Of the three cases, in two of them they didn't even hit the bear (maybe grazed it in one), and in the other case where they actually hit the bear it was with a .22.

I can't say that I'm surprised that these efforts were flagged as failures.

I think their next study should concentrate on events where people actually hit the bear they were shooting at. Your odds go up a little bit - not much - if you actually connect. And really, .22's should be discounted from the start. That's just not going to work except in some kind of freaky miracle.

Personally, I would not trust any handgun against a bear. And not a whole lot of the commonly owned rifle calibers either. My minimum rifle would probably start at a hotly loaded .45-70 for a small black bear, and then go up from there.