It’s a dangerous world. The reasons to have a gun for self protection are many, and we won’t enumerate them here. However, there are a ton of options to sort through when selecting self defense guns. Follow our steps below to help narrow down your selection!
What Kind of Self Defense?
The first thing to determine is where you will be utilizing/carrying your firearm. Is it strictly inside your home, for home defense? Or will you be carrying it on a daily basis?
If your concern is having a weapon for your house, you have three options; rifle, pistol, or shotgun. A book could be written on which of these self defense guns would be best for protecting your home, but we will touch on it briefly here. A shotgun has long been touted as the best home defense gun. It is a powerful weapon at close range, with varied ammunition options. However, it lacks the precision of either a pistol or a rifle.
For their parts, both pistols and rifles have more precision. However, most pistol and rifle ammo is more likely to over-penetrate, both the target and nearby walls or furniture. The added precision comes at the cost of careful shot placement. (Note, obviously in any sort of self-defense shooting situations, careful shot placement is key, regardless of weapon type. Shotguns can simply increase the margin of error slightly.)
For the purposes of this article, though, we will mainly focus on pistols. For most people, ‘self defense’ implies a situation where you are out and about and forced to protect yourself.
What Kind of Pistol, then?
It may seem like you’ve narrowed down your choices by focusing on pistols. You have, but there are still tons of options. So let’s break it down further!
You’ll have to decide whether you want a semi-automatic pistol, or a revolver. Both have their place. However, you have more options when it comes to semi-automatic pistols. There are more of them, and in varied sizes. Revolvers have a well-deserved reputation for reliability, but you are limiting your ammunition capacity. And, it may seem silly to say, but should the day ever come where you are forced to defend your life, having less ammunition is not a good thing. Once caveat to excluding revolvers is that some people just shoot revolvers well. If that’s you, and you’re comfortable with a revolver, then carry a revolver.
So we’ve arrived at semiautomatic pistols.
What now?
Now it comes down to ammo capacity, size, and personal preference. When discussing carry guns online, lots of people will ignore comfort. “It’s a comforting weight, not a comfortable one” or any other number of cliches get spit out. These statements ignore human nature. If something is more comfortable to carry, you’re more likely to carry it, and when we are discussing self defense guns, that’s the goal. At this point, heading into a store where there are professionals, and maybe trying out options on the range, is the most surefire way to find something you like. Pick something you like!
For all your shooting needs, reach out to Liberty Shooting Sports! We carry a wide variety of affordable-priced options, from guns, to ammunition, to gear! We’d be happy to help you find the perfect carry gun!