Is the "scariness factor" important for an SD gun?

How important is "scariness" for an SD gun.

  • Extremely Important

    Votes: 10 4.7%

  • Moderately Important

    Votes: 45 21.2%

  • Slightly Important

    Votes: 50 23.6%

  • Not at all Important

    Votes: 107 50.5%
  • Total voters
    212
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raftman

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I've read that around 92% of all self defense situations in which a gun is used, the gun isn't fired. What I take this to mean, is that a large portion of the time, when a would-be attacker is confronted with the fact the defender has a gun, the attacker gives up. After all we've all heard no one wants to get shot, whether with .22 or a .41 mag, and in all likelihood, a BG won't ask you the caliber of your gun before deciding whether to give up or to proceed.

Don't get wrong, I don't think it's a good idea to rely on the "scariness" of the gun exclusively; one must be prepared to fire if one must. But I think it's probably better for everyone if a situation could be resolved without shots fired. Do people who carry tiny guns, reduce like the likelihood of a situation being resolved without shots fired because their guns are less likely to scare the attacker into giving up?

For instance, a lot of people carry those NAA mini revolvers or similar guns. They're real guns, but to many, they sure don't look like it. It just seems unlikely that they'd scare too many BG's into giving up.
 
Wow...

... it's amazing the percentage one gets, with the only vote...

From reading various self-defense accounts over the years, in most cases any gun will get a BG's attention, but bigger guns, that are easier to see in dim lighting, and that have nice, big bores seem to provide just a little more visual deterrent.

Any advantage is good, sometimes especially the mental ones.

Cheers,

M
 
I think psychology has had a major role in almost every fight. I want a gun that looks like business. Many people on this BB tell me I'm wrong, but I think it matters.
 
My smallest gun, a NAA .22WMR, will if nothing else sound big in an enclosed room.

So, I say "not so much" to looks being a significant deterrent.
 
I've read that around 92% of all self defense situations in which a gun is used, the gun isn't fired. What I take this to mean, is that a large portion of the time, when a would-be attacker is confronted with the fact the defender has a gun, the attacker gives up.
Click to expand...

Not exactly. It means that the gun often prevents hostilities from developing in the first place without being brought to bear, which accounts for many more instances than when the gun is used.

The gun is actually fired about 1 in 14 instances, which include incidents where hostilities have escalated, but stop before the gun is fired.

I realize that not all stats are the same, but that's the general idea.

Even though the gun isn't usually fired, it's necessarily used enough so that American citizens, in lawful SD, shoot from two to three more times the number of criminals shot by all LE agencies combined.

That's my understanding based on training, and informal research.

It would seem that guns in general are enough of a deterent without trying to make your gun badder than it is. Or than, say, choosing a shotgun because Bubba will wet his pant when you rack it (or open fire immediately). Since a high % of shootings occur in dim light, and happen real fast, I'd worry more about developing basic skills rather than wishful thinking.

Just my thoughts on the matter.
 
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I have a bright, shiny stainless gun with a bore big enough to launch cantaloupes from it. It's my hope that the microsecond it becomes available, it catches enough light to scare some sense into a would-be attacker and cause them to turn their back to me and run the other way.

I don't fancy the idea of paying a lawyer several $1000's of dollars to protect me from a DA after a shooting, but I don't like the idea of getting mugged or shot or stabbed either.

If a last microsecond visible deterrent can stop both things from happening, then life is that much better.
 
If you see the muzzle of my 4506 pointed at you guess what you are getting shot...
Click to expand...

So you wouldn't give the BG the possibility of surrender/retreat in situation where the possibility can exist?
 
Anybody want to guess which camp I fall into?

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Buy a chromed 50AE Eagle and mill "Abandon all hope" around the barrel. That should scare the crap out of anyone you point it at. I think anything you can do to maximize the power of your position and minimize the need to actually shoot the BG in a confrontation would be a good thing. Probably why a double barrel 12gauge works so well. I have yet to meet someone that when having a 12gauge pointed at them would think "ya know, I think I can take a shot from that thing no sweat"
 
"Even though the gun isn't usually fired, it's necessarily used enough so that American citizens, in lawful SD, shoot from two to three more times the number of criminals shot by all LE agencies combined."

I wonder how much of that has to do with how willing bad guys are to surrender to a cop in a uniform, wearing a vest, compared to some joe with a small-caliber pistol tucked away in a pocket. Or, alternatively, how much more willing a gun-toter is to bussa cap compared to a professionally trained police officer who is going to do a whole lot of shouting, tasing, and clubbing if he can rather than shoot someone.
 
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Jim,

We are talking about scary guns, not batsh@^ crazy shooters, as they are always scary. :D:p

Anecdotal of course, but several cop friends of mine have mentioned that when asked a lot of the criminals they deal with say big revolvers scare them for two reasons, 1 because they are staring right at all those scary little hollowpoints and 2 because they figure the user knows what they are doing if they are carrying a revolver. Obviously anecdotal but a data point none the less.
 
Generally speaking, if things get to the point where the BG can get a good look at my gun then things are beyond said BG being scared by it. By that time they've had every opportunity to vacate and have chosen to get aggressive instead. As such, they are VERY close to seeing muzzle flash from the wrong end. I doubt the make or model of the gun is going to matter by then.
 
Look at it this way...

... while it may not help the situation, does anybody think the larger, more eye-catching weapon and muzzle would make the BG any braver?

This probably is another case where size matters. However, as in other size related issues, skill and attitude are probably much greater factors. It helps if you know what you're doing, and it helps even more if it's obvious that you know what you're doing.

Cheers,

M
 
hot sauce, and others with similar mindsets...

... just a friendly word of advice:

I'd be very reluctant to declare in a public forum that if I draw, it's a foregone conclusion that I will fire.

If you ever do have to use a firearm in SD, a prosecutor and a tort attorney could both really hurt you with evidence of that mindset.

You shouldn't draw if you are not willing to fire, and you shouldn't draw unless you think you are justified in firing, but that does not and should not mean you will automatically fire. The situation may change radically when your weapon comes out. It does in the vast majority of cases.

Be ready for the worst case, but don't create your own nightmare.
 
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