Oct. 08, 2009, 06:15 PM
Well, this is an interesting topic. I'm a registered Independent, before that a Democrat, so that implies that I am a liberal. But I was a cop and an armed security officer, and I have two guns. One, my handgun I carried on the job and now, in my car, because of an attempted carjacking and I often am on the road late at night. The shotgun I have is in the closet. I used to live on a farm and we used that to kill poisonous snakes and sometimes, rabid animals.
I think gun control is necessary, because too many guns fall into the wrong hands and that's where there comes trouble. The average homeowner might want to keep one around if he doesn't have ADT or some kind of security system.
I don't always find that guns are necessary to protect oneself, but during my attempted carjacking, a guy leaned in my window and grabbed me by the throat at a red light at around midnight on a quiet street. No traffic around. Luckily, I was able to grab the gun and give him a choice. I said, "You get your hands off me or you die," and shoved the gun into his ribcage.
He got the message and fled, but I called 911 anyway with a description of him and direction of travel. He's still in prison.
But yet, another time not too long after that while I was still an armed security officer, I came driving home one night and my neighbor was running out of her house. She told me she had an intruder in her garage. She had an invalid husband upstairs in bed, so I handed her my cell phone, told her to call 911 and headed for her garage to get to the intruder before he got to her husband and harmed him. The intruder, a very short Mexican (about 5'3") was still in the garage, and whipped out a switchblade at me when I came in. I thought, "Oh, riiiight!" I'm 5'11" and figured I had a longer reach than him, so I yanked the fire extinguisher off the wall next to me, whanged him over the head with it, knocked him out cold, and sat on him until the cops arrived. Never had to pull my gun.
I think that each situation of self-defense is different. Guns are not the answer to every personal security issue. I went through the proper channels to get my handgun -- the waiting period, the background check, all that -- and that helps, but bad people still slip through the cracks. I am afraid that as long as there are bad people wanting guns, they will get them, and probably not legally. Stolen guns are sold on the street every day. Just recently, the FBI went to gun shows and it was found that over 70% of the undercover guys who said they couldn't pass a background check was sold a gun, which resulted in quite a few arrests. Now that is scary.
I think we have good gun laws and control in place, we just need to make it work.
Purrs,
Pookie
On edit: I forgot to mention that for home security, we have ADT and a dog that barks her head off if anyone gets near the yard.
I think gun control is necessary, because too many guns fall into the wrong hands and that's where there comes trouble. The average homeowner might want to keep one around if he doesn't have ADT or some kind of security system.
I don't always find that guns are necessary to protect oneself, but during my attempted carjacking, a guy leaned in my window and grabbed me by the throat at a red light at around midnight on a quiet street. No traffic around. Luckily, I was able to grab the gun and give him a choice. I said, "You get your hands off me or you die," and shoved the gun into his ribcage.
He got the message and fled, but I called 911 anyway with a description of him and direction of travel. He's still in prison.
But yet, another time not too long after that while I was still an armed security officer, I came driving home one night and my neighbor was running out of her house. She told me she had an intruder in her garage. She had an invalid husband upstairs in bed, so I handed her my cell phone, told her to call 911 and headed for her garage to get to the intruder before he got to her husband and harmed him. The intruder, a very short Mexican (about 5'3") was still in the garage, and whipped out a switchblade at me when I came in. I thought, "Oh, riiiight!" I'm 5'11" and figured I had a longer reach than him, so I yanked the fire extinguisher off the wall next to me, whanged him over the head with it, knocked him out cold, and sat on him until the cops arrived. Never had to pull my gun.
I think that each situation of self-defense is different. Guns are not the answer to every personal security issue. I went through the proper channels to get my handgun -- the waiting period, the background check, all that -- and that helps, but bad people still slip through the cracks. I am afraid that as long as there are bad people wanting guns, they will get them, and probably not legally. Stolen guns are sold on the street every day. Just recently, the FBI went to gun shows and it was found that over 70% of the undercover guys who said they couldn't pass a background check was sold a gun, which resulted in quite a few arrests. Now that is scary.
I think we have good gun laws and control in place, we just need to make it work.
Purrs,
Pookie
On edit: I forgot to mention that for home security, we have ADT and a dog that barks her head off if anyone gets near the yard.