Home Defense

Keltec’s KS7 is compact, it comes up well, and it’s priced competitively. It’s clearly intended as a home-defense gun, but it’s so light and packable that it may find it’s way into other uses.

Home invaders, on the other hand, are truly the stuff of nightmares. Unlike burglars, these are individuals who break into a dwelling expecting, even hoping, to find you home.

With this in mind, I present to you the Poor Improvised Self-Defense Weapon Hall of Shame. These are the “weapons” I see the most often in homes of acquaintances who have convinced themselves that as long as they can get to their trusty chain saw, all will be good in the event of a home invasion.

I had handled Canik pistols a couple of years ago at the SHOT show and have a couple of friends that shoot them but was a bit skeptical of how the Century Arms imports were going to perform; after all, they have an MSRP below $325, how good of a gun should you expect at that price point?

Let’s take a closer look at the most common home defense guns – handguns, shotguns and the AR-15 – and compare them. At least this should help make the choice a little easier and may give you solid reasons for choosing a particular gun, other than that’s the gun someone told you is the best.

An important question is seldom asked: What does it take for an opponent to jam my gun? In this context, we do not mean a firing jam or malfunction but knocking the gun out of battery or causing it not to fire when it is needed.

There are a few basic steps you can take to better your chances of successfully responding to a late-night emergency in your home.

I’m not a cop. Never been one. Never played one on TV. And while I fully understand why this new G45 model from Glock, dubbed their “Crossover” pistol, is exactly what some departments have wanted, and what I predict more and more will adopt, I think they’ve struck handgun gold here for the civilian market as well. This baby is a shooter!

Accurate and very comfortable in the hand, the Defiant STOCK 1 clearly has many uses beyond competition, including home defense, hunting, law enforcement use, open carry, and just plinking. It strikes me as a little large for concealed carry, but there are people who no doubt would find this full-sized handgun just right for that purpose, too.