[El Gato]

If you are going to arm yourself against bears, you'd better resign yourself to carrying a shotgun or heavy rifle. An M-16 or AK-47 would just make the bear mad. Actually the bears in that area aren't quite so big as some bears, but they are still bears. My son-in-law's parent's live about 45 miles from this and they've had a bear up on their porch. Of course the bears were there first, the spot where their house is was a berry patch before they built the house, and parts of the lot still are.

[marktwain]

If you are going to arm yourself against bears, you'd better resign yourself to carrying a shotgun or heavy rifle. An M-16 or AK-47 would just make the bear mad.

While a shotgun or heavy rifle are good choices for hunting bears, virtually any firearm is better than none for self protection. There was an incindent in Alaska last summer where a person killed an attacking grizzley bear (much larger and tougher than a black bear) with a 9mm pistol. A freind of mine related to me how his .22 was used to kill an agressive black bear. A camp counselor in Arizona stopped a black bear attack with a 9mm a few years ago, and last year a camper killed a black bear with a pistol as it had his head in its mouth.

As you read about the case histories of black bear attacks, it becomes clear that most of the time, almost any firearm would have had a good chance of working, and would give the person a much better chance of survival.