If you are considering the purchase of a handgun for your protection, there are a few things to consider. Would you feel safe with a gun which misfires once for every 10 times you pull the trigger? Would you maintain a gun which left your family less safe than it would be without it? After being robbed at gun point and consequently completing a concealed handgun course, I have a few observations that might prove valuable to anyone considering a handgun purchase.
Where to Keep a Handgun
I grew up around farming so I've always been familiar with guns. Like me, many people who have a gun in their house feel safer because they know if they ever needed a gun it's there for them. My thinking changed a bit the morning a masked gunman came through my back door without warning. I would never have been able to get to or use an unloaded gun in my bedroom closet, and it probably would have only ended up in the hands of the robber.
What I realized was that if I was going to have a gun, I would either have to carry it, or it would have to be in a place where I could grab it and use it instantly. It would also have to be hidden so that an intruder could not find it if I didn't get to it first.
Because I have a 7 year old, the hiding places must be completely inaccessible to him. I have also selected handguns which he absolutely can not cock himself. If you have children in your home, you must be positive that your guns can not be fired by them without your help. Trigger locks are cumbersome, and the only alternative is a hidden gun safe. There are small safes which require a fingerprint scan to unlock, and then they essentially hand you your gun. Very cool.
A Semi-Automatic or a Revolver?
Who can resist the stopping power of a 9mm semi-automatic handgun which can hold 15 rounds (or more!) in a clip? Hold one in your hand and you instantly feel empowered! Not to mention that if you take your teenage son with you to the shooting range to practice with such a gun, he will be the envy of all his friends. So the decision is an easy one, or is it?
When I participated in the concealed handgun course with 40 others, every single one of us brought a semi-automatic along for the shooting competency part of the final test at the end of the day. During this test an eye-opening thing happened. We were separated into groups of about 13, and for each part of the test we had to fire between 1 and 5 rounds, for a total of 50 rounds. Each and every set of firing ended in at least 1 gun miss-firing or jamming, several times as many as 5 guns jammed at once.
By my calculations more often than once out of every 10 times when a student went to fire their handgun, the gun did not fire! This is anecdotal for sure, but the vast majority of these guns were new with only a few dozen bullets fired through them, recently cleaned, and the people firing them had spent a day learning proper gun handling techniques. If they were ever ready to fire their weapon it was there at the final test, and less than 90% of the time they were successful in firing their guns! Nearly every one of us had a jam. How much worse would it have been if they hadn't fired their guns in months, and it was in a heated moment of self-protection? Sounds almost like Russian roulette to me.
Bottom line is that a revolver might not be as sexy and probably won't hold as many bullets, but the confidence of knowing that when I pull the trigger the gun will fire every time goes a long way.
My personal solution is to own a Glock 9mm semi and a Bersa 380 semi, hidden in the two areas in my house where I spend the most time, and a cute little Smith & Wesson 38 Special J-frame Airweight that fits comfortably in my pocket.
When I'm asked why I carry a gun, I respond that it is because the U.S. Constitution and the State of Texas allow me to. I expect that I will never really need a gun again, but if I do, I need it to work flawlessly.
Good luck in the purchase of your next handgun!
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