My wife and I have been discussing getting a handgun. I was telling her that since we want to have our own house in the future, I would like to have a handgun to protect the family in case of emergency. It's a hard sell because nobody has guns in the country where my wife grew up and she's afraid our daughter might play with it.
I reasoned that a gun is like health insurance—you hope that nothing ever happens, but if you do need it, you’re glad it’s there. I told her that if we lived in a single-family home, then I felt more vulnerable to break-in. If there were an intruder in the house, then I could confidently warn them to leave, or else.
But while my perfectly reasonable argument makes sense, I have to admit there is some perhaps irrational fear that makes me want to keep a gun in the house. Honestly, I often imagine defending my family against riotous mobs following some massive catastrophe. I don’t know where I got these crazy ideas … maybe from fiction, with movies and books like “The Day After.” But there are also very real instances where social order has collapsed into murderous chaos, such as the race riots against ethnic Chinese in Indonesia in the late 1990s.
What do you guys think? Do the benefits outweigh the risks? Am I being paranoid?
8 comments:
GET a gun case.
Lock up that gun.
Keep the amo in another room.
Locked up.
Put a lock device on the gun itself.
The chances of you waking up in the middle of the night and shooting a family member you thought was sleeping or a kid getting at that gun, you THOUGHT they didn't know about, and you THOUGHT was hidden away,
are very possible. Is any possibility worth the risk?
My father had hunting guns and a revolver. The hunting guns were on open display. We knew where the amo was. And we knew what would happened if we EVER touched either.
But the handgun, we didn't know about. I found it in their closet on the top shelf. Curiosity killed the cat. Kids will be kids. I was plenty old enough to know I shouldn't have touched it. I was probably 13-15 at the time. But checking the inside of it, it was LOADED.
I put it away. Terrified.
OMG What if I had been 5 years younger. What if.....
What is the chance that you would have an intruder, that you would find, before they found you. So that you would be able to catch THEM unawares, when they are AWAKE and you had just been sound asleep.
And that you could get a good shot at them.
Nil.
I don't want one in my house.
btw, how've ya been lately?
hi, kj. thanks for your concern. if i do get a gun, i will make sure to take a safety class and get the appropriate security.
HI, DAN!! i've been good. we're doing fine in seattle ... washington, dc, the bbs, and the jackal lair all seem pretty far away now. how about you? please send me an email.
i have owned a firearm owners card for years, but have never owned a handgun. from all that i know, it's just too dangerous to have around. i have friends with handguns, and its fun to go every few months to the range and shoot them off. that's the fun part. in a home invasion situation, it is much more effective to swing a hefty baseball bat at close range, than shoot off a handgun. have you ever tried shooting one? you'd be surprised how innacurate one can be at close range, even under perfect range conditions. add to that fear, poor lighting, etc. not a good mix. soooo... shell out a few hundred bucks for a louisville slugger, and rest easy at night.
I believe that if an intruder came in during the night, it would take you a good long time to shake the cobwebs out of your sleepy mind, unlock the gun case, load the gun, and unlock the gun. By then, the intruder would either be finished or well into what he/she intended to do. I agree with Bipen Sen. Buy a baseball bat and keep it under your side of the bed. But you don't have to pay a couple of hundred dollars for a fancy one; you could get an effective one at Wal-Mart. I say guns are too dangerous and invite trouble!
Judy
thanks, bipen and judy. you guys have all made valid, reasonable points. but i've already confessed that my desire for a handgun is partially irrational--an irrational fear that our family might meet some sort of doomsday scenario where everyone is a law unto themselves. i know ... it's crazy, but i often think of it.
i guess it's a sort of psychological response to becoming a father. just in general, i'm much more worried about safety.
The odds are much higher for an accident than for you to defend the home with a gun. Especially with kids in the house. I read once its 40 times more likey for a gun to be involved in a fatal accident, suicide, or domestic violence than to ever be used for defense against strangers.
And your kid's friends won't be allowed to visit if there's a gun in the house.
thanks, cellania. in general, i do agree with you that having a gun in the house can pose a risk if proper precautions are not taken. i would guess the statistic you cited would be much lower if safety classes were taken, the gun was properly stored, and locking mechanisms were in place.
this discussion has shifted my mind ... so now i just need to deal with my irrational fear!
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