Does having a gun in your house make you safer or not?

[bitchinabluestreak]

63. What increases the likelihood of someone being killed or wounded

(This is my first post, so I fully expect the "usual treatment" reserved for dissenters. I actually joined to weigh in on the veterinary homeopathy thread, but as yet, there's no point.)

Respectfully, SheilaT, what increases the likelihood of someone being killed or wounded (by a responsible gun owner) is that a person (or persons) sought to commit a crime- burglary, rape, murder; terror, against a person (or persons, including children and pets) who should have been safe in their home or in their car- or even, just in their person; walking down the street, mtob. (Do we still have that "right"?)
If that person had never sought to victimize another person, that injury/ death ball would have never started rolling. Everybody could have just gone on with life. But from the moment that a predator decides to victimize another person, *someone* is going to be killed, harmed or at least, terrorized. Is it better to lose an innocent victim or better to lose/ "re-educate" a predator? That victim's life will never be the same again in any case, even if they live.

The problem isn't guns, knives, clubs, or any other item that can be used as a weapon. The problem is that there are people in this world (always have been and always will be) who are predators. Maybe they were damaged in some way, maybe they were born with a psychological problem, maybe they're just evil and malicious. Doesn't matter.
All anyone can do is everything possible to keep safe and be prepared to deal with that.
There's nothing anyone can do to pre-empt or prevent predators from existing. We can't control that. All we can control is what we, personally, do.

In the case of a gun or a crossbow- or even bear spray or a high lumen LED flashlight, those come with a responsibility to be educated; practiced, in using them properly and safely. ALL weapons, especially in a chaotic situation, have the potential to harm innocent bystanders- including the victim. Does it matter if a person dies from a punch to the head or a gunshot? They're still dead and the person who applied it still killed them.
Why doesn't it matter if the victim of a predator is dead or maimed, when it could have been prevented? How can anyone justify rendering a victim defenseless (or place them at such a disadvantage that for all intents and purposes, they are)?

Having recently acquired a handgun (nothing fancy, just adequate- I'm poor and guns aren't my thing) to protect my elderly and special needs (blind) pets and myself, I am watching these discussions with great interest and concern.
I *agree* with you, SheilaT wrt to children (or anyone but the owner) getting ahold of guns. I have yet to see a single discussion, anywhere, regarding the consequences of irresponsibility on the part of a gun owner- or on the part of minors or dependents of a gun owner. Imho, that's the conversation we need to be having. Those consequences should be *severe*. Columbine *ticked me off*. All of these incidents are outrageous. No one held the parents responsible, even when the kids lived at home.
I don't see any outrage about drug dealers, gangbangers, home invaders, "knockout gamers" or lowlifes of any other stripe, either. (See the recent DoJ report) What's up with that?

Toughs**t for the victim does not work for me- *especially* if it's my dogs. (Considering the number of dogs killed by LE this year, just for merely existing, I gotta say that I'm not feeling real good about calling the cops these days.) Predators, like any bully, are usually chickens**ts. If they know someone is going to fight back, they'll run or victimize someone else. *Nobody* gets injured or killed, then. And if it makes other would be predators think twice (however unlikely), all the better.
If Y'All want to be profiling somebody, looking at responsible gun owners is looking in the opposite direction; *away* from the problem. *That we really can't fix anyway*. Or at least, nothing that we've tried so far has worked. In fact, it's worse.

One thing I know: All the laws in the world don't deter predators. It would be great if they (still) did, but that becomes less effective as each day passes. If some way to deter/ inhibit predators cannot be found, then obstructing self defense is the wrong thing to do.

(aside: Wow. Y'All have a really great system. I've been revising this tome for over an hour on my original log in)