I've had a variety of handguns over a period of time, some of which I still have, safely under lock and key.

One gun I have used a great deal is a Crosman CO2 powered pellet gun. It fires .22 cal. pellets. It looks like it should be able to fire laser beams. One could not kill anyone with it, but the pellets hit hard enough to bury themselves a quarter of an inch deep in a hardwood board, so they could sure make someone bleed a bit.

Great for target shooting, which I used to do a fair bit at one time.

Also, every now and then we get a plague of little moths that come in from outside our apartment. One could run around and try to swat them, but I've found it easier (and a bit "sporting") to sit there with a full charge of CO2 in the Crosman, but no pellets, and pop away at a moth as it flies by. If the jet of gas is within a couple of inches of the moth, it disappears in a puff of grey dust.

As far as footpads and felons are concerned, the only altercation I ever got into was about sixty years ago in San Francisco. On my way to a class one evening, some young guy thought this dude on crutches would be easy pickings.

Not so.

I caught him in the goolies with a hearty whack of an aluminum forearm crutch. He didn't see that one coming.

I proceeded to my class, leaving him all doubled over, contemplating the hazards of his sinful ways.

Don Firth