Originally Posted by
boscobarbell
Statistically, most gun fights occur at very close distances. An encounter beyond the 7-10 yard range is about as likely as getting hit by lightning while falling off a cliff. Take LEO encounters out of the stats (because they often HAVE to enter the encounter, whereas civilians can simply retreat, observe, and report) and it is almost statistically immeasurable.
So I wholeheartedly agree with you. If you've got a gun that is reliable and fairly accurate at 10 yards, you've got yourself an EDC keeper.
Agree also witht to caliber. With today's advances, a .380 is more than viable for an EDC round. Caliber snobs will always call for bigger bullets, but the reality is that we're ALL dealing with compromised weapons. If we knew with absolute certainty that we were going to get into a gunfight on a particular day, we'd all carry a carbine…with a shotgun as backup. So opting for a pistol is always a compromise, and the ballistic differences amongst .380/9/40/45, while measurable, really vanish in terms of real-world effectiveness when you factor in multiple hits on target. So train, train, train, learn to hit center mass with multiple rounds when it counts. And, if age and physical conditions allow, practice shooting on the move and getting to concealment/cover, because no matter what you throw at your bad guy, getting shot in return will ruin your whole day.