JAB

+1. Also, I think the whole 'fanny pack' thing is overstated. There are a lot of tourists who come to East Tennessee to visit the GSMNP, etc. Go to Gatlinburg or up to Cades Cove sometime and I'd bet you will see a lot more fanny packs than there are people carrying. Personally, although I know a lot of folks consider them 'geeky', I kind of like using them. I hate having a lot of stuff in my pockets and used a waist pack/fanny pack or whatever you want to call it off and on for years before I ever started carrying a gun whenever I needed to carry more stuff than I wanted in my pocket. The OP was fun to look at but I think it is likely that was created before the commonality of cell phones, iPods and other stuff that folks carry in pockets, on belts, etc. and would be prone to check, adjust, hold in place while running and so on.

I recently saw a silver one in Lenoir City. I thought it was a great looking truck and honestly the grill might be my favorite part. It looks even better in blue. Congratulations!

I live closer to Knoxville but my wife and I like going to Chattanooga. Here are some things we like to do when we make the drive down: The aquarium is a must see if you haven't. I like it better than Ripley's, myself. You could probably spend the better part of a day there - several hours, anyway. I love the Chickamauga Battlefield park. My late, paternal grandparents and my maternal grandfather and late step-grandmother lived on Lookout Mountain (my paternal grandfather still lives there) and we often drove through the Battlefield Park when going to visit when I was a kid and I still like going back, now. I like going up in the watch tower (back off of the main road) and the museum is cool. If it is still there, just outside the Battlefield is a little restaurant called 'My Place'. A few years ago they celebrated fifty years in business in that location but I do know that the owner was trying to sell. I've never eaten there, as far as I recall, but we used to stop there and get milkshakes when I was a kid. My mom's step grandad took her there for milkshakes when she was a kid. It's been a year or so since I last took my wife there but at the time they still had great milkshakes. The standout about them was that you could get flavors like banana, cherry or peanut butter that not just every place has, now. Academy Sports has some good prices, especially on their store brand of ammo (Monarch) and often seems to have some good sales on firearms. Sportsman's Warehouse is a bit more pricey (maybe not as bad a Gouger Mountain but not cheap) but it is still worth a look-see. SW is the only place in the area that I found Buffalo Bore 180 grain hardcast rounds for my .357. In fact, I don't think I have seen any Buffalo Bore on the shelves anywhere else and I checked many, different shops from Knoxville to Chattanooga and points between (I really don't like to order anything online unless there is no choice.) They also had a few, different Marlin 925M models in stock at a time when I couldn't find one anywhere else (so I bought one there.) I haven't been to any of the smaller, independent shops that folks have mentioned because it is always Saturday when we go and I seem to get there about 20 minutes after they close. Chattanooga has some good restaurants. Honestly, while K-Town has some pretty good places, I think the 'nooga foodie scene has it all over Knoxville. The Curry Pot is a little Indian restaurant next to a Pakistani/Indian grocery in a little strip mall off of Lee Highway. If you like Indian, the food there is great and it is one of the few places I have seen beef dishes on the menu at an Indian restaurant. We ordered off of the menu but they had a decent sized buffet and there were lots of Indian/Pakastani folks in there eating the buffet (in fact, when we were there it was pretty busy and we were one of only two tables of people that didn't appear to be of Indian or Pakastani heritage.) There is another Indian restaurant in the same shopping center as Sportsman's Warehouse but we haven't tried it (looks a little 'fancier' than Curry Pot, just looking through the window.) There is also a Korean restaurant in the shopping center with SW but we haven't tried it, either. The City Cafe Restaurant that DaddyO mentioned is also good. I believe the location he is talking about is part of a hotel (a Day's Inn, iirc) and is kind of close to McKay's Used Books (another place we like to go - maybe more than the one in Knoxville.) We ate at the City Cafe Restaurant (I jokingly call it The City Cafe Restaurant Bar and Grill because 'cafe restaurant' is a bit redundant) a couple of times before they were posted but I haven't been since the sign went up. They have some Greek dishes as well as other food. My wife got beef stroganoff there one night (it was the special of the day, I believe) and it was a huge bowl of beef and pasta with a rich, delicious sauce. Last time we ate there, Sweet Basil was a great place for Thai but we haven't been there in a year or two. We went to Hillbilly Willy's once. Pretty good barbecue, probably better than any of the other barbecue joints mentioned, IMO, but be aware that it is posted - or it was when we went. It was one of those stupid 'clear' stickers among a group of such stickers on the front door (or maybe window - can't remember, exactly.) That might have discouraged me from going but we had driven down largely to try the place after my wife found it while doing a search for barbecue restaurants online (I like trying different barbecue places.) Around Hamilton Place, we really like The Acropolis. It is the only 'Greek' restaurant of which I am aware in East Tennessee (other places have Greek dishes on the menu but most don't call themselves Greek restaurants.) My wife loves the Tyropita and they have sort of a Greek sampler plate that is good (although I don't care for taramasalata so I ask to substitute extra dolmathes, instead.) I also liked J. Alexander's a lot the times I have been (both in Nashville and the one near Hamilton Place in 'nooga) but, again, we haven't been there in a few years. I've only been to Cheeburger Cheeburger once. It wasn't bad but wasn't anything special, IMO. I probably wouldn't go back unless we were with someone who was just dying to go. For pricey burgers, I like Red Robin much better (not sure if there is one in Chattanooga - we have been to the RR in Knoxville.) Smoky Bones was unimpressive. Sticky Fingers is okay but nothing to write home about. Sugars also isn't bad but didn't particularly stand out, IMO. I went there to try the lamb ribs (they called them Baaaaad to the Bone) but that was just after they stopped having them so it could be that my disappointment with that influenced how much I liked it. In the interest of full disclosure, I am picky when it comes to smoked meat/barbecue. I have only ever found one that I liked better than my own - it was in Cleveland, TN and was called Phil's Country Biscuit and Barbecue to Go and is, unfortunately, no longer in business afaik - and only a couple that I like as well as mine. I've been told that Blue Orleans, downtown, is pretty good by people whose taste I trust but haven't been there, myself. As I haven't been able to imbibe as much since my health issues last year, I haven't been out looking for good beer selections, lately. That said, for beer selection (as in take home, not served on premises) the Riverside Beverage Company on Manufacturer's Road had a pretty nice selection the last time I was there.

The barbecue beef sandwich looks like a Vegemite Pop Tart. The pepperoni one looks like a stick of pepperoni shoved into a Pop Tart. When the advertising pictures of a product look disgusting, I'll pass. Now, that tactical bacon, on the other hand... I haven't tried it but I wonder how long it would 'keep'. I know that, before refrigeration was common, folks would make balls of pork sausage, fry them then put them in canning jars in their own grease. Apparently, the sausage would remain good for a long time that way (sounds like sort of a combination canned/confit treatment.) So many people recommend stocking up on dried beans for SHTF food. I'd get so tired of beans after just a few days I wouldn't care if I survived or not. Throw in a little bacon with those beans, however, and things just got a whole lot more tolerable. Get some Emergency Cornbread and some Survival Onion going with it, maybe a couple of captured Cayenne pepper pods and I'd call it a pretty good supper!

Last year we took a cruise with ports of call in the New England states and Canada. It departed from the docks at Red Hook in New York City (kinda cool because I have pics of the Statue of Liberty from the ship as we departed.) We went up a little early and spent the night before departure in NYC. Anyhow, I knew I wouldn't be able to carry on the ship or in NYC so I left the gun at home. I did wonder about carrying pepper spray (not on the ship, obviously, but just for the trip.) What I was able to find indicated to my non-lawyer mind that even carrying pepper spray had the potential for causing problems. The spray I have is Sabre - which is supposedly what NYPD carries - so I figured the brand would be 'safe' to carry if carrying pepper spray were allowed there. IIRC, carrying spray is supposedly legal but there was something about you had to have bought the spray in New York or [maybe] an adjacent state, etc. I guess NYC wants to make sure that there are no 'on the job' risks for their criminal element. To be truthful, however, it was more stressful driving a full-size conversion van in NYC traffic (the GPS took us through downtown Manhattan to get to our hotel in Queens) than walking around without my gun. New Yorkers can have the friggin' place, as far as I am concerned.

Only what you see, pal.

Heh, a friend of my wife's is gay. Honestly, he's a pretty cool guy (likes to do weekend long backpack hiking trips, etc. likes four wheel drive trucks and could very possibly kick my ass.) If you didn't 'know' then you probably wouldn't 'know' - he doesn't hide it but doesn't flaunt it, either. Anyhow, my wife mentioned one day that he had said on Facebook (I don't belong to Facebook and have no desire) that he was getting his HCP. I asked if he said what he plans to carry. She said that he already had a handgun but really wanted a Kimber .45 for carry.

I remember a time, however, when at least the majority of LEOs could do that while still remaining friendly and respectful. Some still can and do. The problem, to my mind, is the increasing militarization of our civilian police forces. Instead of being a 'culture' where public service and being part of the greater community is the dominant attitude, many times the current 'culture' seems geared more toward acting like an occupying military force or, maybe, prison guards who consider us all 'inmates'. This might be a proper attitude for a SWAT team (of which there are far too many which are used far too often, IMO) but not for a traffic cop.

I'm with you on the idea that the story he told isn't the real story. I don't think he shot himself, though. His being shot in the ankle makes me think this was drug/gang related. After all, how the heck would you shoot someone in the ankle when they are more or less just standing there unless the ankle was your target? From what I've seen on some of those 'gang' documentaries, bangers have taken to shooting each other in the leg so that they can say they 'busted a cap in his ass' whilst taking less risk of killing the guy (because they don't want a murder charge.) Taking the story at face value, however, he's claiming that he pulled over after a verbal/'sign language' altercation when there were two guys in the other vehicle vs. him, alone. Stopping, period, would be stupid. Stopping when you are outnumbered two to one would be downright idiotic.

Interesting article and thanks for posting the link. As I said, I had no doubt that the 9mm is more powerful. Unlike the author of that piece, however, I still don't believe that puts the .380 out of the game. As I said, before, I'll carry something 'bigger' a lot of the time but won't feel unarmed with a .380. Also, in the interest of 'full disclosure', I've been carrying my 642 more than the P3AT lately when a pocket rocket is desired. This is partly because the .38 +P is likely a little more powerful than the .380. Still, the P3AT does have the advantage of having two more rounds on board plus being faster (a relative term in this case) to reload. There are reasons other than pure 'horsepower' that go into the decision to carry .380 instead of 9mm in a small auto. One reason I stick with a .380 for a pocket auto is that I just have this nagging concern that .380 is already pushing the design envelope for reliability with such a small pistol (more full disclosure - I am much more a revolver guy and, irrational as it may be, still have trouble fully trusting any semiauto, especially small ones and the only reason I own a small semi, at all, is that they are so much lighter and flatter than wheelguns.) I also have concerns about my ability to present something larger from a pocket draw quickly and effectively. If I am going to carry anything bigger/heavier than the P3AT, I'd not want to pocket carry it and had might as well step on up to my P95. Seriously, I had a small 9mm (a Kel Tec P11) and carried/shot it quite a bit. I tried to convince myself otherwise but the truth is that I never liked it all that much. It was not a pocket gun, for me, and required a belt holster to carry. Eventually, I discovered that I could conceal the P95 (on my build) at least 95% as well as the P11 so it made the P11 extraneous. Another factor is the controllability issue. My hands are plenty strong (I can fire full-house .357 loads out of a snubbie one-handed, at least with my strong hand, and hit more or less where I am aiming) but I have nearly square palms with relatively short, thick fingers. For some reason, this makes getting a good grip on a smaller pistol a bit difficult (although, like I said, I can grip small revolvers just fine.) The result is that, having shot them side-by-side on more than one occasion, I know that I shot and shoot the P3AT much better than I ever shot the P11. I can only imagine that disparity in control would increase with a 9mm that is even closer in size to the P3AT.

Well, if that is the crux of our debate then we have no debate. I believe that ballistics do matter. Where the difference comes in is we have differing opinions on the level at which the ballistics are 'enough'. I happen to believe that for me, given the area where I live and the most likely threats (of a group of very unlikely threats) I would face, .380 ballistics would be enough to serve me - in a practical application - just as well as a 9mm, etc. That doesn't mean I don't recognize the ballistic differences. I just don't think the differences between .380 ballistics and 9mm ballistics, for instance, are going to be the difference between whether the threat is stopped or not (which is why I believe that if a .380 fails to stop a threat then a 9mm would likely have failed to stop the threat, also.) As I said, before, that doesn't mean I don't like to 'hedge my bets' and carry a larger caliber and/or higher capacity gun and I often do so. To me, comparing a .380 to 'service calibers' is like comparing a Corvette and a Honda Civic. Of course the Corvette is more powerful but the Civic is just as capable of performing the desired task of getting you to your destination. Of course you'd probably rather drive the Corvette - as would I - but the Civic still has its place and there is nothing wrong with having both. Heck, you might even drive the Civic more than the Corvette for reasons that have nothing to do with horsepower comparisons. I, too, have my ballistic/caliber limits. I wouldn't carry a .22 Short for SD as long as I had a ballistically superior option that I could safely and competently operate. Same goes for a .22LR handgun. Heck, I own a NAA mini in .22 'Magnum' that I use for a BUG, sometimes (and sometimes when I am being lazy it might be the only thing on me when I am at home) but I wouldn't want to rely on it as a primary carry gun. For that matter, as long as I have a choice, I wouldn't even carry a Kel Tec PMR30 as anything more than an around-the-yard/woods gun I don't care if it does have a 30+1 capacity. I also think that there are factors that become more and more important as you go down the caliber chain. Ammo selection is one of those factors. For instance, when I carry a .357 for SD against potential attack by human assailants, I am fine with Winchester White Box or Remington UMC 125 grain JHPs from Walmart. I've fired plenty of them, they go 'bang', are accurate and it's a .357 for Pete's sake. When I carry a .38, however, I want premium SD ammo. I concern myself even more with what ammo to carry in my P3AT. Currently, I carry Hydrashoks in it (after testing for reliable function, etc.) specifically because from what I have seen they tend to expand a little but not a lot (probably due to being 'old tech' hps) so that they penetrate more deeply than many .380 loads.

Very well said. I mean, the very name 'hate crime' is idiotic. Maybe it happens but I just can't imagine there are all that many instances of someone beating someone else to a bloody pulp because they just like the victim so damn much. I'll also add that I noticed he mentioned the LBGT unit of the police department. WHAT? There is a specific unit for that? So, is there a black unit? An Hispanic unit? Is there a pissed off, heterosexual white guy unit? All that said, more power to this guy for writing this up. The more people/groups we have supporting the right of law abiding citizens to carry firearms for personal protection, the better. Unfortunately, I can see dumbass politicians in areas where carry is either not legal or very difficult passing laws that LGBT folks, along with a few other, special groups can carry because they may be targeted for hate crimes but that regular old, straight white guys still don't need to carry guns.

As someone else already said, when I first started carrying if I was carrying a revolver I didn't even think about it. I was plenty comfortable with firearms but didn't have a lot of experience with semiauto handguns so I wasn't entirely comfortable, at first, carrying my P3AT with one in the chamber. This was partly because of it being a semiauto and partly because it was [is] pocket carried a lot (in a pocket holster.) It took me a few times carrying it without one in the chamber and realizing that it hadn't 'fired' on an empty chamber - and realizing that, for all practical purposes, the DAO trigger/hammer fired setup on the P3AT was very much like that of a revolver - before I was comfortable carrying with one in the chamber. All that said, I prefer DAO or DA/SA, hammer fired pistols. I guess it is because I am still largely a revolver guy at heart and am more comfortable with a DA trigger, at least for the first pull. I don't own any striker fired guns and still don't think I'd buy a striker fired gun for carry. That isn't because I believe they are inherently 'unsafe' but simply because I am not that experienced or comfortable with them and there are too many other options without having to go striker fired. Pretty much the same thing goes for carrying SA semiautos and carrying 'cocked and locked'. It has worked perfectly well for plenty of people for a long time - I'm just not interested in carrying one. That isn't even to say I wouldn't own a striker fired or SAO semiauto, just that I wouldn't feel comfortable carrying either (and, again, that has everything to do with my preferences/comfort level and nothing to do with the guns, themselves.) The point of all that is to say that it may take some time to get comfortable carrying with one in the chamber. However, if you don't ever get comfortable doing so with your current carry gun, you might want to consider a different platform with which you'd be more comfortable.

Why would I bother posting it if I didn't believe it? Why would I own a .380 and have it in my carry rotation if I didn't believe it would do its job? That doesn't mean I don't like to 'hedge my bets' and carry something bigger, sometimes. Now, a question for you: Why do you and others get so bent out of shape when some folks say that they have decided that X caliber is what they want to carry? No one is saying you can't carry whatever you want. No one even seems to take offense at the idea that you might carry something 'bigger'. So why, then, are you so offended when others say that they feel comfortable carrying X for self defense? I am reminded of another subject upon which you and I agreed, IIRC - the subject of carrying a BUG. Simply suggest that you might carry a BUG, sometimes, and some folks start telling you how ridiculous that is, etc. Why do they even think it is any of their business what someone else chooses to carry? The same question applies in this thread.

Ummm...did you miss the part where I said, "Hopefully...?" That means that such is the wished-for outcome. That doesn't mean it is the guaranteed outcome or even necessarily the expected outcome. Maybe I should simplify: I don't ever want to be forced to use any weapon on anyone. I also hope that no one else, here, has to do so. In fact, I hope we all reach the end of long and happy lives without the need to do so. That said, regardless of what you or anyone else think, if I find myself in such a situation and am armed only with a .380 I have every confidence that use of said .380 will end with the encounter every bit as 'stopped' as if I had been carrying my 9mm, .357 or any other commonly carried caliber. How in the heck do you get from that statement that I'm saying there isn't a good reason to carry? I also hope I don't ever have to use car insurance but that doesn't mean I don't have it or that I see no reason for having it.

You are still missing the crucial portion of my post whereby the fetus - instead of being late-term aborted - is removed from the woman's womb and placed into an incubator. We aren't talking about pre-natal care. We aren't talking about visits to the OBGYN. We are talking about an entirely different idea and I am talking only about cases where the pregnancy is late term before the woman decides to abort. Further, while there may be a 'list' of people who want to adopt perfectly formed, healthy babies, I highly doubt that people are lining up to adopt crack babies, meth babies, babies with severe mental and/or physical disabilities, severe birth defects and so on.

Actually, I did read the article. Did you actually read my post? By 'medical expenses', I wasn't talking about someone adopting the child after the mother is forced to carry it to term. I was talking about - in lieu of late term abortions - get someone to pay the expenses of having the fetus removed by c-section and placed into an incubator (removing the factor of forcing the woman to keep the fetus inside her body against her will.) In other words, it isn't about destroying the fetus. It is about no one having the right to tell a woman that she has to keep anything inside her body she doesn't want there.

Yeah, okay. Whatever. Hopefully we will both be lying on our death beds a long time from now, getting ready to succumb to old age, and looking back on how we never had to use those guns we were so concerned about carrying.

Get someone (maybe one of those 'pro-life' groups needs to put their money where their mouth is) to pay for the baby's medical care, take the fetus by C-section and keep it alive in an 'incubator' until it can breathe, etc. on its own and I'd see no problem with it. Still, though, no one has the right to tell the woman that she must keep the fetus inside her body. If you truly do not see the difference in the two scenarios then discussing this with you, at all, is pointless. If you are simply creating a straw man argument then discussing this with you is likewise pointless. Either way, discussing this with you would be pointless and so I will not. Well, as for me, I have not been a part of any pregnancy, wanted or not. I was not and am not the kind of guy who bed hops and my wife and I have no kids. That said, you have no right to say that your morality must be everyone's morality.

Yeah, bottom line is that if the assailant hasn't shown himself to be armed and I don't believe the guy is really capable of harming me and is, in fact, going to harm me then he isn't getting my wallet. If I do believe he is really going to harm me or one of my loved ones (i.e. presents a reasonable threat of death or serious, bodily injury) then what do I have to lose by at least making an attempt to defend? That is, of course, a general statement made from the comfort of not having a gun pointed at me and might vary depending on the specific situation but it reflects my overall mindset. Years ago, some of my family and I went to Chicago to visit one of my paternal great-uncles. His son, my second cousin, showed me a scar on his cheek and one on his upper palate, inside his mouth. He was just walking down the street one day when two guys who were walking the other direction stopped and one asked him for a smoke. Well, he gave the guy a smoke and they all kept going their respective directions - except the two guys turned around and came up behind him. One of them pulled a knife and demanded his wallet. He handed it over. However, he made it a habit to carry as little cash as possible so only had a couple of bucks on him. Well, the one with the knife looked in the wallet and said something on the order of, "You know, it's a damned shame I'm going to have to kill you for a lousy two bucks." At that point, he moved to stab my cousin and my cousin grabbed his arm. They were wrestling around over the knife (all the while, the knife-wielder's accomplice was yelling for his buddy just to let my cousin go and come on and get the hell out of there.) Finally, my cousin realized that he was going to have to do something else to get away. Problem was that he is left handed so it was his dominant hand he was using to hold the wrist of his assailant's knife-wielding hand. He made the decision to let go, hit the guy as hard as he could and try to use the time when the scumbag was distracted to get away. So, he let go of the guy's hand, punched the guy and got stabbed in the face - through his cheek and up into the roof of his mouth - for his troubles. At that point, the other scumbag convinced the knife-wielder (who probably thought he had just murdered my cousin) to get out of there. Had my cousin lived where he could legally carry and had he been carrying even a pocket pistol (which might actually be the easiest thing to deploy in such a situation after feigning going for your wallet), I expect he wouldn't have been sporting those scars. Now, Tennessee is not Chicago but my point is that despite the fact that my cousin cooperated fully and gave the scum what they demanded, the knife-wielder was still going to kill him and my cousin still ended up getting stabbed in the face. That is what comes to my mind when someone says, "But what if they just want your wallet and would then leave you alone?" Of course, my second thought is, "So? What the hell right do they have to my wallet, much less to threaten my life to get it?"

But neither is going to physically stop a determined attacker through energy transfer and both will make holes to let the air in and blood out - and not 'icepick' like holes such as a .22 would, possibly, produce. Further, in the 'tests' of which I am aware, with the right ammo even a short-barreled .380 like the P3AT is capable of giving penetration results of 12 inches or greater. Just how thick an assailant do you think you will face?

Yes, I am absolutely serious. Again, I'm talking about the 'garden variety' lowlife not the crack-addled male silverback gorilla member of MS13 from the planet Krypton that some folks apparently encounter while going about their daily lives. Well, my health isn't the best it has ever been - had some heart issues (cause unknown) last year but that doesn't really have that much to do with it. Honestly, it is just that my normal body temp is higher than average so I am more prone to heat-related sickness at lower temps. That has been a lifelong issue, for me. The trade off is that I am perfectly comfortable wearing short sleeves or maybe a windbreaker when others are shivering in heavy overcoats. My point was that heat-related sickness (which is of greater concern since I have had the heart issues) is a much more likely 'threat' for me than an uber-criminal bent on killing me with no regard for injury to themselves.

To me, the bottom line is that no one has the right to tell the woman that she has to keep anything in her body that she doesn't want there. Come up with an artificial womb and things might be different. Until then, no rhetorical convolutions change the fact that if the fetus cannot survive autonomously outside of the woman's body then it is not an autonomous 'life' and, therefore, the mother's right to determine whether or not she continues to carry it inside her body holds sway regardless of whatever 'but it has it's own DNA' arguments Mr. Adams might want to make.

Physics? You mean like for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction - meaning that if any handgun (or any hand or shoulder fired gun, period) had the power to knock someone down by sheer projectile force alone then the recoil would put the shooter on his butt, too? And the laws of reality say that it doesn't matter what gun I am carrying if I am too busy being dizzy or puking to use it because I got too hot.

The flaw I still see in your logic is that you are positing that a 9mm, .45 or whatever you have decided the 'minimum' pistol caliber is will stop that crazy on PCP, gangbanger or meth-head. The problem is that short of maybe a .44 Magnum or bigger a person such as you describe isn't all that likely to be stopped with any handgun. To me, the advantages to carrying a 9mm over a pocket .380 or small .38 revolver are capacity and 'shootability'. I honestly don't believe that shooting someone once with a 9mm or even a .45 is any more likely to stop them than shooting once with a .380 or .38. That said, I do believe that shooting someone 10, 12 or 15 times with a 9mm is more likely to stop them than shooting that same person six or seven times with a pocket pistol (i.e. emptying a magazine into the threat.) I also believe that, under stress, good hits are more likely at ten yards or so using a larger handgun. These are the reasons I do prefer to carry larger if clothing allows (when it isn't too danged hot to wear anything more than shorts and a t-shirt.) Of course, both of these advantages may be negated by the probability that one won't even have time to empty their pocket pistol, much less a fifteen round mag and the very low likelihood that the conflict will involve ranges greater than three to five yards. There are also other factors to consider. One is that my average body temperature is 99.9 degrees Fahrenheit. That has been my average body temperature since I was a kid. This means I burn the heck up in the summer even wearing just a short-sleeved polo or t-shirt. On warmer days (and to me, warmer means anything over about 80 degrees), throw on even a loose, thin, unbuttoned cover garment and there is a good chance I will overheat and get sick if I am to be outside for very long. Except in very limited circumstances, I am not interested in open carry and IWB carry absolutely, positively does not work for me. Therefore, for me, the very slight chance that I might need to use my firearm with the even more remote chance that it will be against an assailant who won't be stopped by a .380 or a .38+P is negligible compared to the fact that carrying a larger firearm will require me to dress in such a way that I will almost certainly overheat and be sick (dizzy, nauseous, etc.) Therefore, it all comes down to threat assessment. For me, in the area where I live, the threat of heat-related illness or injury in warmer months is much more realistic than the almost infinitesimal chance that I will encounter the storied psychotic male silverback gorilla on crack that will only laugh at my P3AT or my 642 because getting shot with it tickles so much. In cooler months - when the possibility of heat-related illness isn't a concern - then, yeah most of the time that I can carry I'll carry a bigger gun in either a larger caliber or higher capacity (or both.) In the summer, however, for me it isn't about comparing a really small handgun to a full-size, larger caliber handgun. Instead, it is about comparing carrying a really small handgun to not carrying, at all.