Is a handgun even worth owning?

[BoJackUSMC]

You need to go watch more action movies.. all cool movie characters use handgun in their movies.

[desertexplore]

Tagged

[Grayblue]

Let me address some error here.

"Handguns suck and stopping threat."
"Rifle is an offensive weapon..."

There is nothing that would please an anti-gun rights crowd more than gun owners spewing ignorance as the above.

Sure, a rifle may be better at hitting stuff and have more power. But, a pistol still is an effective weapon. If not, then why do you buy one for self-defense?

Rifle is an offenseive weapon? Then should all people who shot a home invader with a rifle be charged with murder because rifle is "offensive" and the home owner was not acting in self-defense?

Whether if a weapon is "offensive" or "defense" depends on the manner and mindset of the person using it.

Now, to answer the OP's question, a long gun is not always better.

People with a little knowledge would say a long gun is better, blah blah....But, as the saying goes, a little knowledge can be dangerous than no knowledge. Those people say that only after some range time or very little or no practical experience. Please not that there are INSTRUCTORS who fall into this category also, and people may parrot what those ignorant intructors who says such things. This is why there is so much confusion and conflicting info in the gun world.

There are situations where I have taken a pistol when I had a shotgun as a choice to a bulding search. Some others who took a shotgun, in their "common sense wisdom" that a long gun is better, in such scenario often cound not even properly position themselves on a doorway for cover while covering a hallway, etc., because they could not fit themsleves in.

Imagine "slicing the pie" with a long gun. Just look around in your own home and see what is longer, the width of the door frame or the length of you holding a rilfe from your back to the end of the muzzle. More than likely you won't fit.

Operating a long gun while conducting operations, doing stuff other than shooting, while holding a gun that requires two hands to properly operate is an art in itself. All the range guys would prepare you for those fancy mag drills and malfunction drills and stuff, but how many of them taught you about calling 911 on a cell phone while holding your long gun? How about something simple as opening a door? What if that door has auto closing mechanism and keep closes on you if you don't hold in open?

For these reasons, I will not be without a pistol. A pistol can follow you where rifles cannot.

[Russ Florian]

CCL, or if it's that worthless to you, keep it in the bathroom cabinet.

[Cali-Shooter]

How much for the glock? : )

Ditto.

[rabagley]

Keep your Glock, move to a better state, get yourself a CCW.

[Shenaniguns]

Keep your Glock, move to a better state, get yourself a CCW.

Or a better county, like Sacramento where CCW's are issued

[Shanghai Dan]

Let me address some error here.

"Handguns suck and stopping threat."
"Rifle is an offensive weapon..."

There is nothing that would please an anti-gun rights crowd more than gun owners spewing ignorance as the above.

Sure, a rifle may be better at hitting stuff and have more power. But, a pistol still is an effective weapon. If not, then why do you buy one for self-defense?

Rifle is an offenseive weapon? Then should all people who shot a home invader with a rifle be charged with murder because rifle is "offensive" and the home owner was not acting in self-defense?

Whether if a weapon is "offensive" or "defense" depends on the manner and mindset of the person using it.

Now, to answer the OP's question, a long gun is not always better.

People with a little knowledge would say a long gun is better, blah blah....But, as the saying goes, a little knowledge can be dangerous than no knowledge. Those people say that only after some range time or very little or no practical experience. Please not that there are INSTRUCTORS who fall into this category also, and people may parrot what those ignorant intructors who says such things. This is why there is so much confusion and conflicting info in the gun world.

There are situations where I have taken a pistol when I had a shotgun as a choice to a bulding search. Some others who took a shotgun, in their "common sense wisdom" that a long gun is better, in such scenario often cound not even properly position themselves on a doorway for cover while covering a hallway, etc., because they could not fit themsleves in.

Imagine "slicing the pie" with a long gun. Just look around in your own home and see what is longer, the width of the door frame or the length of you holding a rilfe from your back to the end of the muzzle. More than likely you won't fit.

Operating a long gun while conducting operations, doing stuff other than shooting, while holding a gun that requires two hands to properly operate is an art in itself. All the range guys would prepare you for those fancy mag drills and malfunction drills and stuff, but how many of them taught you about calling 911 on a cell phone while holding your long gun? How about something simple as opening a door? What if that door has auto closing mechanism and keep closes on you if you don't hold in open?

For these reasons, I will not be without a pistol. A pistol can follow you where rifles cannot.

GREAT post! I have rifles, I have a shotgun, but my go-to HD weapon is my S&W 686+. It's small, fast, compact, carries a lot of power (4" barrel, hot loads), and will go bang. And when it doesn't (say, dud round), I just pull the trigger again and the next round comes into play - no need to clear/manually cycle the revolver.

They say the first rule of a gun fight is to have a gun. The second rule should be make sure the gun always works and fits in your environment!