Selecting a self defense firearm

Americans have the 2nd Amendment and they may or may not be entitled to use that right in their particular state.  Check your laws that apply to you.

I thoroughly believe in the 2nd Amendment.

This article is about the reality of life and self defense not owning a firearm.

Well, first you can read this blog BUT go elsewhere for legal or moral or self defense training or advice.  There are literally hundreds and thousands of  "experts" who will advise on this subject.  Get informed and get formally trained by a REAL expert.  Remember a right and a legal firearm you are only passingly familiar with is not the same thing as being ready to defend yourself.

Choice of firearms:

I would say this:  Ignore anyone who tells you "this or that is the perfect firearm for self defense".

Gut check FIRST:

If forced into it by a criminal am I willing to take any person's life?  Also am I willing that myself and my family be responsible for the consequences of taking that life.  Am I willing to go through a massively expensive criminal or civil court case or cases?

Am I willing to possibly be charged with a homicide or other crime as a result of my choice to defend myself and my family?  If I kill an attacker or If I make an error and kill an innocent bystander or even a family member can I handle that fact and the FULL consequences?

Notice above I did not specify a criminal's life I said any person's life.

Do you know the ordinances of your locality and state concerning the owning or discharge of a firearm in self defense?

If you fail this gut check you should get some advice and training in self defense by an expert and then re-do the gut check.  Until you pass this gut check you may want to reconsider using a firearm in self defense.

America is about rights and making individual choices.

Your choice is your's.

My advice get trained!

The typical home as a shooting gallery:

Today's typical home is made out of stucco, wood 2x4s, sheetrock, windows, flimsy doors and sometimes masonry.  These materials will not always stop a bullet fired in the house or outside the house.

A bullet from a fairly small handgun can kill at hundreds of yards distance.  Even the smallest of bullets from a small handgun can carry long distances.  When fired a bullet goes where it was pointed regardless of what you wanted it to do.  So 1 or more bullets fired in a home may end up in another room, another home or in the street or in someone you did not want to harm.

Ignore the things that popular TV shows display such as the use of firearms or deadly force.  Get trained!

Training will tell you, at a minimum, the law, making a shot, when to do so, and when/where to aim your firearm.

So what am I saying here?

Re-read above if you are not sure what I said.

Conclusion:

I believe in the 2nd Amendment as written.  I have openly carried legal handguns on occasion.  I was trained in the dim past by experts and spent lots of time around people who had (sometimes) used legal deadly force.  Firearms scare me.