If all you're planning on shooting is paper, then by all means get the 9mm.

If you had other purposes in mind then your needs would be different. What I can't understand is the severe bias against the 9mm. Yes, the .45ACP is a better "man-stopper," and I've got one in the nightstand just in case some idiot decides to break in and find out for themselves just how good a 230gr. Hydro-shok (or three) functions in a human body.

But I'm not toting that gun around all day every day. If I could carry (Iowa is not yet "shall issue") I honestly probably wouldn't carry my .45 (Glock 21)because if its size. And as the saying goes, "the .25ACP you have in your pocket when you need it is better than the .45 you'd have left at home." Personally, if I were looking at buying a compact or sub-compact carry gun I wouldn't want a .45ACP. The .45ACP isn't bad in a full-sized pistol, but the recoil can be pretty wild from a compact or smaller handgun. I personally think that the 9mm is a great compromise for a CCW gun because it's still, with the right ammo, powerful enough to do the job well, without being so large and powerful as to make the pistol hard to shoot well (at least any harder to shoot than compacts already are) or hard to conceal comfortably.

And if your really that worried about one-shot stopping power, then forget pistols and get yourself a 12 gauge with 00 or 000 Buck. It'll put 'em down faster than any pistol on Earth, and it's easier to shoot, too.

Mike