I saw a Facebook post that said “That door you just kicked down was locked for YOUR protection; not MINE”.
I think that’s all the “retreating” I’ll do.
I’m not sure how I’d feel. In my high school bully days I enjoyed meting out violence, but that was 25 years ago, and I never even put anybody in the hospital, much less shot or killed anyone. I expect I’d be shaken up and I’d not be surprised to need therapy afterwards.
But you know what? I’ll risk that to protect my family. Here is a list of the top three things more important to me than my wife & baby’s lives:
- Not a fucking thing.
- Not a goddamn thing.
- Not a fucking goddamn thing.
Not a gun-wielder here, but I’d try to harm or kill someone who was intent on committing a violent crime in my home - last resort after calling 911 first, announcing it if they attempted to break into my bedroom, then attempting to attack if necessary. I’m sure I’d feel horrible, but considering I was already sexually assaulted once, it probably won’t be worse PTSD than the aftermath of that.
I definitely wouldn’t have a gun. I think that’s pretty obvious. I am married. I do have kids.
Would I get between an assailant and my kids, you betcha! I wouldn’t be able to kill them though (perhaps by accident while defending myself).
The weird thing is that up here most people share my opinion that they would never own a gun. Trust me, they love their families no less than you.
See, I think this is where I am with this. I would try to stop someone who was trying to commit a violent crime in my home. Not harm or kill them if at all possible.
I would feel horrible, knowing I had taken another human life.
But part of being an adult, at least as I have chosen to interpret adulthood, is undertaking even horrible burdens because they are necessary to avoid even worse outcomes.
And hopefully, in the midst of my horror and self-loathing for having killed another human being, I would recall why it was necessary to have done so and be at least a bit comforted by the knowledge I had saved my wife, son, or self from harm.
I pray that God never places me in that position.
I’m sure that’s true.
But I wonder why you could not kill such an assailant, if killing him was the only way to assure your spouse’s or kids’ safety. Your willingness to interpose your body between your family and an intruder speaks of your love, no question – but ultimately, if the intruder could overpower you and harm your family, even if you died trying to stop him…
…then I argue you haven’t done enough. I argue that you should be willing to kill an intruder if that is the only way to keep your family from harm.
Probably pretty shitty. Look, no matter what the anti-gun types like to insinuate, most of us are not looking for the first opportunity to go all Rambo-style and machine-gun down the bad guys, saving the day. I am well-versed in control, handling, and shooting firearms. I am well aware of when lethal force is justifiable, and more importantly when it is not.. What I cannot do is predict exactly what would happen if I was presented with a threat to my life. And anyone who hasn’t been presented with such a threat but says they know exactly how they’d react is a fucking liar.
Enlighten me- how would you stop such a person?
Really, I probably wouldn’t. Get between him and my kids and use my body as a physical barrier. Bite or scratch any parts that tried to grab me.
So, yeah, I may harm the person but the goal is to stop them not hurt them.
(Really, I would get my ass handed to me and probably die or be raped if that were the intent. For me, that is a small price to pay to have less guns around.)
Yes, Yes, Yes, No
I would much prefer to let the cops take care of it, but if they can’t get here quickly enough, I’ll take care of it myself.
So, you wouldn’t stop them.
When I feel threatened, I get angry rather than frightened. It is not the best reaction in lots of ways, but I can say that I am nearly completely confident that I would be extremely able (psychologically - working on the physicality) to shoot someone to death if they were trying to hurt me and I had a gun handy. I might even enjoy it in the moment. If I didn’t have a gun, I’d use whatever I thought would be the most lethal weapon for my personal physical limitations. My goal would be the quickest dispatch of the threat.
Afterwards? I imagine I’d probably throw up. Perhaps end up in a psych ward for a while, dealing with the aftermath of being a terrible murderer. I’m quite hard on myself normally, and I can’t imagine that I wouldn’t obsessively try to figure out some way I could have avoided killing someone if I had really tried (whether or not that was objectively true or not doesn’t change the thought process).
But you know what? I wouldn’t be dead, or raped, or whatevered, and I’d know to the bottom of my heart that when the shit hit the fan, I had the necessary spark to protect myself or my husband (or eventual child). That’s a kind of power, right there.
Also, paranoia? You’re giving inanimate objects an awful lot of power over you if you’d rather be beaten, raped, or killed in order for them to be not around. I have a spider phobia, but I wouldn’t be willing to be raped in order for them to simply not exist. I have a lot more respect for my person than that.
I am always amused by this thought. If one is such a screw-up that somebody can take a loaded gun away from one, then a gun will not help that person. Probably not much of anything will.
Am I understanding this correctly: You would be wiling to die or be raped in order for there to be less guns around?
Extremely easy question. I wouldn’t hesitate for even a second to kill someone who broke into my house. They have chosen to forfeit their life by breaking into my house, so I would simply be delivering the inevitable result of their actions.
You perfect machine, you.
The one time somebody tried to break into my house I aimed my gun at the window they were trying to open.
I made sure they saw me, they did and ran away.
I don’t know if I would have shot them, it didn’t get that far, but I probably would have.
As far as I’m concerned, you come in my house when I am out you are coming to rob me, you come in when I am home I will assume you are coming for me.
Two days later it was all over my neighborhood that I had a gun. That tells me that it was someone from the area, knew I was home and knew I lived there alone. If they had wanted to rob me they could have broken in while I was at work.
I would likely have no problem shooting someone who broke into my house with the intention to physically harm myself or any member of my family, or a friend who may be there at the time. I wouldn’t like it and I’d feel sick to my stomach after, but if it comes down to it being me/a family member/a friend dead or a psychotic criminal who has broken into my house, the choice would not be difficult.
I’d feel like absolute shit. I’d probably cry my eyes out for days and do something embarrassing like try to attend his funeral and hug his mama or something. And I would probably need therapy for a while, and we may have to move to a new house.
But I still think I’d be able to pull the trigger.
Wow.