The safer handgun for home/self defense. The revolver or the pistol?

[Lizzie Poppet]

24. I personally choose a pistol for home defense.

A 1911 (.38 Super), in fact. It's not as simple to manipulate as a revolver (or pistols like Glocks, for that matter), but I have no doubt it's more intuitive to me in a stress situation because I shoot it on a weekly basis. Familiarity bestowed by practice easily overcomes the bit of additional complexity. I also trust it's reliability for the same reason: lots of rounds through it allow me to rely on it functioning properly should I need it.

People who don't have the opportunity to shoot a lot should probably consider something utterly simple to operate, like a DA revolver, passive safety type pistols (like a Glock or Steyr), etc. People who aren't going to practice at all shouldn't choose firearms.

"On my person" (that is, for concealed carry), while I sometimes pick the 1911, it's also a bit bulky for carry in most cases. For one thing, I'm a shrimp (5'2&quot , and there's just less real estate on me for a relatively large pistol. If I have the right sort of clothing on, I'll pick the 1911 sometimes, but usually I carry a much more compact pistol that also happens to have a bit simpler operation than the 1911.