A helpful way to improve your self-defense preparation is to focus on your likely threat. In my book, I tried hard to eliminate misperceptions and rely on vetted statistics so that the attributes of the threat would be identifiable. Knowing these attributes allows us to prepare appropriately.
For the self-defense industry, the threat a civilian is supposed to prepare for is an armed violent criminal, often pictured as a mass shooter or as a masked man in the bushes or a parking garage. Preparation for this threat can involve the following things:
- High-capacity concealable handguns.
- Multiple magazines for reloads.
- Backup handgun.
- Knife.
- Body Armor.
- Bleeding kit (e.g., tourniquet, clotting agent, gauze, and so forth).
Someone fresh out of concealed carry training may be motivated to go out and buy all these things. However, after a few weeks, it becomes apparent that this amount of equipment is too uncomfortable to pack daily, and work begins on reducing it.
This process is, of course, ridiculous. One prepares for the threat; one does not prepare to be comfortable. In the military, imagine a private telling his commanding officer that carrying a 50 BMG for their mission isn’t going to work for him because it is too heavy to pack. If a 50 BMG is needed to complete the mission and deal with the likely threats you will face, you pack the 50 BMG. Otherwise, you are simply marching to the death of yourself and your team.
The same process occurs with larger caliber handguns. What starts as a desire to have the most powerful handgun a person can conceal is gradually reduced to what recoil the person can handle. When the movie Dirty Harry came out in the 1970s, many people bought S&W Model 29s in 44 Magnum. A couple of years down the road, there was a lot of Model 29s for sale that had only been shot a couple of times. People couldn’t handle the recoil. Again, this process is ridiculous. You should carry the caliber needed to deal with the threat. In fact, you should take everything you need to deal with the threat.
Therein lies the problem. The threat description that seems to be driving many purchases of self-defense equipment looks like this:
- A mass shooter.
- You are a random anonymous target.
- The mass shooter must not know you are carrying, or he will target you first.
- Because the mass shooter will target many people, you will have time to shoot.
- You will need to get as many bullets as possible downrange as accurately as possible.
Has this threat existed? Absolutely. Have armed civilians stopped this threat? Absolutely. Is this threat common? No. For most injurious violent crimes, the victim knows the offender, it happens at a place the victim feels comfortable, and weapons are not used. Defensive Gun Use (DGU) statistics back this up, with over 80 percent of DGUs happening at home and over 80 percent of the time, the firearm is not discharged (i.e., you don’t bring fists to a gunfight).
Furthermore, if God came down and told me that when I’m grocery shopping later today, a mass shooter will be present, and it is up to me to stop him, would I reach for my Every Day Carry (EDC)? Not only no, but hell no. I would be packing something far more appropriate to that situation. If I describe possible and plausible violent crime scenarios to you and you want to use something other than your EDC, you have not prepared for the threat. This fact brings us back full circle.
It appears to me the primary driver for our current generation of concealed carry handguns stems from sensitivity to comfort and sensitivity to recoil. Such developments as the micro compacts, magazine capacity, and the 38 Super Carry seem to be implicated in this approach. Unfortunately, while I appreciate innovative products, I have yet to see hard, real-world data that backs up these product justifications.
My goal here isn’t to dissuade anyone from having an EDC or to discount heroic actions on the part of civilians stopping mass shooters. It is simply to be honest about what we are preparing for and why. So let’s go through some Q&A and drive this point home. I’ll ask the questions, and an experienced concealed carrier will answer them.
Q: What caliber do you carry as your EDC?
A: I carry a 9mm.
Q: Why?
A: I feel the 9mm is the best compromise between capacity and stopping power. With improved bullet technology, I think it is just as good as anything that can be carried as an EDC.
Q: For the sake of argument, let’s assume a cartridge such as the 50 G.I. had the best real-world stopping power in a concealable handgun, available in 1911 Commanders and Glocks. Furthermore, this stopping power was proven in real-world studies of actual shootings. However, the magazine capacity is only seven rounds. Would you switch?
A: No. I have 15 rounds in my magazine. I can quickly put two rounds of 9mm in a torso and be just as effective as one round from that big cartridge. Anyway, didn’t you see John Wick 2? He was pretty concerned when he was given a Kimber with a 7-round capacity!
Q: Fair enough. Do you carry a round in the chamber?
A: Yes.
Q: Why?
A: If I need my weapon, I need it fast. It needs to be ready.
Q: So you have 16 rounds available?
A: Actually, no. I also carry two 15-round magazines, which means I have 46 rounds total.
Q: Why just two? Why not four? I mean, if it is possible that you would need 30 additional rounds, isn’t it possible that you would need 60 additional rounds?
A: I feel 46 rounds is sufficient for anything I may come across. Besides, I carry a knife on the left side, so I don’t have room for extra magazines.
Q: Why do you carry a knife when you have a 9mm and 46 rounds of ammunition?
A: Well, if someone gets close to me and tries to grab my weapon, I can defend myself.
Q: What if they grab your knife first?
A: I would just shoot them!
Q: Given the close range of the attacker, wouldn’t it be better to have a small backup gun, such as a 380 or 25? It will also protect you if your primary gun fails.
A: I honestly don’t want to worry about two different types of ammunition. I feel it is unlikely that my primary gun will fail, and I feel much more comfortable with my knife in such a situation. Besides, if my primary gun fails, I don’t want to run around with an underpowered 25.
Q: Given the close range, if your attacker was armed with a taser, couldn’t he simply tase you and take your EDC?
A: Criminals don’t carry tasers!
Q: For the sake of argument, let’s assume you are up against a criminal, and the distance is 10 feet. The criminal is carrying an S&W Governor. They are using Underwood Ammunition 45 Colt 220 Grain Lehigh Maximum Expansion bullets, but they only have five total rounds. The kicker is that your attacker is wearing level IIIa armor. Assuming your attacker is as fast and as accurate as you, how do you think you’ll come out?
A: Criminals don’t wear body armor!
Q: Mass shooters might.
A: Mass shooters don’t carry five-shot revolvers!
Q: This one does. Five dead people still count as a mass shooting. How do you think you will do?
A: I think I will do fine. First, I doubt he is as accurate with that revolver as I am with my red dot. Also, just because he has body armor doesn’t mean he can get off an accurate shot when bullets are striking him. Once I realize he has body armor, I can aim for the head or pelvis.
Q: There are calibers with known body armor penetration capability. For instance, the 5.7x28mm and the 7.5mm F.K. Do you think one of those would be more appropriate?
A: I think the risk of overpenetration is too great. If a bullet zips through a vest, or worse, through an attacker without a vest, someone innocent behind them can get killed.
Q: What is the difference between overpenetration and a missed shot?
A: What do you mean?
Q: Well, you are prepared to fire 46 rounds downrange. Isn’t it likely that you could be endangering innocents if you miss?
A: Possibly, but more likely, the attacker’s body will be soaking up those rounds, which isn’t going to happen with bullets that can pierce armor.
Q: One option, say with the 7.5mm, is to have three regular expanding rounds, followed by three that can pierce body armor. Would this be a better solution?
A: I don’t think so. The different bullets would probably have different points of impact, and in any case, what if you needed those penetrating rounds first?
Q: Another option may be to have a magazine with rounds that can pierce body armor. A quick magazine swap would handle it.
A: There is nothing quick about a magazine swap. I’ll stick with what I have.
Q: In many social situations, such as grocery shopping, strangers can often get quite close to you. Imagine if a felon knew that you carried a gun. This felon needs a gun but cannot purchase one normally due to background checks. Let’s assume this felon sees you at a lightly attended grocery store. Do you think he may get close enough to knock you out, take your gun, and then claim you fell down and hit your head?
A: Not hardly. I’m extremely aware of my surroundings when I am out in public. So I don’t let anyone get that close.
Q: Even when shopping?
A: Even when shopping.
While this is a fictional dialogue, it is similar to what I’ve encountered. Often, the EDC package someone uses drives what the perceived threats look like, which is the opposite of how it should be. Tiny changes in the threat often expose the weaknesses of the EDC package. However, instead of recognizing that, it usually degrades into cognitive dissonance.
Obviously, you can’t prepare for all threat permutations. However, you can prepare for the more common threats. Unfortunately, what civilians think is common and uncommon is far from the mark. This reason is why I spend so much time in my book analyzing the actual threats civilians face.