Yes there is an obvious increase in recoil with the light weight snubbies. But they are still solid guns with their place in Concealed Carry. Shooting the 342PD I find I just grip a little tighter, and the recoil isn't too bad. But to each is own, one shouldn't simply dismiss the gun because its so light, you should try it first. I have now shot 300+ rounds with zero problems.....pull trigger, gun go bang, every time.
And no one is saying build a smaller gun, but keep it the same caliber. You'd obviously have to use a smaller caliber. But theres thousands of people right now who carry a .32 or .380 for SD, and .32 HR mag is slightly better. I know the whole caliber argument "I won't carry anything less than.....", fine if you're willing to sacrifice size/comfort/concealability I've got no problem with that. I'm sure we'd all carry .357 mag, 45 auto, or 10mm if we could, but the fact is you can't always do that, so it would be nice to have a gun with the reliablity of a revolver to complement other guns.