It's better than tossing a rock at somebody. The up side is you can fire a volley of shots in a hurry and keep them on target due to the lack of recoil. The guy that shot his family in a land dispute the other day used a .22 target pistol to kill 2 and wound 4 before the cops shot him, so it can do the job. If that's all you can carry due to size/weight limits with your attire, then it's fine, but if you can carry something a little bigger, then I'd recommend it.