Lets face it. Every day we wake up life is a game of odds. Will we get blinsided by a car? Will your house catch fire? Will you have a heart attack or a stroke? Will you face someone that will try to harm you? We try to minimize these risks by wearing seatbelts, have a fire extinguisher, excersize and eat right, and carry some type of protection whether a knife, pepper spray or a gun. All we are doing is to try to increase the odds in our favor. And even then, there is still no guarantee of a favorable outcome.
Lets talk about someone trying to do you serious bodily harm. Lets face it, odds are if you are not looking for trouble and hanging out with the wrong crowd, most people go right through life with out any trouble. The odds are in our favor to begin with. You carry a gun regardless of caliber, odds are if you have to pull it out the other person will probably stop without a single shot fired. Its only after we might have to fire that gun will caliber probably have a say so.
And I say probably not definitely because the variables are just that, variable. Is caliber important? To a point but much more important is practicing with your CCW. Can you fire accurately? Clear any malfunction if one should arise? Know when you should run instead of fighting? Be aware of your surroundings so you don't get yourself in a bad situation? These things I think are much more important than the caliber of one's gun. If someone wishes to carry a 380 over a 9 or 45, I will not fault them. Are their odds of stopping someone if they have to shoot any less than someone with a larger caliber? Maybe maybe not. But they have increased their odds buy at least having their gun. Remember this, stopping power does not mean always mean having to shoot someone. You pull out your gun and the BG stops, you have effectivelly stopped the threat. I think we focus to much on caliber when we should be focusing on other things as well.