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9mm is the way to go. Even the US Army thinks so.

More proof that brainwashing really does work.

You say the safest place to be is in front of a .45. Come out and watch me and my shooting buddy shoot 2" groups at 25 yds with our 1911s sometime and see if you still think that would be a good idea. Check out the exit hole a .45 Hydro Shok leaves in a bundle of wet phone books and see if you still prefer a 9mm. Some people want to believe that size doesn't matter, but we all know better.

SEALS, who depend on handguns as primary weapons, carry H&K .45s. FBI SWAT teams and HRT went to custom Springfield 1911s after trying almost every other round made and finding them inadequate. Police departments all across the nation have dropped the 9mm in favor of the .40 S&W, and they didn't do it because they had money to burn on new equipment either. They did it because their street cops didn't have confidence in the 9mm. The .40 is a good round, but a lot of cops would still choose a .45 if they had their choice.

The military switched to the 9mm because of standardization with NATO forces, and because a soldier can carry 9mm ammo in less space and with less weight. It's also easier to train a green recruit on a 9mm than a .45. The old WWII era .45s were wearing out in the mid 1980's and needed to be replaced, so the 9mm NATO round seemed to the brass to be the way to go. A lot of old soldiers still disagree.

A lot of old soldiers are still alive because what they're telling you is true. They are all the "proof" I need, anyway. We need a platform for the 10mm, the down-loaded version being the now-popular .40 S&W. Then military and police could carry essentially the same sidearm, perhaps the police with the more community-friendly .40 load...until they felt the need to pop in another magazine and, say...penetrate a fleeing truck filled with gasoline bombs...perhaps. Silly me. That would never happen!

Look, putting all your macho "one shot stopping power" b.s aside, most people are not cops or ex-military, or have the capcity to handle really high caliber firearms.

A solid 9mm, like a Beretta 92FS, Sig, or Ruger P95 is 1) very reliable 2) very accurate 3) has significantly less recoil, and thus easier to handle than a .45. In addition, the higher capacity magazine on a 9mm (which in some of the earlier pre-Klinton ban models you can still get with 15-16 rounds) is another plus, given that criminals often travel in packs.

So to all you ex-Navy Seal and Spec Ops types thumping your chests out there, my hat's off to you. But when it comes to the defensive needs of the average civilian (a topic which, if you claim to be a Second Amendment defender, you should NOT be sneering at) the 9mm in most cases is the tool of choice.