It generally takes a very major trauma to immediately stop an aggressive, determined, and very possibly drunk or high, human being. Think about the very nature of someone who has made the decision to forcefully and unlawfully enter YOUR space and invade your personal safety, perhaps expecting up front that you may well be armed. You'd better believe this person has at least made some cognizant evaluation of the potential consequences for the act he is perpetrating. It's very likely that this person does not fear you or your gun at all. This person is counting on his aggressive and very violent nature to force you to submit to his invasion of your space.

With some basic understanding of the kind of threat we are dealing with here, we can now make a reasonable estimate of what it might take to neutralize a person in this psychological/physiological state.

We know that there are a couple of things that are usually very effective in neutralizing a lethal threat such as the type we are dealing with here; either a major disruption to a vital organ (heart, lungs, or brain), or a disruption to the CNS (central nervous system). What that means is that our target areas are relatively limited and require fairly precise shot placement. In addition, once we have achieved proper shot placement, we must have adequate penetration to actually reach and cause disruption to those vital areas mentioned.

When you start adding it all up, it's pretty easy to see that, in reality, the odds are already against us. We are facing an attacker who probably has the element of surprise, possibly superior strength, maybe superior numbers, and perhaps superior firepower. And in order to cause immediate incapacitation, we have to hit a fairly small target and we have to hit it with enough "oomph" to actually do some good. With those odds, I want a larger, more powerful caliber that I can still shoot with good control, and with the ability to deliver multiple follow-up shots until the threat subsides. I want to aim for those vital areas mentioned above, and under certain circumstances, I may want to aim for the ocular cranial cavity, or perhaps perform a near-contact shot to the same. My intention is to stop this lethal threat from harming me or my loved one(s) as quickly as possible with as few shots fired as possible.

Remember, when talking about handgun calibers, it's relatively easy for a bullet to create a sufficient enough wound to cause death, but it's much, much harder for a bullet to create enough immediate trauma to actually cause immediate incapacitation.

As to the argument that some are making stating that those of us who believe the .22 rimfire is inadequate for personal protection would "change our minds if we were shot with one", I'll just say that no RATIONAL human being wants to be shot with any kind of projectile from any weapon. Then again, we are not dealing with "rational" human beings here. We are dealing with people who place no value on our lives and very little (if any) on their own.

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NRA Pistol,PPITH,PPOTH&TASER