It happened to my mom. One afternoon, two guys broke in the front door of her house, and started to run away when the alarm went off. They stopped, turned around, and came back and started looting the house. The alarm saved my mom by giving her time to hide and call 911. The police didn't show up until 3 hours afterwards. It is easy to break down most doors. If you have an alarm system and haven't taken steps to protect the doors, I don't really think you're much safer. My mom didn't buy a gun though, she adopted two dogs. They turned out to be great companions. Very protective and suspicious of strangers.
Get a concealed handgun license and keep your gun on you. After lights out, put the gun where only you can easily reach it. If it's not on you, lock it up. It's not a toy. It should stay in its holster(which should cover the trigger) unless you are cleaning it, changing it to another holster, or shooting it. I keep my Glock with one in the pipe at all times.
It's all risk-reward. If you buy a gun, and a family member kills him or herself with it, imagine how you will feel. If you feel you should buy a gun for home protection, and don't...........imagine how you will feel if someone breaks in and you aren't armed to protect your family. MM keeps talking about how you are more likely to have a family member accidently shoot themselves with a gun in the house. I haven't seen stats on this, and even if there were stats, I don't see how they could be reliable. Who actually compiles stats on scaring off an intruder when no shots are even fired? Or even if shots are fired, but there is no evidence of anyone getting shot? If you want to reduce as much risk as possible, get a handgun--preferably a revolver where all you have to do is point and shoot. Yes, it is true that shotguns are much more preferable in relatively close quarter defense situations, but they are much harder to lock away from curious children. Spend the money to get a wall safe for the pistol that sits near your bed; make sure it uses fingerprint authentication for access and that both you and your wife have access. Test it each week when you and her take an hour or two out of your time to go to the range and fire the weapon..........so that you're both extremely comfortable with it. If you aren't willing to get comfortable handling the gun, and you aren't willing to go the extra lengths to keep it securely locked away from curious children, just don't bother.
This is an issue that I've debated and have been on both sides on frequently back and forth. At the end of the day, it boiled down to an added responsibility and total cost of having a gun in the house. It didn't work out for me, as having a gun in the house would always be in the back of my mind. Where it's at, who has access to it, will it cause anyone inside my house more harm than good, etc.. The point of having a gun to better protect me came at the price of my peace of mind, which isnt' that the point of having a gun anyway? The be better at ease? As with any security, there's no one solution fits all, it's a layered approach. I have an alarm system, I have exterior lights, I live in a decent neighborhood, and I generally am aware of my surroundings. There's a fine line between living and enjoying your life and living in fear or what ifs. On top of all this, I have a Rottweiler and a Pit Bull. They will scare off most intruders better than any alarm system.
Similar situation in my home growing up. Except when my parents went out one day, I distinctly remember curiosity getting the best of me, and I went and got his handgun out of the holster, and was checking it out. I never pulled the trigger, and never cocked it....I don't even know if there was a round in the chamber......but man was I fascinated by that thing. My own experience helped make my decision for me. If I was curious like that, my loved ones could be as well. Anyway.............it is a personal decision. But staunch precautions are necessary in my opinion.
Thank God, someone else on here who are in favor of a concealed handgun. I have never seen a message board so full of yuppies against guns.
I understand your point, but I don't like this statement. I own a handgun specifically because I like to shoot. I enjoy it. I wouldn't use it for protection. I keep a trigger lock on it at home and I don't even normally have ammunition in the house. I take it to the range or my parents' land and shoot it and have fun doing that. That doesn't mean I don't respect it, but for me, it basically is a toy.
that way i'm ready for a zombie infestation. man, i'd head to the mall. that's the way to go. those fools should have never left that mall.
Everyone knows the mall is the place to go incase of Zombie infestation. Although, it is important to remember to stay out of the parking garages. A little known fact.....67% of all zombie infestation deaths at malls occur in the parking garages. Doesn't seem to make a difference if it's Macy's or Dillard's either.
It's funny--I was thinking "I can't believe this board is full of so many people in favor of guns". It's really only a few people that are against so far in the thread.. at least that's my impression. Anyway, yes they can be a safety hazard and all.. but there's another risk no one has explicitly mentioned. A lot of attacks are made by guys who aren't planning on killing or using lethal force. However, seeing a gun pointed at them or seeing one pulled out changes people's mindsets quickly. Basically, I'm trying to say that you have a much higher chance of being shot AT if you show a gun (or fire it)...whereas if you didn't ever have the gun, you may not have ever had to face it. Just a thought.. I wouldn't want one for that reason even more than the family/kids one because it seems like the technology would allow the latter to be mitigated somewhat.
