[ETD]

Originally Posted by MarineHawk

IMHO, it is irresponsible for me and others to advise someone to not arm himself when the coroner goes over his dead body because he was in a fight without a weapon. Of course, he needs to be trained. Read the Armed Citizen feature in the American Rifleman. It's regulalry filled with stories of people who saved their lives by deploying a firearm against people who were threatening them annd/or their families. I've noticed that many of them are 80 year old women. certainly, most of them aren't Navy Seals or otherwise have a "background in close quarter combat."

Can not disagree with you there. You simply quoted one line in my answer but agreed with the rest of my premise based on your subsequent answers. I simply wanted to point out that unlike all the "80 years old women" (Is that really so? ) opportunistic gun slingers, young Racer-X here knowingly enters hostile territories and therefore needs to be and can be prepared better than just "carry & shoot". No disrespect meant to all the firearm experts out there (I am admittedly not a handgun user), just wanted to get a little deeper into preparation than just the generic "what's everyone's favorite handgun" question. You and others did indeed go deeper with links to Marines and Frontsight where he will hopefully learn anticipation rather than response will be the key i.e. he knows he is going into hostile territory, he knows what the hostile agents look like, he will be ready most of the time before there is a gun pointing at him from 6 feet away and won't have to find out "what is the best response when there is a gun pointed at my head". More importantly, he will know whether he will be able to take a living human down for good or whether he will choose evasion at that moment before the conflict goes down. Not everyone can kill another human being at close range and it is difficult to know if you can or not until after the first one. Training that involves thinking about and simulation of another human being's death helps. Young Racer-X may decide that after much study, it may be better for him to forgo "clients" that puts him in situations where his life or another human being's life is at risk of permanent room temperature status. IMHO, of course.