I have some medical stats in my 1974 Chicago-Kent L Rev. article. Quite dated by now, but, yes, the shotgun had a considerably higher death rate. Consider that a .410 slug would be considered laughable by most shotgunners, but as I recall in terms of energy it's right up there with a .44 Mag.
Consider also... how do you use a shotgun while opening a door to see who's outside? And moving into a room, how do you keep someone just inside the door from grabbing the barrel? -----Original Message----- >From: Charles Curley <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Sent: Feb 5, 2008 7:00 PM >To: "Volokh, Eugene" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Cc: [email protected] >Subject: Re: Good discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of >shotguns vs. handguns for self-defense > >On Tue, Feb 05, 2008 at 10:24:35AM -0800, Volokh, Eugene wrote: >> Can anyone please point me to a good discussion of the >> advantages and disadvantages of shotguns vs. handguns for self-defense? >> The more specific the cite, the better. Many thanks, > >Unfortunately, I don't have a cite for this one. When I took my >classes to be certified as an instructor by the NRA, the instructor >said that the chances of someone dieing when shot by: > >handgun 50% >rifle 70% >shotgun 90% > >Obviously those are very rough values. They suggest that shooting an >assailant with a handgun would be more likely to leave the assailant >alive. Does anyone on the list have more accurate data with a better >provenance Eugene could use? > >Also, it has occured to me if you must call the police with a weapon >in one hand to cover the bad guy and a phone in the other, a handgun >is a lot safer than a shotgun. I've tested this on the range with >empty weapons, and prefer the handgun. (Hint: put the phone down, and >use your free hand to dial.) Safer here means both preventing >accidental discharges, and being able to hit the suspect if necessary. > >-- > >Charles Curley /"\ ASCII Ribbon Campaign >Looking for fine software \ / Respect for open standards >and/or writing? X No HTML/RTF in email >http://www.charlescurley.com / \ No M$ Word docs in email > >Key fingerprint = CE5C 6645 A45A 64E4 94C0 809C FFF6 4C48 4ECD DFDB _______________________________________________ To post, send message to [email protected] To subscribe, unsubscribe, change options, or get password, see http://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/firearmsregprof Please note that messages sent to this large list cannot be viewed as private. Anyone can subscribe to the list and read messages that are posted; people can read the Web archives; and list members can (rightly or wrongly) forward the messages to others.
