personal protection from?... zombie attack? Or is the guy busting into your house to murder you going to give you a sec so you can grab your legally stored handgun, unlock it and load it before he gets you? I've never understood guns for PD in Canada.
The odds of a perfect PD situation where you're not going to end up in jail is so ridiculously low, why risk using gun? Just use a nice big knife....
As for HP it being safer, well, majority of handguns are shot at ranges which should be safe for regular ammo. If you're creating dangerous ricochets, then either you or the range is not being safe.