The Defensive Firearm: An Absolute Necessity
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| Dr. Chuck Baldwin |
As an author, columnist, radio talk show host and pastor who is outspoken in my support of the Second Amendment, I often receive inquiries from people asking for my personal preferences regarding firearms. This column is devoted to answering some of those inquiries.
I’m sure this column will not provide anything new for the firearms aficionados out there. However, we are living in a violence-prone society, and more and more people (especially ladies) who never paid much attention to guns before are sensing the need to arm themselves but often don’t know where to start. I hope this column helps these folks.
First, let me emphasize that I am not a firearms expert. And I strongly urge you to receive as much instruction and training from a firearms professional as possible. Second, when it comes to a discussion of which firearms are preferable, the suggestions are as varied as the people who proffer them.
Most people who are armed nowadays are carrying concealed. Disgustingly, some states do not allow people to legally carry open. Fortunately, that is not true here in Montana where I live, and I often carry open—as do many people in this great State. However, most of the time, I am carrying concealed, as I think it better that the bad guy not know who among his intended victims is able to shoot back. If you are planning to carry a concealed firearm, you will need to carefully consider the kind of clothing you are wearing and how the firearm will fit in with your attire. For most people, concealed carry requires firearms that are—to one degree or another—somewhat diminutive.
My personal preference for a self-defense handgun is a Glock pistol. Glock pistols are almost as simple as revolvers to operate, reliable and practically indestructible. Plus, they provide increased magazine capacity and are safe. They are also very easy to disassemble and clean. And most importantly, they go "bang" when you pull the trigger. Some ladies might find the Glock grips to be a little bulky for their hands—except for the Glock 42 and 43, which most ladies should find quite comfortable. But most women should be able to safely and confidently shoot the majority of Glock 9mm pistols.
Popular options in Glock pistols include the Glock 42 in .380 ACP; Glock 17, 19, 19X, 26, 43 and 43X in 9mm Luger (also called 9mm Parabellum or 9x19); the Glock 22, 23 and 27 in .40 Smith & Wesson; the Glock 21, 30, 30S, 36 and 41 in .45 ACP; and the Glock 20 and 29 in 10mm Auto.
When I am carrying concealed, I’m usually carrying the Glock 43X. (The older I’ve gotten the lighter my side arms have gotten. Ha. Ha.) But I also sometimes carry the Glock 19 or the Glock 30S. In my younger days, I carried the Colt Combat Commander in .45 ACP, and I still carry one (or a Kimber) when the mood strikes me. (Springfield Armory also makes good 1911s.) Who doesn’t love a 1911? However, I don’t recommend 1911 pistols for beginners.
My wife prefers to carry a Smith & Wesson .38 Special revolver in the snub-nose, J-frame configuration. This is primarily due to the reduced weight and size of these weapons for carry purposes. Plus, she just prefers a revolver over a semi-auto. And, yes, I sometimes carry a snub-nose as well.
Snub-nose revolvers generally have a poor reputation for accuracy due to their very short barrels. And the reduced 5-shot capacity turns off some people. However, 70% of self-defense fights take place at a distance of 2 yards. As such, a snub-nose is very adequate for the task. In addition, most self-defense fights are settled with 3 shots being fired, so, statistically speaking, 5 shots are normally enough to defend oneself.
I sometimes carry a Glock 42 in .380 ACP (6 shots) as a backup. When I do carry a snub-nose revolver, it is usually a Smith & Wesson 340 M&P or a Ruger LCR, which are built for the .357 Magnum and .38 Special cartridges. And when carrying the snub-nose, I’m usually loaded with .38s. The .38 Special and 9mm Luger are comparable in power.
But, honestly, the best snub-nose revolver on the market these days might be the Kimber K6s. The trigger is sweet (like Smith & Wesson triggers used to be), and it holds 6 rounds instead of 5. The K6s is an all-steel revolver and is, therefore, a little heavier than most snub-nose handguns (23 ounces empty). But the extra weight of the K6s makes shooting the .357 magnum round more comfortable than the lighter weight versions. And shooting the .38 round in the K6s is downright pleasant.
And, yes, for some people, a revolver might still be the preferred handgun. It has no external magazine to worry about losing; it is very dependable and reliable; it is easy to clean; and it is simple to operate. NYPD expert Frank McGee says the typical police gunfight conforms to a “rule of three”: 3 rounds, 3 yards and 3 seconds. So in most real-life situations, the increased firepower of a high-capacity magazine doesn't even come into play.
Of course, if confronted with multiple attackers or a heavily armed would-be mass shooter, those extended magazines in Glock and similar pistols would be much appreciated.
The most important factor in choosing a self-defense handgun is finding the one that you carry and shoot well. I shoot Glock pistols very well; and I find them comfortable to carry, which is why I usually carry them. Find the handgun that YOU shoot well. The caliber is not nearly as important as your ability to put the bullet where you want it to go.
Since I live in dangerous game territory, I will mention the need to defend oneself against a brown bear. In dangerous game territory, you will need the power of a 10mm Auto, .357 Magnum, .44 Special, .44 Magnum, .45 ACP, .45 Long Colt or even a .454 Casull. These calibers are not for the limp-wristed, but when one is facing a brown bear, it is what one will need to survive. (Bear spray is a joke.) Plus, when your life's on the line, you’ll never feel the recoil. When I’m in the woods hiking or hunting, I’m usually carrying a Glock 20 in 10mm or a Smith & Wesson 629 in .44 Magnum with a 3” barrel and the Kimber K6s in .357 Magnum as a backup.
But, truthfully, I would hate to face a brown bear (which includes the Grizzly and Kodiak) with a handgun of any caliber. These creatures are the fiercest and most formidable animals on the North American Continent (along with the Polar Bear, of course). Against a brown bear, I would hope I had a .45-70 Government rifle or a 12-gauge shotgun handy.
But I spoke with a man recently who, sadly, has had to kill several Grizzlies in his line of work, and he swears by the .357 Magnum. So there you go.
But, folks, make no mistake about this: Except against brown bears, semi-automatic rifles are the most essential tool for self-defense, which is why totalitarians in government want to ban them.
For a semiautomatic rifle, I suggest an AR-15 or Ruger Mini-14 in 5.56 NATO (they also fire the .223 Remington cartridge) or a Springfield M1A or AR-10 in .308 Winchester. My personal choice here is the AR-15. Daniel Defense makes some of the best AR rifles in the world, but they are quite pricey. Other good AR brands include Armalite, Bushmaster, Colt, Ruger, Smith & Wesson, Windham Weaponry and several others. Most ladies will find that the low recoil of an AR-15 or Mini-14 will make the rifle very pleasant to shoot. No home should be without one of these rifles.
I repeat: NO HOME SHOULD BE WITHOUT ONE—OR MORE—OF THESE RIFLES.
Of course, a 12-gauge shotgun is the premier close-range weapon. Nothing equals it. In a pump shotgun, I prefer a Winchester Model 1300, which is not made anymore. So, you’ll probably have to choose between Mossberg and Remington. In the semi-auto configuration, I prefer Mossberg shotguns. And don’t discount 20-gauge shotguns. The 20-gauge has less recoil than a 12-gauge, and at “bad breath” range (where a shotgun shines anyway), the 20-gauge is just as lethal as a 12-gauge. And for home defense, don’t overlook the double barrel shotgun. And while I often use a .410 gauge shotgun for hunting small game, I do not recommend it for self-defense.
It is also critical that no matter which firearm you decide to purchase to be sure and practice with it. The firearm you purchase is no better or worse than your ability to handle it. And be sure to stock up on ammunition (when you can find it). A gun without ammo is reduced to being either an expensive club or a cumbersome paperweight.
And always be sure to follow all of the safety rules for your firearm. The last thing any of us wants is an accidental discharge of a firearm that results in the injury or death of a loved one or friend. So, always remember that safety is job one. And rule number one is NEVER point a gun at anyone unless you are doing so in an act of self-defense. And rule number two is ALWAYS assume that a gun is loaded, which takes you back to rule number one. Plus, guns should always be kept away from children before they have been properly taught how to safely handle a firearm—which should be done as soon as possible.
I realize that there are many pastors and Christians who try to impugn the necessity of owning a firearm. These people are famous for saying things such as “God will take care of you; no one needs a gun.” Of course, these same people quickly embrace the idea that police officers should carry guns for self-defense. And should these irresponsible pastors and Christians ever find themselves facing a violent predator, they would quickly call 911 (if they had the chance) and would expect an ARMED policeman to come protect them.
I guess they never thought through the inconsistency of their belief that it’s wrong for them to provide for their own armed defense, but it’s not wrong to pay someone else (a policeman) to rush to their house and provide armed defense for them. And they are also doubtless unaware that under both Natural Law and U.S. jurisprudence, it is NOT the responsibility of policemen to protect the citizenry; it is the responsibility of the citizenry to protect itself.
Plus, I never understood why it is that Christians who are not policemen are supposed to “trust God” to take care of them and not arm themselves, but Christian police officers are somehow exempt from this same spiritual notion.
Beyond that, many pastors teach that Christians are obligated to obey civil authorities who demand that we surrender our firearms. They even try and quote Scripture to prove this preposterous position—Romans 13 most commonly.
Of course, Romans 13 does NOT teach that Christians must submit to a governing authority that would strip from us our means of Natural self-defense.
That would be like pastors and Christians submitting to a governing authority that would tell them to cancel their worship services. Oops!
As you know, Joe Biden and his Stalinesque stooges in Congress are RIGHT NOW proposing legislation to outlaw hundreds of firearms. And this is only the beginning. Their real goal is to completely disarm the American people.
For these reasons, my constitutional attorney son and I collaborated on a book that takes the Scriptures (Old and New Testaments) to prove that self-defense is not just a right under our Constitution; it is a moral obligation given us by our Creator. In the book, we show that Christians who are unwilling to defend themselves, their families and their communities have actually denied the Christian faith. We show that the Bible nowhere teaches God’s people to remain defenseless or to surrender their means of self-defense to any civil authority.
In the book, we examine the Scriptures that the “no gun” preachers use to support their lunacy and show how unbiblical these positions are. We go through both Testaments and show that our Creator has given us the obligation to defend the life He has given us. We also put to rest many of the distortions of Scripture that anti-gun preachers use to turn Christian men and women—who are created to be providers and protectors—into sheepish slaves of the state and helpless prey for human predators.
The title of our book is To Keep or Not To Keep: Why Christians Should Not Give Up Their Guns.
It is not only important to be armed; it is even more important to understand the moral and spiritual underpinnings of WHY we should be armed. And that is exactly what our book attempts to explain.
Christians need to know that keeping and bearing arms is a spiritual DUTY. We disobey Holy Scripture when we neglect our responsibility to be always prepared to defend ourselves, family and community. The Second Amendment does not grant us the right to keep and bear arms; it merely protects the right and duty to keep and bear arms that is given to us by the Natural laws of our Creator.
Defending oneself, family and community is as spiritual as praying or reading the Bible or any other spiritual exercise. From the lives of Abraham and Moses to the Books of Judges and Esther to the lives of Samuel, David, Elijah and Elisha to the teaching of Christ in the New Testament, the Bible is replete with examples and admonitions that God’s people must NEVER surrender their means of self-defense, which in the modern world points to the AR-15 style-rifle and Glock-style handgun.
Jesus considered keeping and bearing arms to be so important that one of the last things He told his disciples before going to the Cross was for them to sell their clothes if they had to and purchase those arms. (Luke 22:36) Yes, Jesus placed a higher priority on defensive arms than he did on clothing. So should we.
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Dr. Chuck Baldwin is the Pastor of Liberty Fellowship in Kalispell, Montana. Dr. Baldwin is Talk Radio Show Host for Chuck Baldwin Live.” He addresses current event topics from a conservative Christian point of view.and is a writer/columnist whose articles and political commentaries are carried by a host of Internet sites, newspapers, news magazines and the ARRA News Service.
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