"Judge, Jury and Executioner" [View all]

[TPaine7]

Put yourself in the position of a wheelchair-bound young man who lives with his mother. You work online and you make a pretty good living as a programmer. You live in a remote area, and you love the natural beauty, but police response times can be very long under the best of circumstances.

Dad is dead, and your siblings have moved away. But before dad died, he insisted that you learn to use a gun. He was adamant that you be very proficient, in spite of your hatred for guns, and eventually you became a crack shot.

Dad believed that you might need skill with a weapon someday, and while on his deathbed he made you swear to keep up your skills, keep a gun accessible whenever legal and keep a CCW permit if at all possible.

So when the local serial rapist, torturer and killer of women breaks in, you have a hidden gun nearby.

Thinking you are helpless, he calmly stands over your trembling mother, detailing his exploits with the poor women you have heard about on the news. He says your mom, while older than most of his conquests, is still pretty good looking, and he praises her physical assets. He says this will be the first time he's had an audience, and that that will make it especially fun. And after the show, you'll get to be the first man he's killed. He says you should be honored.

At this, you pull out your gun, prepared to use it just like dad taught you. He's momentarily shocked, but then recovers. "I don't think you have it in you," he sneers as he reaches down for Mom.

So what do you do? Do you reach for the phone and hope mom survives the next 30 - 45 minutes until the cops arrive or do you act as "judge, jury and executioner"?