Si Vis Pacem Para Bellum

9mm NATO is definitely not the most potent self-defense round, but, in contemporary loads, most would deem it a more than adequate SD round. Its chief benefit, IMO, lies elsewhere, though. Until NATO adopted its standardized version, it was known only, AFAIK, as the 9mm Parabellum, invoking the wise attitude, “Si vis pacem para bellum.” Hence, I will always and ever think of the round as the 9mm Parabellum, a round made for the ethos that says, “Enforce peace,” because, in this world, one cannot rely on civil government to (even attempt to) perform its primary function of sowing fear in the hearts of evildoers.