1 Well, you are all making the same great point, but oversimplifying just slightly. The whole point to a gun is its stopping power--and, preferably, its value as a deterrent, which keeps the perp from even GETTING that close. What none of the gun control advocates want to admit is that (1) a sidearm will be harder for an attacker to turn against me than a long gun, and (2) If this perp is so good that he can wrest my gun away from me, motion-picture-style, before I can even give him a significant owie, I'm fucked anyway--probably in both senses of the word. Raped, killed, and with my organs in his freezer waiting for the right side-dish. (Now, what would happen to this guy [should I die by his hand] once my husband, my readers, my uncle, my brother, my little sister, and--especially--my mother--found him does not bear contemplating. At that point, I would have gotten the best of the situation. There are worse things than having one's organs eaten with fava beans and a nice chianti.)

2 Of course we talk around each other! That's what the Net is for. I wanted to stress getting in the proper frame of mind to actually use the weapon, not just wave it around. That's a big step and one you have to be prepared for.