Would you keep a gun in your household for self defense or is this a bad idea?

1. 86

   mistyhorizon2003posted 13 years ago

   Would you keep a gun in your household for self defense or is this a bad idea?
   
   Would you keep a gun in your household for self defense, or do you think this is where parts of the world are going wrong and make a snowballing type problem?

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2. 70

   Larry Fieldsposted 13 years ago

   I do keep a firearm in the house for self-defense, because of the rough neighborhood. I've also taken the NRA course. (That's National Rifle Association.) And I even wrote a hub on the subject. You can get most of your FAQs answered by attorney Eric Puryear at learnaboutguns.com.
   
   Yes, there are Type 1 tragedies. Example: Child stumbles across unsecured firearm, thinks that it's a toy, and shoots a friend.
   
   On the other hand, these are vastly outnumbered by Type 2 tragedies--at least in the US. Example: Violent home invasion robber breaks down the front door, and kills the entire family in a fit of rage, because there aren't enough valuables in the house to steal. Armed homeowners can put a big dent in the numbers of Type 2 tragedies.
   
   There are something like 100 million privately owned firearms in the US. On the whole, Americans are responsible gun owners.
   
   I can't say the same for the British. In its infinite wisdom, Parliament has enacted strict gun control laws. They must have excellent reasons for wanting law-abiding citizens in rough neighborhoods to be apprehensive about home invasion robberies.
   
   However I think that Parliament should make an exception for resourceful citizens who make their own Big Macs.

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3. 63

   Craig Suitsposted 13 years ago

   I raised four children be myself and I never thought keeping a gun in the house was a good idea. Nice to have if you ever need one but the only way I would be comfortable is if it was 100% childproof...

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4. 77

   Jack Burtonposted 13 years ago

   Let's ask young widow and mother, Sarah McKinley, what she thought of the idea of having a gun in the home when two men armed with hunting knives tried to break into her home,,,
   
   http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162- … -intruder/
   
   Or this 79 year old gentleman who had two men kick in his back door...
   
   http://www.wlwt.com/news/4702890/detail.html
   
   Or this woman whose stalker broke into her home and was strangling her with his leather gloved hands while she was on the phone to 911...You can listen to her actual phone call as he gets closer in the home, closer, closer, and then finds her as she is hiding in the bedroom closet. Was she glad she had a gun in her home for self defense? Or was it a "bad idea" for her to have that gun?
   
   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ExC7fE1LaY

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5. 74

   Laura in Denverposted 13 years ago

   This depends on your location. Most urbanites should NOT carry guns.
   
   My farming uncle had to have a shotgun to shoot wild dog packs. Seems morons thought dogs would be cared for in the country, but instead, they ran around in packs preditors to innocent livestock, particulary baby livestock.
   
   Not to mention, urbanites rarely secure their weapons and shoot family members. Plus, thieves love to get their hands on such weapons and target unknowledgable owners.
   
   Required classes, anyone? Registerys whould be REQUIRED.

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   1. 77

      Jack Burtonposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I agree. Urbanites are too crowded together and that makes them think crazy thoughts. They should not be allowed to express their crazy thoughts in writing, over the air, and any other medium.  If they want to then classes and registration is a must.

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6. 74

   Barnseyposted 13 years ago

   No, but only because my girlfriend is a red headed Italian! I would have been dead years ago if I had been dumb enough to bring a gun home.

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7. 59

   greytonyposted 13 years ago

   yes it is a good idea since a bad guy can visit you anytime and you dont want to part with your valuables

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8. 73

   aguasilverposted 13 years ago

   If I were allowed to hold a personal firearm. properly secured and safe from children, I would do so.
   
   As a UK citizen I would now be forbidden a permit, so the only guns out there are Police and Criminals, which is stupid thinking, but parr for the course on all countries that have suffered dictatorships, first thing to go are personal guns!.
   
   I am firearms trained, which covers not just gun safety but also psychological profiling and close observation over a given period.
   
   Training should be obligatory, alongside profiling, it would not catch every nut that wanted to kill people (or themselves) but would mean that when trouble happened, the trained and armed citizen would deal with the threat effectively.
   
   Guess my answer is a firm YES!

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9. 73

   giocatoreposted 13 years ago

   I recall reading long ago that it's pretty likely your personal firearm will be used against you if someone breaks into your home.

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   1. 77

      Jack Burtonposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I read long ago that the world is really flat. Both my statement and yours have about equal validity.

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10. 59

    sandusposted 13 years ago

    i dont have a gun, but if i get a chance i will defenitely keep one for defense.

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11. 59

    wkhigleyposted 13 years ago

    If I were in a first floor apartment or a house then I would keep one, though it would need to be safely stored. Also, I think anyone that wants a firearm of any kind should take some kind of training to learn proper safety and use.

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    1. 77

       Jack Burtonposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       40,000,000 gun owning families. About 2,000 accidents a year. Because 1 out of 20,000 gunowning families have an accident you want the other 39,998,000 families to pay billions of dollars and spend thousands of hours taking unnecessary training?

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    2. 86

       mistyhorizon2003posted 12 years agoin reply to this

       I totally agree proper training should be undertaken. Even knowing how to have the 'safety' on or off could prove crucial, and at least you will know you can use the gun properly and not accidentally shoot someone because you have no training.

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    3. 77

       Jack Burtonposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       Misty, can you explain in detail just why you think it is logical to require the 39,998,000 firearm owners who don't have accidents why they should pay for training they don't need just because you think it is a good idea.

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12. 37

    jinojohnyposted 13 years ago

    Yes..it's good idea to keep a gun in our house ,because now a days criminal activities are day by day increasing.And we also will have self confidence with in us.Self defense is necessary for our family.

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13. 52

    tultulganguly85posted 13 years ago

    Yes , to me my gun is love. I can handle any household problem with the help of this unique gun.For example if my husband disagree with me to go any where, following this gun of love I make him agree. He happily take me on his shoulder and ready to go where ever I love to go.
    My only son is very moody. It is very difficult to tackle him. Loving gun easily tackle him and he does what I want from him. If you want , please try it once, without anger, without tension, only with smiling face you can achieve what you want.
    
    If you are ready to practice it, slowly, slowly you have to sacrifice your ego. A question will be arise in your mind, without ego how can you keep safe your self respect?
    At first you will see if you want to tackle hard situation with the help of loving gun no one can't relay on you, they think you are an useless creature.
    If you have ignored by them, without anger then you can cross the first step of it. They will keep watching time to time in a different difficult situation. if your family get you same isolated, indifferent from the  problem, you can keep smiling face towards them, then you can cross the second step.
    Third step is they will come to you to solve their problem. They give you your  proper respect

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14. 76

    wiserworldposted 13 years ago

    I think it really depends on your location and type of neighborhood. It would probably solve a lot of the threat if the American government banned the use of personal firearms entirely, but then after that you'd probably have a lot of people still walking around with illegal guns making a lot of people paranoid because they had to hand theirs in. Where is Magneto when you need him? lol

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15. 69

    Keith Engelposted 13 years ago

    Yes, I wish I could afford one now. It might actually surprise people, but there was actually rifle classes and competitive shooting clubs at public schools at one point in time. Furthermore, anybody who states that personal firearms need to go bye   doesn't understand the right to bare arms. The right to bare arms is simply put the right to protect ones life, ones property, and ones liberty from those who would wish to take it away from them, this includes other individuals and even ones Government.
    
    Instead of trying to go ahead and be afraid of the gun and try to ban it from sight, it needs to be treated like any other tool that people use and preperly trained and respected. The gun is nothing more than that. People have been killing people with other tools since before the guns invention, bare hands, clubs, rocks, spears, arrow, knives, and swords.  Removing the gun will not prevent people from killing one another. In order to that, well that requires other matters to change.

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16. 95

    ercramer36posted 13 years ago

    Yes, I do keep a firearm in the house for self-defense. Why should the criminals be the only one with a weapon.  I would only bring it out if someone breaks into my house.  It is important if you have kids to keep the firearms locked up.
    
    Chicago has some of toughest anti-gun laws in the country and has a great deal of gun violence because a criminal by definition does not obey laws.

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17. 60

    KnightDefender2posted 12 years ago

    In a word. Yes.
    http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Right-To- … id=7000957

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18. 71

    Ralph Deedsposted 12 years ago

    I have a rifle and a shotgun in my basement, but not for self defense. I taught my children to target shoot with the .22 rifle, and one of my boys has used the Model 12 Winchester to hunt pheasants. I've always kept the shells upstairs on the second floor far from the guns. I've never felt a need to have a weapon for self defense. We have locks on the doors and motion sensitive lights outside. Handguns can be a hazard unless secured from children and handled very carefully. Of course that can make it hard to get to them in the unlikely event they were needed. They are over-rated for personal  protection, in my opinion. Think about the time President Reagan and his PR man Brady were both shot while surrounded by armed and trained Secret Service men if you think hand guns are so helpful for self defense. Ditto for JFK and Bobbie Kennedy. .

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    1. 77

       Jack Burtonposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       Ralph would rather pretend that the three stories that I posted up above, and the other hundreds of thousands of ones where ordinary citizens just like you and I successfully protect ourselves from social deviants don't exist.

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19. 60

    margieleaposted 10 years ago

    Two years ago I would have said No!  Today I say yes, now however we must look at the implications of the question/s.  The answer to the question is metaphorical, that being Yes!.  Let me back up my answer to your question with my reasoning.  Back in '99 I was in a violent situation, if I had a gun in my possesion at the time I would have used it- to kill or harm I am unsure what the outcome would have been.  My sister had a gun in her wardrobe so I went to get it.  I found the bullets but not the gun.  Mark cameinto the roomand wanted to know what I was doing and I told him "looking for the gun!", he replied, "doyou think i'm stupidenough to keep them together?."  2 years ago my mum was alive so I didn't keep "weapons" n the house.  The weekend just past I had an uninvited visitor...  My answer is now being directed to where -'parts of the world are going wrong and make a snowballing type problem'.  Needles once upon a time were always illegal were I come from and that is W.A.  So 20 years ago people from other states/countries would could come here to change their influences to external as they weren't capable of internal change.  I am now cominfg across some of these peoplke and others flocking out of the state to go to a territory. People are running out of places to run to, solutions are near Ibelieve with a 6 year judgement day hopefully occuring at the moment.  I never used needles or drugs.  Then duringmy third year at University I experimented.  Needles which are also known as weapons/tools/GUNS/fighters/fits andnow syringes were not legal then.  Once they became legal I was sent to the shop to buy some, eventually the social acceptance of it became my weakness. I don't want to go off track too much so I will get to the point.  This uninvited visitor brought 'gear' to my p[lace to share with me.  I am lucky that I  had a stockpile of weapons so that I had a clean Gun to use. This person supplied a few 'shots'  and asthe weekend drew to a close he wanted to use the last of his gear.  The whole weekend he claimed to have clean weapons, not until our last shot did he state that he only had oneneedle he thought he had two.  He went away with none as I wanted to ensure safe disposal.  Now I would assume he is smoking his gear or possibly sharing...The world is wrong and it is going to become an epidemic, unless God Save the Queen, Australia constitutes the commonwealth under Native Title to ensure the survival of the planet - Earth.]

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