Okay, now please read all of this before you rip me a new one. Most of us agree that a long gun (shotgun or rifle) outperforms a handgun in almost every way. However, its drawbacks are that it's harder to conceal and harder to manipulate indoors as we walk around corners or traverse stairs, etc. For example, my staircase is the type that has a 180 degree turn. I could not be as tactically safe going down those stairs to investigate a bump in the night with a rifle as with a handgun. For this reason, I believe it's best to have a handgun as primary home defense weapon rather than a long-gun.
Now, say we're awakened by the sound of someone saying, "Okay Ralph, you go on upstairs and clean out the bedroom and kill anybody if he gets in your way." In that case, we'll lock and load and stay put. But the great majority of noises that warrant our investigation are ambiguous. And almost all of them turn out to be harmless. Almost all. So in the real world, when most of us hear a suspicious noise, we don't dial 911 - we go see what the noise is; hopefully with a gun in-hand. If we were to call the police every time we heard a sound, we'd make some enemies pretty fast.
Finally, consider an insistent knock at the door late at night. In our polite society, such a knock will probably be a neighbor in trouble or some family member or church member in crisis. Most of us would not want to confront such a person holding a shotgun because, again, most people are friendlies. But I can answer that knock with a handgun ready at my side, but still hidden from the caller who never has to face that disconcerting sight.
Now, let me say, I do have an AR-15 that I keep by my bedside. But I consider it a backup to my Glock 21.
Okay, so go ahead and flame me now.
Now, say we're awakened by the sound of someone saying, "Okay Ralph, you go on upstairs and clean out the bedroom and kill anybody if he gets in your way." In that case, we'll lock and load and stay put. But the great majority of noises that warrant our investigation are ambiguous. And almost all of them turn out to be harmless. Almost all. So in the real world, when most of us hear a suspicious noise, we don't dial 911 - we go see what the noise is; hopefully with a gun in-hand. If we were to call the police every time we heard a sound, we'd make some enemies pretty fast.
Finally, consider an insistent knock at the door late at night. In our polite society, such a knock will probably be a neighbor in trouble or some family member or church member in crisis. Most of us would not want to confront such a person holding a shotgun because, again, most people are friendlies. But I can answer that knock with a handgun ready at my side, but still hidden from the caller who never has to face that disconcerting sight.
Now, let me say, I do have an AR-15 that I keep by my bedside. But I consider it a backup to my Glock 21.
- If you know you have an intruder, then hole up with a long gun & call the police.
- If you hear a sound you can't identify but that alarms you, then go investigate & take along a handgun.
Okay, so go ahead and flame me now.
