Personally, I think if someone broke into my house, it would be dark…I’d have probably just been woken from a dead sleep. There will be dogs barking…possibly kids also just woken from a dead sleep who are now scared and either calling for me or running towards me. There’s no way I can put myself between my family and the bad guys in that situation. If I just start shooting, I’m liable to be shooting in the general direction of a pet or child. Even in the very best scenario, where somehow my kids, my pets, my wife, and my MIL who lives with us all happen to be in my bedroom in the middle of the night I’m still very likely to just shout that we’re armed and the police are on the way. Whether they steal a TV or I shoot a TV still results in me needing a new TV…but I also know that statistically, even me having a gun in my home escalates an already tense situation where I’ll be groggy but hopped up on adrenaline and not be a reliable shot. Even if it played out how folks like to imagine… one shot, one kill, I’ve still taken a life in front of my family. That’ll result in years of therapy for all of us. I’d rather just get a new TV or whatever. We’re more likely to get struck by lightning as a family than have a Richard Ramirez type who broke into the house just to kill us, and it’s more likely still that I’ll get depressed and use the gun on myself than it is that I’ll successfully defend my family with it.
I say all that as someone with military firearms training, family members in the local PD, and as someone who’s been woken up in the middle of the night by an emergency (in that case, our house was on fire).
Do you think you would have a better chance at defending yourself with a gun?
Personally, I think if someone broke into my house, it would be dark…I’d have probably just been woken from a dead sleep. There will be dogs barking…possibly kids also just woken from a dead sleep who are now scared and either calling for me or running towards me. There’s no way I can put myself between my family and the bad guys in that situation. If I just start shooting, I’m liable to be shooting in the general direction of a pet or child. Even in the very best scenario, where somehow my kids, my pets, my wife, and my MIL who lives with us all happen to be in my bedroom in the middle of the night I’m still very likely to just shout that we’re armed and the police are on the way. Whether they steal a TV or I shoot a TV still results in me needing a new TV…but I also know that statistically, even me having a gun in my home escalates an already tense situation where I’ll be groggy but hopped up on adrenaline and not be a reliable shot. Even if it played out how folks like to imagine… one shot, one kill, I’ve still taken a life in front of my family. That’ll result in years of therapy for all of us. I’d rather just get a new TV or whatever. We’re more likely to get struck by lightning as a family than have a Richard Ramirez type who broke into the house just to kill us, and it’s more likely still that I’ll get depressed and use the gun on myself than it is that I’ll successfully defend my family with it.
I say all that as someone with military firearms training, family members in the local PD, and as someone who’s been woken up in the middle of the night by an emergency (in that case, our house was on fire).
Yes