Gentlemen,
It is nice to see that barnbwt is reiterating what I posted earlier, hopefully guiding the discussion to a timeline issue that is highly relevant. As he and I noted, if you posit attackers that are merely going to stand still like paper plates on boards, rather than move laterally, forward or backward, a person may lean toward 'round count' as opposed to 'miliseconds count'. As we noted, if the attackers stand still, time is on our side to an extent. However, if they move forward, distance to contact is likely covered in too little time to engage before we are being beaten. If they are firing at us, barnbwt's averages (and mine) indicated we will be shot in half the time they are. If they are moving rearward (retiring or retreating) this changes the legal equation, and may also give us more time for assessment or even 'topping off'. If they are moving laterally, side - to - side, in an envelopment, this also reduces our ability to engage, but may reduce theirs as well, to the extent that 'distance is our friend', and may elongate the timeline to our advantage.
No one is arguing, I believe, that we should accept governmental fiat or dictate, and situations can range from 'common' assault by thugs to other situations.
Golden's experience of self defense mirrors the most common, that most street thugs are lazy cowards. In his situation, as well as mine and many others, having the gun, not necessarily it's caliber, weight, size, capacity, etc, made all the difference. One of many reasons to suggest smaller pistols and revolvers, despite their relative lack of number of rounds, is that they are more often present when needed; to use the old saw, the .22 in hand beats the .44 at home.
It is a highly relevant question of how many rounds can a defender fire accurately in a very compressed time. I will cite again the two incidents that I know of from reading in the local paper of multiple gang members overcoming defenders with 'high capacity' weapons' from the uses of overwhelming numbers and speed of assault. If one is being charged by 8 attackers, how soon will they be upon the defender? One second? Two seconds? Maybe three?
Food for thought...