Editor's Note: This page contains both the original Concealed Carry Handguns For Women article as well as its follow-up piece from the 2022 CCW special issue of Gun Digest the Magazine. Please click HERE to jump to the original article or read on to see the most up-to-date list.
A few years ago, I wrote an article for Gun Digest pointing out some of the best guns for women. As the result of the shooting industry keeping an ear out for what people really need, things have changed for the better. Only two of the original guns in that article are in this test, and they were the first and second place entries. The development of defensive concealed pistols is in a period of unprecedented growth and development, and the result is that what was the best gun is still a great gun, but new models are always pushing the envelope.
Two guns dominated the results: The Sig P365 was a clear winner for women with good hand strength, and the Smith & Wesson Shield EZ was the clear choice of female shooters who had issues with strength or recoil.
The top four guns were all introduced within the past two years; the two other guns are the oldest designs. I believe this is an indication of just how fast firearms development is moving in our modern world.
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Instructor Charles Vacca, 39, was standing next to the girl Monday at the Last Stop range in White Hills, Ariz., about 60 miles south of Las Vegas, when she squeezed the trigger. The recoil wrenched the Uzi upward, and Vacca was shot in the head.
Gerry Hills, founder of Arizonans for Gun Safety, a group seeking to reduce gun violence, said that it was reckless to let the girl handle such a powerful weapon and that tighter regulations regarding children and guns are needed.
Investigators released 27 seconds of the footage showing the girl from behind as she fires at a black-silhouette target. The footage, which does not show the instructor being shot, helped feed the furor on social media and beyond.
Xiarhos said that several unlicensed weapons, including a rifle and a shotgun, were recovered in the home. They seized those guns, as well as the .40 caliber semiautomatic pistol the girl apparently shot herself with.
"We chose to not arrest him," Xiarhos said. "We knew that the weapons were all taken from the home. We know that the girl has been placed in the custody of the Department of Children and Families. So there's really no danger factor. It's also Christmastime, and he was very cooperative."
By David Schwartz PHOENIX (Reuters) - A 9-year-old girl who fatally shot a gun range instructor with an Uzi submachine gun last week told her mother immediately afterward that the weapon was too much for her to handle and had hurt her shoulder, a sheriff's report released on Tuesday said. The girl's family also did not realize right away that the instructor, 39-year-old Charles Vacca, had been struck by a round from the gun, according to the Mohave County Sheriff's Office report. Vacca had been showing the girl how to fire an Uzi at the Arizona Last Stop gun range in White Hills last week when the recoil caused her to lose control of the high-powered weapon, the sheriff's office has said. Vacca was struck by at least one bullet and later died, in an accident that touched off debate over the wisdom of giving children access to high-powered firearms, even in a controlled setting such as a gun range. The sheriff's office has said no criminal charges were pending after what it called an "industrial accident." State occupational health and safety officials have opened their own investigation. The girl's mother told officers that immediately following the shooting, her daughter "turned to her (and) told her the gun was too much for her and hurt her shoulder," the report said. "(The mother) said no one knew Vacca was shot until the other instructor ran over," an officer wrote. Another officer, citing another instructor at the range, said that when the girl fired the weapon, it went "straight up in the air." Vacca fell to his left toward a table, blood pouring from the wound. When officers arrived, they found Vacca on the ground still breathing and moaning as another man applied a towel to his head. Blood covered a folding table next to him. The girl's family issued a statement through an attorney on Tuesday expressing "sadness" for Vacca's death. "Although certain people will seek to use this tragedy for their own partisan purposes and agendas, the family asks all compassionate Americans to pray for their children and the entire Vacca family," the statement said in part. A video clip of the moments leading up to the shooting, released by the sheriff's office shows Vacca giving a girl in pink shorts hands-on instruction as she aims the Uzi at a target. He is heard encouraging the girl and asking her to fire one shot before telling her: "All right, full auto." The weapon then unleashes multiple rounds as the video cuts off. It was apparently moments later that Vacca was shot. The Last Stop is a tourist hub that includes a restaurant, bar, RV park and general store and is decorated with paintings of firearms, faux bullet holes and crosshairs and a mural depicting a gun-toting Sylvester Stallone in the film "Rambo." It lists the minimum age as 8. The family had been visiting Last Stop from Las Vegas and had taken a ride on a "monster truck" before trying the shooting range, the report said. (Reporting by David Schwartz and Dan Whitcomb; Writing by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Peter Cooney)
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