Yankee, thank you. I understand, and respect your well taken point. But to get back on topic, why do we men feel proud (and secure) in protecting our women by arming them with a self defense weapon in a caliber (.380 or .32) that we would feel nervous and under gunned carrying ourselves - especially since women can easily carry soft shooting compact 9s in their hand bags?
Seems like some of our choices - while all valid to some degree - are based on fuzzy logic. (My own choices included.) Until Rohrbaugh defies the laws of physics and reality and makes a 12 gauge the size and weight of the R9, with no more kick than their 380, all carry options will remain a compromise of one sort or another.
I don't think most men are trying to arm there wives with a minor caliber (25 - 32 - 380) as much as most women choose not to shoot the major calibers (9 - 40 - 45) as I stated in my second post.
The typical reason most women end up with the mouse guns is either they don't like the recoil of the larger calibers or they think the larger caliber gun is too heavy to carry / hold while shooting or the grip is too large to hold comfortably.
As you pointed out women carry a purse, many already weigh several pounds, now comes the decision to add a 9 or 10 oz mouse gun or a 25 to 38 oz major caliber Not only is the weight an issue but the size is a factor, does she get the larger gun and leave out her three favorite lip gloss and two other doo dads for her hair, nails, eyes, teeth etc, etc I'm sure you get the idea.
So my thought is it's not that most men are happy or proud to arm there wives with small size small caliber guns but it is a compromise to get her to carry any gun as opposed to no gun at all.