So I'm thinking about becoming a gun owner...

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

It’s a step I never thought I’d take.

Let me be clear: I don’t like the heavily armed culture of gun violence that we seem to have in America. I feel that by purchasing a weapon for myself, I am somehow giving in to it. I grew up in a home in one of the safest suburbs of New Orleans. We never had a burglary or a break-in ever, yet my parents kept a handgun “for protection.” The only thing that gun was ever used for was my brother’s suicide in 1990. So the issue is, to put it mildly, rife with emotion and personal issues.

However, please note my location, and please note that I grew up in New Orleans. The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina has shaken me to the core of my being. I’m sorry if that sounds over-dramatic. No one in my family was hurt or killed. No one lost their home. No one was trapped in the city. But something about seeing the breakdown of civil order happen so quickly in such familiar surroundings has upset my balance dramatically. I look back on emails and journal entries I wrote in those days, and I was so very frightened, even here in Baton Rouge.

I thought at the time that I was simply reacting to the unthinkable finally happening. If you grow up in New Orleans, the levees breaking is the fairy-tale monster of your childhood. You’re told it could happen, but it’s like the sky falling… you don’t think it could really happen. As I’ve tried to explain to my husband, when he woke me up that horrible morning to say the levees had broken, it was like every boogeyman I’d ever imagined as a child had suddenly became real. I’ve waited for that feeling to pass, and it has to a certain extent, and what has remained is this legitimate fear: if a disaster strikes, we are on our own.

Even though we live far enough inland that we do not evacuate for hurricanes, I told my husband I want us to have five days worth of food and water in the house this hurricane season. It startled me that he agreed that this was a good idea. I half-expected him to think I was over-reacting.

Which brings us back around to the idea of a weapon. I used to think that the idea that civil order could break down and people would roam the streets trying to break into your house and hurt you was laughable, like something out of a horror movie. Well, life became a horror movie in New Orleans on August 29th last year. It was close enough to The Stand to give me nightmares for months.

I would, of course, be a responsible gun owner, and would not own a weapon without researching thoroughly as to what would be the most appropriate weapon to own and taking all appropriate safety courses. My husband thinks a standard shotgun is a good deterrent weapon and less likely to be a hazard to have in the home.

So I guess I’m asking for feedback from those who own weapons or who have had to make the decision to become a gun owner themselves.

Thanks for reading this thoughtfully.

2

We’ve had a few threads on this lately; here are a couple of relevant ones that I remember:

Best gun for home defense?

Talk to me about keeping a gun

I say the same thing in every thread on the subject: training, training, training. Many gun stores and the NRA offer general safety courses, which I would recommend before laying down the money for a firearm. Also, often at gun stores with ranges, you can rent and try out many different kinds to figure out what works for you once you narrow it down to shotgun, pistol, or rifle. I keep all three, but my shotgun is a bird gun, not a home defense set up.

In your setting and after what you all have gone through with the hurricanes down there, I’d pick a shotgun first. They’re the easiest to learn to use effectively and can be the most intimidating.

3

Thanks for pointing me to relevant threads, I’ll check them out.

4

If you have more questions after perusing those threads, post them back here. There are many knowledgeable and well intentioned gun owners around these parts that are more than happy to give our .02 cents on anything you might want to know regarding firearm ownership.

5

Maybe you should ask the gun people on line if they’ve ever fired on a bad guy.

My FIL had a gun for target shooting. His son used it to take his own life. And he’s not the only suicide by gun that I know of.

You might want to poll that question as well.

Good luck in your decision.

6

A gun is only as good as your will to use it. You have to ask yourself if you’re willing to look another human being in the eye and pull the trigger. It seems like an easy question, but you’d be surprised how many people freeze when that moment comes.

I know myself that I could never kill someone to protect property. The only way I could do it was if I was in imminent danger of physical harm. (My home invasion plan is to lock myself in my bedroom and let them take whatever they want-- I’d only shoot if they forced their way into the bedroom.)

I believe the best protection is a dog because most theives won’t enter a house which has a barking dog. (The majority of theives are looking for an easy score. They don’t want to worry about getting bit or having the neighbors alerted.) They can also alert you if anyone’s snooping around the house, and wake you if someone comes in-- give you time to prepare, in other words.

In a breakdown-of-law-and-order situation, most looters are going to want to target stores or unoccupied structures. There’s no reason to bother with occupied homes when there’s plenty of other loot to be had. And remember, just because someone’s a thief doesn’t make them willing to murder.

Your idea of having extra food and water on hand is a good one for everybody, regardless of whether you live in a hurricane-prone area or not. There are a lot of disasters which can happen. No place is immune to it. (Factory explosions, wildfires, earthquakes, tornadoes, blizzards, floods . . .)

My household usually has about thirty gallons of bottled water on hand, and enough canned foods for about a month. We have five-gallon water cooler bottles delivered six at a time, and always have at least one or two in reserve. (You never know when a main will break.)

You should also think of your household’s other necessities:

–Medications. Ask your doctor for an extra, emergency prescription. Keep an extra bottle of all essential medications on hand, switching them out periodically to make sure they’re fresh. If you have any medications requiring refrigeration, you should make sure you have a cooler, and always keep some ice packs in the freezer.

–Medical records, deeds, birth certificates and other essential documents should be kept together in a safe place where you could grab them if you needed to flee.

–Pet foods/medications. Keep your pet’s medical records with the family’s records. If you had to flee with your pet, you might have to prove its immunizations.

You should also have an escape plan that everyone in your household knows. My husband and I have an agreed-upon plan so we could always find each other if we were seperated. In an emergency requiring me to evacuate my home, I’ll go to my grandmother’s house. Should she need to evacuate, too, we go then to my mother’s house. If plans have to change, I’ll leave a message on the doors of these houses.

7

A few random meandering points.

  1. You do well to note that “YOU ARE ON YOUR OWN.” I am fairly unfamiliar with the NO situation, but I do remember the Rodney King riots, in LA. There are two videos I recall specifically. **One ** is that when things got hot, the LAPD drove outta there like lightning. **Two ** is that one guy that got the brick smashed against his skull. There were plenty of people that could have helped him. They attacked him. My roomie at the time noted that if he had had a gun, he would not have been the one on the witness stand with a hole in his skull, as was the case. Cops were, of course, long gone.
    In addition, I read somewhere that if something happens, a la NO, where will the cops go to protect-the mayor’s house, or yours?

  2. It will probably be easier to get a gun than it would be to gather the kids together and into a safe room.

  3. (As G. Gordon Liddy points out) An empty gun is a useless gun, so treat all guns as if they are loaded, and keep them loaded.

  4. Home gun tragedies happen, but so do home chemical, cleaners, etc… accidents. Don’t be careless with a gun any more than if it were a bottle of bleach.

  5. In a societal breakdown people behave irrationally. It doesn’t matter if anybody is at home or not in these weird situations. They CAN behave like animals on Gunsmoke or like the creeps on Death Wish (1, maybe not DW3-or maybe so.) Stats on burglars looking for easy scores are irrelevent. Bloodlust can become the order of the day, esp. if there are news reports that all of the PD is across town.
    In such times, any house without an armed man IS an easy score. The hot babe whose husband is not home IS the loot. Reason disappears. You have to be the one to control your home, not leave the choice to others.

  6. Do you ever hear of the local break ins with residents at home, such as the old lady that was raped. The clown that won big at bingo and paid for everybody’s drinks that was robbed in his home, and then killed. Half of the time beaten to death. A gun would have improved their chances for survival.

  7. Better to have a gun and not need it than to need it and not have it.

  8. I lived in an apartment building, and one night I just happened to be cleaning my shotgun. Somebody jiggled the door. I asked who’s there. Another jiggle, and no answer. I made the loud chambering noise familiar to all shotgun owners, and the jiggling ceased. Still, I think that a heavy handgun, 357 with hollow points, is better, because it is more maneuverable.

  9. I believe that there may be an incorrect emphasis on training. You can’t be too well trained, but get the gun first, THEN get trained. In an emergency situation, you don’t want to be a sharp shooter, because you won’t have time to do any trick Dirty Harry style shooting. You want to stop somebody that is in your house. The first thing to learn is how to operate the weapon safely. This can be learned on NRA or some other responsible gun owner site. After that, go crazy, and take all of the training that you want. A good thing about training at a range: it increases your respect for the gun as a tool. The glamour that guns have on TV don’t seem to carry over when you fire a gun at a range, and have to reload them constantly, and then clean the derned things. The hot babes didn’t see me as more manly, either. I left thinking that I would learn to shoot so I wouldn’t have to go back to the range any more than necessary.

  10. Guns don’t “Just go off” any more than knives “Just stab” anybody. Since Civil War to 1911, more or less, guns are superdesigned to avoid just that.
    What makes a gun go off is pressure on the trigger. You need not fear a gun. You need to fear unsafe handling of a gun. (If a friend of yours aims a weapon at you and laughs and cackles that it wasn’t loaded, make this person your ex-friend immediately.)

  11. My father ended his life with a shotgun, and guess who found him? It hasn’t changed my attitudes about guns. He had had the gun for years. The gun wasn’t anybody’s enemy. Death was.

  12. Never cock a revolver until you are ready to shoot. If it is a double action revolver, never cock it. Just aim and shoot. Unnecessary cocking increases the risk of accidental misfires (see #10.)

  13. Don’t get a single/two shot weapon. If you miss on the first shot, you’ll need a backup.

  14. If I go for a gun in my home for protection, and somebody else calls 911, I believe that I will have a happier resolution.

Best Wishes,
hh

8
  1. Get safety training.

In riot conditions, a good choice is a 12Gauge shotgun. Mossberg does a nice police model, with a looooooong tube barrel.

Pistols are iffy … training is needed for effect.

Revolvers: the safest bet for the simple owner is a medium-to-large frame revolver, chambered for .357Magnum, with a 4" barrel. Get Hogue or Bianchi rubber grips for comfort and control. If you can afford it, get it in stainless steel. Smith and Wesson, Taurus, Colt and Ruger all have good product lines.

Self-loading Pistols: a good all-around choice is the Glock Model 22 ( in .40SW). .40SW is between the 9mm pB and the .45ACP in terms of power and capacity.
Beretta has some nice SLPs.

For liability purposes, ensure that your defense pistols have medium to heavy trigger pulls. It’s best to have weapons that only fire in double-action mode.

Handguns are effective in close range combat, but you’ve got to have the training.

Also be aware of the laws for owning/moving/storing/carrying/concealing/firing in your area. Be aware of the deadly force laws in your area.

Oh, as a matter of practical tactics, if you must fire, shoot to kill. Train yiurself to reliably and intuitively place rounds in the target’s center of mass. Head shots and wounding shots are a bad idea.

Also, be able to securely store your weapons … as in gun safes …Also, develop some non-gun personal defense options.

9

All the advice in the world on which type of gun to get is fine, but never buy a gun without the opportunity to test one of its model first. Like Cowgirl Jules said, go to a range that rents guns and try out the different models. Find what you like and what feels good in your hands. The perfect gun for a 6’2", 220 pound man may not be the gun for a 5’1", 105 pound woman.

[hijack]For those of you who read my thread a few weeks ago on the Glock 17, that’s the gun I decided to go with. I didn’t like the Sig after trying it out, but I still liked the Glock after putting another 100 rounds through it. I need about six more weeks to have the money, and then it’ll be mine. [/hijack]

10

Everyone knows the Glock 22 is really a twenty-two caliber pistol.

11

:dubious:

:slight_smile:

I guess mine’s defective, since it’s chambered for .40SW … maybe it’s worth something…

The “In” Glocks right now are the models in .357Sig and .45ACP. 9mm pB is sorta out of the loop. The Glock 22 in .40SW is a market leader in the police market.

I’d like to see a Glock chambered in the new 5.7mm round (the one used in the FN Five-Seven and P90).

12

To clarify, if you have more then one gun, only one needs to be kept loaded for self defense purposes. You don’t need to keep them ALL loaded.

13

If you’re uncomfortable with “Gun Culture” and all that, why not consider getting a “Historic” gun? That way, you can combine home defence with some aesthetic appeal.

Something like a Winchester Model 94 rifle in .44 Magnum, or even a .45 calibre S&W M1917 revolver might not be a bad choice, either- although I must mention that owning guns for self-defence is illegal in Australia, so I’m speaking strictly from an Academic/Theoretical view here.

14

Wow.

In Australia after a natural disaster, people think about ways they can make themselves safer in the future. They might up their insurance or they might reinforce their fences/roofs for protection.

They certainly don’t think about going out and buying a gun.

I am astonished, but not surprised I guess. :rolleyes:

15

The specific premise in the OP is that the weapon will likely be used for self-defense.

I cannot reccommend a .44Magnum for routine self-defense:

  1. It will get you sued/prosecuted, since it is a “scary gun”;

  2. It involves a high level of noise/recoil and hence, is hard to target quickly, forget follow-up shots;

  3. Most .44Mag loads, with the exception hydroshok/hollowpoint-type rounds, are too fast and will likely over-penetrate.

16

:rolleyes:

17

I’ve seen Mad Max. I know exactly how you people respond to a disaster.

Marc

18

Out of a handgun, yes. A Winchester Model 94 lever-action rifle in .44 Magnum is an entirely different kettle of fish, and considerably more versatile than a similar calibre handgun, especially if you decide you do want to go to the shooting range at some point.

And it’s also worth bearing in mind that people in Australia don’t buy guns after natural disasters because they’re out helping the neighbours put the roof back on and clear away the damage, not looting their TV or jewellery.

19

State Farm, a major insurer in this country, just announced that they are no longer writing policies in south Louisiana or Texas. Farmer’s Insurance, another major insurer, is completely pulling out of the Texas market altogether, leaving 700,000 policyholders scrambling to find other insurers. I expect they will do the same in Louisiana should another hurricane strike this season.

I fail to see how reinforcing my roof and/or fence would protect me from a breakdown of civil order.

But thank you for the patronizing roll-eyes smiley just the same.

20

I suggest you ask this guy.