[AGE]

Heydrich,

To each his own on pistols vs rifles. I've found pistols and CCW permits very respectable in Florida, at least if you are respectable. Maybe I've watched too many westerns, etc. too but a pistol is very handy for defense while a rifle is unlikely to be available for defense against surprise attack. Besides, who carries a rifle for self defense today?

Also, a pistol is hard to shoot accurately--it takes years of practice and thousands of rounds to become a decent shot. Anybody can shoot a scoped rifle (at least with a rest) after firing a box or two of ammo. There is a lot more challenge and fun in pistol shooting in my opinion even though I started shooting in a high school smallbore rifle team back in the late '40s long before I could buy a pistol.