Like any sane person I have zero desire to shoot, much less kill, anyone. My preferred weapon of choice would be a phaser set to “stun”, but given the scarcity of phasers and the violent world we live in I carry a firearm, all day, everyday. I’ve written here about my experience with a Byrna launcher and the less than impressive performance it delivers. I have however spent time recently looking at what’s available. I found “the most powerful out of the box launcher” which delivers a whopping 40 joules of energy (3x the power of a Byrna) but that still only translates to 29 ft lbs of energy (in other words, less than 1/2 the energy of a .25 acp
). I even saw one article out it being “too powerful for everyday carry”. And don’t even mention that this beast is a lot larger than a full size service pistol. If your goal is (as it should be) to immediately stop an aggressor does anyone really think such a thing could work? I sure don’t. And this is “the best”. I’ve seen articles about longer barrels and expansion chambers (both of which greatly increase the size of an already big piece) that can approach 100 joules. “Devastating”. Really? 73 ft lbs-approaching .25 acp power albeit with a 68 caliber 8 gram ball, but still not what anyone would call a stopper. If non lethal is your thing looks like a taser or pepper gas is still the only option likely to produce the desired result if a person is attacked. What we need is something with 20 gauge beanbag effectiveness in a small easy to carry package. Failing that, seems the old reliable handgun remains the only viable choice for self defense. Man I wish somebody would build that phaser-take my money
). I even saw one article out it being “too powerful for everyday carry”. And don’t even mention that this beast is a lot larger than a full size service pistol. If your goal is (as it should be) to immediately stop an aggressor does anyone really think such a thing could work? I sure don’t. And this is “the best”. I’ve seen articles about longer barrels and expansion chambers (both of which greatly increase the size of an already big piece) that can approach 100 joules. “Devastating”. Really? 73 ft lbs-approaching .25 acp power albeit with a 68 caliber 8 gram ball, but still not what anyone would call a stopper. If non lethal is your thing looks like a taser or pepper gas is still the only option likely to produce the desired result if a person is attacked. What we need is something with 20 gauge beanbag effectiveness in a small easy to carry package. Failing that, seems the old reliable handgun remains the only viable choice for self defense. Man I wish somebody would build that phaser-take my money
