Perfectly safe,it's just the wife & I & we live in a mostly rural area.

You're not referring to that "If you keep a gun in your home you're 42% more likely to kill or injure a family member" are you? Because if so,that "statistic" has been so thoroughly debunked because of it's biased & flawed methodology that not even the Brady people use it anymore.

__________________
"An armed man is a citizen
An unarmed man is a subject"

Robert A. Heinlein

If it's just you and your wife, you're indeed no threat for the three loud dogs and their magnum

__________________
To the regular visitor of internet bulletin boards it is clear that it's an excellent idea your parents get to choose your real name.

I just say "Robby Protect" and Robby lowers the shield. If Robby is busy making jewelry for my girlfriend, I just beam the shield. The only thing my house isn't safe from is myself.

__________________
"Insignificant molehill sometimes more important than conspicuous mountain." - Charlie Chan

All the guns in the world wont protect you if the other guy shoots first. Are u really prepared to kill?

Bars on the windows, mines on the lawn?
I don't want to live in a prison, that's what it would feel like!
I will take my chances and rely on the feline fangs of doom

__________________


The meek will inherit the earth ... the rest of us will go to the stars.

Are you prepared not to? We have some sorry characters in my town.

__________________
Gimme a minute to read through Jay's latest observations...

I had an upstairs neighbor once who almost shot his own kid, he was so eager to kill intruders. Now, I couldn't kill anyone--I'm much more likely to go into a panic attack--unless I'm in full manic rage, which doesn't happen often, so a gun would be less than useless to me.

__________________
Gillian

"Now everyone was giving her that kind of look UFOlogists get when they suddenly say, 'Hey, if you shade your eyes you can see it is just a flock of geese after all.'"

"You can't erase icing."

"I can't believe it doesn't work! I found it on the internet, man!"

Now Gillian, unless one of your oft mentioned meds includes mind reading pills you don't know how eager your upstairs neighbor was to kill anybody. Preparedness is not the same as eagerness. I've taught my daughters how to be familiar with and have some proficiency with hand guns. doesn't mean they are eager to kill.

__________________
Gimme a minute to read through Jay's latest observations...

Is there any way one can burglar-proof their home without the risk of hurting the inhabitants within?

Well if you really wanted too, you could have 100mm steel plates in the middle of the wall, armoured glass in the windows, electronic locks, a steel door, a 100mm steel plate in the ceiling and under the floor so that you basically live in a a disgused steel box with windows and doors. But even that would only slow down a really determined buglar.

__________________
Howling from the Shadows

It must be fun to lead a life completely unburdened by reality. --- JayUtah

You can't reason an irrational person out of an irrational belief. --- Noclevername

Apollo: The History and the Hoax
Enter the World of Athran

If he hadn't shown me his hands when he did I was prepared to pull the trigger.

__________________
"An armed man is a citizen
An unarmed man is a subject"

Robert A. Heinlein

If he hadn't shown me his hands when he did I was prepared to pull the trigger.

Top Ten reasons I'm glad I don't live in the US.

__________________
Howling from the Shadows

It must be fun to lead a life completely unburdened by reality. --- JayUtah

You can't reason an irrational person out of an irrational belief. --- Noclevername

Apollo: The History and the Hoax
Enter the World of Athran

Here you can rob somebody for his mp3-player, stab him to death during the process and still claim self-defence, which might be the other side of the pendulum.

In defence of our law system, he's still being charged for (whatever the official term is for) "murder for robbery". He might be telling the truth that he wasn't intending to kill him (which he says now, earlier he "couldn't remember due to being on pills"), but he did intend to rob him and threaten him with a knife, and he did intentionally stab him. The robbing&threatening with a knife part is enough for me to make any resulting death not unintentionally.

__________________
To the regular visitor of internet bulletin boards it is clear that it's an excellent idea your parents get to choose your real name.

I'm just repeating what he told me. He slept with his gun under his pillow. His kid entered the room. He sat upright in bed, gun aimed at his son.

He never slept with his gun under his pillow again, either.

__________________
Gillian

"Now everyone was giving her that kind of look UFOlogists get when they suddenly say, 'Hey, if you shade your eyes you can see it is just a flock of geese after all.'"

"You can't erase icing."

"I can't believe it doesn't work! I found it on the internet, man!"

Since the thread has turned a bit toward the topic of guns for home defense, I feel a need to weigh in.

I was raised around guns. I have no memory of learning how to shoot. I do have a memory of shooting a 22 pistol the summer before, or after kindergarten, so about age 5 or 6. At age 7, I won the state championship in junior class for a type of long range pistol shooting, and did it with bullets I reloaded myself without parental supervision. Around age 10, I won the weekly "fun shoot" where the goal is to clear 5 bowling pins off of a table 7.5 yards away before the other guy. That same night I used a fully automatic MAC-11 (in .380) to win the unlimited class. My dad knew a guy...

I feel pretty good about my level of knowledge about guns in general and while I tend to not bring it up first, I generally don't have a problem with talking about it if someone else does. To me guns are not some magic device; they are not toys; they are tools. Like a hammer, a gun was made to do something rather specific. Like a hammer they can be a danger to the user, or those near the user. The difference is that the radius is much larger with a gun.

I live in a state where any citizen can carry a concealed, loaded gun on the street as long they have no convictions for felonies or domestic abuse. They are required to take a class that runs about 4 hours and submit to a background check. The process takes about 6 weeks and costs $100. They are NOT required to show any level of proficiency when actually firing the gun, only in loading and unloading it (I don't agree with this bit). I have been asked many times by people I met at work what they should get for a carry gun. My first question is almost always "Why do you need one". If they have no answer, I tell them it wouldn't be a good idea. I'm also a firm believer in the idea that a person should be required to meet the minimum requirements for a law enforcement officer to carry a gun.

For home use here, there are no restrictions at all. If I want to slap on a gun belt the second I walk through the door, I am free to do so. The concealed carry classes cover the fallout from shooting at another person. Basically, a private citizen has the same rights as a police officer when it comes to a shoot/don’t shoot decision. In fact, the private citizen does not need to call out “freeze” or anything else. No warning need be given. If I am sitting at my desk and someone comes through the front door and I feel my life in danger, I can shoot. In our class, the instructor mentioned a restriction that is in place in California. If a person comes in my door and I feel my life is in danger, I am not allowed to shoot unless I have no means of escape. The way it was explained, if all the guy wants is the TV, that’s fine, but if he follows you to the basement, then you should worry. I disagree with this in a big way.

Would I be willing to shoot someone that was threatening me or a loved one, or even a stranger? Yeah, I think I would. Do I carry a gun around? No. Do I have one under the pillow? No. Do I have one in the bedroom? Yep. Have I practiced a great deal with it in combat style shooting situations? Yep. Have I practiced enough? No, it’s not possible.

What Gillian said about her neighbor nearly shooting his son is certainly plausible to me. I have spoken to many people who say they can’t wait for someone to break in. My dad is one.

What PW said, (Top Ten reasons I'm glad I don't live in the US.)I do have an issue with. Without knowing the details of the situation mentioned, there is no way to know if it was on overreaction or not. If it was some guy that came to the door to use the phone, then yes, shooting him would be out of line. If you wake up a 3 AM to see a guy with a ski mask and precut strips of duct tape stuck to his sleeve standing over your bed, a demand at gunpoint to see his hands is fully acceptable; at least in my view.

A gun is no different in my eyes than a knife, sword, axe, or bat. All can be lethal. There are certain, very important, considerations when it comes to guns in self defense, but they are still just tools. With proper training and a stable mindset they are no more a danger than a kitchen knife. Of course, when someone cuts themselves with a knife, it doesn’t make the news. At least none of mine ever did.

__________________
I'm not evil.
An evil person would do the things I think up.

That's definitely the other side of the pendulum.

I should try and look up a cite, but there was a case here in the US not too long ago where two men attempted to burglarize a house. The homeowner was armed, and shot both intruders, one of whom died. The surviving intruder was charged with manslaughter in the death of his cohort.

__________________
SeanF

"Ask to understand, but don't challenge unless you have the knowledge."--NEOWatcher

The contents of this post are ©2008 by SeanF and may not be copied or retransmitted in any form without the express written consent of SeanF

Actually many states have a similar law,if you & your buddy decide to knock over the local liquor store & the owner shoots & kills your buddy,then you're charged with murder during the commission of a felony.

A sensible law.

__________________
"An armed man is a citizen
An unarmed man is a subject"

Robert A. Heinlein

That being literally the other side of the world makes the difference just a tad bit more understandable.

Here you must wait for the intruder to have his knife halfway through your heart before you are allowed to slap him with the back of your hand in self-defence. Well, not that extreme but it has come that far that in practice you must be attacked rather than threatened in order to have legit self-defence. And don't ever try to kill an attacker before he kills you overhere.

__________________
To the regular visitor of internet bulletin boards it is clear that it's an excellent idea your parents get to choose your real name.

I'm on the same side as you are, but I long ago decided I'd rather be in jail than in the morgue, so I'll go for the "seriously hurt the guy coming at me before he does me in" option any day.

__________________
And the "driving on the freeway on a scooter" analogy still holds true because the pilots are sitting in 7 to 30 ton aircraft o' doom and you are running around them in your very own Meatbody, Mark I. Beep, beep.
Trying to make sense of computers, The Error Log.