Do we need Hi-Capacity in everyday Carry?
Capacity has been a focus of mine.
... Do we need Hi-Capacity in everyday Carry?
As law-abiding citizens, in our everyday life?
Do we
need it?
Do we
need to wear helmets while driving our everyday car or truck, or just when riding motorcycles and scooters?
Do we
need to carry fire extinguishers in every car or truck we own?
Lots of questions could be asked of everyday choices. Justifications can abound and vary, too.
To answer your question OP ... Me? No.
I started as a young cop at the beginning of the 80's carrying a .357MAG service revolver on-duty, and either that or a Colt Commander off-duty. I eventually carried hi-cap pistols on and off-duty over time. (I also carried .44MAG revolvers off-duty at various times, since they were approved for duty and off-duty use, but they were often popular in the heyday of the revolver.)
I finished my regular career carrying an issued 7+1 compact .45 on-duty (plainclothes assignment), and more often than not carrying a 5-shot snub revolver off-duty. My compact and subcompact 9's, .40's and .45's still saw a lot of range time (free ammo, right?
), but so did my assorted snub revolvers. The snubs saw more carry time, though.
19 years of my LE career included serving as a firearms instructor, with all the opportunities for receiving training often afforded by serving in that role. I continued to serve my agency in that role for another 8 years after I retired (reserve status), helping younger instructors and armorers, helping teach classes, etc.
I only own 1 pistol that even uses hi-cap mags, and those are 12rd mags. The rest of my pistols use 6, 7, 8, 9 or 10rd mags. The lower capacity magazines don't keep me awake at night.
I still often carry 5-shot snubs, too, and when some pants pockets won't accommodate a snub, I pocket holster a shorter and slimmer LCP.
Now that I'm fully retired I'm not going to be invoking my former peace officer status and actively looking to intervene in some crime I may observe. Trouble is going to have to actively seek me out and look for me. Until such time may come that I can't shoot my smaller weapons well, I'll continue to favor them over the larger ones. Capacity? Not one of the things that makes me lose sleep.
If I were going to worry about running out of something during some unexpected, dynamic and chaotic incident it would probably be
time before it would be
ammunition. Another thing that might concern me is the ability to bring training and experience to bear to enable me to make aimed, effective hits in whatever time is allotted.
TANSTAAFL. Ammunition capacity doesn't change that.
Just my thoughts.