Backup gun: more is better?

The probability of you finding five armed, competent, determined men who you must fight against is more than even most swat teams could deal with.

I think that you could probably take care of five armed clowns from the sound of it.

If you are ever confronted by five armed clowns and you have to take them down, don't forget to get a video of it.

Since I really hate clowns, if I'm ever presented with five clowns who are attacking me, I'm going to put everything I've got into taking all five of them out. I'll probably even stomp their toes.
 
Five attackers? Sure. Maybe not all at once. After the movie live action sequence is over life goes on.

http://gunssavelives.net/self-defense/ca-businessman-kills-five-gang-members-in-multiple-attacks/



What about four all at once?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9ycMq9_5BU

That 72 year old man brought a shotgun to a pistol fight and cleaned the floor with four wannabe gangsters. With no training and he had not even fired the gun in decades. In your face Clint Eastwood.

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/32426383/...keeper-didnt-want-shoot-robbers/#.V9_cHK1rP-A
 
I can easily understand the logic of carrying a second, equal firearm as a backup, or even a smaller and more easily concealed one, but I can't imagine a scenario where it would ever make sense to reach for the second best first. That sounds like a classic example of someone overthinking something.
 
but I can't imagine a scenario where it would ever make sense to reach for the second best first. That sounds like a classic example of someone overthinking something
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I think that was pretty well covered in this post:

My agency strictly forbids carrying any firearm other than issued sidearm with issued ammo and two mags; (if qualified) Remington 870 shotgun to be checked out before tour of duty; and (if qualified) Colt M4 patrol rifle to be checked out before tour of duty.

A buddy of mine remained a beat cop for the last 10 years of his career until forced (medical) retirement. His beat was the downtown business district where he became a fixture. After roll call he'd get a ride up to his beat where he'd first have coffee and then begin his foot patrol. He would usually begin his patrol just as the shopkeepers were opening up for the day's business.

One morning as he was ambling along from down the street he heard a woman scream, "I've been robbed!" My buddy looks down about half a block away and sees a woman chasing across the street after a man who was running under a full head of steam carrying a bank deposit bag. My buddy called out ordering the man to come back to him. With that, the perp turns on heel and is now charging my buddy in a bum rush. The perp launched himself mid-air knocking my buddy to the ground. My buddy is now flat on his back and the perp has him straddled.

They are now in a life and death struggle over the cop's sidearm. Meantime, the shopkeepers who've known my buddy for 10 years lock themselves inside their stores where they watch the two fight. BTW, no one called 911. The sirens bringing cavalry did finally come because of the cop's emergency tilt signal in his portable radio indicating he's down.

The two struggled for the gun and the holster was beginning to separate from the gun belt. The cop is 50 years old and has the mid-section to show for it. The perp is an athletic 28 year old illegal immigrant from Nigeria who'd been shot once before in a fight over a cop's gun. (Yes, he was supposed to have been deported.) The cop was starting to peter out and realized he would soon lose his gun to this madman. He began giving up. So, with his left hand he dug deep into his left front pocket and pulled from it a .45 cal two-shot derringer he'd carried for over 20 years. Suddenly, he let loose both barrels from the derringer held at point-blank range just below the perp's rib cage. And just as suddenly the fight stopped with the perp now slumped over the cop.

No one ever mentioned the cop's derringer as being in violation of policy. And, thus, to answer your question, that's the purpose of a back-up gun.
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And that's a prefect example of when reaching for the "second best" is the right thing to do.

I can recite an incident in which a state trooper had a violator in his/her car during a routine car stop, and once the trooper figured out there was an arrest warrant for the violator, the violator reached over to try to take the trooper's gun away. A short reach to the ankle with the off hand while the strong hand was trying to keep the service pistol in its holster ended the problem. Without the second gun, that may have very well ended differently.

If you've ever laid on your holstered gun, with someone on top of you trying to do you in, and you couldn't get that gun out, you'd understand. Otherwise, probably not.........
 
Yes, it's true. That is a good example of using a backup gun to good advantage. However, the officer's main gun was out of the fight. He never would have gone for the derringer if he still had access to his primary.
 
Yes, it's true. That is a good example of using a backup gun to good advantage. However, the officer's main gun was out of the fight. He never would have gone for the derringer if he still had access to his primary.
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Well sure, and if I'd never had that flat I wouldn't have used my spare tire. We'd all prefer to not have to use our insurance policies, but we have them for those times when things don't go the way we'd like them to. Every example I've ever seen of someone using their BUG was because they couldn't use their primary weapon for some reason.

However, that rule is not set in stone. As I wrote in my earlier post, my old BUG is now my primary when I'm at work by necessity but I keep a full size pistol (one that would normally be my main carry gun) in my vehicle. If a situation arose that I could stop with my snubby or if I had no choice but to use it, I would, but my preference would be to get to my vehicle, gun up, and then do what I had to to protect the family members and friends that I work with along with the patients, their family members, and visitors.
 
Good topic.

When I served in Iraq, just about everyone was issued both an M4 rifle and an M9 pistol. Fortunately, I never had to fire either in anger, but I always carried both outside the wire. My personal preference was to hide my M9 in an entrenching tool pouch in case my rifle was wrestled from me in a crowd.

As a civilian, I never carry a back up gun. My carry gun is a .38 snub-nosed revolver, 5 shots, no extra ammo.
 
Guys,

Most of the examples mentioned here seem to involve some form of LEO or military needing and using a BUG. And I suppose they are the people most likely to need one.

Briandg
I live in the suburbs of a major city with the risks involved in that. Muggings, burglaries, nasty stray dogs, aggressive beggars, drunks, junkies etc same as anywhere else, I suppose. Snakes, rats, bats and crows are the main wildlife but nothing that really warrants a firearm. Mosquitoes are the main killers so I use bug spray.

I've gone hiking in the bush many times but never needed to pull a gun then either. Although I felt much better for having it, I'm not sure how much good it would have done me against anything large enough to be a threat and large enough for me to hit with a pistol.

A few years ago however, I ran a mine way out in the sticks up north and felt the gun was a necessity rather than a prudent precaution. The mining town was rough, to say the least, the mining site was wild and isolated, the frequent drives to the main city in the region were long with dangerous traffic, risk of breakdowns and reasonably high risk of hijackings. Once in town, there was a lot of cash and valuables to be handled.

In view of my situation, I feel that a 357 mag revolver pretty much covers my needs. As did the 9 mm semi I used to have.

Oh, and if you ever get attacked by those five vicious clowns, go for the juggler. :)
 
Are you kidding me? I already have to carry keys, wallet, cell phone and gun and now reading glasses. It's not like I have a purse to put all of this crap in! I assure you that if I had to carry a back up gun too, there is a very good chance that I would forget about it and leave it somewhere that would make the 6:00 news.
 
If I have any inkling I'm going to be in a situation that a pistol, knife and size 13 boot can't solve, I'm going to tactically GTFO.
 
I don't really see the point as a civilian in normal life. I will not be expected to make arrests on violent criminals or walk through an active war zone.

A double stack 9mm (or .40 or .45) and a spare magazine should be more than enough ammo for the very large variety of situations a normal person should encounter. There may be a very rare situation which would call for a second gun, but at some point you can only prepare for so much. (the hypothetical "27 ninjas" argument).

Statistically, it's been pointed out that there are a variety of other tools which are more likely to save your life or somebody else's than carrying a gun, let alone two guns. How many people with multiple guns also carry emergency first aid supplies?
 
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