Handguns are very portable and convenient. Carrying around a handgun, as its been mentioned here before, is much easier than lugging around a big awkward rifle or shotgun. The tradeoff is that a handgun lacks the ballistics and stopping power of long guns. Rifles and shotguns are much more powerful and much more likely to kill than handguns. A handgun more or less is just a smaller, powered down version of the rifle. Being smaller its much easier to carry but also much less powerful. Therefore if somebody is shot with a rifle they are much more likely to die than if they're shot with a handgun. I know a case of a woman taking a handgun class who accidentally shot herself in the foot. They called in a helicopter, flew her to a hospital, patched her foot up, and the next day she was back and finished the class. Now, if somebody gets shot in the foot with a long gun, no more foot. They most likely will be fitted for a prosthetic. Anyway, although handguns don't have the power and destructive ability of a long gun, personally I prefer them because they have the advantages of being much more portable and much easier to carry around. After all, for a weapon to have any level of effect, it has to be with you in the first place. Therefore I like handguns over long guns simply for the reason that its much easier to have one with you. After all, you always see police carrying handguns but you usually don't see them lugging around long guns, those are usually kept in the cruiser and used when the situation warrants it.
Anyway, that being said, I just would like to say that although long guns are much more lethal than handguns, its handguns that are usually much more regulated. In the USA, in lots of states you can buy a long gun from a state even if you're not a state resident but you can only buy a handgun if you're a state resident and handgun purchases are usually state registered. In other countries too handguns are more highly regulated than long guns if not outright banned. Like I said, I think that is a bit screwed up since I consider handguns more convenient, easier to carry, ect. Yet, even though long guns are more likely to kill its handguns that are more restricted, a bit silly isn't it.
Anyway, that being said, I just would like to say that although long guns are much more lethal than handguns, its handguns that are usually much more regulated. In the USA, in lots of states you can buy a long gun from a state even if you're not a state resident but you can only buy a handgun if you're a state resident and handgun purchases are usually state registered. In other countries too handguns are more highly regulated than long guns if not outright banned. Like I said, I think that is a bit screwed up since I consider handguns more convenient, easier to carry, ect. Yet, even though long guns are more likely to kill its handguns that are more restricted, a bit silly isn't it.