S&W CS9
Posted on 10/12/2006 12:05:09 PM PDT by domenad
I am positively ripping over here right now. About an hour ago, my wife calls me to tell me that someone behind her in traffic got out of the car, slammed his fist on her window and threatened her for not blowing through a "Yield" sign fast enough. This is the third time something of this nature has happened. Florida is growing at a meteoric rate, especially the Tampa area where I live. As with all growth, some is good and some is bad, and a surge in the number of physically aggressive, downright threatening people on the roads is one of them.
I've always supported the rights of any non-felon to own a weapon, even though for some reason I never chose to own one for myself. This is probably because I'm a large individual who is experienced in martial arts. My wife, on the other hand, is petite and has a bad back, making a physical confrontation unwise as well as unadvisable. In the back of my head, I always secretly figured on some level that my family and I were safe enough that we did not need firearms. Today has proven me wrong, and so I am turning to my fellow Freepers for advice - what weapon would be ideal for a woman in a car to own? What safety precautions, such as trigger locks would you recommend, in light of the fact that the weapon will be largely carried in a car? What laws are applicable? It would be simple enough for me to pick up a book (and believe me I intend to), but some things need to be filtered through human experience to get the most out of them.
I'm a small woman with small hands, my first gun was a Bersa .380, because of arthritis in my hands I traded it in on a Tauraus ultra lite 38, I really like the feel and size of it, and the recoil isn't bad. Both conceal well.
This is an excellent suggestion. If she gets comfortable with a magazine-fed, semi-automatic pistol, get her a GLOCK 19 or a GLOCK 26.
I agree.
FWIW, while trained on autoloaders, I prefer a revolver for beginners- it's simpler to understand and has no baffling safety and loading/unloading drills to learn- you "make a fist, and bang!"
But Joe's right-- the debate will last until the Sun burns out.
S&W CS9
What's with all the love for S & W on this thread? I've got four Ruger revolvers, all of which I'll put up against S & W any day of the week!
[And Rugers cost a lot less, to boot. The Smith brand is really overpriced IMHO.]
In any event, I'll most definitely vote with those who recommend a revolver for Mrs. Domenad's self-defensive weapon: Just let her start practicing with a .22 and then work up to a .38 special, or to a .357 using .38 special rounds.
[Moreover, once she gets the hang of things, I bet you'll have trouble keeping her off the range! At least that's the story in my household!]
Training is a MUST. I'd hate to see it become a legal requirement, but it really IS one of those things that everyone should stop and take the time to do. Even if it's only a couple hours with an instructor at a range. You have to have faith in your tools, what they do, and how you use them.
For you.... "large" martial artist that you are. Anything belt fed should do the trick. Unless you know how to low block a 9mm slug moving at 900fps, try and find something in .40 S&W or .45 ACP flavor. Teppo Do beats Akkido 10 times out of 10.
I haven't read through all the posts but in addition to visiting ranges, etc and trying guns, your wife needs some education in situational awareness and how to manage the one big projectile she has control of now, her car.
The lug behind her should not have had the opportunity to approach her vehicle and bang on it.
I highly recommend the following:
Smith & Wesson 9mm
Colt Mustang 380
Taurus UltraLight 38
Count me among the revolver dudes. Once you get into shooting, you'll find that you just can't have too many revolvers around. They're a joy to shoot, and full of advantages.
How about a 45mm? That ought to have enough punch to discourage road rage incidents.
From another thread ( http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1718207/posts ), where a teacher got suspended for having a "toy gun [that] strongly resembled a 45 mm gun," I understand that they are small enough to put in your back pocket.
As long as the clip isn't in it, that is.
Is she ready to USE a gun (before the bad guy can take it from her) and to use it effectively -- to STOP the guy?
Can she say, "I was in fear for my life and safety and I shot to eliminate the threat, and now I'd like to talk to my lawyer, please."
Then, she probably needs a gun to practice with so that when the battle-flag goes up she's at least used to pulling the trigger, and knows how close the guy has to be before she can put one where she wants to.
And that means, her first gun probably won't be her last. One's tastes change as one shoots. And those itty-bitty titanium wonders hurt to shoot. I'm done in abougt 25 rounds with mine -- actually I'm done in about 2 rounds.
So I carry a Sig p239. It's fun to shoot, so I practice with it. And it works. In 9 mm they're a dream. But that's just MY hand and MY eye.
I'm agin purse-carry. Get your purse snatched and you're in some kind of trouble and you have on your conscience that your gun is in the hands of a bad guy. I could see fanny pack carry. I don't mind if a cop knows I'm packing. But strong side IWB is my choice.
I don't think it's good to try to find an inexpensive and convenient way to defend your life. Yeah there are budged and other constraints. But, again, when the battle flag goes up --as it has, I have taken comfort in drawing my good weapon with which I am familiar from a holster which kept it concealed but put it nicely into my hand, and in the confidence I have had that EVEN though the adrenaline is pumping through my system, time has dilated, I am hearing nothing but me and the bad guy, who somehow looks further away than he really is but still well within my range of accuracy -- it's a confort to know that I can do what has to be done, I've trained, I've thought it through, and if he doesn't have a sudden change of plan it's going to get funky.
I'm not swaggering (well, maybe a little). I am saying that it's more than a conveniently concealable gun involved. It's saying, "My life is worth saving. My spouse, my friends, my kids need me alive. I am ready and willing to do what the situation calls for." I think anything less than that kind of personal prep means things could turn out very badly.
Here endeth the rant.
Is that really you archy?
I agree with you.
A .45 is a man-stopper regardless of the size of the target, not always the case with the smaller calibers - the U.S. military is looking at replacing their current sidearms with .45s - a lesson they should have learned before from the Spanish American war fighting the Morro Muslims in the Phillippines.
Magnums are overkill.
The only problem is if the woman can handle one - they are big.
Glock 19
Smith&Wesson has a number of light weight, small frame revolvers that would be great for your wife(my mom has one that she is very happy with). For a larger frame, durable and reasonably priced revolver I would look at the GP100 from Ruger even though I'm still angry with Ruger for bending over for the anti-gunners.
We keep our car guns in lock boxes
My dad got me a nice, semi-auto 9mm. It fits my hand and I can hit my target. I love Arizona. We can all walk around with our guns on our sides and it's perfectly legal. Generally, nobody bothers the ones who carry weopons on their sides.
The grip angle of the Glocks, like S&W autos, screws with my aiming point...grew up on Browning designs like the 1911 and Browning HP and I remain most comfortable with those and others like them.
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