.380’s Sales Surge…Again

By Robert Farago

“The .380 semi-automatic handgun has become all the rage in firearms, as more states relax conceal-carry restrictions and men and women alike turn to a palm-sized gun that easily fits into a handbag, pocket or ankle holster,” foxnews.com reports. “Production of the super-small handgun is at a 16-year high, with nearly 900,000 made in the U.S. in 2014, according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.” Wait. What? I thought . . .

the .380 craze petered-out when the firearms industry released a raft of pocket nines, including the long-awaited single-stack 9mm GLOCK 43. After all, why not carry a full-zoot (if diminutive) nine instead of a 9mm short when the 9mm mouse gun isn’t that much bigger than its smaller calibered cousins? I’m not the only one making that case . . .

But despite its surging popularity, there is debate over the .380’s utility as a weapon of self-defense.

“The smaller, more compact frames are more difficult to shoot and their durability is lower than the slightly larger sub-compacts,” noted Jeff Gonzales, president of Trident Concepts, which specializes in personal protection tactics and training for armed and unarmed conflicts. “The accuracy component is also lower due …Read the Rest

Source:: Truth About Guns