[David Armstrong]

And this fact changes our disagreement how.

It should hopefully clarify it. There are many factors that go into success in a gunfight. Evidence indicates that of those factors caliber is probably the least important. For you to suggest otherwise is a distortion.

You never uttered the words....

So, just like I said, you made something up and then tried to accuse me of saying it. That is, at the least, dishonest. Furthermore it indicates (to me at least) that you cannot reasonably counter what was actually said, otherwise there would be no need to make the stuff up.

...but you are clearly a mousegun fan.

Certainly. Just like I'm a big-bore fan, a full-size fighting gun fan, a medium-caliber fan, a carbine fan, and so on. I am a fan of whatever works. In most DGU situations a mousegun will do that. In other situations a loaded AR-15 with a Remington 870 in support might not be enough. Every carry decision is a compromise, even if it is choosing between a Glock 17 and a Glock 19.

Not that its bad mind you just that you seem to allow stats to dictate your actions an awful lot.

They don't dictate near as much as they guide. And as I mentioned, we all do that. Some of us have more realistic understanding of the stats and what they mean, some have more information to more accurately do the analysis, and so on. I always find it interesting when people apparently advocate a course of action based on “let’s ignore the facts” and/or “the less I know the better.”

Since both are unlikely statistically I asked you why do you carry yet feel caliber is not relevant. I think thats a fair question.

The lack of relevance is to your (apparent) failure to understand how one processes information. The statistical likelihood of an event occurring is not the sole (or even sometimes the primary) factor in the decision-making process.

Now given the obvious weakness of a serious caliber in stopping a determined attacker, you still feel comfortable with a mouse? Thats my point.

Now, given the obvious weakness of a serious caliber in stopping a determined attacker, you still feel comfortable with a bigger caliber? That’s my point. Caliber just doesn’t make that much difference; everybody picks a point at which they compromise based on what they perceive as their risk is and how much it costs to relieve that risk to a certain level. If you want to carry a big gun and a major caliber go right ahead, but don’t think that somebody choosing a different point of compromise is going to be impaired in any significant way for the typical DGU.