Their calibers may be small, but properly applied these pocket guns can be more than a
paperweight

The question most people have about mouse guns, i.e.; .25acp, .22 rimfire, and .32acp,
is do they have significant enough firepower to reliably stop an attacker with a torso
shot?

The answer is a flat NO, but don't stop reading just yet. According to Sanow & Marshall's
Handgun Stopping Power the best .25 acp rates a dismal 25% one-shot-stop ratio.
In plain English that means that for every four shots delivered to the torso area, three
will fail to stop your attacker from further violent acts. When you stop to consider that
these statistics are based on real street shootings---not gelatin based calculations---this
is quite shocking.

So does this dismal performance rate mean that you should not rely on a mouse gun?
No, absolutely not. It only means that if you choose a torso shot with a small caliber
handgun then you will have poor performance and likely get yourself killed by some
product of a prison weight-pile.

Now you ask the important question, "If these small calibers give such poor
performance, why would anyone use them?" To best answer that let's look again at my
earlier statement: "...for every four shots delivered to the torso..."

So the answer is, mouse guns work just fine when they are employed properly.
However, torso shots are to be avoided with the smaller calibers. Face it, a 45 grain
projectile traveling at 800 fps simply lacks the mass or kinetic energy to do anything
more than poke little holes in a target.

Now everyone has heard that tired old story about the burglar who is hit with a .22 that
penetrated his scalp, rides between the bone and flesh for a few inches before exiting at
the top of his head. The burglar, discovering that he is hit in the head, passes out right
there at the scene. Most small gun opponents point to this as a lack of stopping power.
Not true. Remember the last part of that story. The burglar stopped doing whatever he
was doing and laid down. That is what defensive handgunning is all about, to stop the
threat. Stopping power has nothing to do with killing people, death is strictly
coincidental. All you want in a civilian defensive situation is for the bad guy to go away.
Don't go away mad, just go away.

The sequence above shows the transition from full Weaver stance to a crumpled Weaver stance.
Bringing the weapon closer to the body allows you to obtain a firmer grip, make the pistol
harder to grab, and allows the shooter to achieve a point-shooting stance as they retreat.
Although the center frame is the most comfortable in a retreat, practice should be given to all
extremes. When the time comes, you will have little control over the variables of an attack. Be
prepared for anything.

Now that we have discussed your point of aim, the next and most crucial consideration
is the specific tactics germane to mouse guns. Easily the greatest difference between
defensive shooting and military training is the distance under which most civilian
shootings occur. When you train, structure your drills around an attacker starting no
farther away than 7 yards and approaching to within contact distance. Our fine penal
institutions (designed by lawyers courtesy of the ACLU) are actually very fine finishing
schools for inmates interested in obtaining their Masters' degree in edged weapons.

A fully trained con will know to get within only a few feet before beginning their assault.
The proximity of a skilled attack is intended to neutralize any defensive weaponry you
might try to employ. As a side note, one of your best deterrents against attack is to
simply pull your head out of your ass when you are walking through parking structures
and dark alleyways. Criminals look for the unwary. The attentive ones are just too
much effort for most thugs. They typically prefer to make a living with a minimum of
effort.

Maybe some day the liberals will decide to ban criminals instead of guns.

Practice, practice, practice! The tactics employed with a small caliber weapon are
markedly different from a main battle weapon. Where you might be able to head off a
conflict by drawing a large Colt, with the mouse gun it is far more advisable to conceal
the weapon until there is six inches of flame coming out of the barrel. In addition, your
grip and stance must be modified to accommodate both the face shooting as well as the
decreased engagement range. Don't wait until Hector is in your face with a steak knife
to practice this stuff.

Guns fall into three distinct categories. Shotguns and rifles are assault class. Big bore
handguns qualify as defensive weapons, and mouse guns fall into a category known as
shoot'n run guns. The name says it all. Because the rounds fired from these small-bores
is so miniscule, begin training with a mind set that the weapon is strictly a tool to slow
down your aggressor while you extricate yourself from the threat. Because these small
guns usually have a pretty decent magazine capacity, don't spare the rounds. Practice
double and triple taps from a crumpled Weaver stance while retreating. Remember that
if you have to flee the scene in a real shooting that you are legally obligated to contact
police at the first safe telephone you come to.