I have reluctantly taken steps to feel more secure in my home

[jtuck004]

18. " figure you are way less safe in a suicidal bender " What makes us less safe are our draconian

attitudes toward mental illness and dying, in that some would rather profit from it than fix it.

If we really gave a flying rat's ass about our neighbors, if we had modern laws and policies, humane ones, that gun would be far less of an issue, and not a cheap scapegoat which can be used to avoid the responsibility the rest of society walks away from. Just like we do the people.

Sometimes it's not just a thief of property. Sometimes they want more than you should give. This mom called 911 and asked for permission to shoot, while she and her baby hid in the bedroom, just a few days after her husband died of cancer, and she had seen these two miscreants at a sale in her yard.

A young Oklahoma mother shot and killed an intruder to protect her 3-month-old baby on New Year's Eve, less than a week after the baby's father died of cancer.

Sarah McKinley says that a week earlier a man named Justin Martin dropped by on the day of her husband's funeral, claiming that he was a neighbor who wanted to say hello. The 18-year-old Oklahoma City area woman did not let him into her home that day.

On New Year's Eve Martin returned with another man, Dustin Stewart, and this time was armed with a 12-inch hunting knife. The two soon began trying to break into McKinley's home.

As one of the men was going from door to door outside her home trying to gain entry, McKinley called 911 and grabbed her 12-gauge shotgun.
...

http://abcnews.go.com/US/okla-woman-shoots-kills-intruder911-operators-shoot/story?id=15285605

I don't offer that in opposition to what you suggest. You and I know that we could look up 100 cases of homicide, or accidental shootings, for every good shooting where someone defends their self or someone else. But a story like this one, for example, will have 100 times more impact than a plea to just "let them have your stuff - it's not worth it" or any of those other stories.

Because NO ONE thinks they will be the victim.They see themselves as the victor - so those other 100 cases just blow away in the breeze. One can ignore that basic fact of human behavior, but the response is likely to be weak and ineffective, with no change in the behavior they want, such as having less guns.

A union organizer once said "we want people who do things like us, not for us -". Too many people think they know a more moral way for someone to live, and are insistent on forcing it on them - regardless of whether from the right or left.

Neither really cares about the person, that's clear. Mostly just selfish and want things their way.

Then again, this is a country where being misguided might actually be rewarded with the office of the president, so maybe expecting people to focus on each other is a bit much.