Best Gun for Safety

[KPP]

I just found out my Dad is interested in getting a gun for his birthday....and he wants it for safety purposes. Their house was broken into last year, and I think this would give them a little added piece of mind.

The caveat to the title however....is going to be ease of use. My Dad isn't really a gun person, although has some old shotguns/rifles from when he was younger. He doesn't go shooting...although I'm sure he'll need to should he get one...just to get comfortable with it.

I know guns can very much be like cigars, and everyone prefers something different, but I'm hoping there's a consensus as to what would be a good purchase for him.

He's a 66 year old man....and not as nimble as he once was, so factor that into the advice as well. Any and all thoughts are appreciated!

 

[CigarSaint]

Glock 19. Easy and reliable!!

 

[cartisdm]

Best Gun for Safety

One that goes bang

...but to elaborate, does it need to be a handgun? For self-defense purposes, especially home defense, a shotgun is ideal. It's safer than a handgun, delivers more of a punch, buckshot has less of a chance of penetrating walls, plus it's very easy to use

 

[05roadking]

its hard to beat a scatter gun ( shotgun ) for home protection , but if he wants a pistol you need to take him to gun shop and let him see what feels good in his hand and as far as caliber 9mm , 40cal , 45cal are great calibers .The 9mm ammo is much cheaper than the rest but I personally would prefer the 45 cal for serious stopping power but the correct placement with any cal would stop most anything coming into your home . Im a 45 cal glock man for my weapon of choice , Im also a gun freak and have many I love them all but I do believe a glock with the way the safeties are should only be used by a seasoned gun man ( no push safety on it ) so you may want to look at a taurus of his choice , I really like the 1911 just go check them out . With all that said I still believe the semi auto shotgun is a nice weapon for home protection as long as its kept handy and loaded in time of need just be careful of the little ones running around the house and thats with any weapon .

 

[KPP]

Thanks for the advice so far......all good info.

Yes, he's looking primarily at a Handgun....as he does have Grandkids around quite often, and getting a lockbox for a handgun is easier for that size weapon, correct? Maybe not..I'm not 100% sure....but I'm fairly positive he'd prefer a hand-gun to anything else.

 

[CigarSaint]

Shotgun is always good to have around!!!!

 

[05roadking]

if you are truly needing it for home protection im not a lock box fan because if you need it fast it takes to long to get it out of the box when panic is on imo but to each his own , whatever makes him feel safe in his home is the right thing

 

[KPP]

To set the scene even further...they live on their Country Club golf course....in a relatively small and pretty safe town. I'm about 99.9% certain this is all to help them sleep a little better at night than it will be something that's ever used. The folks who broke in clearly knew they were out of town. He had a handgun in a lockbox that a friend let him borrow, and he thought perhaps he'd be able to keep it. Turns out his friend asked for it back.....

And so here we are....

I know crime can happen at any time, any place etc...

But am confident this is just to help them sleep better at night. The alarm alone isn't apparently doing the trick.

 

[05roadking]

understood and good luck to your Dad I hope he never has to deal with that again !!!

"I have a very strict gun control policy: if there's a gun around, I want to be in control of it."
- Clint Eastwood

 

[KPP]

understood and good luck to your Dad I hope he never has to deal with that again !!!

Thank you, as do I. It's affected my Mom much moreso than my Dad....so he's doing what he can to try and help her mentally as well.

I guess it's hard to relate with the level of "violation" that occurs when something like this happens and it hasn't happened to you before personally (knock on wood).......as even I at times feel like it's exaggerated to an extent, but I know that's not fair of me to think that.

A lot of very sentimental personal belongings were taken, and that didn't help. If it was just TVs/electronics etc...it would have been better. Odd to say that, but I think it's true.

 

[05roadking]

when I hear of people taking personal and sentimental belongings I feel like they were familiar with the home and the people in it and that shit really bothers me , paybacks are a bitch !!!

 

[JGIORD]

Im glad dad is smart enough to understand the need for a lockbox especially when there are grandkids around. For pure ease of use a revolver is as simple as it gets however the trade off is a long hard trigger pull.

For a semi automatic i would not recommend anything that has an external safety unless dad practices with it. Adding the extra step of disengaging a safety in a crisis can only be mastered with training. So that rules out 1911s and many others. For ease of use and durability i would recommend a glock provided your dad is comfortable with the grip.

If you go revolver i recommend te ruger lcr (best trigger pull ive encountered).
If you go semi automatic i recommend glock g19.

Good luck on your search and get dad to practice with it.

 

[05roadking]

not worried about getting in box but worried about external safety , like I said to each his own

 

[itallushrt]

Mossberg 590 in almost any of the configurations.

Cheap, will cover up both sides of a doorway and won't penerate through 6 walls killing someone else in the house or your neighbor.

Shotgun = best close range weapon in the world.

Oh and he won't need to spend a lot of time at the range to put some 00 or 4 buck in some assholes chest.

If he thinks the 12 with 3" shells is too much get him the 20 gauge.

 

[blacklabel]

Mossberg 590 in almost any of the configurations.

Cheap, will cover up both sides of a doorway and won't penerate through 6 walls killing someone else in the house or your neighbor.

Shotgun = best close range weapon in the world.

Oh and he won't need to spend a lot of time at the range to put some 00 or 4 buck in some assholes chest.

If he thinks the 12 with 3" shells is too much get him the 20 gauge.

Exactly! Agree 100%

 

[area51]

For Semi auto like many others have said glock 19 is a great bet. Also check out Sigs if you don't mind spending a little more.

 

[05roadking]

Exactly! Agree 100%

X2 Agree

 

[Jwrussell]

I do NOT recommend a semi-auto for the type of person you are describing. Semiautos, while not all super complicated, ARE more complicated than a revolver. There are (typically) safeties to deal with, mag releases, slides and slide releases; tap, rack, bang drills...the list goes on.

Revolvers are nothing but point in the direction of bad guy, pull trigger, repeat as necessary. I realize that the round count is lower with a revolver and that reloading is slower, but honestly, if someone who is unfamiliar with pistols and who isn't going to spend some serious time getting familiar can't take care of a situation with five or six bullets, the gun isn't going to help.

All of that being said, if a semi is a must for some reason, I would go with a Glock. No external safeties to mess with, pretty much as "point and shoot" as you get with a semi. I will also repeat the suggestion of a good shotgun.

 

[cartisdm]

I do NOT recommend a semi-auto for the type of person you are describing. Semiautos, while not all super complicated, ARE more complicated than a revolver. There are (typically) safeties to deal with, mag releases, slides and slide releases; tap, rack, bang drills...the list goes on.

Revolvers are nothing but point in the direction of bad guy, pull trigger, repeat as necessary. I realize that the round count is lower with a revolver and that reloading is slower, but honestly, if someone who is unfamiliar with pistols and who isn't going to spend some serious time getting familiar can't take care of a situation with five or six bullets, the gun isn't going to help.

All of that being said, if a semi is a must for some reason, I would go with a Glock. No external safeties to mess with, pretty much as "point and shoot" as you get with a semi. I will also repeat the suggestion of a good shotgun.

^^^what he said

 

[tx_tuff]

One that goes bang

...but to elaborate, does it need to be a handgun? For self-defense purposes, especially home defense, a shotgun is ideal. It's safer than a handgun, delivers more of a punch, buckshot has less of a chance of penetrating walls, plus it's very easy to use

A shotgun is hands down the best and safest defense gun for the home!