John, Thank You! More information for the pot....
Old Fuff's post echos what I feel to a very high degree - there are a lot of "polls" available via The 'Net and the various gun boards etc. but I question the accuracy when we are trying to ascertain what "Joe and Jane America" and your average CCW (and upcoming CCW possibles) are actually carrying, buying, and hopefully training with. I moderate a Flight sim forum and have moderated several knife, martial arts, and flight sim forums over the last few years and have learned a lot about discussion boards, the people who frequent them, who posts, etc. One thing I can tell you that seems ubiquitous on every board, on any topic, is that 90%+ of the people who read and wander in/out will *never* post a lick. They may agree or disagree and they may gain perspective or reject it but literally the vastest majority of people who use discussion forums never post. Those who do are not "average" people in any stretch of the imagination....A poll of flight sim aficionados will get results from people who are passionate and involved to the "Nth" degree. They are into flight sim so deep that they have a perspective that is completely different than folks who do it as professional training, a game, mental discipline, or as a passing, peripheral fancy.
I think polls from a gun board about what is the best holster, best CCW caliber for an inexperienced 120 lb. 56 year old woman, or whatever is skewed/fatally flawed to some degree. I could be wrong - some of...maybe even most of the data and opinion may be applicable. But I do not feel it is likely to be representative of the average person involved.
Amongst the people I am regularly in contact with, train with, shoot with, work with, I have perhaps 20 or so people who have concealed carry permits. Less than half of them carry regularly and half of the ones who don't carry regularly have *never* carried and some of them have only fired the gun they have for personal protection 1 time.
We have a small support group formed here. A group of people who want to protect themselves and carry concealed but they want to be able to hit what they shoot at, be proficient and accurate, and skilled as they can be. They want the right equipment *for them* and many in the group are finding that their internet research has led them in completely the wrong direction. They cannot handle the guns they have purchased at the range - they cannot safely draw from the holsters they have been told are "The Bomb" and when they go to the range and seek instruction to solve these issues they find that they are looking at a life altering commitment to make that Glock 19, 1911 platform .45, or even that Ruger LCP/LCR work for them in a time of SD or crisis. They are finding their existing skills and mindset completely inadequate. The equipment their Wife has decided to carry to make them feel safer while out and about or defending the home? When they actually start training/shooting and discussing it with their neighbors and friends their comfort level is waning as they realize they have the gun platforms and equipment that is touted as "The Bomb" and cannot comfortably carry/hide it nor hit the broadside of a barn with it. And practicing with it beats them up with recoil and self doubt. They are not finding that they have learned anything useful or applicable from Internet Experts and SD Aficionados, polls, statistics about what equipment will actually work for them. They have been sold or influenced to buy things that will never work for them unless they devote their lives to becoming "gunfighters" and immersing themselves into the culture of shooting sports etc.
They end up shooting my guns and guns I recommend at the range and end up part of the group we are forming. They are learning that we need to train and seek elsewhere for good, useful information for "average" folks who want to carry concealed and that Gun Boards and the like seem to be populated by opinions from aficionados and not average folks who understand their perspective and needs and desires/ability. I have a bunch of guns to loan to people and let them try at the range. Guns that my Wife and I have purchased as a result of an entire year of buying, shooting, and evaluating what works for each of us in a SD role.
My choice and go to guns are 9mm high cap polymer pistols - a Beretta Px4 sc and my Glock 26. We have .45...Colt Officers ACP, Revolvers like the LCR and larger revolvers and the range has anything you might imagine. My most asked for and coveted guns I have in my possession?
My Colt 1903's in .32 acp. I think gun makers releasing new .380 and even .22 or (Heaven forbid...) a pocket sized pistol in .22 and .32 acp are going to sell guns to tens of thousands of "Average Joe and Jane America" people here in the next 10 years. Lots of folks are gonna carry and a lot of them are gonna be casual, everyday people. They want something else than what the Gun Board folks and experts tell them is what they need. Average folks are looking for something else...something that Gun Board and SD Experts maybe are missing and not looking for/at. I feel and am of the opinion that if we stop dismissing things like the lowly .22, .32, and .380 and develop guns and ammunition (by making a demand for these guns and calibers by buying and using them) we can improve the situation for average folks...who are not, by and large, going to alter their lives and become Gun Aficionados or Gun Fighters.
I think.
VooDoo
