I like it when folks compare using a lever-action rifle to a sword. By the way, if the baddie has a knife, a sword would work fine. A cutlass swings just fine in confined spaces. A spadroon will do superb work if you just want to run a guy through. With a gun? Yeah, you want more than a sword.
But the opinion of late that unless you go Ranger style you can't defend yourself is getting a bit absurd. In home-defense situations, where are you going to keep the extra magazines? Are they on the AR when you need it? Are you going to have time to fetch them? How quickly can you remove them from the mag pouch under said stress of unloading an entire magazine on the 48 zombies crashing through your door? This ain't Call of Duty. This isn't even Bagdad. We are talking about home defense.
My family has been involved in three cases of home defense. In all cases, the weapon used was a 5 or 6 shot revolver. In none of the cases were shots even fired. Two of them involved my grandfather (okay, one was car defense). The first one involved a true attempted home invasion in the 1950's in rural Florida. Granddad used a Hopkins and Allen Safety Police to subdue two baddies who tried to force their way into the house. He held them back to back on the lawn until the sheriff showed up. The second one he was involved with was in the 1980's during the spate of rest area shootings in Florida and a thug showed up to the car. My grandmother who was wheel-chair bound and my sister were in the car. By that time he kept a Smith and Wesson Model 10 under a cloth on the front seat. He drew the revolver and the baddie ran. My grand dad had great courage and discipline - during WWII he worked as a ship-builder. One time on a ship that caught fire while being fitted out he became trapped below deck. Trapped, he drug an oxygen acetylene tank and, lacking eye protection, covered one eye and cut a hole through the unarmored hull. He lost the eye but survived - and because he was a civilian got no medal.
The last case was my mother after Hurricane Camille. Dad was a broadcast engineer working for NBC and mom was at home with the kids. Dad HAD to be at work. In our neighborhood looters showed up. Mom went Scarlet O'Hara and got dad's Colt New Service when they showed up at our house. She sat at the kitchen table with the hand cannon pointed to the door. They saw her through the windows and beat feet.
In those three cases a revolver was sufficient and in none of those cases were shots fired much less consideration of reloading. Yeah, when you draw a gun, you must be prepared to fire. And folks here will probably arm chair pick apart mistakes made (though in none of those cases were mistakes made).
A lever-action rifle or pump-action shotgun would do just fine in home-defense scenarios. Unless you travel the house with a magazine belt already on your waist and rifle slung, the time it takes to suit up would be too much. Just how many protracted fire fights has anyone ever read of in homes anywhere in the world? What of the Koreans in the photos shown? Their shops MUST have burned down because none of them have so much as a red dot mounted. They could not have possibly have protected their businesses during the riots.
What exactly are we worried about with home invasion that will require multiple reloads? If that is your neighborhood....move.
