Posted on 05/01/2014 4:33:35 PM PDT by cripplecreek
Specially, since when seconds count, police are just minutes away (often, many many minutes!)
I totally accept and respect that.
So long as it remains a personal choice!
Here’s an earlier FR posting about .22LR lethality:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-.../2931390/posts
But wait! There’s more!
.22LR has a secret that makes it far more lethal. Unlike any other caliber, it tends to “nick” internal organs in ways not obvious during surgery. So the bullet is removed, the patient seems to be recovering, and suddenly they get a very high temperature from extensive peritonitis.
And then they die. The peritonitis hits so hard and fast that even massive antibiotics use cannot stop it from killing.
Here’s the problem, sir: there is no doubt that the .22LR can be—and often is—lethal; I understand that it is the caliber responsible for more deaths than any other. The problem is that it does not have sufficient knock-down power right-then-and-there. That it kills hours after you shoot someone is not the issue; how important is it to you that your attacker dies hours later in a hospital and you have a knife in your heart and have bled out?
What is important is that the shootee be hit and hit hard. During my training, I was told that the .45 ACP hitting the shoulder of an opponent can often knock him down since the shock the heavy bullet is overwhelming.
I will grant that the .22 pistol or revolver might be a good deterrent in two ways. In a house the blast is quite loud coming from a short barrel and that might be sufficient to scare away intruders as they are trying to enter. And if the goblin were to get in the house and have sufficient light to see you there holding a gun aimed at him, he might decide that you have the upper hand. Might.
In all fairness I am fond of larger calibers as well. But in this case, .22 revolvers can be had at very low cost, and the lower the cost, the more revolvers. And arming the poor, I think it’s better that they have a numerical advantage even if they don’t have a caliber advantage.
OK.
This is why shotguns are much better home defense weapons. a 23/4 inch 12 gauge OO buck round sends 9 pellets down range. That is hard to miss.
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