While a .22 isn't ideal, no one wants extra holes.
I had an emergency room doctor in my training class once. He told me that in the ER, 22 wounds tend to cause more wide-spread damage. While a 9mm or .45 will put a big hole through someone, a .22 tends to put just one hole in someone... then the bullet fragments bounce around inside the tissue and thrash multiple organs. He told us that he'd had a case where someone was shot by a .22 in the shoulder, and ended up with bullet fragments down in their leg as a result.
A young man and his girlfriend came into the range where I was working once, and she spied a Ruger SR22 pistol (semi-automatic, in .22) in what we jokingly called 'tactical raspberry'. He scoffed and told her "You're not going to hurt anyone with that - it's just a 22."
I just smiled and said, "Why don't you go downrange and hold her targets, then?
His response, looking at me in horror: "Why would I want to do that?"
"Well, you just said it wouldn't hurt you..."
He turned beet red, and his girlfriend giggled like a loon. Pretty sure she ended up buying that cute little pistol, too.
So, bottom line is - it ain't the size of the hole, it's the placement. 
What is the point of rules that are not enforced?
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