Importance of magazine capacity in self defense

Yes, if police had fewer rounds available this would result in fewer rounds fired. That seems obvious. If this is good or bad is not for GQ.

Nonsense.

True, the only appropriate weapon for home defense is a cannon. Mounted in the living room, aimed at the front door. Because you want the burglars to know you mean business.

Nah, claymores, just in case they get past the alligators in the moot.

Police fired 100 rounds?

Heck, the Toronto police did it in 9 rounds, from 10 or 20 feet - and then tasered the dead guy for good measure.

http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/08/19/toronto-police-officer-charged-with-second-degree-murder-in-streetcar-shooting-death-of-sammy-yatim/

Seriously - how many criminals really continue to approach when being fired at? Versus “get the hell outta here”? The PCP-laden crazies are few and far between.

Link

The link says the cop reloaded a couple of times and continued the fight, just like he was trained today (and trains other to do). Eventually he killed the suspect with his limited capacity weapon. Where is the need for a higher capacity weapon shown?

This link has nothing to do with the OP and the need for larger capacity magazines for home defense. They guy was trying to keep from being arrested by a cop, not invading a civilians home. Unless you are a drug dealer with large sums of cash and drugs I really doubt that any home invader would put up this kind of a fight just to get to you. Unless of course you were coming after me. :wink:

Sorry, missed the edit window. And yes you did reply to the OP who is looking for links and not commentary. Got to stop getting worked up about these things and take my medicine. Either that or go to a bar where its appropriate to rant.

Oh, and that is one bad-assed cop you linked to btw. I am all for cops having the tools they need to do their often times thankless job.

A heavy, full-length hunting shotgun is not an appropriate weapon. The best firearm for a home defense role is something that can be wielded in tight spaces at close quarters. Handguns are adequate but many consider a better choice to be either a short-barreled shotgun like a Mossberg (pistol grip, 18’’ barrel), a semi-automatic version of a submachine gun, or a pistol-ammo carbine. The main consideration is accuracy: something with a foregrip and a longer sighting length is going to help accuracy, and is easier to mount lights and laser sights on for dealing with dim light situations. The primary reason you hear shotguns recommended is because smaller shot is less likely to over-penetrate if your walls are thin, but hollowpoint or especially frangible pistol ammo is going to be similarly safe.

This. Let me pose the following hypothetical: a national mandate is passed (backed up by federal grants to state and local law enforcement) that police should go back to carrying 6-shot .38 Specials.

BTW: a lot of people who carry- including police- carry a spare magazine, or even a backup gun, simply in case of a failure of their primary.

(my bold)
It took 33 rounds and 14 hits to stop the bad guy. It seems fairly obvious that a limited magazine size would not have cut it.

Homeowners don’t go around with multiple magazines prepared for reloads on a regular basis. In the heat of the moment, you have limited time, perhaps to retrieve the firearm you keep for home defense. You want that firearm to have as much utility as possible. Increased magazine size helps with this.

I think the point is clear that people miss, and often it takes multiple hits to stop a threat. Those two things combined means that in a home defense situation, you want to have more ammo available.

This is arrogant nonsense. Like the person defending themselves an attacker may also be moving around, ducking behind cover, etc. while shooting at his intended victim. It is not implausible that at the speed these things can happen even a well trained shooter can miss the attacker, not hit in an area that stops them, etc…

“One shot one hit” should be the goal, but in an actual gunfight it usually goes to shit.

I’m not clear on what statement you’re trying to make with this.

This is what I tell my wife when I buy more guns. One is none. Two is one. Three is better than two.

This, THIS !!!:smiley: :cool:

I think the idea is that if 6 shots is “enough” for a civilian to take down the bad guys, there’s no reason trained police should need any more than that. Kind of like how some AR-15 makers are refusing to sell to police in states where they’re banned.

Finally! Somebody who is taking home defense seriously!