Dogngun
Yes, I agree with you. As Ive gotten older (now 69), Ive gone from carrying a 1911A1 (.45 ACP) or a Ruger P89DC in 9x19 with an after-market 18 round magazine when I was younger to a sweet little Kel-Tec P3AT (.380 ACP).
I admit that if I ever needed to defend myself
or one of my loved ones, Id MUCH prefer to have one of my .45 ACPs with its 8-rounds of 230 grain +P hollow-points, but the little 12 oz. (weighed, fully loaded with 7 rounds, on a very accurate small grams/ounces scale) Kel-Tec P3AT is a joy to carry compared to any other handgun Ive ever carried including a 4 S&W Model 19 Combat Magnum revolver.
My wife & I have our CCW Permits and while she resists carrying a pistol most of the time, I carry whenever I leave the house
and that great ol 1911A1, the Ruger P89 and the Smith Model 19 was just TOO DARNED HEAVY and bulky to comfortably carry hour-after-hour, day-after-day anymore.
Its always a trade-off
the size/power of a personal self-defense weapon vs. the need to ever use it. If we KNEW for sure wed need it, wed all be carrying a short-barreled 12 gauge
or wed stay home, one or the other. But thats not the case.
I often forget Ive even got the little Kel-Tec in my pocket unless something or someone causes me to go on alert
and then my hand finds the little Kel-Tec in my front pants pocket and the world is right again until the possible threat is determined to be a non-event.
The little Kel-Tec is small enough that it doesnt really show its outline in ones pants pocket
especially if you put a pack of gum or some individually-packaged over-sized LifeSavers in the pocket with the little pistol.
In 30 years of carrying the larger handguns as a businessman and company owner, Ive only had to pull a pistol 4 times
and had to fire it only once. The other 3 goblins took one look down the barrel of my pistol & decided to seek other less well-prepared victims.
The 4th one was a hulking brute and just plain stupid, as he quickly learned when I put a round between his feet at 4 yards as he advanced on me. He then decided that discretion was the better-part-of-valor & departed the darkish parking lot on a "dead" run with his mugging mission unaccomplished.
Life can be difficult, but the good guys usually win when they remain alert & prepared. This is why I urge everyone I know to get their CCW Permits. Thirty-eight States now offer CCW Permits to their citizens
the more of us who get them are sending a message to our legislators.
I had to laugh when the Ohio (the State in which I live) Governor made a special effort to satisfy the liberal newspapers whining about wanting to publish the names of those of us who got our CCW Permits. In a Letter-to-the-Editor, I pointed out that Ive love to have them publish my name in their liberal rag since it would serve notice to every criminal in town to make note of MY NAME
and then seek & find OTHER victims who dont have their CCW Permits and probably dont own a firearm for personal defense. Naturally, they didn't publish my letter... so what else is new?
Criminals are NOT the brightest bulbs on the Christmas Tree, but theyre not totally stupid either. In a society where you, as a criminal, dont know if your intended victim(s) is/are armed or not, you may decide to be more safe, get a REAL job and quit being a criminal.
If not, then in CCW States, such people tend to be self-eliminating as they choose the wrong victim and sometimes end up getting lead poisoning out of the barrel of a good-guy's gun.
It may sound hard-hearted, but I dont feel sorry for criminals
they knew the risks going-in
and they make a bad decision (to keep being a criminal). So be it!
Strength & Honor
Ron T.
