Kid suspended for drawing a gun

[Strangler Lewis]

Originally Posted by AllyOops!

[font="Georgia"]

Also, a main point- my Dad did not insist on the guns until a prowler was found on our property. He wanted to make sure that I was protected. I don't feel the need to have one. However, does it make me feel a bit safer knowing it's there? I'd be lying if I said "no".

I, too, grew up with guns, but this is a reason to get an alarm system (or steal someone else's sign), not a gun. I find it odd that in this thread with all this pro-gun criticism of fear, fear, fear and the assumption that all adverse risk of a random Columbine situation must be eliminated, that there's no recognition that the pro-gun mentality is to a large extent about fear, fear, fear and the willingness to declare the pernicious societal consequences of gun worship acceptable and justified by the desire of each individual to protect himself from statistically unlikely random violence.

Now, I recognize that an alarm system is just a way to call in the folks with the guns and that the police only represent a delegation of power that we would be justified in exercising ourselves. Still, somewhere along the line, and perhaps only at the borders of where this issue is debated, gun ownership got unhealthily fetishized from the sad recognition of the need for self-protection to a worship of killing power.

Originally Posted by AllyOops!

[font="Georgia"]Oddly, I also feel unsafe at times knowing it's there.

Are you prepared to use it before it's taken from you and used against you? I saw this video where a fellow robbed a convenience store with a shotgun and set the shotgun down on the counter while he bagged the money that the clerk gave him. The clerk took the shotgun and pointed it at the guy. The guy ran out of the store. Ten seconds later, he came back, hopped the counter and started struggling for the shotgun before deciding to leave again. I guess he thought--to the extent he did think--that the clerk did not seem like the type to shoot him.

[AllyOops!]

Originally Posted by Strangler Lewis

Are you prepared to use it before it's taken from you and used against you? I saw this video where a fellow robbed a convenience store with a shotgun and set the shotgun down on the counter while he bagged the money that the clerk gave him. The clerk took the shotgun and pointed it at the guy. The guy ran out of the store. Ten seconds later, he came back, hopped the counter and started struggling for the shotgun before deciding to leave again. I guess he thought--to the extent he did think--that the clerk did not seem like the type to shoot him.

No, I don't believe you are truly ever prepared for a situation like that until it occurs and you are actually in the moment. I pray to God that I am never in it.

Every situation is different and you can't compare any of them. It's really easy to say "Oh, I would have said this, or done that" when you yourself are not immersed in the situation. I can honestly tell you that I have no clue how I would act when staring down the barell of a gun, or if I had the barell aimed at somebody else. Honestly? I don't ever want to find out. When your adrenaline is rushing, when it's a matter of life or death, it's a whole other ball of wax, so to speak.

So, yes, somebody might overpower me, turn my gun on me, and end my life, or leave me in a vegetative state. GOD FORBID.

Or, I might fire it in self-defense. I know that I couldn't live a normal life if I took somebody else's, even in self-defense. I know the type of person that I am and how sensitive I can be. Nobody enjoyes brandishing a weapon and threatening to use it. I know I would never want to!

But you know what? they should of thought of that risk before climbing into a window and deciding to inflict harm on somebody.

I have zero sympathy toward criminals who engage in this behavior. I'm certainly not angry, ranting or unleashing at anybody here, because everybody has a right to their opinion. It's criminal activity that gets my blood boiling.

There's no right answer to this. Because NOBODY knows what they would do unless they have been there, done it, and have lived to tell it.