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If you ever pull a gun on somebody you'd better be prepared to kill them. If placed in this situation, I will shoot to kill... not to wound. I hope it never happens, but I am trained, practiced, and prepared.
Gun safety is the first thing anybody should learn - even prior to buying a gun.
I'd suggest you retain your intent to shoot center of mass but seriously consider rewording your intent to shoot to stop should you ever be placed in the situation of having to use a weapon. It will save you a world of grief in the aftermath of a shooting.
I'd suggest you retain your intent to shoot center of mass but seriously consider rewording your intent to shoot to stop should you ever be placed in the situation of having to use a weapon. It will save you a world of grief in the aftermath of a shooting.
To some, grief is far less troublesome than killing.
A law enforcement officer once told me that how and where you shoot is much more important than what you shoot. A .22 can be deadly if you know what you are doing.
The secret is to become proficient with it so that you will hit your mark, and hit it well. I would expect that more people have died from a shot from a .22 than any other caliber, mainly because they are the most common weapon out there. Granted, they do not have the stopping power of a .45, but if you can't hit what you are aiming at, it doesn't really matter.
Given the choice, I'd probably get a larger caliber gun, but a .22 is certainly better than nothing.
To some, grief is far less troublesome than killing.
I think you missed my point. Aiming center of mass maximizes your chance of hitting your attacker (biggest target on the body), has the best chance of actually stopping the bullet, and minimizes the chance a poorly placed shot will hit an innocent bystander.
My point in the post you quoted was that articulating your intent at the time of the shot as "shooting to kill" will reward you with an absolute nightmare in court.
If you feel you're capable enough to attempt to wound an assailant at a time you're faced with the use of deadly force and choose to try to shoot them in the leg or some other less likely to be lethal body part I wish you the best of luck. Admirable as your sentiments may be they fly in the face of well proven and accepted defensive training tenets. They also expose innocent individuals behind your opponent to unacceptable risk (for which you will be held liable) should you fail to hit your target.
Like I said, it's really just for self defense. If it wasn't, I guess I would be ok with shelling out more money for a pistol, but that's why I don't want to spend too much.
So what you're saying is that your life is only worth $250?
If self defense is the reason for buying a gun, price should be the last thing you think about. Reliability and stopping power, in that order, are what you should be asking about. That doesn't mean that you have to spend a fortune, but you're severely limiting your options at that low of a price point.
In the winter, I carry a Glock 27. It's their .40 subcompact. I think I paid around $400 or something like that when I bought it many years ago. In the summer, I usually carry a .32 Kel-Tec. It's in your price range, but I wouldn't generally recommend something that small as a carry weapon. I prefer something bigger, but one dresses fairly light during the Las Vegas summers, and it's simply more convenient to carry the tiny Kel-Tec.
I recently bought a Bersa Thunder .380 CC (Concealed Carry model) that I'll probably start carrying instead of the Kel-Tec after I renew my CCW next month (wow, that's coming up quick!). I've only taken it out a couple of times, but so far I like it. I think it'll be a good carry piece, and it's got a bit more oomph than a .32.
Pics:
Bersa:
Glock:
I've added the +1 magazine extension since this pic was taken
I think your goal should be to take him down and disable him. I realize you risk killing somebody when you shoot at them, but that would certainly not be my goal. My goal is to stop the attack.
There's a reason it's called "deadly force."
Real life isn't the movies - there's no shooting the Bad Guy in the leg to disable him. If you're firing your gun, you're aiming for center mass - which happens to be where he keeps his heart. You hope he lives, of course, but by pulling the trigger, you're assuming that you're ending his life. If you can't accept that, get a can of pepper spray instead of a gun.
The Kimber pro-carry II is my hero weapon. The feature I do love is that it is safe to chamber a round then carry. My local gun shop owner carries one locked and loaded. I do not have one yet but in the future that is what I would like...
I really had my fill of shooting someone from my Vietnam combat missions..I was a 75th Ranger in Nam for some 15 1/2 months till I got hit again for the final time..Some things never go away and I wish those events would and I am not so lucky. Nightmares during the day is rather crazy and I have them but deal with um because of buddies where I live. We all have been in Vietnam and 8 of the 13 of us have been wounded and one WW2 Vet was a Ranger and got caught. POW for 18 months. He is a great guy. LONG LIVE THE RANGERS.... RLTW..HOAAH
I carry a bunch of weapons at different times. I carry a .380 by North American Arms and it is a bit heavy but I carry it totally concealed. At times I carry a Kahr 9mm and that too is nice but I only use factory ammo on all my wepons except my AR 15 and any ammo i pick up is not from Russia.
I do have others and I find that the smaller the weapon, the less safe it becomes due to the lack of space for the mfg. to provide the user with a decent safety.. Our 1911's are great on the range and plenty safe for home protection.
I think you missed my point. Aiming center of mass maximizes your chance of hitting your attacker (biggest target on the body), has the best chance of actually stopping the bullet, and minimizes the chance a poorly placed shot will hit an innocent bystander.
My point in the post you quoted was that articulating your intent at the time of the shot as "shooting to kill" will reward you with an absolute nightmare in court.
If you feel you're capable enough to attempt to wound an assailant at a time you're faced with the use of deadly force and choose to try to shoot them in the leg or some other less likely to be lethal body part I wish you the best of luck. Admirable as your sentiments may be they fly in the face of well proven and accepted defensive training tenets. They also expose innocent individuals behind your opponent to unacceptable risk (for which you will be held liable) should you fail to hit your target.
This is correct.
Several other posters here don't seem to understand that.
As I posted above, shoot center mass to stop the attack. If death is the byproduct, then too bad for the bad guy.
If he's still alive but fully disabled from causing any harm, that's ok too, but too bad for the taxpayers.
Ok, thanks for the suggestions. I am not into revolvers at all, though. I guess I can still look at some and check them out.
Well, as somebody already said, I think your goal should be to take him down and disable him. I realize you risk killing somebody when you shoot at them, but that would certainly not be my goal. My goal is to stop the attack.
The point of self-defense with a fire arm is NOT to shoot to disable. You can get yourself into a serious lawsuit that way. If you feel your life is threatened, and there's nothing you can do, you'd better be able to shoot to kill, unless you want to risk a drawn-out civil suit from the other guy, even after you're cleared of any charge by the police.
That desperado **** you see on TV about shooting someone in the kneecap to keep em from attacking you or shooting them in the hand to make them drop the weapon is not applicable in real life.
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