Posted on 06/05/2018 10:27:46 AM PDT by Simon Green
Recently, Sheriff Jim Wilson posted his thoughts regarding the practice of purchasing and carrying “pricey” firearms for personal defense, and I’d like to offer my perspective to the conversation. In particular, I’d like to address the pervasive sentiment—on anonymous Internet forums, at least—that it is foolish to buy or use expensive firearms because it may need to be used in a defensive shooting, and would subsequently be held as evidence by the police.
This is pure “Web Warrior” B.S. of the first degree, in my opinion, and here’s why. Let’s just say you own and carry a $1,500 firearm … Scratch that, let’s make it a $4,000 gun … Heck, let’s call it a full-custom, gold-inlaid, unicorn-tear-lubricated $15,000 one-of-a-kind pistol. Now, let’s just say you use said firearm to successfully defend yourself and your loved ones. Sure enough, the pistol is collected as evidence, and you have no way of knowing when or if you will see it again, or what condition it will be in once returned.
Even if you never see that gun again, that $15,000 was the best investment you’ve ever made. That tool empowered you to save your own life and the lives of your loved ones—frankly that’s a bargain, don’t you think? Especially when you consider that personal defense was probably a primary reason for buying the gun in the first place. Regardless of the price, when you buy a tool for a specific task and it performs as expected and gets the job done, that’s money well spent.
Now, there is a different question that also informs this issue, and that I think many of the keyboard ninjas are trying—unsuccessfully—to convey, which is, “Do you NEED an expensive gun for self-defense?” The answer here is clearly, “No.” Used and maintained properly, a $250 gun is absolutely a defensive force multiplier. And I would much rather have a $250 gun in place of nothing, if those are the only choices my budget allows. All of this coincides perfectly with Jim’s assertion that you should buy and carry the best quality handgun that you can afford—and, yeah, higher quality commands higher prices.
In my experience, when dealing with reputable arms makers, guns that cost more feature higher-quality components and tighter tolerances of quality control yielding products that break and malfunction less. (Let’s be honest, every maker and every model experiences failures, but quality guns from reputable makers fail less and should be trusted more—reputation matters.) Beyond reliability, additional outlay might provide “quality of life” enhancements—better sights, better triggers, more ergonomic designs—which can help the user shoot faster or more accurately.
For those who are just getting started in defensive shooting, or gun owners looking for the “best” or “greatest,” I would recommend, instead, purchasing a “good,” reliable firearm from a reputable maker. Perhaps look at what law enforcement agencies are using, as a starting point. A good, service-grade defensive handgun will probably set you back $500 to $800. After that—and before you start looking for your next gun, or hundreds of dollars’ worth of upgrades and accessories to hang on your pistol—you should consider spending the same amount, or more, in range time, practice ammunition and quality training (again, reputation matters when it comes to instructors). I promise, if you put in the hours and ammunition to become proficient with a “good” gun, you are going to learn for yourself what you want in a “great” gun that will better suit your needs. And that gun, at any price, will be a good value if it performs reliably, and enhances your ability to defend yourself and those dear to you.
In 98% of successful defensive gun uses (DGUs), a shot is not fired.
Which means that a Lorcin is as good as a Kimber 98% of the time.
Fact: Guns prevent an estimated 2.5 million crimes a year or 6,849 every day. Most often, the gun is never fired and no blood (including the criminal’s) is shed.
Source: http://www.gunfacts.info/pdfs/gun-facts/7.1/Gun-Facts-7.1-screen.pdf, page 21.
Fact: A victim may have a strong reluctance to talk to a government agent about a firearm brandishing incident (which are 98% of DGUs) because they may not know the act was 100% legal.
Source: http://www.gunfacts.info/pdfs/gun-facts/7.1/Gun-Facts-7.1-screen.pdf, page 83.
In other words, the 98% number is probably low.
I carry a Glock 17....about $500 ...it is as accurate and dependable as one could reasonably expect. A $15000 weapon is not $15000 because of it’s dependability!!!
“... it has to go bang when I need it to, and it has to hit what I’m shooting at....”
That covers a lot. I would add powerful enough to stop the attacker immediately.
If you can afford it, why not.
Hope it had half a box of monarch with it. ;)
Bought a used Springfield Arms XD in .40cal with night sights (looked like it was never fired) for $159 at my local Pawn Shop.
Put over 500rds through it without a problem....very accurate and pleasant to shoot.
You do not have to spend a lot to find a good quality gun worth carrying.....
I agree. The police will take any gun you use in self-defense, and you’d best plan to never see it again. I have planned my gun collection accordingly.
I DEPEND on that kind of reliability. And clean more often than that...
I feel the same way about my XDM.
A “cheap” gun is not worth it, if it won’t hold up to all the rounds of practice firing you will need to put in, in order to become proficient.
Then buy 2. You can easily afford it, and if broken in, and loaded with good ammo, it's very, very unlikely both would fail.
And if NEITHER failed, you'd be commanding a LOT of firepower.
Then I noticed that almost all those guns were those little .25 “Saturday Night Specials”
A few years ago Taurus made some terrible little guns, .22 and .25 semi-autos, little pocket guns. I bought a pretty one (for my girlfriend) and I tried and hated the thing. Couldn't get more than 1 or 2 rounds off. I never gave it to her.
One day I'm in a gun store, and some little sweaty creepy guy comes in and wants to buy a gun. Looked like he was looking to go out a shoot someone in particular. The guy obviously knew nothing about guns, and the shop owner sold him one of those little cr@ppy Tauruses.
The fact is, crappy guns save a lot of lives. Mostly by NOT going off.
Do I want a Sig? Sure. Will my Ruger P89 get the job done? Sure wiil.
I don’t have any Hi-Point pistols but last year I bought a $2 raffle ticket and won a Hi-Point carbine in 40S&W.
I was going to trade it in for something nicer but instead I took it out of the box and started shooting it. While there are some things that are atrocious, like the bolt lever on the left side being a plain bolt run through a ferrule, I have run about 1000 rounds of mostly Winchester white box through it and have never had a jam or FTF. It is actually fun to shoot.
I have the 9mm version of this weapon. Not a bad little carbine. I hate the bolt lever on the left side as well and it pretty ugly, but it kind of has the look of an old Thompson submachine gun to me. I just wish it held more rounds.
The first thing I did when I decided to keep mine was went on the Midway web site and ordered two Magpul extended magazines. They cost about $20 each. Sportsman's Guide just had a big sale on them in your caliber.
Don't let the snobs here know but I just bought another Hi-Point carbine in 10mm to carry on my property in northern Michigan as there are now so many Black Bear that I need to protect myself. I also purchased a Sig pistol in 10mm so when I go out on the property I have a carbine and a pistol to defend myself.
I used to carry a 44mag revolver but with only six rounds and then using it in double action I worried I may miss as a bear attacked. Adrenaline does strange things to a person.
Kimber Tac II .45
Don’t care what anyone thinks but, if I can only reach my crappy Taurus .38 revolver, I’m fine with that too...
Perfect!
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