BellaOnline Forums News and Politics Crime Do you have a gun?

I fully agree that no one who is afraid of guns should have one.
Having a weapon of any type does you no good if you're not willing to use it if need be.

I also agree on gun control to some extent. There is no reason for people to have automatics or semi-automatics.

As to keeping guns unloaded and locked up in a gun safe well....it has it's good and bad points. It's certainly the safe way to store them. But, should something happen and that gun is needed, it also makes it impossible to get to it quickly.

I don't have one.

I learned to use one as a kid (my father owns a few) but I don't know if I'd ever feel comfortable owning one.

My dad always recommended keeping a revolver with one chamber empty. He believed that one empty chamber would prevent an accidental shooting but keep the gun handy if you had to have it. I'm not sure that's the best way to keep a gun around, but he taught gun and hunting safety classes and that's what he believed.

I was taught from early on to always assume guns were loaded and ready to fire so I never bothered, but I can remember having to caution some of the visitors to our home NOT to open his gun case. Visiting children are a huge concern for me. Even if we teach our girls gun safety are we prepared to watch every child that comes into the home? So, we have decided to lock all the guns but one in a safe and install a good burglar alarm rather than take chances.

I own several long guns. My daughter has her own too. My dad bought me my first shotgun at twelve years old. I wasn't allowed to touch it until I took safety courses and watched him teach me the proper way to handle them.
My daughter also took courses and hunts alongside of me. So I grew up with guns in the house.
It never bothered me but I do know that everyone is different.

Those are terrible stats for break ins! Too high for me to take at face value. If one out of six homes were to be burglarized this year that would truly be awful. In many ways we haven't evolved much, have we? We are still just animals.

The thing is, most break ins in my area are when the homeowner isn't home. They really don't want to come face to face with the owner. As long as I don't get to meet my burglar they can have all that I own! I agree with your comment that you would do whatever it takes to protect your son. I too, would probably step in front of a bullet to protect my kids. I don't know why; they drive me crazy, but I would do it.

But how would I defend myself if I found myself face to face with a burglar? I don't know.

Self defense classes teach woman to carry their keys when walking to the car and use a key to poke eyes out. Or, woman can give the obvious kick in the crotch. Also, every woman should take a course in self defense. It is possible to overpower a man, even if you are tiny and petite. I have taken a few classes, but of course you never know until your in that situation. A taser doesn't seem like a bad alternative, but can you get it out fast enough to be effective? Obviously, I am not outrunning a bullet. If a gun was involved, game over, I lose.

OK on burglaries they say

"Most (62.4 percent) of residential burglaries in 2005 for which time of occurrence was known took place during the day, between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m."

So yes 62% are when people are probably away - that still leaves 40% that happen when people are probably home. So I do still really feel it's important that we all have a way of protecting ourselves. I'm not saying to be paranoid But I'm saying to be safe.

Another survey shows that 34% of burglars come in through the front door, 22% the back door, 23% a first floor window. So that's most of the options right there. The house next to me, they tried the back door. When they tried my home (where I lived before, not this one I'm in now) they tried the back door. So it seems like if you keep your "first floor secure" as it were that that right there gives you a huge advantage. They will probably move along elsewhere.

If I *could* have a taser I would keep it up on the dresser top. That way I could run for the bedroom if there was any trouble and close the door. If they came in after me, they'd get tazed but if they didn't come in the room I'd just hide there and call for help.

Right now we have one gun up there in a locked gun safe with a finger entry. That is, there is a secret code to enter it that you press with your fingers and it pops open. The other guns are in a large, normal safe in the basement. So we do have quick easy access to one self defense gun in the bedroom. But I'd rather have a taser for that I think.

Are tasers really good for women? Wouldn't we have to get too close to the "perp" (I'm talking like a cop show! LOL) to shock them? I would be afraid a strong man would overpower me and turn the weapon on me!

I work from home, I live in a nice neighborhood but I still have taken the precaution to have a loaded gun in my bedside table.

When I am not home but my daughter is, I have a trigger lock on it so you can't pull the trigger.

I also have a security system and always have the doors locked, curtains around the house are drawn so that people can't gaze inside at something they might want to steal.

I don't want to have to shoot someone but by god, if you break in my house, you will leave feet first if I am at home.

When we lived in the city, we had them locked up and really I don't like guns but on the other hand if someone comes to rob me I will shoot them period. But now we live in a rural area and because of where we live I have to have access to one so they are in a closet. My 11 year old knows how to use it and we also have a way to lock them up if we need to (gun safe). I plan on getting a smaller one that I can have with me when I am outside working in the yard. I had an encounter with a badger last year that scared the you know what out of me. Don't get me wrong I don't want to kill anything but sometimes you have to.

Right that is exactly how I feel. I would never ever want to have to shoot someone. But if someone came into the house intending to kill me, I want at least a chance of defending myself. If my son was here that is definitely true, nobody is hurting him without a fight from me.

We have bears and coyotes around here, and if for example Bob was in the back yard and one went after him, I would want something better than a baseball bat to go out with and help him ... calling the police and waiting 10 minutes doesn't seem like a good alternative.