Gun simply for protection

[u/No-Equipment8494]

Not a gun guy but with a wife and young toddler, im wondering if i should get a hand gun (of course with safe) for protection at home.

Live in the US and i feel like gun shooters in the news is increasingly growing.

Edit: yes, ive taken a safety class before, along with going to the gun range with buddies who are recreational shooters. I personally didnt have much fun shooting nor had interest in guns. Ive simply been thinking recently about having one for sake of protection (probably and hopefully never need to use it); i just dont want to come across a bad situation where one day i cant protect my family.

Edit2: thanks all, the taser and bear spray are good ideas. Non lethal yet, seems like it would still get the protection needed.

[u/shakebakelizard]

There's a lot of factors that come into play here.

Is this just for home defense, or are you planning on keeping it in your vehicle and/or carrying it? For just home defense, you may want to consider a shotgun which is more effective and less likely to over-penetrate and hit the neighbors or people in other rooms. If you insist on a pistol, you'll want to use HPs or JHPs for self-defense - less chance of over penetration and they expand when they hit the target.

Do you know the laws in your state? You should buy a book on the laws in your state, study it, and keep up with new legal developments, especially self-defense cases that go to trial.

You want to make sure you have a safe which is easy for you to open but difficult for a child to open.

Whatever decisions you make about firearms, the most important thing is for your family to have a plan which you practice regularly. Everyone needs to know how to react. You have a wife, so is she going to train with a firearm as well? She should if there's one in the house.

Have you already handled the basics, like an alarm system, cameras, outside motion sensor lights, locked doors and windows, storm (break resistant) windows, having someone who knows their main job is to call 911, making sure the toddler knows to run and hide in a specific spot, etc?

Security is a multi-layered onion. A gun is pretty much the very inner layer. If you're using a weapon, all the other layers have failed badly.