First, one doesn't flinch when holding a lethal weapon. That is where the training comes in...

Second, I agree, guns are a response to an action, NEVER a deterrent. Citizens have to know their rights when they used such weapons as these in the thought of self-defense...

There goes that "one" again. :D

"One" would floss and brush every night because that's what dentists say. However, I keep meeting grown people with money and health insurance who have swollen gums, dingy teeth, and smelly breath. :(

Right.

So just make sure you're actually home IF a would-be burglar ever enters your home. Actually, I'd rather NOT be home IF a burglar enters my home, but that's just me.

And since you've been trained, you know to announce that you have a gun versus trying to do a law enforcement infiltration on a burglar. And you know that there are laws regarding the difference between defending your home and jumping the gun or vigilante justice. Just making sure gun owners are as safe and law abiding in practice as their gun training teaches.

Well, you have a right to protect yourself and others in your home that you feel are at risk of bodily harm. But I don't think you have a lethal right to protect your possessions. As a hs teacher used to say, if you shoot a burgler as he's running down your front drive, you better drag him back inside :)

I do not see your connection between the use of a 3rd person pronoun, dental care and how to handle a lethal weapon? Your point is what? You want to be right in this one? Fine. You are right. You are not living where I live.



Currently, I do not work, so I am at home most of the time. It is strange for this kind of activity the go on in my neighborhood, but how is the concern for my safety going to protect me other than being prepared? One way to be prepared is examining what my second amendment rights are, and what they are not. I have the right to protect myself and my property on my legal domicile. Anyone who I have not welcomed nor invited are not allowed to enter without my consent.

What is wrong with that?

And be better at covering your tracks than the police will be at figuring out what you did. :)

I agree with everything you said.

Don't make this personal. This thread isn't about you. You chose to share what's going on in your neighborhood that has you afraid and emotional. But this discussion happens everyday so don't get sensitive. I say the same thing I'm saying to you to people everyday regardless of who they are and where they live.

My point is that you are typing in theoretical language and I'm talking about what often happens in practice. Until you actually have pulled the gun and shot it at a human, it is difficult to say what you would actually do versus what "one" does or does not do as taught in gun safety classes. People are taught all sorts of things that they don't actually apply.


Okay. :)

But you have not shot an another human being either, unless there is a different lifestyle we all have yet to know about? :rolleyes:

And unless you have done it, you are right, we do not know what will happen until we are faced with that situation unless folks are avid gun users, i.e. hunter, police officer, military or just coming off of tours in Iraq/Afghanistan.

Those are the folks I would love to hear what their perspective is...

Uh...yeah....

Yep. Good luck.

I see what you mean but what would their perspectives accomplish beyond some general advice or an FYI? Some agree with what Peppy and I said. A lot of this stuff is based on something more objective than individuals' experiences.

I don't have a problem with law abiding citizines owning guns, in general, but it also doesn't accomplish what many people think/claim that it does. When I read scared people talking gun advocate stuff, as a result of a rash of burglaries in their neighborhood, it makes me wary.

Welp, that is your opinion and you are entitled to it. I think differently and I know what is going on in my community and how I choose to handle a perceived threat, real or otherwise. Some of it will do with practicing techniques in weaponry and some it will do with conferring with other perspectives and some of it will do with publicizing/broadcasting the facts of my situation... I prefer being proactive rather than suffering as an assualt victim of this particular crime.

Thanks for sharing your experiences and asking GC what we thought. :)

Stay tuned for this one in a few months:
Supreme Court considers 'right to bear arms'

Landmark case on D.C. ban expected to have major ramifications

WASHINGTON - In a landmark hearing on gun ownership, the Supreme Court appeared ready Tuesday to endorse the view that the Second Amendment gives individuals the right to own guns, but was less clear about whether to retain the District of Columbia’s ban on handguns.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23688073/

So they are challenging the ruling in DC? With our current make up on the Supreme Court, I can envision how this one turns out....

If you can't own handguns, what kind of guns can you own? That would seem unconstitutional to me.

I support 2nd amendment rights within reason. I grew up learning about and how to respect guns. My family owns a handgun and a shotgun, and I have shot them before on the range.

However, I do believe in proper background checks and that mandatory safetys be purchased with all guns.

:D That is what I am thinking...

The criminals broke into someone's car across the way from my house. The car was parked in the neighbor's driveway and the window was broken out. Have not heard if anything was missing.

That has happened to me in SoCal. The light was out in my case and they criminals stole all the lose items important to me--tapes namely, and an emergency care kit. It cost me $250 to replace the window and my insurance covered the rest. Afterward, I no longer liked living in that area and moved to a gated community--which I cannot do now... :(

But, yeah, I guess I will have less closet space... ;) I like Big Bertha...

Car prowling doesn't scare me...that happens everywhere, even in nice safe places like Redmond. Really there's no reason for you to be scared in Redmond, so you can probably chill out a little. There's no need to be in a gated community to feel safe - we've managed to do without them here all this time. Besides, don't you feel a little bit like a bird in a cage with the gate? I've always found gated communities (and yards with fences or walls in the front yard, too) to look very cold and standoffish...what's the point of being in a larger suburban community if you want no part of it?

Home burglaries are a different story. It takes either a gutsy or stupid person to break into a home...especially when someone might be there. And I don't want to see either one of those kind of people in my home uninvited.

I think the COA decision will be upheld. I don't think the Court will say the Second gives the right to own handguns, nor do I think it will impose strict scrutiny for gun restrictions, unfortunately.

I just don't think most people, or the Court, thinks the DC restriction is reasonable. It basically prohibits protecting ones own home and family. Also, I don't think there is much evidence to show that the people responsible for the violence in DC are paying much attention to this law.