I love the 45 for stopping power but with proper load selection and lot's of practice a 9mm is more than adequate for self defense, it's the people who can't put the first round on target that think it isn't. Although with that being said my MP days training with the CT state police really instilled the modicum that more kinetic energy is better at stopping bad guys faster. I think the 9mm got a bad rep due to fmj's used as a self defense load.