Reply #30: Whatever lets you sleep at night, but remember this:

[darkstar3]

That young male you're so afraid to face in hand-to-hand combat probably has a full half-second on you in reaction time. If he's the one pointing the gun in your face, you'll never get a shot off before you're injured or killed.

Of course, you could always give him your wallet and shoot him while he runs away, but something tells me that won't hold up in court.

Obviously, what you're most afraid of is being mugged. I wish I had some statistics at hand, but it's late, and I have to sleep. If anyone gets a chance, I'd love to see the following stats on any metro city, say like New York:

# of people mugged who complied with the mugger, and the percentage who got shot.
vs.
# of people mugged who tried to shoot the mugger, and the percentage who got shot.

If I had to guess, I'd say the percentage in the second category is higher. CCW is not a deterrent, and in a situation where you may actually have a chance to use the weapon, you actually increase your chances of bringing injury to yourself.

So what are we talking about here? Survival, or simply refusing to be a victim even if it means going down in a blaze of glory?