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Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Guns for Home Defense

I was at a meeting a few weeks ago where I heard a gentleman who is a pistol permit instructor and gun dealer talk about the necessity of having a weapon in the house for home defense.  He started by saying that the average deadly encounter lasts 3 seconds while the average police response time is 13 minutes.  This would obviously justify to many people the need to get a pistol or home defense shotgun to protect their belongings and family.  But with that in mind, how often can a person expect to be engaged in a deadly encounter with a firearm or other weapon for that matter?  Simply saying that the average deadly encounter lasts 3 seconds doesn't take into account that chance that someone will have that encounter at all.  When looking at the entire U.S., there were 12,632 homicides by firearms in 2007.  Given that the population of the United States is roughly 300 million, that gives every individual a .000042% chance of being killed by a firearm.  If you want to look at homicides in general, there were 18,361 homicides in 2007, giving every citizen of the United States a .000061% chance of being killed. (Stats from CDC) To me, those odds don't make me want to run out and buy a gun for home defense.  On top of that, those homicides are not evenly spread out over the entire nation so those living in cities might have a higher risk than those living in rural and outlying areas. 

Don't get me wrong, I am not challenging Americans' right to carry firearms if they wish to do so.  I am merely questioning why someone would want to have a gun in their home if the risk of being killed is so minimal.  If you look at the leading causes of death in the United States, homicides don't even make the top ten list.  You have a better chance of dying as a result of Alzheimer's or Septicemia than you do as a result of a homicide.  (Stats from CDC2)  But my questioning of owning firearms goes beyond the risk of having to use one.  Upon inspecting my own thoughts and feelings, I have found that while I might be able to use one if the situation arose, I don't think I would be able to handle the aftermath of taking someone else's life.  No matter how I justified it to myself; "I saved my family", "It was the right thing to do", "I had no choice", I don't know if I would be able to live with myself.  One thing that I have never heard a gun advocate talk about is the mental effects after you take someone's life.  I am sure that there are people out there who can block out the experience and move on with their lives, but will they be able to keep those emotions forever sequestered in their subconscious?  I don't know.  I wouldn't want to take the risk myself.  I wouldn't want to live with the "what ifs".  There seems to be a great deal of fear in our society that people are out to get you.  We must constantly live on the defensive in order to survive and live to an old age.  I feel that if we let this fear creep into our lives, dictate how we live to a certain extent (i.e. buying a gun for home defense), then we are not really living because we always have that fear lurking in the background ready to spring into action. 

Am I against all guns?  Not at all.  Guns are a necessity for hunting and for that purpose, I would buy one.  I have a number of friends who have multiple pistols "just in case" and they have every right to carry them.  I simply don't see the need.  Out of all of my friends, not one has had to use a gun as a self defense mechanism.  Simply put, they haven't had the need because no one has threatened their life or their belongings.  Personally, I would rather spend my money on fighting one of the top 10 leading causes of death than spending money on a weapon that I "might" have to use sometime in the future.  On top of that, the less information that the government has about me, the better, and I guarantee that they get a whole lot of information when you get a pistol.  Perhaps the most important reason to me as to why I would never get a pistol is because I have a child in the house now and I wouldn't want to take any chances.  So whats the difference between a pistol and a rifle?  A rifle I would keep locked away for use only during hunting season.  A pistol, if its locked away, what good will it do you during that 3 second deadly encounter.  Similarly, if you have a trigger lock on the pistol, how long does it take to get that off and ensure your gun is ready should someone break into the house?  Too many variables for me.  I will take my .000042 percent chance and ride it out the rest of my life.  A rifle for hunting, that is a different story as I have land in Vermont that is populated by deer just waiting for me.  In the end, getting a pistol is a personal decision and one that I would not take away from anyone.  I myself don't see the need. 

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