re: Buying a gun

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2. What kind of gun would stop an intruder but be suitable for a woman?

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My wife has a Ruger SR9, 9mm and loves it. Might take a couple of bullets to stop someone from advancing, but that's OK.

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3. What other stuff should be purchased to keep the gun safe?

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Probably a biometric safe near the bed.

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4. Training would be a requirement. What training is needed?

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Most gun shops that have a practice range offer classes for women

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5. Related to question 2, what kind of ammo?

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There are practice ammo and self defense ammo. I'm not enamored with any particular manufacturer myself, but some folks are.

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6. How do you keep the gun conveniently handy but safe from kids? (this is a big fear. We have 8 and 5 year old boys at home).

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As mentioned previously, biometric safe.

Georgiapacking.org is a good resource for all your GA gun laws, questions, etc. The forums there have a ton of info and posters that are fairly knowledgeable.

You'll get tons of opinions about HD guns. Just like asking what kinda car should you buy.

My thoughts with kids in the house- stay away from revolvers. If you pick up a loaded revolver and pull the trigger, it goes bang. If you store it in a safe or unloaded, then there isn't much use for it in a time of need.

An automatic can be stored with a full mag and nothing in the chamber. A quick rack of the slide and you're ready for business. No normal 8 year old can pull back a slide to chamber a round. You'll probably have to show the Mrs how to do it as well. It's tougher than it looks on TV.

The 12 gauge won't be very fun to shoot for the Mrs unless she used to be a man.

I would find an auto that feels comfortable in her hand and let her shoot it 200+ times over the course of a few weeks. Comfort and familiarity are your friend. Fearfulness of the gun and unfamiliarity can cause accidents.

Noooo don't get a glock

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Bottom line, your trigger finger is your safety and a Glock trigger is just too much for a noob to master.

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Obviously I've never taught gun safety class like you and maybe it's because I'm an experienced shooter but I've never thought the Glock was hard to control

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It isn't. They go bang with ease.

Really, really, really, really easily and that's the problem.

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Because I want it to be difficult to defend myself and my family? I get that you don't like Glocks but a gun is a tool and there is a tool specific for every job.

If you keep the gun in a bio safe, then I want something that is already good to go and as soon as I get it out all I have to do is aim and pull the trigger, a bunch. The entire point of leaving the gun in a bio safe is to prevent AD. When you pull it out of the safe you should only want to discharge it. Because of that I would recommend a Glock, now if his wife wants to carry I would certainly recommend a snub-nose revolver.

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Because I want it to be difficult to defend myself and my family? I get that you don't like Glocks but a gun is a tool and there is a tool specific for every job.

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A thumb flick of a safety or a 10 pound first-round trigger pull doesn't make it one bit more difficult for you to defend your family. The first round will come out of my Ruger P91DC just as fast as it will come out of a Glock 19. What a safety or external hammer DOES do is make it far less likely that you'll let off a round by accident.

You say the point of that Bio-safe is to prevent an AD. How's it going to prevent an AD when you're practicing on the range or in the worst case, actually needing to use it? Hell, unless they've changed something in their new models you've got to dry fire a Glock to field strip it. That's a design that invites an accident.

Again, why is it called 'Glock leg'? Simple - Glocks and similar designs are involved in an inordinately high number of unintended discharges. Glock gets the honor of the name because they're the most popular.

Here's a LA Times story about the LA county sheriff's office switching from Beretta 92Fs to Smith M&Ps. In one year, their ADs went from 12 to 30.

The LA Sheriff's office has roughly 10,000 sworn officers. For a point of reference, the NYPD has roughly 35,000 sworn officers. In 2014 they recorded NINE unintentional duty weapon discharges. The difference is that all their authorized models require a 12 pound trigger pull.

The facts are irrefutable. They're simply a much more dangerous design.

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Obviously I've never taught gun safety class like you and maybe it's because I'm an experienced shooter but I've never thought the Glock was hard to control

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It's not ... for experienced shooters. And still yet, plenty of experienced Glock shooters have suffered accidental discharges because of that trigger. (and there have been some other notable issues with Glocks such as defective safety systems and firing pins that drop when the slide is let go ... slam fires)

Many LEO departments have gotten away from Glocks for just that reason - because of the accidental discharges.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=am-Qdx6vky0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orloQnzBRCw

Smith and Wesson SD 9 VE
9mm with plenty of stopping power
Will hold up forever
Under $300 with extra clip and case...

Perfect for a lady or first timer.

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SC, can't argue with anything you said, but can you explain why a snub nose instead of maybe a 4" barrel? Also, some manufacturer's snubbies are quite a bit shorter than others. Thoughts?

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Two things.

Snubbies are more concealable and, by default, lighter in weight. Especially the new titanium framed snubbies.

Modern ammo ballistic technology, (projectile design and propellant chemistry), allowed for the development of more lethal, low recoil, less muzzle flash rounds that really brought snubbies back into fashion.

A longer barrel is not needed in most self defense situations. Studies have shown that most stand offs, and shoot outs, occur inside of seven paces, or roughly 21 feet, with the great majority of those occurring inside of 7 feet.

Snubbies will do the job, all day long, inside of 21 feet.

I just a couple of weeks ago had a good friend have to draw and fire his pistol to defend his family, in his house, in Appling, Georgia right across the river from here. One of my old students, we had shot together many times and he never thought it would happen to him ... and the circumstances were absolutely tragic but necessary. He had no choice ... it was him or the other guy. Highly publicized case - he was cleared within a couple of days of any wrong doing.

It happened, the two shooters, less than ten feet apart from one another and Tony said it happened so fast all he had time to do was react ... he had a split second to think once the attacker made his move.

The practice paid off.

ETA: Oh, and to answer the rest of your question, a snubbie typically has a 3" barrel or less. We refer to anything under 2" as a puggie or pug.

This used to surprise some of my students but I used to run them threw slap, wack and shoot drills ... from the hip, on bags.

The drill is, slap the bag in the face, hard, go for the nose, with the palm of your hand ... the attacker is right on you. Then wack your slap hand to your chest (to keep it out of the way) while pulling your firearm and gut shooting them from the hip.

It's a close-up drill, highly effective, and it amazed me how well the women took to running that drill with the full understanding that so many times the attacker is already on them before they have time to yell or scream STOP, I'LL SHOOT YOU!

We practiced all of that but I taught them to be confident in their skills and practice, practice, practice for anything. Practice shooting after being knocked backwards, knocked sideways, spun around, tackled ... and they were always game.