Two questions for gun control people

[Q9]

#!

 

[thaiturkey]

I know the question was for Dennis, but I can't resist throwing in my input. A shotgun (for home defense) is better than a .22 in almost all circumstances. If your wife doesn't like heavy recoil, a 20 gauge is more than suffecient. Ammo is definitely more expensive, but you get far more from one round of 12 or 20 gauge than a round of .22LR. Of course, for cheap practice, .22 beats all.

Thanks. That's much the same as the advice on the internet. In a hurry, the shotgun would be more likely to get the job done than a gun that needs accuracy.

The guns I handled were 12 bore. From what I remember from using them back home, my wife could handle the recoil once she learned to shoulder the thing correctly.

 

[thaiturkey]

Hey, if you wanna get stoned and ruin your own life, be my guest. IMO, ending the drug war would go a ways towards kicking the legs out from under the cartels, as well as dramatically decreasing our prison population so that we have room for actual criminals.

I've never used the stuff.

 

[Q9]

Thanks. That's much the same as the advice on the internet. In a hurry, the shotgun would be more likely to get the job done than a gun that needs accuracy.

The guns I handled were 12 bore. From what I remember from using them back home, my wife could handle the recoil once she learned to shoulder the thing correctly.

Proper stance is everything when shooting. My dad despises the recoil of our Mosin-Nagant bolt rifle, but I find it to be very manageable. I figured out that it was because he wasn't placing the stock firmly on his shoulder.

A shotgun isn't a room-clearing monster, but it definitely gets the job done; you're more likely to hit with nine lead balls than with one. What are Thailand's laws respecting semi-automatic shotguns vs pump-action? This is out of curiousity; I prefer pump shotguns over autoloaders.

Talking about shotguns reminded me of something interesting one gun writer pointed out. Americans' weapons of choice tend to follow that of the police. A few decades ago, the standard police weapons were the .38 revolver and the Remington 870 pump shotgun - those were also Americans' favorite guns for self-defense. Now, the police favor polymer-frame semi-auto handguns and AR-15 rifles - guess what Americans' favorites are now? Has absolutely no bearing on anything, but it's still interesting.

 

[Demosthine]

Over the last decade, more specifically from 2000 on, where the FBI's Uniform Crime Reports are available, rifles in general account for an average of 4% of the homicides in which the firearm type is known. of that, how many do you think are actual assault rifles? We'll be generous and say all of them. So we are focusing our huge "gun control messures" on the lowest weapon choice? That makes sense. Statistically, shotguns are much more likely to be used in a homicide, by roughly 4x the rate, averaging at about 15% of homicides.

 

[thaiturkey]

Many people have visions of grandeur when it comes to using a handgun to stop an intruder in their house. The point is, that you will usually be startled awake and have to get your bearings, so I am not a big fan of handguns for home defense. I have a couple of different handguns that I carry depending on the occasions, i.e. Winter clothes or Summer clothes and for home defense I have a few shotguns around the house. Next to the bed we have an Escort tactical with 3" 00 buckshot shells.

The rack of the slide will usually scare off most intruders but if they are persistent, it will shoot a fairly wide pattern.

I also have an old Ranger 12 gauge out near the back door that is used when I deal with predator problems. Dogs and fox are known culprits when I've lost birds.
Another that I just picked up is a Mossberg 500. It is like the escort and very easy to use and find after market parts like flashlight mounts if needed.

So for home defense. I always opt for a shotgun. The 00 buckshot is more than .22 long rifle but you should never even need to use it other than taking it out to see how it shoots and what kind of pattern that it has. The pattern is how much the shot spreads after coming out the barrel.

Thanks.

I have yet to see a Mossberg here but I'll look around in Bangkok where, I hear, there are more than 50 gun shops in one street.

Our gun club has an area for testing and practicing with shotguns so we can sort out capability without causing the village to evacuate.

 

[thaiturkey]

Proper stance is everything when shooting. My dad despises the recoil of our Mosin-Nagant bolt rifle, but I find it to be very manageable. I figured out that it was because he wasn't placing the stock firmly on his shoulder.

A shotgun isn't a room-clearing monster, but it definitely gets the job done; you're more likely to hit with nine lead balls than with one. What are Thailand's laws respecting semi-automatic shotguns vs pump-action? This is out of curiousity; I prefer pump shotguns over autoloaders.

Talking about shotguns reminded me of something interesting one gun writer pointed out. Americans' weapons of choice tend to follow that of the police. A few decades ago, the standard police weapons were the .38 revolver and the Remington 870 pump shotgun - those were also Americans' favorite guns for self-defense. Now, the police favor polymer-frame semi-auto handguns and AR-15 rifles - guess what Americans' favorites are now? Has absolutely no bearing on anything, but it's still interesting.

The law allows pump action shotguns but I don't know about semi-automatics. Semi-automatic rifles are legal but I have yet to see a high capacity magazine so, perhaps, there is a limit/. I need to investigate.

It's unlikely that we would get involved in a major shootout so more than a five shot shotgun would be unnecessary, especially with the .38 handgun to hand. Intruders wouldn't be heavily armed and most would have no weapons other than, perhaps, a knife.

 

[Q9]

The law allows pump action shotguns but I don't know about semi-automatics. Semi-automatic rifles are legal but I have yet to see a high capacity magazine so, perhaps, there is a limit/. I need to investigate.

It's unlikely that we would get involved in a major shootout so more than a five shot shotgun would be unnecessary, especially with the .38 handgun to hand. Intruders wouldn't be heavily armed and most would have no weapons other than, perhaps, a knife.

I know that a lot of areas, for some bizarre reason, have decided that semi-auto shotguns are bad, even though the number of "sporting uses" is ridiculously high.

.38s are good - I like revolvers. They're accurate, reliable, and get the job done. That said, I would prefer to have a bigger magazine in a handgun; while I don't anticipate a home invader being heavily armed (if they think nobody's home, they're probably going to have a crowbar at most), it's the possibility of more than one that concerns me. Stress would tend to make one rather inaccurate, which is why I would prefer a shotgun over anything, with a high-capacity weapon being a second. It stinks that we can't have the barrels on our shotguns shorter than 18 inches. It would make them much handier indoors.

By the way, you may want to look into getting a light. There are incredibly bright flashlights that can attach to the fore-grip on a shotgun and can be activated by a finger, which gives you the advantage of both seeing an intruder and the intruder not being able to see a darn thing. That, combined with the sound of a shotgun racking, will dramatically decrease the likelihood of actually needing to fire the gun, which is the ideal situation (aside from not being invaded in the first place, of course).

 

[thaiturkey]

I know that a lot of areas, for some bizarre reason, have decided that semi-auto shotguns are bad, even though the number of "sporting uses" is ridiculously high.

.38s are good - I like revolvers. They're accurate, reliable, and get the job done. That said, I would prefer to have a bigger magazine in a handgun; while I don't anticipate a home invader being heavily armed (if they think nobody's home, they're probably going to have a crowbar at most), it's the possibility of more than one that concerns me. Stress would tend to make one rather inaccurate, which is why I would prefer a shotgun over anything, with a high-capacity weapon being a second. It stinks that we can't have the barrels on our shotguns shorter than 18 inches. It would make them much handier indoors.

By the way, you may want to look into getting a light. There are incredibly bright flashlights that can attach to the fore-grip on a shotgun and can be activated by a finger, which gives you the advantage of both seeing an intruder and the intruder not being able to see a darn thing. That, combined with the sound of a shotgun racking, will dramatically decrease the likelihood of actually needing to fire the gun, which is the ideal situation (aside from not being invaded in the first place, of course).

I think it's unlikely that an intruder here would have a gun but it's possible. It's more likely that a couple of youths would try to break in though the security with bolt cutters. My aim in having a gun indoors is to prevent them from getting close to us. My first call would be the handgun. If I saw them on the land, I'd go for the shotgun.

We are to have motion activate flood lights set up some that we would have early warning and intruders would be illuminated but we would not. A flashlight on the gun is something I would also consider for the reasons you state.

I agree that deterrent is better than having a corpse in the house. The sound of a pump action racking would certainly serve that purpose. We also have some close range self-defence equipment that would easily disable someone. A death or serious injury would involve hours of conversation with the police and I would do my best to avoid that.

 

[bakerjw]

Just to add. If you see a shadow in a hallway at night 20 feet away, You have a much better chance at hitting the center mass with a shotgun with a straight bore than you do a handgun. The farther away, the greater chance of a hit as the pattern opens up. That's my reason for shotguns.

Glad I could be of some assistance.