Originally Posted by FlyPenFly
Keeping an AR pistol as a home defense gun makes no sense to me unless you live in Baghdad/Kabul and you're an informant on ISIS expecting a reprisal.
It's harder to easily lock up and secure compared to a pistol.
It's still easier to maneuver and maintain a pistol.
According to FBI stats, most self-defense shootings are under 5 rounds.
I wouldn't want to shoot through dry wall and hit my neighbors kid.
When you go to court, an overzealous prosecutor will be all over you.
A good 45 ACP hollow point makes huge holes.
Buckshot and pistol rounds both penetrate farther through drywall farther than a soft point .223 round will. Common misconception is that .223 ammo, being rifle ammo, will over penetrate. Nope. Bullets have sectional density, and the larger sectional density bullets (9MM, 40SW) will penetrate really far through drywall. Since we are quoting the FBI, they even put out a white paper saying that .223 rifles were much safer to innocent bystanders than pistol or shotgun. THIS is why every SWAT team in America traded in their MP5 9MM submachine guns for AR15 rifles. The FBI and police departments chose the AR15 rifle because its more accurate, more powerful, and is less dangerous to innocent bystanders (which coincidentally, are good traits to have in a home defense weapon)
An AR15 is just as easy to maintain as a pistol. Probably even easier because they have fully interchangeable parts, easily purchased, so if a spring or small part breaks, the end user can very easily diagnose the problem, and easily fix the problem. A broken pistol usually has to be shipped back to the manufacturer for repair.
A short barrel AR15 is just as maneuverable, and has the same overall length extended from the body as a pistol does in a 2 handed grip.
Laws? Yeah, if I lived in California, I sure as heck would NOT use an AR15 for home defense. The communist don't like well armed home defenders. If you live in communist America (NJ, NY, CA) then yes, you should pick a weapon thats less scary to the prosecutors and morons.
For those that live in free America, it is hard to argue against a semi-auto, magazine fed rifle for home defense. They are the BEST tool for the job, after all.
Pistol vs rifle..... the police miss 70% of their shots when using a pistol. For every 10 shots fired, only 3 hit their target. They miss 5% of their shots when using a long gun. We can reasonably assume that a typical home defender would have a similar hit ratio. Which is EXACTLY why home defenders should use a long gun.
Therefor, if you are SERIOUS about home defense, you would pick some sort of long gun as your primary home defense weapon. The long gun you choose should be based on your experience level, level of training, and of course, local politics.
I have a crazy level of training and experience in this arena, and I would never use a pistol as my primary home defense weapon, nor would I recommend one to dozens of people that train with me yearly.
The pistol on my night stand is for noises in the night when I don't think an actual intruder is breaking in. The AR15 next to my bed, is for when the glass breaks and I hear an intruder, or for when my front door gets kicked in.
Read up on sectional density, and how it relates to bullet penetration, here:
https://www.chuckhawks.com/sd.htm
