Safety Automatic Hand

glock 19 for home defense?

i was researching a gun for home defense and came upon a page talking about how glock pistols are so easy to use (automatic safeties). thats not all good if you think about it. what if the gun got into the wrong hands? it would be easy for your own gun to be pointed and shot at you with ease. (robber grabs it befor you) i've heard that some thieves who got hold of someones gun couldnt get a shot off because they didnt know how to work it (safeties, loading..) so it makes glock seem like a bad idea for home defense. can you suggest a better home defense gun to me? what caliber?

I am a retired police officer with over 20 years experience in the New Orleans area. In that time, I have never had a case where the presence of a weapon made any real difference in what took place at your "average" burglary. Meaning a random burglary where an armed homeowner was present in no way influenced the crimes outcome. Yes, I have had homeowners shooting at potential burglars but for the most part, burglars when confronted don't stick around. Of course, there are exceptions.

My point is that for the average homeowner having weapons in the house is merely a "feel" good measure and does not offer any kind of deterrent to a burglar. Residences that are known to have weapons can ultimately become "targets" because the criminal is looking for those weapons. And believe me, burglars have ways of finding out if you have a cache of weapons.

To answer your question, while it is true that Glocks are "good to go" and could be used against you by an attacker, the opposite is also true for other "more complicated" handguns. In stressful situation such as a home invasion, if you are not well trained on the weapon's use, you could very well forget to release the safety yourself and thus become a victim anyway.

It is well documented that in some police shootings, the police officers were killed with their weapons in hand with the safeties still engaged. In fact some departments switched to Glocks for that very reason. If you are concerned about the Glock, you could always leave the first round out of the chamber which would then require you to pull the slide back before firing thus acting as a safety and giving you more time to react if the intruder takes you weapon away.

I think that there are always variables beyond your control and to worry whether or not to keep a Glock or a Berretta (which can be complicated to operate) is a moot point.

Someone else suggested a shotgun. It is the same scenerio. You would have to release the safety before you could "protect" yourself and I have seen countless times in shotgun training. Police officers jump out their units to engage a target and 50% of them will forget to release the safety. I have done it myself. It is a horrible feeling to pull the trigger and have nothing happen. Not to mention embarassing when theirs 20 other policer officers staring at you!

My advise is to reconsider arming yourself, especially if you have a family. There is also a liability issue to consider should you harm someone other than the burglar. Rounds don't stop at you front lawn!
If you must have a weapon take the responsibility to train and become proficient with it's use regardless of the make and model. If you choose the glock, leave the first round out of the chamber but keep the magazine loaded. As far as what caliber, if you goal is to shoot to kill, don't get anything smaller than a .40 cal. If you want to wound and maybe get lucky and kill em go for a 9mm.

That's just my opinion!

9mm Hand Gun Operation & Safety : The Basics of the 9MM Semi-Automatic Handgun