I only need 1 round...

If I had a dollar for every time I heard or read somebody saying, "I don't carry extra mags, my

gun has a high capacity magazine"Or, "I carry a .45, I only need one round", I would be

doing pretty well.

Let's talk about why that might not be the best thinking when it comes to using a firearm for

personal defense.

Today's defensive handguns offer a wide variety of options. Some are good, some are not so

good. One of the most common features discussed in gun stores, classes, and at ranges is high

capacity magazines. The majority of defensive firearms owners understand that one stop

shots are not always going to happen. Many times multiple rounds are needed to properly

defend against an attacker or multiple attackers. There is also the possibility of a no shoot

stop or even missing your target completely and still stopping the threat. There are a wide

number of variables that must all be taken into consideration when choosing your firearm(s)

for personal defense.

The fact is you can never have too much ammunition on your person for the possibility of a

personal defense situation. Surely you will never hear anybody who needed to use a firearm

to defend themselves say, "I wish I had not brought so much ammo with me to that fight".

With that being said, we then must determine what our ammunition needs could be.

Research has shown that a violent attack will require anywhere up to 5-6 shots per attacker.

Therefore our ammunition needs are at a bare minimum of 6 rounds. Also, considering most

single stack handguns designed for personal defense have a magazine capacity of 5-7 rounds,

that means a full magazine is the minimum we may need for one attacker. Assuming we have

no misfires, malfunctions, or misses (the berMuda triangle) we might be able to fend off one

attacker.

As we all know, things don't usually go as planned. Equipment can fail, nerves can make us

panic and rush our actions, or a planned ambush catches us unprepared. These things just like

other things in life that can happen require us to have a plan. I wear my seatbelt because I

could get in an accident anytime I am in a vehicle. I keep fire extinguishers in the house

because there could be a fire. The same preparedness should be applied to our personal

defense.

We could be faced with 2, 3, 4 or more potential threats to deal with if we are ambushed or

find ourselves in some type of terrorist active shooter situation. Because it is possible it

becomes a requirement that we be prepared to properly defend ourselves or others by having

the potential quantity of ammunition needed to effectively neutralize the violent threat. This

would mean our ammunition needs could far exceed the minimum of 6 rounds. We could be

looking at 12 to 30 or more depending on the number of attackers and variables that could go

wrong.

Given the possibility of a need for more than the 7 rounds offered by the typical single stack

defensive handgun, it's easy to see why some people have chosen a full size stagger stack

handgun with capacities ranging from 9 to 19 rounds. However, we see that this still does not

fully address the potential rounds we could need in the worst case scenario.

To fully meet our needs and be responsibly armed we need to understand that carrying

multiple magazines is a necessity in order to be able to protect ourselves or others effectively.

Just because a firearm can hold 19+1 rounds of ammunition does not mean you are meeting

your potential ammunition needs. Considering the possibility that we could run into the

Bermuda triangle (Misfires, Malfunctions, or Misses) we have the responsibility to be

prepared for that scenario with additional magazines to fully address our potential

ammunition needs.

If you are faced with a malfunction or misfire you may have to perform remedial action of

your firearm which will include a magazine drop. Under normal conditions on a range, this is

a very simple procedure and allows guaranteed retention of the magazine. In the event of a

dynamic critical incident, this same procedure becomes a potential matter of life and death.

For example, if you are moving to cover to perform this procedure due to a malfunction or

misfire and are forced to abandon cover and did not perform a retention magazine drop, or

any other set of circumstances that did not allow retention of your magazine, you better have

prepared properly by having backup magazines.

There is valid justification for the use of single stack firearms in personal defense. For

example, smaller hands and concealability on a smaller frame person. For those that decide to

carry a single stack defensive handgun, your magazine needs may be higher than usual to

effectively meet your ammunition needs. If you might need 30 or more rounds, you might

need 4 or 5 extra magazines on you when you carry. For those that decide to carry a full size

handgun for its higher capacity, consider the possibility of needing additional

magazines for the possibility of a need to perform remedial action to clear your firearm in a

high stress dynamic critical incident.

Fortunately these type of situations do not happen often. That does not however dismiss the

fact that we have a responsibility to be prepared for the things that could possibly happen.

Not one of us actually plans to need our firearm in the first place to defend ourselves or

another. But we realize that since there is a possibility that we could need a firearm to defend

ourselves it becomes a need to be able to do so and to do it properly with the amount of

ammunition we might need.

#training #personaldefense