Laser-Equipped Bodyguards: S&W Bodyguard 38 and 380

September-2010

Back when we few, we happy few, were lawfully packing handguns, the manufacturers didn’t offer much. Oh, there were designs, but the market for concealed carry was much smaller than that for duty and home-defense guns.

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Today, however, the number of citizens with a CCW in their wallet and a handgun somewhere about their person is much higher. In some locales, the number is more than 20 times as many. It recently occurred to me why the increase in CCW holders meant a huge increase in snubbies and pocket .380s being carried. It’s hot out there.

Back in 1980 there were just under 800,000 residents of Phoenix. Today the number is probably over a million and a half. Likewise for a lot of the metropolitan areas of other sunbelt states. A whole lot of people means a larger number of CCW holders. And in hot-weather areas, the attraction of a compact or ultra-compact gun is obvious; carrying a big gun is hassle enough, but doing so in hot weather is just misery.

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