Home Defense

Please don't mistake this posting for a pro-gun article meant to influence you one way or the other.  You can choose to own a gun, or choose not to.  I grew up in a rural community where my friends did a lot of hunting for squirrels, rabbits, coyotes, deer, and turkeys.  We had guns in our house too.  My dad had a .22 rifle, a .410 shotgun, a 12-gauge shotgun, and a .357 revolver.  I will say that if you choose to own guns, learn how to handle them safely and teach all who reside in your home how to handle them safely. 

Here are a couple of pictures of my Ruger SP-101. It's a 5-shot revolver that will fire in either single-action (by cocking the hammer prior to pulling the trigger) or double action (by pulling the trigger alone). It fires .38 Special caliber and .357 caliber ammunition.  The difference is the power behind the round, the length of the cartridge and of course the blow-back and noise when it's fired.  The SP-101 has a 3-inch barrel, rubber hand grips, and is physically small enough that my wife can also hold it and fire .38 Special rounds comfortably.

Whether or not you choose to carry a handgun outside your home for self-defense purposes, I do recommend that you take a Concealed Weapons Training Course. 

I chose a revolver for the simplicity. You just point and pull the trigger. The drawback though, in my personal opinion, is that you have to practice a lot to achieve the same level of accuracy. In single action, accuracy improves, but for me single action sacrifices some speed. It's a trade off, but in my personal situation the benefits outweight the drawbacks. My wife would struggle with a 9mm pistol, but she can fire the revolver with no issues.

 

I could use some more practice, but you get the idea.