What is your purpose of the handgun? Self defense? Recreational? Just to have one? Make sure you get one that fits your purpose. Guns come in many different flavors, so blindly buying one based on popularity detracts from the experience. And I always recommend first time buyers to shoot dozens of different types of hand guns before deciding. A good gun range should have plenty of loaners to try out.
River oaks is a very, very dangerous neighborhood. AR15 is the clear answer here. Really love the "worst possible scenario" attitude, too... Perfect excuse to buy all the high caliber toys one wants by delusionally justifying it as a real need because, you know, just in case.
bigtexxx not only miss uses the word 'gun' like a newbie. But he is also behind times on the coolest weapon every home needs for 'worst case'
Merle Dickson=bigtexx However a small 4/10 shotgun is all the home defense you need. Stay away from AR's as home defense unless your into the zombie apocalypse stuff. Whole diff hobby
Do you take this stance in everything you do? Do you swim in the ocean with shark repellant? Put lightning rods on your home? Since its probably more likely youd be bitten by a shark than a Dorner situation occuring in your house.
I don't really understand why anyone would use anything other than a pump action shotgun for home defense, unless you lived in a really, really tiny home. Stopping power? Check. More kid-proof than most guns? Check. Low learning curve and ammo availability? Check. Scares the s*** out of any intruder with one round? Check.
You need to harden the target area and secure the perimeter, why wait for an attacker to make it inside?
Because I can draw and squeeze off multiple rounds before you have time to reach for it. Again, I have multiple guns in my home, but my glock 26 with CD rounds is all I really need. 11 rounds, easy to draw, stopping power. And my aim is very very good.
That was in response to your question as to why anybody would need anything other than a shotgun. The answer is, because there are better weapons for home defense then a shotgun.
"Better" for a situation that sounds more like a scene from Dirty Harry than it does 99.9% of home invasions.
I would actually suggest that you plan an escape route or a panic room rather than use a .22 rimfire for home defense. If you plan to shoot someone, you should very clearly only do so with the intent to kill them. There is way too much chance of that not happening with a .22.
You shoot to eliminate the threat, not to kill. That's how you remain a victim in a home invasion. When the police asked why you pulled the trigger, you don't tell them 'because I wanted to kill him'. You tell them 'I wanted to eliminate the threat'. For future reference in case anyone has to deal with that sort of thing.
Not by having a handgun, but by thinking that a "home defense" scenario will result in a quick draw shootout in your breakfast nook. Maybe I'm in the minority, but I don't expect people to break into my house for the purpose of violence as much as profit. If someone breaks in and I'm there, even on the incredibly slim chance they want to do me harm, I'm not going to try to defuse the situation by engaging in some kind of cat and mouse game with the intruder. One shotgun blast out the window or into the ceiling/ground and whoever thought it was a good idea to bust into my place is probably going to change their mind pretty quickly. Unless someone has a life and death vendetta against me (I mean really, who has those kind of skeletons in their closet?), I don't think they're going to push the issue after hearing that kind of warning shot.
I see what you're saying. If someone breaks into my house and I'm there, they're probably not going to be walking out whether they are armed or not. If there is more then one intruder, and the others want to make a run for it, well then Ill have a chance at some real world target practice as they run down the street. That's the difference in view points here.
