Bill: said:
I don't need to write an essay. Small calibers can be very deadly. This is a proven fact. To imply, on a gun forum, that they will just "make people mad" is irresponsible, at best. There are better choices for defense, but to imply that ANY gun will "just make someone mad" is ridiculous.
BTW- most folks can figure out that the slide on an auto comes back with considerable force. The left thumb should ALWAYS be kept down on the left side of the gun (for right handed shooters), regardless of what kind of handgun you are using. This is just basic training.
And that's the first ridiculous thing you've ever read on this forum? Where have you been, or did you just come on duty as a humorless autocrat self-appointed expert arbiter of forum content? I don't need to defend what I posted, if it gives you some heartburn, take a Tums or 2.
But I'll explain it anyway, because there might be a useful lesson here:
I know of a situation that happened years ago (1950's), wherein someone was shot at 5 times with a .25 at close range, 3 of the shots hit him but didn't succeed in stopping him from breaking the shooter's jaw with a softball bat. The antagonist was a lot larger than and unreasonably really upset with the person with the .25, which was pulled in the middle of a confrontation with the intent it should intimidate the antagonist from continuing his increasingly aggressive alcohol-fueled confrontation (it was between ball players at an industrial league softball game, before they made a rule of no alcohol BEFORE the game, and before all the industries left our city). But it didn't work- the antagonist saw the gun and his issue switched from what had instigated his tantrum (some issue on the diamond) to the threat of being shot. But the little gun didn't provide a serious enough instinctual "flight" reaction which was the shooter's intent, and instead triggered a "fight" one with increased rage (the conclusion made later by the LEO who investigated what happened). He raised the bat he was holding and began to swing it at the shooter, the .25 fired 3 times before the shooter got clobbered and fell. The gun went off twice more, pointed off target as the shooter tumbled over; the other ball players hit the dirt in a jiffy- most were WW2 vets and knew what to do when they heard shots. The hitter was tackled by others before he could proceed with his bat, the gun fell in the dirt, and the situation ended. The antagonist had 3 relatively minor gunshot wounds, the shooter had a broken jaw and 3 busted teeth. So leaving the gun out of it probably would have been a good idea in the first place, and maybe a heavier caliber and a larger framed gun might be a better choice for SD in such a situation, which is the sort of stuff you'd read on a gun forum and a conclusion one might make from what I quoted. If you have a sense of humor, that is. I was just a kid (8 years old), I wasn't there, didn't know the guys involved, and heard the story from a couple of ball players that were there and from the LEO who my dad knew who responded, talking with my father. Among other conclusions and lessons was what the detective had to say- "the only thing a .25 was good for was to really make your adversary angry that you'd pull a gun on him. If you can put the muzzle in his ear, it would be an effective disabler, but getting that close isn't realistic." ... or words to that effect, which pretty accurately summarize that incident. My dad had a snubby .38 he got, on such advice.
So maybe it isn't irresponsible to infer that small calibers aren't as effective as bigger ones in SD situations- what a surprise- and that just pocketing a small caliber little gun without some consideration as to its effectiveness in what its purpose is (intimidating someone intent on doing one harm and maybe shooting them effectively enough to stop them from their intent) is imprudent.
And I cut my thumb with the slide on a .25 when I was 9 years old- my dad had a friend who carried one everywhere; he let me shoot it once when we were plinking at beer cans at my grandfather's hunting cabin on a summer vacation there. I had never shot a handgun before, and held it as tightly as I could with both hands. My dad's friend wasn't sharp enough to notice; he was pretty inept at a lot of stuff with guns, and shouldn't have been trusted with "training" a newbie. We learned that then; I still have the scars on my thumb as tuition.
