Assault rifles offer a bit too much for home defense

Indy Star ^

[conservativefromGa]

John Strauss

Assault rifles offer a bit too much for home defense

February 14, 2003

As store shelves throughout the city are emptied of duct tape and plastic sheeting by people concerned about terrorist attacks, other folks think the best defense is a good offense.

Don Davis said gun sales at his Westside store have doubled since the latest terrorism alert. He said the $599 AK-47 is a top seller.

Davis became locally famous a few years ago with endlessly repeated TV commercials in which he cocked a finger at the camera and cackled, "Folks, I don't want to make money -- I just love to sell guns."

It turns out that terrorism sells.

"For me, when times are bad, business is good," Davis said Thursday.

He was at a trade show in Florida this week, shopping for gas masks for customers suddenly nervous about chemical or biological attacks.

At his Don's Guns, manager Ben Chance let me test-fire the AK-47 and a $999 Bushmaster, similar to the military M-16, in the store's indoor range.

The Bushmaster delivers a high-velocity round very accurately with little kick. The AK-47 will give you a jolt, but with that kick you get a larger round capable, they say, of going through a car's engine block.

Just what you need to stop terrorists invading your subdivision.

Of course, some people might end up with guns simply for home protection. And if that's the case, Chance says, an old-fashioned shotgun might do the trick.

"A 12-gauge is a nice gun to have in the house. You don't have to aim the gun. You just point it in the general vicinity, and you're actually going to hit what you're pointing toward, because (the shot) scatters."

Business also was up at 500 Guns on the Westside and at Pop Guns Trading Post on the Eastside. But managers at those stores said that had more to do with the arrival of income tax refund checks than Osama bin Laden or Saddam Hussein.

"There have been a few people come in and express concern," said Mike Hilton, the manager at Pop Guns. "But overall, people tend to be pretty complacent about it, to be honest."

Hilton said he recommends that someone who wants a gun take a training course. Then, once he has an idea of their skill level, he'll suggest a firearm -- often a small revolver.

He's not big on the AK-47 in this case. If used for self-defense, it's likely to "overpenetrate" -- go right through the attacker, through the wall of your home, through the wall of the next house and into somebody there.

Guy Montgomery, manager of 500 Guns, also recommends a revolver -- not a battlefield rifle -- for home defense.

Still, there's a magnetism about the assault weapons. Firing one of these guns is the shooting equivalent of twisting the throttle on a squat Harley -- lots of noise and simple, raw power.

They're fun, but they may not be real practical.

So if you're convinced al-Qaida is down the street and you want to establish a defensive perimeter in the front hallway, do the neighbors a favor.

Just borrow dad's old shotgun.

[ezo4]

engine block - big deal. 30 rounds from a AK at a car will pretty much render the car and occupants useless. AKs are fantastic rifles for urban under 150 yards combat. I wouldn't want to have one firing in my direction in anyway.

[wita]

Unless one has an M1 Abrams in the driveway, with a trained crew from the neighborhood, an F-16 or F-22 on the ramp, a ring mount 50 caliber mg on the roof and an arsenal in the home, you are letting someone else do your job. That's how I feel about government telling honest citizens who love their country, what they can and can't do. Ok, maybe we could shrink down to a VFW grade used Patton, a P-51, and a box of rocks on the roof, and the arsenal stays.

[JavaTheHutt]

I'm curious why people always tout pump shotguns. I have a Remmington semi-auto 12 ga. which works just fine. I'll admit that the sound of a shell being racked into the chamber is pretty intimidating, but there must be more to it than that.

Nope. That's really all there is to it. A semi auto beats a pump action 9 ways to Sunday for squeezing off a second shot at the second perp, but the sound of a pump action being readied for that first shot could very well eliminate the need for even one shot to be fired.

[yarddog]

The Benelli M-1 super 90 or is it super 90 M1, is a beautiful gun and looks wicked. I suspect it is just as reliable as everyone says but I only kept mine a month or so and traded it off.

The problem is everytime I fired it, the thing kicked the living daylights out of me. It kicks worse than a pump. I almost wonder if they didn't build a recoil accelerator into it.

I plan on getting one of the Remington 11-87's which have been remade into combat configuration as soon as I can afford it. I don't think Remington makes one but am not sure.

Actually I think a 7.62X39 just might crack an engine block if it didn't have to penetrate sheet metal, plus a generator, or air conditoning compressor to get to it. Of course if he meant penetrate as going right through it, then of course not.

[humblegunner]

Eeeevil assault rifle ping.

[Blood of Tyrants]

I have one of the K-31's. Great rifle. However, the ammo is somewhat expensive and not readily available. Mail order is about the only way to go.

If money is a serious issue (as with most of us) you need to go here http://www.aimsurplus.com/acatalog/Curio___Relic_Rifles.html and get yourself one of the Yugo SKS's at the bottom of the page. At $110 shipped to your FFL dealer it's price can't be beat. Low recoil, cheap ammo, cheap 20 and 30 round mags available, excellent reliability, and fair accuracy. I have bought 2 of them and they are great rifles.

Take off that folding bayonet to shed a pound of weight.

[Blood of Tyrants]

Exactly. The best gunfight is the one that you avoid.

[chicagolady]

I could not have said it better myself! We should have sent some of those to the common folk in Afganistan to ward off the Taliban!

[chicagolady]

Ok, where do I sign? do you take personal checks? Visa? Master Card?

[chicagolady]

Chicago Big Gun Bump! Oh wait! We can not have guns in Chicago, never mind!

[FreedomPoster]

Homeland Defense Rifle bump!

[FreedomPoster]

>>but the sound of a pump action being readied for that first shot could very well eliminate the need for even one shot to be fired.

Anecdotal story - many years ago, my cousin cleared out an intruder from his ground-level apartment with that sound. Never saw the guy, who had snuck in through an open window, and got away with a few bucks and some pocket artifacts that were on the kitchen table.

I suspect that guy had to clean his shorts after leaving in haste.

[harpseal]

I stand corrected. I guess it will be nostalgia for the old west that governs.

[Constitution Day]

dumber than a bag of scared hammers

LMAO!

[Blue Jays]

Good Morning All-

Everyone keeps on talking about the imaginary benefits of "racking the slide" to frighten a potential home invader. If your shotgun doesnt't have a round chambered before the fight starts, you're already behind.

Guess what? You don't need to "warn" goblins about the danger of being shot in another man's castle. Criminals already accept that job-related danger.

If the scumbag is armed, he'll turn around a shoot you before you can bring your shotgun to your shoulder. With the shotgun aimed at center-mass, you can optionally command the criminal to leave, lay down, or whatever...but you don't have a moral responsibility to telegraph your actions beforehand.

No flame intended, but there tends to be quite a bit of misinformation distributed online about shotgun technique.

~ Blue Jays ~

[razorback-bert]

Gee, I am sure under powered with my $50 rusted Sears (Stevens) single shot 16 guage.

[FreedomPoster]

You can hear a round being racked from a couple of rooms away. Someone else made the point that the best gunfight is the one that doesn't occur, and those that like the "noise scares 'em off" aspect of pumpguns have a point. I don't think anyone is suggesting not racking until you see a goblin.

For me, I prefer a much-more-"wieldy" pistol inside my house. There are many opinions, there is no, one, "right" way, that's why there are horse races.

[LTCJ]

You can hear a round being racked from a couple of rooms away. ..."noise scares 'em off"...

IMHO, that's what the dog is for. He's the o'dark-early warning system and first line of defense. Anything that gets through him will have missed the chance at hearing me chamber shell.

[Marauder]

Dang that hurt!

Yeah buddy. I guess an alternative option to the folding stock would be to install one of those overhead racks from Cabela's; out of sight out of mind, and room for my favorite rifle as well.

[matthew_the_brain]

Engine block is a bit of an exaggeration, although as a younger man, i was able to make a cast iron frying pan look like swiss cheese with my AR 15.....