Guns Are Not The Answer

But they can be an answer.

You may have heard of the home invasion in Cheshire, CT. Basically, two real scumbags broke into the house of a doctor, his wife and their two daughters. They were armed with a baseball bat and an air rifle. They forced the doctor's wife to withdraw money from the local bank, she managed to slip a note to the tellers. The perps raped the women and torched the house to cover their crimes, the police arrived as they were fleeing the scene and arrested them. Only the doctor survived, apparently because they beat the crap out of him, tied him up and threw him into the basement.

I have to wonder: Did they have any guns? Having a gun might have made a difference, a conclusion that a number of people in that part of Connecticut are reaching. Guns are not a panacea, granted. But they can give you an option, provided, of course, you have had some training with them and you have thought the matter through beforehand.

A relative of mine and his family were transferred, a long time ago, from South Texas to Southern California. One of the new neighbors came over to say hello and, in the conversation, told my kin that while it was a safe neighborhood, there was one local teenager who burgled houses and nobody had come up with a way to stop him. My kin asked if they had considered shooting him. (He was a very popular person in the neighborhood when the Rodney King riots transpired.)

I know people who have foiled break-ins and such by having firearms. For all of them, showing the gun was enough to convince the would-be perp to take a hike. But you have to have made your mind up that if you need to shoot, you will shoot. Otherwise, it's a dangerous bluff.

Guns are not the answer, but they can be an answer.