The Armed Citizen

One of the benefits of belonging to the National Rifle Association is the great magazine, "American Rifleman", that comes each month for their members. One of my favorite sections is The Armed Citizen, usually 5 or 6 stories about ordinary citizens defending themselves from the aggressive bad guys. One of the stories that caught my attention in the October 2009 issue was two intruders entering a house and the homeowner retrieving her .22 caliber semi-automatic. When one of the intruders (escapees from a local state prison) tried to enter through a window, the homeowner pointed the gun and told him to get out or she would shoot. The men fled and were caught within minutes. The rest of the story is that the next day, the husband of this lady took his wife shopping for a new home defense firearm and she now has a 12 gauge shotgun for protection. After reading some of the other stories this month, a couple more had .22 caliber weapons to fend off their attacker. Nothing wrong with .22 calibers, they are great for squirrel hunting and pinging but when it comes to protecting yourself and family, nothing is better than a good shotgun or handgun starting at the 9mm caliber.
This is something that I thought about after reading these The Armed Citizen stories each month. Folks, get something big enough to take care of the job the first time.

Bob