I find it amusing that politicos with Secret Service details have the nerve/gall to tell the rest of us how to defend ourselves.
I find it amusing that politicos with Secret Service details have the nerve/gall to tell the rest of us how to defend ourselves.
But I whole heartedly concur with the point of your post. Public servants who are protected by other public servants, paid for by tax payers, armed by tax payers, should sign off of protection before they make stupid comments about disarming free citizens.
“Because the shotgun is intended to scatter a load of light shot,
which will not kill even small feathered game at distances greater
than about 80 yards, few people realize the extreme deadliness of
this type of weapon at very short ranges, such as ten feet or under.
It is doubtful if there exists today upon this earth an animal
which cannot be killed, or at least instantly disabled with the 12
bore shotgun and a load of ordinary No. 4 shot, provided that the
shooter wait until that animal comes up to the very muzzle of his
gun before shooting. The result is that a veritable "rat hole" will
be blown into the animal, and the tissues in and around the wound
will be pulped and torn horribly by the load of shot entering the
flesh in a churning mass. Nothing could be more effective in stop-
ping the charge of an infuriated bull, just to quote one example.”
Rifle(ar-15/m4gery version)
$700-1200
pros:
*Limited overpenetration- with fast hollow point ammo(expecially 55 gr and lighter varmint stuff) the projectile deforms and fragments, usually after the first wall and quickly loses ability to cause damage to liabilities. It still packs good energy to do some impressive damage though. Heavier weights like 77gr hollow points are better for defense(as when they come apart, they have more mass to turn in to more fragments...they also penetrate better in person...but walls too)
*30 rnds....higher capacity than handguns and way higher capacity than shotguns
*easy to aim-with a handgun your wrist, elbow, and shoulder are all free to move and must be controlled to make an accurate shot. With a rifle/shotgun, your wrist and elbow are largely stabilized and taken out of the equation. Aso, the longer barrel/sight radius makes ar-type rifles easier to snap shoot quickly and accurately without using the sights at all.
*can be used one-handed since it's a semi-auto....however, it is difficult and you will need something to support the front.
*Stopping power- 5.56 is no slouch and is more than adequate for most things with HP ammo.
cons:
*No free hand- While you CAN shoot one-handed, it's better to use both. This doesn't leave you with a free hand to call 911, pull a child along, or open doors.
*Loud- All guns are pretty loud inside a room, a carbine is very loud...especially if you made the mistake of putting a comp on the end of a home defense ar. It can be minimized with krink/flaming pig/levang style muzzle devices that project sound more forward and away from the shooter.
*Long- Even a m4'ish gun with the stock collapsed is long and harder to move around with than a handgun.
*expensive- At $700-1200(unless you're getting a kel-tec), they're more expensive than a decent handgun or shotgun.
*Ideally in a defensive situation, you are at an automatic disadvantage trying to clear your house by yourself, without a team. The person/people in a room know where you will be coming from(the door/opening), they just dont know when. You 1) don't know when you will encounter them and 2) don't know in which part of the room they will be located. If you were clearing with a team, you've divide rooms into sectors of fire so that each person knows what part of the room is his/her responsibility. They also know when they will be making the entrance. All they must decide is if the person in their sector of fire is a threat or not..a much faster decision process than reacting to someone coming through the door.
The best defensive strategy is to get you+loved ones behind a locked/barricaded door, get 911 on the phone and keep your gun on the opening. If something comes through that you identify as a threat, make it holey.
Handgun
$400-800
Pros:
Maneuverability- IF you HAVE TO go wandering through your house to check out a mysterious bump in the night or if you need to grab your kids and pull them to your room you're going to barricade yourselves in....then handguns are easy to move around with.
capacity/reloading- Capacity is less than the carbine, but more than the shotgun. Reloads are typically faster than either.
Free hand- Handguns only take one hand to operate. You can even chamber rounds and clear malfunctions with relative ease one-handed if need be. This allows you to pull kids along, hold a flashlight(so you aren't pointing a loaded gun at the shape you're trying to identify as family/foe), or talk on the phone with 911.
Cons:
wimpy- Shot placement is always key, but 9mm, 40 short n wimpy, and 45 ACP/AGI(as god intended) wound by crushing a permanent cavity through someone. The permanent cavity will be a hole roughly .6-.8" x 12-16" long with 9,40, or 45 with .45 only really having an edge because of less deflection through hard stuff(ribs/glass..etc). Compared to a rifle or shotgun, handguns are pretty pathetic stoppers. They're roughly equivalent to stabbing somone with a sharpened broomstick...you've either got to hit structure(fracture hip gurdle/ other important bones), Hit CNS(spine or brain), or make them bleed out quick enough to lose blood pressure and pass out.
Hard to aim- Because your wrist, elbow, and shoulders are all free to move, under stress you will have a large margin of error each time you pull the trigger. Like mentioned earlier...LEO shots/hit ratio is something around 17/1. You've got to train constantly and you'll still have a hard time hitting somethin important when both you and the target are moving in the dark while you're shaking from adrenaline.
Overpenetration- When compared to the aforementioned ar choices, any handgun cartridge that's a worthwhile penetrator(which it must be to be effective) will also penetrate through dozens of sheets of drywall. Slower/heavier projectiles like handguns shoot tend to stay together, retain weight and truck on a relatively straight line through lots of walls. Combined with a 17/1 ratio....not good for your neighbors/loved ones.
Shotguns:
$200-450
*Generally misunderstood. People think of them as the most simple defensive tool, when in reality they are one of the most complicated. You must decide on chokes, slugs vs. shot...what kind of shot...what kind of sights....when does your pattern open up to where you'd need slugs instead of buckshot...where is the POI on that slug at that distance and the next 50 yds or so...how are you going to continuously reload it during a fight.....etc?
Pros:
"Stopping power"-8-15x .36 caliber lead balls flying through the air towards your attacker makes a big mess of him/her. Every pull of the trigger, you're essentially unloading an entire magazine from a 9mm.
Easy to aim- Same as a carbine. Long sight radius and locking your wrist and elbow
Cheap- Around $220 for a mossberg maverick 88 with 8-shot and 20" barrel
Cons:
Overpenetration-"no it isn't, i just use birdshot in my shotgun"...birdshot will still penetrate drywall.....however, it won't penetrate badguy to any depth that will matter. You're using OO buck for defense, it penetrates badguy effectively...birdshot wont. Buckshot is very "handgunnish" in ballistics and will penetrate lots of drywall
Liabilities galore- as mentioned in the pros...each pull of the trigger, you're letting fly up to 15 .36 cal balls. You have general control over where the cloud of shot goes, but not where each individual shot goes. Depending on your distance, that could mean lots of liabilities skipping past the threat that you have absolutely no control over.
Capacity- Even your highest capacity shotguns will have about half the capacity of the average handgun. Instead of slapping a new mag in, you have to be a master of continuously feeding a shotgun.
Unweildy- Even short tactical shotguns are longer than a m4ish ar(18" barrel vs 16" barrel plays in to that).
Two-hands- You're home defense pump-shotgun requires two hands for operation(unless you're sarah connor)....again, no phone, open doors, or dragging of kids.
Is the 12 gauge pump shotgun the best firearm to recommend to a family for home protection?
Is the 12 gauge pump shotgun the best firearm to recommend to a family for home protection?
Probably not a shotgun for a family. At least not a family who isn't into firearms. Dad may be able to handle the recoil of self-defense buckshot, maybe not. Is dad going to become familiar enough to learn how to operate the pump? Will he go shoot a few rounds of skeet over next few months to become familiar how to operate it? Good enough not to short stroke it under stress of home invasion/ burglary at 2 am in the morning? Now apply that to his wife? and kids? That's why I'm saying probably not.
Probably not even an AR15 if the family isn't into firearms and who is unlikely to become familiar with how operate it, etc. If family is willing to learn and practice with said firearm, then a striker fire 9mm of their choice. If not, then a 4" revolver in 357mag shooting 38specials.
Many of us who hang out here on these forums are firearms enthusiasts and willing to learn to become familiar with said firearm and shoot it fairly often. Unfortunately that's not most people or families.
Handguns take practice and skill to shoot accurately.
Long guns are MUCH easier for a novice, or someone who will not shoot enough to learn and maintain skills to shoot accurately.
This.
AR is versatile as a HD gun and a plinking gun. .22 LR conversions are readily available to get people used to the platform. My 79 year old mother prefers it at the range (in 5.56). It was the second gun she shot in her life. The first being a .38 revolver.