[Jeff Higgins]

I'm firmly in the "something is better than nothing" camp. A daily carry gun has to be something that one will, well, carry every day. Size matters. Too big just gets left home too often, that's a fact of life in this game.

I can see the appeal of the LCP and other such "micro" compacts. Certainly something almost anyone can carry every day. I get that. But, to me, there is a practical "lower limit" at which I believe we start to sacrifice enough effectiveness to start rendering ourselves effectively unarmed.

Calibers like the .380 are somewhat "underpowered" even in full size pistols with 4"-5" barrels. The reduced barrel lengths of the "micro" pistols further compromises their effectiveness. Not just a little, either, with their muzzle energies reduced by as much as half from these short barrels. Not having much to offer to begin with, that could prove to be significant if one ever really needs it.

I would encourage self defenders to spend some time watching John Correia's Active Self Protection channel on Youtube. It has opened my eyes regarding a lot of aspects of protecting one's self and loved ones with a firearm. One of the more astonishing things I noticed over the years is just how much punishment a determined attacker, especially one on drugs, can absorb and still keep fighting - and inflicting harm upon his victim(s). My hours spent viewing the real life footage on his channel have changed my views on defensive firearms.

Caliber and capacity. The bigger the better, the more the better. I'm getting away from revolvers, except out in the woods. I'm sticking with calibers that start with a "4". In many of the defensive encounters he analyzes, an underpowered, low capacity micro gun would prove to be absolutely useless. So, while having it on you is a plus, it needs to be effective as well. These little guns simply are not.