ChicagoBlue said:
Cars, in the wrong hands, are a deadly weapon used to kill innocent people. They are used for this purpose every single day. So are guns. I believe there should be strong legal consequences for a BOTH outcomes.
Of note, I readily concede most of the above. None of it has anything to do with my owning a gun, which is locked away, which my 16 yr old son knows how to use effectively but to which he has no access without me.
It is simplistic to make all the assertions above without recognizing that guns have also saved the lives of many, many people who could otherwise have been innocent victims.
You don't believe you could accidentally mistake a family member for an intruder? But you've already said you would use deadly force against an intruder. So it must be that you're immune to misidentifying someone. I bet every gun owner who ever shot a family member by mistake thought the same thing until it was too late. By the way, the stats indicate from this factor ALONE that you're probably more likely to harm a family member.
Have a 16 yr old son and a daughter going to Uni in two months. I know the risks of having a gun in the home, as do they. Also, from the outset, I was pretty clear that I'm not Dirty Harry shoot now ask questions later. I have a sneaking suspicion that if I heard someone break in, it would not be either of them. In fact, not that it is anyone's business, but my wife already knows that if I ever feel the need to take out the firearm in the home, her job is to go to the kids rooms, let me know they are safe and lock themselves into my daughters room. So, before ever going downstairs, the friendly fire issue should be covered. Do you think I'm some jumpy who would wake up out of a dead sleep and start blasting away at anything that moves? I thought I had made clear that I have had extensive, and recurrent training?
However, given ALL of that, I cannot ignore the fact that people shoot family members.
Accidental discharge. You're not immune to that either. There's plenty of cases of police officers with accidental discharges to their name. Just did a quick Google search to find a recent incident. This story was posted nine hours ago: <a class="postlink" href="http://www.wsvn.com/story/25811797/officer-accidentally-discharges-gun-inside-courthouse" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.wsvn.com/story/25811797/offi ... courthouse</a> Also, according to a report by the NYPD, accidental discharges were the third most common cause of firearms discharges and police officers were only just over twice as likely to have discharged in conflict. For 2011 over 16% of all firearms discharges by the NYPD were accidental ones.
Yep, it happens, especially the more you touch the weapon, which is why it is locked away until it is to be used. I have seen the effects of holstering the weapon while having your finger on the trigger...not pretty, tends to blow away your thigh and you have to pray it doesn't penetrate your knee! I have also heard of all kinds of other sordid tales. That said, it doesn't get unlocked until needed, then it does not get unsnapped from its holster until I'm good and ready to handle it. Once in hand, my finger doesn't go into the trigger guard until I have acquired a target (only paper to this point!) and I am ready to shoot it. Most of that does not occur at home, and what little might doesn't happen very often.
However, bad stuff has happened to some people who never expected it to happen to them and I cannot deny it could happen to anyone who does not follow the simple precepts of firearms handling.
As for protecting against a suicide attempt, I hope that tragedy never has cause to visit you and that access to your gun takes more than just an easily-found key. However, again, the stats show that the risk of teen suicide is great and that suicide attempts are both more common and more successful in households with guns. Again, I assume many of those people assumed like you, that they'd taken all precautions.
I dont think this really applies to my family, but one never knows, I guess. I'm the only person in the house that knows the combination to the safe, which is also hidden from view.
Chances are, of course, that you'll be fine and you'll never have to shoot an intruder or accidentally shoot a family member, or have a case of accidental discharge which injures or kills someone, but that would be equally true if you didn't have a gun. I sincerely hope you've taken all the precautions you possibly can and that you're a model gun owner.
I am as safe as I know how to be. I have been safely housing and handling the firearm for over five years, do semi-annual recurrent training and recently went through a full blown requalification course, including self defense measures to avoid having the firearm taken from me in close quarters. I'm federally certified and believe I'm a responsible parent and gun owner.
However, I still think you'll struggle considering the factual weight of evidence against you, to make your home safer with a gun than without one. As much as you may attempt to mitigate the risks, it's still fairly easy to conclude the best way for your family members to be safe is by not owning a gun at all.
i don't struggle with the statistics at all. In fact, I'm more afraid of my kids driving, drinking while out with friends, or possibly getting involved with drugs than I will EVER be about them getting hold of the weapon. As I have said, it is used in some of my work, and not a trophy or toy that I lusted over and subsequently bought on the internet or at a gun show, which is why I take the care and use of it so seriously.
