Normal Capacity
By Mitch Berg
One of the more comical moments in this past winter’s debates at the capitol over the various gun grab bills was when Representative Heather Martens, introducing her bill copied and pasted from Andrew Cuomo’s magazine ban bill, informed a crowd full of experienced shooters that (I’m paraphrasing closely here):
Nobody needs more than seven rounds for self-defense. Experts say the Colt .45 is the best gun for self-defense, and it holds seven rounds
Hopefully the Colt marque will survive Rep. Martens’ endorsement. The Colt 1911 is indeed a fine self-defense gun. It’s also a hard gun for casual self-defense shooters to master; it’s big, and heavy, and it’s a single action piece with three safeties, any one of which the owner may bobble in the heat of the moment. And – this is more important – it was designed to be used by guys in an army; when the lieutenant fires his seventh shot, he’ll have other guys in the platoon to cover him while he reloads.
But that’s getting ahead of ourselves.
Joe Doakes sent me this one. It’s an attempt to answer the question “who really needs more than seven rounds?”
The answer? Anyone who values survival:
It’s a dramatization, of course – but it reflects reality:
From metropolitan Philadelphia, PA to tiny Wilmer, AL, to North Woodmere, Long Island, NY, to Suitland, MD, and Pine Township, IN, home invaders are nowcommonly showing up in teams of 2-4 violent, armed criminals, willing to murder you and your family to get what the want.
Because self-defense shooting isn’t like the movies. One hit doesn’t throw the target across the room – in fact if they’re drunk or high or dissociative, it’s entirely possible they won’t know they’ve been hit at all. There’ve been cases of people walking to ambulances after five, ten or more hits (although they may have bled out before too long).
At any rate – when anyone, whether Rep. Martens or Governor Cuomo, tells you “seven rounds is all you need!”, just remember; they got that the same place they’re going to get yesterday’s dinner after the press conference.
May 7th, 2013 at 7:46 am
Perhaps others have, but I have never heard an M1911 referred to as a “Colt 45” by anyone who knew anything whatsoever about guns.
May 7th, 2013 at 11:19 am
What my fellow “bubba” says. When I hear Colt 45, I’m thinking the six shot revolver, which makes Martens’ rant even funnier.
I’ll also paraphrase our host. When someone, be it Martens or Gov. Cuomo, tells you seven rounds is all you need, five will get you ten they’ve got a bodyguard whose weapon holds at least fifteen.
May 7th, 2013 at 11:30 am
I had a 1911.
It’s heavy. Can’t hit anything over about 25′ away. They are heavy, and not designed to fit the hands of an average woman. Also, if you put your thumb in the wrong place, the slide will take it off when you fire.
May 7th, 2013 at 12:50 pm
Indeed the M1911 is not for everone, but then I don’t know of one gun that is. That’s why the manufactures have many different offerings today so that each can find something that works and shoots well for them. I’m a huge advocate of the larger capacity mags for the folks that want them. My choice is the M1911A1, and I own and carry them whether full size, commander size, or officer size. The officer size is my preferred choice for carry because it small and narrow and conceals very well (note: It’s a 6 + 1 capacity). With some practice I’ve become very capable of putting multiple consecutive magazines of bullets all in the COM of a target at 25 yds. I’d like to practice more because it’s very enjoyable, sadly today ammo is tough to find.
May 7th, 2013 at 4:31 pm
It really is Groundhog Day around here. We gun-nuts went through this years ago. At the risk of starting flame wars, let me refresh some memories to help us understand the homeowner in the video . . .
The 6-shot .38 Special was the revolver of choice for generations of cops while the 7+1 .45 ACP was the standard military weapon. Things changed after the North Hollywood shootout in 1997 when two guys with full-auto weapons and body armor shot up eleven cops carrying .38 SPL revolvers. Cops wanted more protection so immediately looked to a military solution. But the .45 ACP grip is large for small hands, for example, female police officers, carries too few rounds for people whose job is to run toward gunfire, has weird safeties and weighs a ton. It’s fine if you’ve shot it 40 years as I have, but let’s be honest, it’s a 19th Century design.
Initial solution: Beretta in 9mm, the new military weapon. No more stopping power than the old .38 SPL “widow-maker” but carries a Lot more of them. The “standard” magazine size became 15. Still a large grip for small folk.
FBI solution (after they got over the mutant 10mm experiment): Glock Model 22 or 23 in .40 S&W. Smaller grip and lighter weight than .45 or Beretta, stupid-simple to operate, 13-15 rounds and with the right loads, acceptable stopping power.
Modern practice: Most cops carry .40 S&W or 9mm made by a variety of manufacturers with the new standard size magazines being about 15 rounds; some military special forces carry .45 ACP. Any of them would be perfectly acceptable against the attackers in the video.
This homeowner’s problem is he lives where he’s limited to a seven-round mag so by the time he stops the first attack, he’s out of the fight. He’s a normal guy, not a big bruiser, so he’s holding the largest caliber pistol he can safely operate (looks like 9mm or maybe .380) and he puts every round on target. His rounds do eventually stop the attack; he just doesn’t have enough rounds to deal with all the attackers. That’s why the magazine capacity limitation is not only unconstitutional, but dangerous.
Home defense weaponry produces more religiously held beliefs than any topic other than abortion. I’ve poured out the gasoline. Go to it, guys.
May 7th, 2013 at 8:07 pm
Guns are like shoes. Many styles, purposes and preferences. The same with gunowners. There are many different reasons to own one, various abilities (and disabilities), skill levels, mental capacities, and physical variations to accomodate.
Anyone who can claim to know what the “ideal” weapon for someone they do not know well is is an idiot.
You guys forgot “Double-Barrel” Biden. I rest my case.