Attn: gun experts

[ETD]

Are you an obvious target? I'm sure you do not drive in the Hummer, right? Are you going in at night with your signage and tattoo's ablazing? You have survived being held at gun point several times but having a gun in those situations would have guaranteed you getting killed, IMHO (unless you have a background in close quarter combat, NOT playing around @ the shooting range, but actually shooting at living/breathing people who want to kill you). IMHO, it is irresponsible for me and others to give you advice on what would be the best gun to have in your pocket when the coroner goes over your dead body. My own advice is if you consider those situations so intrinsic in your livelihood (for civilians, I can only come up with a couple of scenarios e.g. bounty hunter and body guard) then become proficient in close quarter combat by studying with a reputable professional rather than just shopping around for firearm (is your life really worth a one time purchase of $300-$500 or a lifetime of careful and diligent study of the martial arts). Most Ninjutsu practitioners, for example, are given wide berth in otherwise hostile territories based on just the aura they project. And that's just $0.02 worth of advice. Good luck.

[MarineHawk]

Originally Posted by ETD

IMHO, it is irresponsible for me and others to give you advice on what would be the best gun to have in your pocket when the coroner goes over your dead body.

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."

[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.

[MarineHawk]

Originally Posted by ETD

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.

That's definitely one option to consider.

[ETD]

Or young Racer-X does a little mathematics and figures out that for a reasonable percentage of revenue from "war-zone client" he can afford to hire a body-guard to accompany him into the war-zone. In this way, he does not have to spend $$$ and time in preparation, does his thing with "war-zone client" (WTH does Racer -X do with these clients anyways ), and let the professional worry about the hostile forces shootin & lootin. That would be optimal utilization of resources, no?

[RIC-H0]

In the end, after all that is said and done in this posting,
It's a very personal decision...are you willing to shoot, or not!?
No one can make up your mind for you, just present you with the facts.

Either way, Be Safe!

[Racer-X]

Originally Posted by ETD

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.

First off, I'm not young

Second, as I said, normally I'm in great neighborhoods for a given client.

Let me give an example. I'm working for a mortgage broker or bank who's working on a reverse mortgage. 90% I'm in a great neighborhood, 9% scetchy and 1% of the time I'm in da hood.

The same client is literally responsible for say 30% of my companies income. Being picky about where I work and where I don't would lose me the client entirely. It's not a matter of greed, its a matter of survival for myself and my family.

Lots of careers have risks. Minimizing them is the key.

[ETD]

Originally Posted by Racer-X

First off, I'm not young
sorry (I'd love to be young myself) I guess I thought that your avatar was a self-portrait.

Second, as I said, normally I'm in great neighborhoods for a given client.

Let me give an example. I'm working for a mortgage broker or bank who's working on a reverse mortgage. 90% I'm in a great neighborhood, 9% scetchy and 1% of the time I'm in da hood.

The same client is literally responsible for say 30% of my companies income. Being picky about where I work and where I don't would lose me the client entirely. It's not a matter of greed, its a matter of survival for myself and my family.

Lots of careers have risks. Minimizing them is the key.

Ahh Soo. Then the solution is even simpler since you are a company man. The company can provide you with a body guard and write it off as a business expense. Also they should realize that they can be liable if something happens to one of their employees while on the job. It seems to me that the expense is trivial if it is only "1%" of your job that takes you into hostile territories especially if the revenue generated is 30% of bottom line. It seems that I am the lone voice advocating for professionals to do the work they are trained to do. Remember, next time you go in for surgery that there is a lot of experience behind that scalpel cutting you and not just that it is the sharpest and best made blade in the world. Owning a weapon for protection from the unknown is one thing (heck I own lots) but knowingly going into hostile territory undermanned and outgunned is another. I know that the marines (God bless them) on this forum are quite cognizant of this basic rule of engagement. They travel in great number in a very orchestrated manner inorder to succumb the enemy all over the world and throughout modern history. Looking from the otherside, the enemy in da hood are for the most part "battle-hardened" (they may be "cowards"?? but they are "battle-hardened cowards"). No way, a few classes can give you that experience. IMHO as someone who has to plug up the holes on the bodies and a student (albeit maybe a "C" student) of the art of war (Eastern). Last $0.02 I have before I defer to the shooters here.

[Ted Kennedy]

Originally Posted by ETD

... as someone who has to plug up the holes on the bodies

I bet you can't plug up the holes in my body. Heh, heh.