About the guy who walked into JC Penny's with an AR-15

[pipoman]

50. All fairly reasonable points in the wake of something like this

but at some point one must actually weigh the risks to ourselves and our children. I mean the actual odds of various dangers should have some place in the evaluation of risk. I have a slightly different life's experience which drives me to respond to specific types of threats differently than the author here.

I grew up hunting and fishing within 1/2 mile from my house. It was a great childhood filled with anticipation, oneness with my nature and nature in general. In my adult life I repossessed my first car when I was 22. After that over 20 years I repossessed over 12000. I wasn't really making friends out there, but my style was polar opposite of what people think after watching the repo series'. In addition to repossessing cars I was a licensed detective and participated in many civil and criminal cases. Part of my job required me to carry a gun. I worked with a team who worked as body guards and executed post judgement collection orders..again making enemies in a world of less than stellar citizens.

I worked on many criminal defense cases which I knew in my heart my client was guilty, but my job was to uncover evidence to assist in the person's defense, not to find evidence pointing to my client. I developed a strong advocacy for civil libertarian causes..to the point of accepting cases of the most deplorable people imaginable..people who were accused of horrible things or who had repulsive beliefs..people who even the courts couldn't find anyone willing to work on their defense. I know people who I believe have committed unspeakable acts who are not in custody. Then came the most challenging case of my career. What made this case different than the rest was the prior knowledge of details of the case because of it's proximity to me..less than 2 miles away two armed men entered a house with 3 young couples..pacifists who had done nothing but good in their lives. The 2 men repeatedly raped the women and locked the men into a closet. The 6 people ultimately submitted believing the men would eventually leave..after the men had robbed the people by taking them one by one to an ATM, they loaded them all in a vehicle and took them to a remote spot and summarily executed them by shooting them in the head.. all died but one woman survived. Her story was so very shocking it chilled me to the bone. I received the call to assist in the defense of these two animals. I couldn't do it..I declined the case and later that year quit doing criminal defense, and within 4 years was completely out of this business. I love what I do now...caring for people who love me and appreciate what I do for them. The residual of my previos life however still haunts me. I no longer carry a gun, but do remain armed in my home and likely always will.

During this time I and my wife raised 2 children. We live in tornado alley so we had a plan for tornadoes and our kids knew what to do to stay safe. We had a plan for fire, power outage, snowed in, and for home invasion. We had occasional drills for each of these risks. We didn't dwell on any of these things beyond making sure our kids knew the likelihood any of these things would happen was remote, but possible. We also made a plan for scenarios outside the home. Auto accidents and confrontation with criminals of different sorts. Again, being sure to temper the plans with the reality of the chances we would need to act on our plans. I made enemies who took what I was charged with doing very personally, so the chances we would be confronted were probably greater than others.

My life's experience has lead me to believe in keeping defensive guns in my home, and can understand the desire to carry outside the home...though I haven't for several years now. I have no problem with concealed carry..the chances of being harmed by a concealed carrier is less than the pubic in general, for the fact they are supposed to be a group who is devoid of people convicted of felonies, and have not been found mentally incompetent, or had convictions for domestic violence.

Bottom line, yes there is danger we are all subject to become victims of..we should be somewhat prepared..many dangers are far more likely than being shot at the JC Penneys...going through life scared and going through life cautious are 2 different things..don't instill fear of society in your children..teach them reality and caution..