A certain incident in Ferguson, MO, was interpreted in various ways. But I saw neither the cool, calm officer defending himself nor the cold-blooded murderer; what I saw was an experienced police officer become badly scared and go into panic when a man he considered a "bad guy" failed to fall down when shot/shot at.
My point is that nothing less than an immediately lethal wound can be guaranteed to "stop" anyone.* And unless you can stand, like a target shooter on a range and place all your bullets in a 2" group at whatever the range is, you need all the help you can get from cartridge power. A .22 or a .25 or a .32 ACP will kill, but the edge goes to more powerful cartridges and even they might not work every time.
And, IMHO, the very powerful rounds are not good, either. If the shooter misses or a hit fails to stop, then the shooter is even more inclined to panic. He thinks, "I shot him with my super power xxx and he keeps coming...." Then come repeated shots, more misses, and more panic.
*There are some exceptions, like breaking the thigh bone, but those are difficult shots.
Jim
My point is that nothing less than an immediately lethal wound can be guaranteed to "stop" anyone.* And unless you can stand, like a target shooter on a range and place all your bullets in a 2" group at whatever the range is, you need all the help you can get from cartridge power. A .22 or a .25 or a .32 ACP will kill, but the edge goes to more powerful cartridges and even they might not work every time.
And, IMHO, the very powerful rounds are not good, either. If the shooter misses or a hit fails to stop, then the shooter is even more inclined to panic. He thinks, "I shot him with my super power xxx and he keeps coming...." Then come repeated shots, more misses, and more panic.
*There are some exceptions, like breaking the thigh bone, but those are difficult shots.
Jim