I've blogged before about my views that a revolver is a superior choice for most folks if they are choosing just one firearm for home defense. I recently had a discussion with a nice Jewish boy, who was considering which first gun to buy for home defense of his young family. Based on his Internet research, he had resolved to purchase a .40 caliber semi-automatic pistol.
I asked the following questions:
Q: Will the gun be kept in a safe?
A: Yes, a quick-access safe.
Q: Will it be kept with a loaded magazine inserted?
A: No.
Q: Will it be kept with a chambered round?
A: No.
Q: Do you expect that your wife will be able to use it if you are not home?
A: Yes.
Q: How frequently will you and your wife practice?
A: Him, "hopefully" every few months. Her, once or twice a year.
Q: Will the gun be kept in a safe?
A: Yes, a quick-access safe.
Q: Will it be kept with a loaded magazine inserted?
A: No.
Q: Will it be kept with a chambered round?
A: No.
Q: Do you expect that your wife will be able to use it if you are not home?
A: Yes.
Q: How frequently will you and your wife practice?
A: Him, "hopefully" every few months. Her, once or twice a year.
The biggest flaw in his plan, I explained, was that it was unnecessarily risky to assume that his wife, who would practice the least, would be able to load the magazine and chamber a round under stress. Moreover, that she would be able to avoid and deal with a malfunctioning semi-auto. The truth was, I had my doubts about his capabilities as well.
His response was to insist that the task of readying the weapon was "easy", based on his dozen or so trips to the range to shoot with others. My response was that many things are easy when we're calm, but stress makes us forget things and loose fine motor control. In times of danger, we need things to be as simple as possible, or else we need to train very hard to develop automatic habits that will function under stress.
I offered my experiences from competition with semi-autos, where under stress, there will inevitably be a competitor who forgets to take off the safety, load his magazine, chamber the first round, etc. Having recently made the transition to shooting a semi-automatic rifle in competition, I make mistakes all the time. In Service Rifle competition, during the rapid-fire stage, time is limited but not critical, so when I practice I don't worry much about magazine changes. The result of not practicing is that at least once every other match I swap magazines during a rapid-fire string and forget to release the bolt. Only after pulling the trigger and realizing nothing went bang do I fix the mistake.
The nice Jewish boy pretended to listen, but I could see all of this was in one ear and out the other. He'd been seduced by the image of the semi-auto. In his mind, revolvers were old-fashioned relics, not far removed from revolutionary war muskets. He admitted he had never handled a revolver, but felt it was important to have the superior capacity of the semi-auto. I was going to ask him why, given that nearly all private self-defense incidents require only 1 or 2 shots, the capacity of the semi-auto outweighed all the advantages of a revolver. Instead, I just wished him luck on his purchase.
When I offered advice on how to find the best deal, only then did the nice Jewish boy listen carefully, and actually took notes!
His response was to insist that the task of readying the weapon was "easy", based on his dozen or so trips to the range to shoot with others. My response was that many things are easy when we're calm, but stress makes us forget things and loose fine motor control. In times of danger, we need things to be as simple as possible, or else we need to train very hard to develop automatic habits that will function under stress.
I offered my experiences from competition with semi-autos, where under stress, there will inevitably be a competitor who forgets to take off the safety, load his magazine, chamber the first round, etc. Having recently made the transition to shooting a semi-automatic rifle in competition, I make mistakes all the time. In Service Rifle competition, during the rapid-fire stage, time is limited but not critical, so when I practice I don't worry much about magazine changes. The result of not practicing is that at least once every other match I swap magazines during a rapid-fire string and forget to release the bolt. Only after pulling the trigger and realizing nothing went bang do I fix the mistake.
The nice Jewish boy pretended to listen, but I could see all of this was in one ear and out the other. He'd been seduced by the image of the semi-auto. In his mind, revolvers were old-fashioned relics, not far removed from revolutionary war muskets. He admitted he had never handled a revolver, but felt it was important to have the superior capacity of the semi-auto. I was going to ask him why, given that nearly all private self-defense incidents require only 1 or 2 shots, the capacity of the semi-auto outweighed all the advantages of a revolver. Instead, I just wished him luck on his purchase.
When I offered advice on how to find the best deal, only then did the nice Jewish boy listen carefully, and actually took notes!
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"His response was to insist that the task of readying the weapon was "easy", based on his dozen or so trips to the range to shoot with others. My response was that many things are easy when we're calm, but stress makes us forget things and loose fine motor control."
ReplyDeleteBuck fever hits all of us. I got no photos of my son receiving his high school diploma because I was frantically pressing the power slide switch instead of the shutter release on my camera.
Yes a revolver is the way to go. There are plenty of great options today including ones that fire .410 Gauge shot shells. The revolver is the ultimate no think firearm that will have the best shot of working in this family situation.
ReplyDeleteThe way they want to store and train with the .40 Auto is just not right in a panic situation. BTW: Col. David Grossman who has written extensively on the way soldier and policeman react in panic situations recommends teaching family members to dial 9-1-1!! If this is hard, how will you manage to get an semi-auto pistol into action???