Posted on 12/12/2011 9:58:57 AM PST by Between the Lines
Robin Natanel picks up a compact black pistol, barrel pointed down range. Gripping the gun with both hands, she raises the semi-automatic and methodically squeezes off five shots. If the target were a person's head or heart, he'd probably be dead.
Natanel is a Buddhist and self-avowed "spiritual person," a 53-year-old divorcee who lives alone in a liberal-leaning suburb near Boston. She's a tai chi instructor who invokes the benefits of meditation. And at least twice a month, she takes her German-made Walther PK380 to a shooting range and blazes away.
Natanel is one of a growing number of people in groups once considered anti-handgun - women, liberals, gays and college kids - who have been buying weapons. They are part of a national trend: Domestic handgun production and imports more than doubled over four years to about 4.6 million in 2009, according to the National Shooting Sports Foundation.
The surge has been propelled by shifting politics and demographics that have made it easier and more acceptable than at any time in 75 years for Americans to buy and carry handguns. Post-9/11 fears seem to be a factor, as are the pro-gun politicking of the National Rifle Association and the marketing, particularly to women, by handgun manufacturers. Events like the Dec. 8 fatal shootings on the Virginia Tech University campus reinforce a feeling that the world is an unsafe place, even as violent U.S. crime rates fall.
Two years ago, an ex-boyfriend broke into Natanel's house when she wasn't home. The police advised a restraining order. Instead, she bought pepper spray and programmed the local police number on her cellphone's speed dial.
"I was constantly terrified for my safety," she says.
Ultimately, she got the pistol.
Natanel found it was no trouble to purchase the Walther, a brand favored by movie superspy James Bond, or to locate experts to train her. Her circumstances won her a concealed-carry permit in a state with tough gun-control laws.
"I'd never considered a gun," Natanel says. "...I didn't think anyone should have them."
'Clear societal change'
Twenty years ago, 76 percent of women felt that way about handguns, and 68 percent of all people in the country were wary enough of firearms of any kind to tell Gallup pollsters that they backed laws more strictly limiting their sale. Then what Gallup calls "a clear societal change" began.
In October, a Gallup poll found record-low support for a handgun ban - at 26 percent among all responders and 31 percent among women.
The poll, which has tracked gun attitudes since 1959, documented a record-low 43 percent who favor making it more difficult to acquire guns and record-high numbers of women and Democrats saying there is a firearm at their home. Forty-seven percent said someone in the household owns at least one gun, the highest reading in 18 years.
Skeptics object
Americans who have acquired handguns for protection are living with "serious delusions," says Caroline Brewer, a spokeswoman for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. She contends that few are trained rigorously enough to deploy their weapons in the shock and heat of an attack, that they'll shoot innocent bystanders, and that more times than not their firearms will be turned against them.
“So, now I’m starting to think about getting a gun. Couple of questions: What’s the best bang for the buck in a home protection firearm?”
If you will be using it at home (as opposed to carry) size doesn’t mean too much—that is, you can get a bigger gun. Generally, bigger guns recoil less than smaller guns.
First decision: Revolver vs Semi-Automatic
Revolver is simpler and easier to use. But it has a harder trigger pull and more limited ammo capacity. Semi-Automatic is more likely to jam and there’s more stuff on it (safeties, slide locks, magazine releases). So they take more practice to learn. Also harder to clean a semi.
Second Decision: Caliber
You should use the highest caliber firearm that you can shoot safely and accurately. That will probably fall between .380 and .45. The .380 with hollow points is generally regarded as the bare minimum for self defense. If you are only going to use it in the home, size isn’t really an issue so you don’t have to limit yourself to pocket guns (which are more common in .380 and other smaller calibers).
My personal preference in caliber is .357 for revolvers and .40 for semi-automatics. Both have very good stopping power and I find both easy to shoot. But those may be wrong for you.
Then you have to decide on a gun. My recommendation is find a local range that will rent firearms, rent them, and try them out. You should test:
* trigger pull (comfortable, too hard),
* how easy is it to find the front sight visually,
* how easy is it to rack the slide (a big deal for some older people with semi-automatics),
* how easy is it to field strip. Have the guy in the gun store show you how to field strip it and then try it yourself. (Don’t underestimate this one. It applies mainly to semis. Some semi’s take too much hand strength for smaller or older people to disassemble. Glocks, 1911’s, some Bersa’s are like this. OTOH, I think Sigs are usually pretty easy to get apart. But if you can’t field strip it easily, you won’t clean it and that’s bad). But again, HOW DOES IT FIELD STRIP FOR YOU? My opinion about what is easy doesn’t necessarily work for you—eg you may have no trouble with the two finger-killers on Glocks. I do.
* how does it feel in your hand. Does the fleshy part of the last joint on your index finger fit comfortably on the trigger when you are holding the gun?
* how easy is it to get up quickly, acquire your target and put a couple of bullets on target?
Different guns work differently for different people. So don’t just take the first recommendation you get from someone who shoots, including me.
I would also suggest taking an NRA basic pistol course once you buy the gun. They have live fire training in the course and will help you with grip and stance a lot.
IMO that is a reflection that fewer and fewer people have any trust in government at all. Hopey Changey has turned out to be even scarier than Chimpy McBushitler.
What you're specifically describing is the path that 'repeating rifle' technology took when fixed ammunition became the standard after the Civil War.
Turned out to be a dead-end. Winchester's lever action design proved superior in all ways, and in less than ten years after the Civil War concluded.
I'm unsure of what solution your idea is supposed to be providing, but I can expect that you'd eventually discover that the lever-action does it better.
Much depends on your familiarity with firearms.
If it’s low, I’d suggest a 4” .357 revolver and maybe a 12 gauge shotgun, maybe a 20 gauge if you think your wife might use it. And get some training and range time.
If your firearm familiarity is a little higher, and you want a pistol, I like Glocks, and police dept refurbs give good bang for the buck.
On securing a pistol or revolver, the Gunvault people have some good answers.
http://www.gunvault.com/handgun-safes/mini-mini-deluxe.html
They also have a device for locking the breech of a shotgun.
You bought the “gay victim” crap promoted by the old media tabloids. Shep was a victim of making a bad drug deal. We aren’t talking about hollywood promotion of the homosexuals. My information comes directly from a WY law enforcement officer. Shep just happened to be “gay” and was used to promote the victimized homosexual agenda.
She was about sold on the Ruger LCR until she tried the S&W Bodyguard. So I won't disuade her. However, I may be getting the LCR for myself later on. It's a verrry nice carry piece and at .38 special, it's potent.
>>And you don’t have to be particularly accurate - just point and shoot.
BuckeyeTexan, please see the link below.
The Box O’ Truth #3 - The Shotgun Meets the Box O’ Truth
http://www.theboxotruth.com/docs/bot3.htm
In particular pay attention to Lessons Learned #2 and #4.
It does do some interesting things. I used to live in a very liberal city and I've taught dozens of people to shoot, many of them liberals, some gay, some women, all those groups the article alluded to. I think it's a little of each of these things: (1) an individual who has become determined to conquer his or her fear by arming himself or herself has already taken a step away from dependency, especially with respect to the state in the form of the police, and (2) an individual who discovers that he or she really is capable of that sort of self-expression is less susceptible to the sort of political suggestion that would force him or her back into dependency. Works both ways.
In short, it doesn't necessarily create libertarians or conservatives, but it does create independents, the real kind, not the kind that check the independent box and vote Democrat anyway. If it ever does come to foxholes and barricades, I think a lot of us may be surprised at who ends up next to us.
I recommend the .410 0r 20 gage in the Saiga /// better second and third shot target acquisition.
Americans who have acquired handguns for protection are living with “serious delusions,” says Caroline Brewer, a spokeswoman for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. She contends that few are trained rigorously enough to deploy their weapons in the shock and heat of an attack, that they’ll shoot innocent bystanders, and that more times than not their firearms will be turned against them
WOW!!!!!
I guess those fellers at Lexington and Concrod made a SERIOUS MISTAKE!!! (sarcasm)
What a rube. I want to get a colt .45 single action cowboy style revolver. I think one of those will do the trick - or a 1911 colt automatic machined for target shooting.
“And unless you’re dealing with a tweeker or someone intent on killing you rather than just robbing you, alerting them is enough to send them quickly on their way.”
I wouldn’t bet my life on it.
These statements are true, as far as they go but are presented in a (intentionally?) misleading manner. They present it as if a craving for tyranny were the norm and the trend towards freedom is a new thing, a departure from past attitudes. Historically, Americans didn't have the pantywaist attitudes towards guns and towards self defense these guys claim were common 20 years ago, it's THOSE attitudes that are the historical anomaly. In fact, I'm not sure I even believe those numbers were accurate for THAT time period. It's about as honest as the way global warming sycophants choose the time periods they publish.
My dad is one of those who believes that the presense of a gun will cause every child in a 3-block radius to sneak into the house and shoot themselves. He’s pretty freaked out that I’m getting a CC permit.
Yes, of course one needs to practice, but in the middle of the night on short notice, a 12 gauge will do pretty well. When I was a kid, my neighbor’s daughter was babysitting when an intruder broke in the front door. She had never fired a weapon, but knew her dad kept a loaded 12 gauge in the bedroom. She grabbed it, pumped it, propped the butt against the door frame and fired in his general direction. The intruder fled and ended up in the nearest ER with a minor leg wound.
Neither would I.
Yeah, I made too generalized a statement and am being informed left and right. I deserved it. :)
Well, they did. They defeated statists, which according to this half-wit, is definitely a mistake.
The real truth is seen in the FBI report on crime issued every two years. 2 to 3 million people, yearly, avoid being victims of crime because they are armed with guns. Most of them don't even have to fire them, just showing them is enough.
And these are just the people who actually report the incidents to the police.
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