An armed society is a polite society.
My wife and I practice often. Her 96 year old father still has his farm and we go there to shoot very often. She is a good shot at twenty yards she could put your eye out, you shouldn't mess with her. She carries in her purse, her purse has a special place for a gun, its cool.
I always recommend to people to get a gun that they will carry. If you have to stop someone a great big 45 will do the job nicely but the only problem is that you won't have it with you because you will think it is too big.
38’s & 9mm’s both come in small enough and light enough sizes that they can be easily carried. Yes a 32 is small too but I think that is just too small a caliper to stop someone with. A 38 or a 9mm hollow point will slow anyone down with only one shot and the noise will startle most anyone.
Get a gun, train on it often and carry always.
Agreed. As adorable as the S&W 500 is, it falls a bit short in concealability and in the risk of overpenetration. My primary home defense is a Remington 870 with buckshot, or a Glock with appropriate home defense 9mm rounds. I don't carry (People's Republic of Maryland), but even in the home something too big can be an issue. The 1911 .45 ACP with defensive rounds (I like the label in case I have to explain my ammo choice in court) is an option, but it's not my "go to" choice. The 1911 (or the AR) is where I would go rather than reloading the Glock/Remington.