CZ.USA SCORPION .32 VS. GLOCK 26 9MM WITH 33 RD MAG: THE BEST CAR DEFENSE GUN

A friend and I were discussing the various merits of an automobile defensive weapon for the driver to be able to use. If there is a passenger who can shoot well, and you are attacked, so much the better. But I think the driver in any high risk area should be prepared to defend against several forms of possible attack, both urban and rural and both stationary and mobile.

Ideally it would be a weapon you could carry concealed, easily or otherwise, on your person, but certainly carried concealed in a small purse sized bag with lots of extra magazines. You'd want a laser, and perhaps a flashlight on it as well. I suggested the Glock 26, the subcompact Glock 9mm that regularly holds 10 rounds, but will accept the larger capacity mags including the 33 round mags that fit the Glock 17 and 19 models. You can lay down a pretty good field of fire with 34 rounds, and if laser guided, a fairly effective field of fire. A Glock 17 or a 19 are also a very viable alternative to the 26, but I was thinking about a gun that would fit in a small bag under the drivers seat with a bunch of extra 33 round mags.

There is some excellent information and ideas about Glocks, as well as pics and vids, at http://www.sal2009.com/index.php?key=glock+26. That's where the top picture comes from, exactly what I'm talking about. Micro Glock with 33 round magazine.

Certainly, a sawed off shotgun or short barreled assault rifle would be an ideal car defense weapon, but I'd worry too much about theft of these far more expensive weapons. Besides, a Glock would be far easier to maneuver than either a short rifle or a sawed off shotgun. A lot of folks I know carry the Taurus Judge in their car, loaded with shot, in case they are attacked on the road. I think the Taurus is a great option and a great gun.

My friend suggested the CZ/USA Scorpion .32 caliber semi-automatic version of the famous machine pistol. They go for about $700 with a couple of mags. I saw one the other day, and was very surprised at their tiny size. Tiny. There is a major coolness factor in the appearance of the gun, but it handles well and feels well in the hand. I have not shot one, but suspect it would be highly superior to the numerous cheap and crappy semi-auto machine pistol replicas and adaptations that were prevalent in the 80's and 90's, such as the semi-auto mac replicas.

For the entry price of the Scorpion with two mags, one could score a new Model 26, fit it with a nice small but powerful tac rail laser, and a handful of 33 round mags. Maybe two handfuls of mags. Of course, 9mm ammo is tons cheaper than .32 ammo and is a far better defensive round. But for me, the 9mm clearly beats the .32 as a defensive round, particularly if that could involve shooting through car doors and glass.

I know some of my non-gun toting readers are saying, why do you need a gun like that in your car in the first place? Well, lets go back again to high risk areas.

What's a high risk area, you say? Well, in this day and age, any area in Texas can be, particularly in the larger cities. We have bad bad bad gang and cartel troubles raging just across the border, and cities like Houston, Beaumont, San Antonio, Corpus Christi, Austin and DFW are awash in the gang members of the various groups doing business in Mexico.

Because they also do business in America.

We have our own home grown gangsters and cartels and other forms of organized crime operating here locally and internationally and in cities like Houston, all kinds of organized crime and terrorist activity could be expected to occur and the highest levels due to the diversity of the population and the relative transient nature of Houston as a city.

During my lifetime, arguably the rise and fall and rise and fall and rise and fall and so on of Houston, The rises are accompanied by mass influx of folks from elsewhere, either domestic or foreign. We have a large illegal alien population and are a major drug and human trafficking area.

Many of these gang types rent condos, properties and homes to transact their business. You occasionally hear of a raid at one but figure for every one caught there are 100 or more not being caught that day.

So if you're driving around the urban or rural areas that encompass Harris County, Texas, (which is larger than Rhode Island, btw), there is all sorts of trouble you might stumble across. In this day and age, in pretty much any modern city in the world, you're likely to run into the same problems as here. Armed bandits. Kidnappings. Random violent crimes like car/atm jacking, hijackers and just your run of the mill "wrong place at the right time" where some mental patient is going off and you're in the line of fire.

Happened to a very good friend of mine a couple of years ago. Going into the same grocery store my family frequents on a Sunday evening about 6 p.m., my friend encounters a meth-head who is absolutely schizo out of his mind, running around with a double ended knife, a cheap gas station $10 knife from China with double blades, one on each end, and the blades are particuarly wicked and serrated.

My poor friend and his date are confronted by said psycho at the door of the store, where employees have just locked the door to keep him from coming back into the store. My friend didn't then carry a gun or a knife, but does now. The meth head, who later said he'd been on a three day "meth run", fought with my friend, who defended his date and then himself with a nearby chair, until my friend fell.

My friend got stabbed in the back, and the docs said if the knife had gone 1" deeper it would have been in his heart. It wasn't for lack of trying, but my friend's girlfriend came running back and started kicking the attacker and a crowd of onlookers jumped onto the freak and subdued he and his knife until police arrived.

This is really the kind of stuff that can happen to you. A car gun like a Scorpion .32 wouldn't have helped my friend, but a Glock or S&W sure would have, as would any kind of knife he might have been able to use. Me myself, I'm going with the gun in the knife attack, in spite of the close quarters of the combat. I practice point shooting from serveral positions, including from the waist level with the arm drawn in close to the body. I am confident at my ability to defend myself point shooting from the waist at a 5 to 7 foot distance.

But back to high risk areas. If you break down in the middle of nowhere, even on an interstate, day or night, you never know who might come along. What if you're out of cell range (not uncommon in many parts of hilly or mountainous remote West Texas)? What if it is a couple of broke and strung out meth heads, both freshly paroled from some sort of prison stint, who see you with your car and clothes and family and think you much be rich and they will be both Robin Hood and the poor at the same time.

On a freeway in a large city like Houston in the middle of the night. Traversing any freeway, what if a carload of gangmembers want to steal your car or atm kidnap you? Can you defend against this situation.

Yes, your normal CHL weapon would be handy, but would you rather have a five shot J frame or a 34 round Glock with a laser? The Subcompact Glocks look awesome with a 33 round mag sticking out, like a mini-machine pistol. Trust me, you can shoot it as fast as you need to in a mobile situation even being a semi-auto weapon. If the intimidating look of the weapon didn't deter a load of car jackers, then hitting one of them in the face with the laser might.

If it comes to Dodge City time, then you've got 34 rounds of reliable 9mm ammo, backed by several other 33 round magazines, in a package much easier to wield in a mobile situation than an AK or AR pistol.

No matter how high the coolness factor of the Scorpion .32 semi-auto, for me the Glock is a easy winner over the Scorpion for an auto defense weapon. Another excellent pistol with hi cap mags available is the Browning Hi Power and it's many clones, which take 30 something round magazines as well. You'd have to fit it with laser grips, but that's an easy addition.