DaveC426913
Valued Senior Member
Which would be a darned good reason to not have a gun in your hand.
"To a man with a hammer, everything is a nail."
Zip Gun
- Thread starter Bowser
- Start date
"To a man with a hammer, everything is a nail."
If there was a danger of me going on a killing spree, that would be a good point, but I have no desire for murder.
DaveC426913
Valued Senior Member
No. The danger here is that you kill a man who did not need to be killed.
That depends on his actions. If he poses a danger to me or my family, then he is placing his life at risk. By simply entering my home is the only excuse I need, though I would offer him the door if given the opportunity.
DaveC426913
Valued Senior Member
Note that you have dramatically escalated the situation - to one where he rightly sees his life as threatened. Turing his back on you to leave may no longer be an option. It opens up an option to him that he may need to de-escalate the situation - by trying to disarm you.
An intrusion has turned into a potential battle for life and death.
We were lucky. He was lucky. The police had their guns drawn. My question to you is, who put his life at risk? Me? The police? Or the guy who entered my home while my family and I were sleeping?
DaveC426913
Valued Senior Member
You.
No one's life was at risk until you brought a gun into the kitchen.
And I should gamble my life on his good intentions?
DaveC426913
Valued Senior Member
I guess that's why America is sinking under a hail of bullets ... the only reasonable amount of force is a lethal one.
Those bullets you mention, are they from people defending themselves, or are they from people with murder on their? minds?
exchemist
Valued Senior Member
A very insightful observation[in bold].
When the situation enters your home, tell me how it looks to you.
exchemist
Valued Senior Member
I have an intruder. Almost certainly intent on burglary.
If I become aware of his presence without him realising, I call the police without alerting him. But if I surprise him, I shout at him (an instinctive reaction anyway) while trying not to block his escape route.
Most of these people are just drug addicts or something and not looking for a fight. In most countries, there would be no expectation that they might be carrying a gun in case the householder might.......... have a gun.
people are unpredictable, more so when high on drugs. I understand your desire to do no harm, and I hope you never have the need.
exchemist
Valued Senior Member
Unpredictable maybe, but not likely to try to kill you........unless they've got a gun, of course, in which case it is the work of a moment......
You have no way of knowing for certain what might happen in the moment.
Seattle
Valued Senior Member
Actually, the statistical risk is an increased risk of suicide.
I'm pretty liberal in general and on this subject but guns are not the problem that many make them out to be. They have become a problem in recent years with the mass shootings. That is a relatively recent thing however.
I've never had a gun pulled on me or heard of any of my friends who have had a gun pulled on them. No one I know has been shot.
Statistically the misuse of guns is largely by those trying to commit suicide.
There's too many guns here, laws are lax in some cases, we would probably be better off it they didn't exist...but in general the "gun problem" really isn't all that much of a "problem".
Inner cities are violent the world over whether there are guns or not. Criminals tend to get guns if needed regardless of where you live. There really isn't much of a problem regarding guns among most of the population.
There is the idea among some that the ghetto areas in other countries are just more peaceful and crime free. That's not the case at all.
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DaveC426913
Valued Senior Member
You have made yourself into one of those people with murder on your mind - by bringing a gun.
DaveC426913
Valued Senior Member
You have a pretty good chance of knowing what might happen if you bring a gun to the table.
That is not true.
And also what might happen if you don't, in the US.
Home invasion in the US is a severe threat - burglary of an occupied dwelling is a red flag on a criminal's record, a serious indicator that they are escalating in their ambitions and will badly hurt somebody in the near future if they haven't already, in the US.
That said, we have evidence that suffering a home intrusion does not make all other people - Canadians, say - fear for their lives and reach for a gun. I have seen interviews with Canadians (and talked with Canadians) who have suffered home intrusions and yet do not even routinely lock their front doors. The fear of strangers common in the US is not nearly as strong in other places.
And that fear is self-reinforcing, amounting to an odd American paranoia that characterizes even apparently peaceful suburban neighborhoods in low crime areas.
Locks don't seem to help. Dozens of times in my old job I had the experience of delivering items to a suburban house and finding the delivery entrance locked even after greeting the homeowner and bringing the item from the truck - they would unlock the front door, send me to the delivery door (walkout around back, say), and not only would I find that door still locked but the original front door relocked behind me as well. And when standing in front of the delivery door with the stuff on the dolly and finding oneself forced to call the fortressed homeowner on the phone to get them to unbolt that door, ten or fifteen minutes after greeting them and unloading and so forth, the impression that there's something very weird going on is hard to avoid.
Guns aren't going to help those people - much less homemade contraptions without even a working safety. They don't have the skills to use them, and their problems are of a different kind.
(My folks never locked their doors except when gone for days, on vacation or the like. I remember when we moved once and couldn't find the keys to leave for the new owners - took an hour of searching before my father remembered where he had stashed them.)