[jyl]

Originally Posted by Jeff Higgins

I've been a pretty active shooting enthusiast for pretty much my entire life. Hunting, formal match shooting, just plain old plinking. I've more or less paid attention to the myriad of issues surrounding my sport for this entire time. I may very well have missed it, but I am honestly not aware of anyone having ever accidentally shot a neighbor as the result of "over penetration" in a defensive shooting. Yes, it absolutely could happen, I understand that. I have just never seen a documented case.

What we have seen, time and time again, are the failures of inadequate rounds to stop the fight. We have seen over and over again situations wherein the defender lost their life, or was seriously injured, because their defensive arm failed to do the job. There is a big difference between stopping and killing. If we decide someone needs to be shot, we would really like them to stop whatever it was they were doing that drove us to that decision. We really don't care if they eventually die. That's not what we are after.

Any defensive arm needs to be capable of stopping the fight right now. Settling for less is a mistake. If someone is truly serious about providing for their defense, or for the defense of loved ones, they will put in the time necessary to learn to handle an adequate firearm. Anything less is pure fantasy, no more than wishful thinking. Just because someone owns and has access to a firearm, any firearm, does not mean they are armed. One of my favorite analogies is that "buying a guitar does not make one a musician". A commitment to defend one's self and one's loved ones is about as serious of a commitment that we will ever make. Far too may treat it far too casually. Get the training. Learn to use an adequate weapon. Your life, and the lives of loved ones, may someday depend on it.

But for this woman, it sounds like right now it is .22 or nothing. She’s new to guns. Isn’t a .22 the way many shooters start off? The 10/22 or whatever isn’t supposed to be the end game, just the gateway drug. I think getting her having fun plinking with the .22 and then receptive to “moving up” is more likely to produce a well protected lady in the end, than handing her a firearm that she won’t shoot but once. At least with my wife, there’s no way I could have persuaded her to start with a bigger caliber handgun. In my experience, have to take women along in incremental steps.