imported post
Uh-oh... here we go with the "don't carry too effective of a round or it's a legal liability".
I want to stop a threat. I don't want the threat shooting back while in the process of being stopped. It's that simple. Yes, single-shot stopping power is largely mythical, but I will carry the round that will give me the best chance at stopping the threat with one shot, and that I can practice with readily enough to ensure I get a shot on-target. I will not rely on a second shot to get the job done because... like I said, I don't want to get shot back.
Not to mention that playing the "what looks best to a jury" game is more of an intellectual (and I use that term loosely) exercise than a practical application. Just carrying a gun can be seen as "looking for trouble". If you want to make sure that the prosecution won't spin your actions as excessive force, you must make sure to use no weapons at all, not even improvised weapons, not even a handful of coins to throw in the attacker's face. Just your bare hands. And only if you never exercised or weight trained in your life, lest you be labeled as "trying to be like Bruce Lee." In fact, you should probably not even try to fight back or defend yourself, since then the jury will think you're some sort of vigilante. If you're a woman and getting raped, you better act like you enjoy it, or else the jury might think you're a feminist activist who doesn't like sex. But I digress. Yes, a prosecutor can use your choice of caliber against you... but if he can't do that, he'll use the testimony from a high school teacher who didn't like you, or the fact that you rented Unforgiven from Blockbuster the week before. But IANAL.
So, that'll be a .44 Magnum for me, then. :celebrate
