Handgun or Taser for self defense?

[loser]

I currently carry a pistol for self defense. I mostly carry it incase someone loses their temper and decides they want to inflict physical harm (I tend to run into a lot of very short tempered people). However, I been thinking about it more lately. I'm afraid that should I ever need to use it, I'll miss and end up hitting a bystander. ...Or what if they take it from me and shoot me with my own gun?

This lead me to thinking a taser would be more appropriate than a gun for my needs. Most of my confrontations (actually all of them) are from people that seem to have a hard time managing their anger (ie road rage). ...I'm gonna be straight up. I'm practically bone skinny, even though I weigh about 160 LBs people think I starve myself but I don't lol, and I'm not exactly the strongest guy around. If the confrontation escelates to more than just yelling, I don't really care how much or how little damage is done to the offender, as long as it buys me enough time to run away, and is legal.

I guess really I'm just looking for an alternate deterent to carry on my person, that's not as dangerous as a gun to the public (or to myself if it's taken from me). (I still plan on keeping the pistol in the car, just in case)


So what do you all think?? Do you think a taser would be the better option for me? Here's a short pro & con list I thought of real quick (no order) to carrying a taser instead of a gun.

Pros
* I can keep a Taser in the locker at work. Most employers don't like it if you do that for a gun.
* Tasers have limited range and won't go through walls, so it's very unlikely to hit the wrong person. Even if it does it shouldn't cause permenant injury.
* Good stun guns [usually] instantly incapacitate the offender, despite what drugs they're on (drugs don't negate the laws of physics nor how electricity forces the muscles to contract), while bullets can take upto a few minutes for them to bleed-out.

Cons
* I heard tasers sometimes have a hard time with very thick or lose clothing. This is not an issue at all for a gun.
* The Taser model I'm considering has only 3 shots, while my pistol has 16 (15 in magazine and 1 in chamber).

[Jeffrey]

Figure out why people keep getting angry at you. If it's road rage, perhaps examine your driving habits.

[IlikeSa]

When you say three shots, is it the new X3 with three lined up to fire? If so, it is a very LARGE taser. Good luck concealing that walking around. If you try for the single shot taser, you will have to reload it before using it again. They are not as fast as a pistol to reload. If you are not the military or police, they will not sell you an X3 anyway.

Tasers do have a problem with thick clothing, and don't incapacitate very obese people well either. The needles have to stick into muscle to be effective, although, it can be moderately effective when the current jumps from clothing to skin, causing burns to the skin.

Are you taser qualified? If not, they will not sell a taser to you.

I would stick to the pistol. I cannot imagine an employer being really happy about finding a taser in your locker either.

[Some White Guy]

Tasers are a great less than lethal option, very effective, but are not combat tools. Tazer sells a self defense taser, the C2. http://www.taser.com/products/self-d...ducts/taser-c2

You do not have to have any special training, and they do not have to stick into musle. I think they worked out the clothing issue with longer, heavier probes and better batteries. I have been tased, it hurts, a lot, for 5 very long seconds, then it's done. That was a law enforcment version. The civilan version is a little diffrent, I have not been blasted by one of those. From what I've read you shoot someone, drop it, and run like hell. It uses a longer zap but at a lower power. Taser will give you a new taser to replace it if you jump through a couple hoops, police report and the like.

If you do go taser don't get a "stun gun" or anything that you have to touch the bad guy with, that lets 'em get to close. And I would strongly encourage you to go with Taser, I've delt with them professionally in the past, they know their stuff.

Guns are guns. Everyone knows what they are and what they do. They are made to kill, not ready to make a life ending choice, get the taser.

I like the taser option, but I work in the getto, so I carry a gun to work every day and keep it locked in a gun lock box, in my locked locker.

[loser]

Originally Posted by Jeffrey

Figure out why people keep getting angry at you. If it's road rage, perhaps examine your driving habits.

It's not 100% road rage, but vehicles are often nvolved. I'll admit, once in a while I accidentally cut someone off haha but that's rare and otherwise the confrontations are very unreasonable. I had private driving lessons for 3 months when I was 17 (I'm now 23) and I've been driving since I completed the lessons. I think most of the time people are just being ****s looking for someone to push around.

For example my last confrontation was a few months ago. This lady started yelling at me for driving too fast in the parking lot. However, there were cars in front of me, and I was idling at about 6 MPH. ...Yes! Someone confronted me for going too fast while idling!

If it was just old ladies yelling at me once in a while, I wouldn't feel the need so much to carry a gun or taser. But it's not just old ladies.

One time I was coming into work and these two guys drove in behind me and started yelling stuff (I don't know what they were yelling or why). Luckily for me I worked at restaurant at the time, and they gave free/really cheap stuff to the police to keep them coming around a lot. A squad car came in shortly after them, so they left.

Originally Posted by IlikeSa

When you say three shots, is it the new X3 with three lined up to fire? If so, it is a very LARGE taser. Good luck concealing that walking around. If you try for the single shot taser, you will have to reload it before using it again. They are not as fast as a pistol to reload. If you are not the military or police, they will not sell you an X3 anyway.

Tasers do have a problem with thick clothing, and don't incapacitate very obese people well either. The needles have to stick into muscle to be effective, although, it can be moderately effective when the current jumps from clothing to skin, causing burns to the skin.

Are you taser qualified? If not, they will not sell a taser to you.

I would stick to the pistol. I cannot imagine an employer being really happy about finding a taser in your locker either.

The X3 is nearly identical to what I was talking about. I was talking about the X3 HD, which is listed on Taser's site in the consumer self defense section, as a personal defense product. The only difference I know of, is the X3 HD has 25' cartridges while the law enforcment version has 35' cartridges.

It's not such a big deal to me wether it's concealed or open carry. ...Should it be of concern to me to open carry or conceal? A device as large as the X3 HD will need to open carried.

Where did you hear about Taser/stun gun certification requirements? I've found one or two instances of people discussing it, but that was for LE and not civilian use.

Originally Posted by Some White Guy

Tasers are a great less than lethal option, very effective, but are not combat tools. Tazer sells a self defense taser, the C2. http://www.taser.com/products/self-d...ducts/taser-c2

You do not have to have any special training, and they do not have to stick into musle. I think they worked out the clothing issue with longer, heavier probes and better batteries. I have been tased, it hurts, a lot, for 5 very long seconds, then it's done. That was a law enforcment version. The civilan version is a little diffrent, I have not been blasted by one of those. From what I've read you shoot someone, drop it, and run like hell. It uses a longer zap but at a lower power. Taser will give you a new taser to replace it if you jump through a couple hoops, police report and the like.

If you do go taser don't get a "stun gun" or anything that you have to touch the bad guy with, that lets 'em get to close. And I would strongly encourage you to go with Taser, I've delt with them professionally in the past, they know their stuff.

Guns are guns. Everyone knows what they are and what they do. They are made to kill, not ready to make a life ending choice, get the taser.

I like the taser option, but I work in the getto, so I carry a gun to work every day and keep it locked in a gun lock box, in my locked locker.

"...but are not combat tools." I understant that. I'm looking for a good deterent rather than a weapon--you know, incase walking away isn't good enough.

Do you have any info that's a little more concrete that Taser has improved on the thick clothing issue?

...Are you some kind of law enforcement?

[Some White Guy]

I am not a cop, I do security work. While working for a major hospital here in Minneapolis I was working on getting tasers for us. Basicly trying to convince admin it was a good idea. The Taser sales rep was from MN and knows our winters and concerns about heavy clothing. He said they had improved the batteries to withstand the cold better, and beefed up the prongs. I saw a tech sheet back then, but that was 6 or 7 years ago. By now they may not even mention it anymore because it is no longer an issue. I have some leo friends and they tell me clothing has not been a problem for them.

As a deterent I think they are great. You always know when someone has been tased before, they get real cooperative real quick. And if you pull it out and someone "calls your bluff" forcing you to blast them, the chance of killing them is way lower than with a gun.

[IlikeSa]

I know about because I work in hospital security and qualified for the taser. We don't use ours often, but there have been times that it was drawn and aimed. If people have been hit with them before, they generally will back down. Some people just don't care though.

It was my understanding through the training that you need to get taser certified. If anything, you need to at least get hit with one once (not necessarily with the prongs, but the voltage) It will give you a better understanding of how it works and how effective it is. Seeing the video doesn't do it justice...it's very painful.

I still believe you are better served with a firearm though. They are more easily concealed, should you prefer that route of carry, and more effective generally. I would not want to walk into a deadly force situation with just a taser. The taser is less effective at close range (under 7 feet) because the prongs need to spread out to be more effective. In addition, you do not want to shoot someone in the head, neck, or even chest if you can avoid it. The optimal placement for shots is the stomach to legs, or the back.

[Bacardio]

Handgun for home self defense. Taser gun for carry self-defense but I would definitely carry a backup such as bear mace/pepper spray. Gives you a little more flexibility on how to handle a situation with less chance of collateral damage

[slicknickns]

Gun>knife>taser or stun gun