Firearms for personal protection: do you own one (or two) ?

Back in P.I. (Philippine Islands) - I had an uncle who lived in the provinces.....sorta like Brian in Lodi  ...anyway, he had been robbed repeatedly in the past and he finally put his foot down and bought an M-16 (gun laws in the P.I. is a joke...among other things ) and every week, he would perch himself on his roof top and fire a few rounds   on some banana trees in his backyard just to remind the "would be theives" that he was no longer going to be a victim. Did it work? Yes.

I agree with Matt - arm yourself to protect your family and property - but leave the gun at home AND make sure the kids have no access to it (and when they get older, teach them the proper use of said firearm)

I will own one soon enough.....the nunchuks will be on craiglist   

Joel have you ever thought of scaring the would be intruder to death with your feet?

Jason

Jason....according the Stuart and Joe/skyboy's wives.....my feet are beautiful  Don't be a hater 

Ah hell Joel ... just confront the intruder in your speedos.  That would pretty much scare anyone away.

-Allen

Allen - don't judge me yet .....in fact, for Christmas, I will send you an 8X10 of me wearing my banana hammock ....see for yourself and then judge me

Ah hell Joel ... just confront the intruder in your speedos.  That would pretty much scare anyone away.

-Allen

your assuming the intruder is not gay......something to ponder 

Oh Kuya Mooch!!!  I'm not judging you at all.  Just the facts, nothing more.   

No comment about what you wearing speedos would do to a gay man ...

-Allen

Huh, why would you pinoy folk want anything to do with nunchuks.  Go learn escrima or arnis de mano and learn to kick some butt with rattan sticks, machetes, butterfly knives, chairs(!) and staves.  Of all the martial arts I've done arnis de mano was by far the most fun.  It was also the least 'sporty' martial art I've ever done.  They teach bone breaking and dismemberment...

My firearms stay locked up out of reach, and I've never been tempted to use one in anger.  If I got mad I'd put someone in a joint lock and make them cry for mommy, not run for a gun.

I've had guns around my whole life and have had some pretty good fights right at the house when I was in my early twenty's, never even dawned on me to go get a gun. The guns are for a life of death situations or hunting, not for when I get my butt kick, or I get real mad. If you get out of control angry in these situations you should not get a gun, unless you like prison.

You guys ever see a mass riot like after the Rodney King incident, people can really go crazy so what do you do when three four guys come to your house and aren't happy with taken all of your stuff, they want to rape your wife or kids, maybe you. I have a funny filling in my neighborhood there going to move on to the next house. I keep my hand gun in a gun safe which can be opened in about three seconds, trigger locks are for rifles. if some one is in your house you don't want to be looking for your key so you can unlock your gun. Don't have a gun without being able to lock it up either. Take a gun safety class and then go to a firing range and learn how to use that weapon. if you have kids in the house and not just your kids, you best have your weapons locked up. the odds of your kids or other kids  dieing because you have a unlock gun are way way  higher than if some creep breaks into your house.

P.S.   get a gun that will stop some one in one shot. The military use to use 9mm and the replaced them ( not enough stopping power) some war they where fighting the guys would get there troops all hopped up on drugs and are guys would shoot them and they would just keep coming. Hhmmm some guy all hopped up on drugs, who's most likely going to break into your house and try to do you and your family harm.  

And the gay guy seeing Mooch in the speedos.     Just my guess,  he just might get scared Straight.
Now that I think about most you guy's could scare a gay guy straight if they where to see you in a
 G-string. Me I wouldn't be caught dead in one  

Being a member of the NRA, I don't own a hand gun. I've never felt a need for that much personal protection. I have thought about getting one, I find a 12ga is the best deterant. Hard to miss, don't have to aim. I also have nunchuk's ( grew up in the 70's) looks good in the movies, but in real life I prefer a good staff. Has to be hard wood, other wise when wood meets skull, wood breaks. Then you have to explain to the judge why the cops found you on top of somebody, beating him to a pulp with your fist.    I won, he got 2 years
no gun needed...

But with wife and kids, a good loud dog will do a good job too...

Craigh

I've heard that a rifled shotgun barrel with buckshot sprays the pellets around enough to make aiming a non-issue in across the room type situations.  At 10-20ft my pump with buckshot would have a similar effect as using a slug.  Not that a 12guage slug doesn't make a deer do a backflip, but I wouldn't take a wide shot pattern for granted at close range.  I think I'd rather have my SKS (with frangible bullets) than the shotgun.

Practice is important too, what I said about glocks sucking for accuracy probably isn't totally true.  I have a walther P1 (p38 with aluminum frame) that I thought was a complete piece of crap the first time I shot it.  18" groups at 10 yards compared to 2 or 3" groups with my makarov or cz-52.  So I tried resting it on the bench and got a 3" group.  After a lot of practice I can get a 4" group out of the thing without resting it, but I have have to concentrate and 'use the force' to get it to group well.  That gun is just so light that it has no inertial stability, the slightest movement while the trigger is being pulled causes it to rotate and miss by a lot.    

Regarding stopping power: around the turn of the century, the 38 revolver turned out not to have enough stopping power during an uprising in the philipines (how are they always involved?) and so the 1911 45 was invented as an upgrade for american forces.  Ironically, since the philipines is one of the USAs closest allies, they currently manufacture 1911s and M-16s under liscence there.  My dad has a filipino 1911. Since they've actually fallen back to 9mm in the armed forces for higher magazine capacity and lighter weight - but with the 10 round limit in CA, big handguns have made somewhat of a comeback around here.  Modern powders pack a lot more bang into a smaller cartridge than they did 100 years ago too - 38 spl holds about as much powder as a 357 mag.  There's no reason for a cartridge of those dimentions to be considered 'weak' these days.  They were also using military ball ammo, which isn't even close to the devastation that a good hollowpoint produces.

Regarding stopping power: around the turn of the century, the 38 revolver turned out not to have enough stopping power

That's right it was the 38

A couple someones mentioned a dog. This is true. A dog is great protection. Nothing ruins a sneak night attack like my good old dog. When I'm away from home she's on duty, she takes lots of naps but she springs right to duty if she feels there is a threat present. Sometimes it's just the mailman or another dog or a friend or well I guess she really just barks a every thing but that's OK because we love her and she loves us. Some dogs have awakened their family when there was fire or the parents when the kid was choking. Get the dog first, if your situation allows it 

I'll bet our neighbors are glad we keep her inside 

I don't own my shotgun for personal protection. I own it for hunting. It is locked up and tucked away somewhere where it isn't easy to get to.
If a situation arose, which I am hard pressed to realistically come up with one, of course I would take advantage of having it. I just see those situations in the movies WAY more than anywhere else.

I'd be interested in seeing references for Thornley's comment that armed citizens reduce the crime rate.

I think some of the cross-talk here is the funniest I've read on this site! Dang, who would have thought it would take a topic like guns to up the ante on the humor? Seriously, I do own a few firearms, mostly as a throwback to some kind of "frontier" mentality I guess. They look cool all racked up. If I still lived up in AK I'd probably invest in a 12 ga pump if I was going to be out in bear country for very long. At my place, I get way more use out of my shovel as a home defense tool, since the majority of our intruders are of the 10" furry variety. The dog does a great job too.
Sean

.  Of all the martial arts I've done arnis de mano was by far the most fun. 

another Cliff Clavern moment: "did you know that Dan Inosanto (A filipino dude) taught Bruce Lee the art of Filipino stick fighting aka = Arnis....." 

CA is a CCW state too, except most urban counties won't issue them, so to an extent you're comparing apples to apples.  Even if  you live in the city, you can purchase land in a rural county and apply for a CC permit there.

Thanks Bill. I figured it might not be so cut and dry.