what the climate is like down here and I would have serious reservation about being armed with only a .25ACP for it's lack of 'stopping power' as illustrated above.
For that reason, most of the time I carry my Para C7.45LDA ... eight rounds of .45ACP! An inside the waist belly band and an untucked shirt is all you need for the gun to disappear from sight and you can comfortable carry it for most of the day. If I have to get dressed up in a tucked in shirt & tie, then I opt for either my Taurus 850 in the same belly band or my light weight S&W 342 in a pocket holster.
A
last resort would be my NAA Guardian in .32ACP -- but again, that would be my LAST resort. Stay safe and in your time of need, may you not be found wanting.
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