Do you keep firearms for home defense?

[Rope-Pusher]

I don't feel any safer.

[Tups]

Well said. I fully agree.

+1.

The only problem that might arise is that people often have different levels at which they will rely on using the force and for some people those levels are far too low. I wouldn't want to get shot over a parking lot argument or anything like that. Yeah, they will go to jail for that, but it won't help you if you're going to the hospital with extra holes... ;)

[kevinf]

Sure, insane people... anyone that draws a firearm in a shouting match clearly is mentally unbalanced and would have been just as likely to take a tire iron to your skull. The flip side of that equation is this: Your daughter or wife is the one in the shouting match with the 6'4" 300lb lunatic because she damaged his truck accidentally. The vehicles are damaged and she can't go anywhere. He pulls a tire iron from the bed and is coming after her. Would you prefer she have the option of being armed? Firearms are equalizers, they allow physically disadvantaged people to defend themselves fairly if they must. She wouldn't be in any more trouble than if he'd had a gun really... savage beating vs being shot. Both can be equally deadly (and the beating far more painful and disfiguring).

Non-lethal gadgets aren't always effective. A heavy coat will stop a stun gun and tazer, a stiff breeze will render sprays mostly harmless or of negative benefit when they blow back into your face as well. Unfortunately situation like that do happen, and you are basically making the world ruled by the fittest if you enact a no guns at all policy. If you are small/handicapped/whatever you are left potentially defenseless against those larger and more savage than yourself. The police cannot be everywhere at once and defense of person is ultimately an individual responsibility.

[SonicHKS]

No option for "No and don't want a firearm"?

I don't need one....my house is like Russia, you invade you're in my territory and I know how to defend it, giving ground and surprising them if need be. I'm usually awake during the hours when someone would attempt to rob me, so slim chance of me getting surprised anyways. I'd probably just track them through the house and surprise them by running them through with my machete. Easy enough to miss with a gun anyways, even at short range, so I don't consider it a be-all-end-all solution to home defense, like most people do.

That, and I don't live in the ghetto . I have friends who do (anything closer to Atlanta is somewhat ghetto unless you're paying $1200+/mo for rent) and they tend to have entire arsenals to defend their shiat. I live in a nice homogenous community that's on the divide between suburbs/sticks, not rich by any means, so we don't have that kind of thing happen much out here.

[AHTOXA]

I bet that if I have a firearm and I'm coming into your house you will not be able to defend yourself without one. It will likely never happen - an armed robbery - but if it does, just remember that you are not Chuck Norris.

Then again, it is another one of your posts. I still don't know if you are trolling or just out of touch with reality.

[SonicHKS]

If someone invades my house while I'm here and awake, they're in for a surprise. Want to know why?

Think about it from the thief's perspective. You're a criminal, conducting an armed robbery of someone's house. While they're obviously there. That's not something I would ever do, its like picking a fight with a hornet's nest. I wouldn't know the complete layout of the home, how many people are there exactly, how well they're armed, etc. So anyways, you break in successfully, probably with a lot of noise because it would take SOMETHING to get in. The doors aren't just left unlocked. That means you've given yourself and what you're doing away. The homeowner probably knows your location and what you're doing. So you get inside, look around, you're in an unfamiliar house and you can't see anyone. Can't hear them, no clue where they are. So you just go from room to room looking for things to steal, wary of who might be there. Next thing you know, you're getting stabbed in the back, or in the head/neck/chest as you're turning a corner.

Criminals are not smart, they're not trained, they really don't know what they're doing. If you think about it, its fairly easy to deal with, and a gun isn't some magical protection. Just as much as they could come around a corner and shoot me before I could act, the same could happen if I had a gun drawn on them. With the knife I can easily get in their face and do serious damage quickly without really having to worry about aiming or them running away to take cover.

Apparently you can't think from anyone's perspective besides your own, Tony. Don't blame me for your own stupidity. Your final comment was uncalled for.

Edit: I don't mean to be an internet tough guy, but I can handle this kind of thing if it happens. You all know me, I'm a bit crazy, and I don't give a fark: I'll fight to the death to defend my house. Brutal animal kind of **** if need be.

[AHTOXA]

I don't mean to be an internet tough guy, but I can handle this kind of thing if it happens. You all know me, I'm a bit crazy, and I don't give a fark: I'll fight to the death to defend my house. Brutal animal kind of **** if need be.

I hope we never have to find out. I mean it - no sarcasm - I hope you're never in a situation where you have to. Guns aren't end-all-be-all when it comes to defense of offense, for that matter, but I think you're a) underestimating someone on serious drugs and armed (whether with a shovel or a pistol) while burglarizing your home and b)overestimating your capabilities during the time of duress.

The truth is, I'd never want to have an equal fight with someone on meth or similar. I'd like to have an unfair advantage via a weapon. A person with an altered perception has zero inhibitions (which we all do) and may not even feel pain for longer time after being hurt. Also, I recall reading a long time ago that during a combat situation most police officers hit only about 5% of their shots fired aimed to kill. That show that during time of major stress, most training goes out the window. Now - this means that a weapon isn't guaranteed to be effective, of course, but it's a major psychological and physical advantage.

[ColJessip]

I have always had guns for sport. But I keep a Mossberg 500 locked, but easily accessible. I got it for home defense after my neighbor's house was broken into and he was shot. He didn't know the guy. My neighbor's house on the other side was also broken into and the burglar shot and killed his dog.

[theholycow]

I have always had guns for sport. But I keep a Mossberg 500 locked, but easily accessible. I got it for home defense after my neighbor's house was broken into and he was shot. He didn't know the guy. My neighbor's house on the other side was also broken into and the burglar shot and killed his dog.

While I am definitely NOT against arming one's self, I do believe the correct response to that particular situation is to move somewhere less scary, like Detroit.

[ClutchFork]

While I am definitely NOT against arming one's self, I do believe the correct response to that particular situation is to move somewhere less scary, like Detroit.

Seriously, I have worked in detroit for 25 years and never had a problem other than someone tried to steal my CD player until they found out it was only a cassette deck, but left me with a broken window. Visited Baltimore in the 1990s for a week and almost got mugged. The thing with Detroit is that the population is rather low, so less people to commit crimes I guess. Also the low population makes the traffic a lot better than it is in thriving big cities.

[AHTOXA]

I have always had guns for sport. But I keep a Mossberg 500 locked, but easily accessible. I got it for home defense after my neighbor's house was broken into and he was shot. He didn't know the guy. My neighbor's house on the other side was also broken into and the burglar shot and killed his dog.

While I am definitely NOT against arming one's self, I do believe the correct response to that particular situation is to move somewhere less scary, like Detroit.

I'm with this guy, I think it's time to move, man.

I've done some digging and asking the folks that live in my apartment complex and those that have been here a while couldn't remember anyone getting burglarized. I think I saw the cops in here twice in the 2 years that I lived here.

I was thinking about a shotgun as well, firstly for home defense and secondly for bird hunting. I would like to start hunting for water fowl and a I have a buddy to teach me the ropes, but not sure when I'm going to start. For one, my dog's been trained as a companion and not a hunting dog, so I may have to address that first. He might spook the birds prematurely.

[Rope-Pusher]

For one, my dog's been trained as a companion and not a hunting dog, so I may have to address that first. He might spook the birds prematurely.

e·jac·u·la·tion
iˌjakyəˈlāSHən/Submit
noun
1.
the action of ejecting semen from the body.
synonyms: emission, ejection, discharge, release, expulsion More
emission of semen, climax, orgasm
exclamation, interjection;
call, shout, yell
2.
dated
something said quickly and suddenly.

So your dog barks at the birds and they fly off before you were ready to shoot and now you've branded him a premature ejaculator.

[AHTOXA]

Only Rope can make that association.

[dakta1420]

I live in a small town 4,000 people. pretty safe but I keep a gun loaded. I own several guns but my pistol that I carry everyday is indeed loaded at all times.