Re: Packing Heat & Learning How To Use It
Ok can I give you a sincere advice? Don't buy a gun. That is just not a safe thing to have in the house, especially the one with a kid. I can't think of a single incident where in case of an immediate threat, I have enough time to bring out a hidden gun and load it and raise it for my defense. Immediate threats need to be tackled within seconds, and unless you have a loaded gun sitting at your hand reach, it is just not gonna help.
If I were you, I would get a dog instead, or move to a safer neighborhood.
TLK Bhai as much as I would love to get a dog (animal lover here) I can't because of obvious reasons. Although the more I read into it, it seems like Islam doesn't really prohibits keeping a dog in the house (talking about the whole Paak/Napaak issue here) but that's another topic for another thread. Not to forget I already have my hands full with fishes. We can't afford to keep a large house pet right now. No time for walks, training & grooming. At least not right now.
As far as moving to a safer neighborhood is concerned. We are currently living in the heart of the city, its a very safe neighborhood, gated community with night patrol & great neighbors but is the city & we do plan on moving to a neighboring suburb within 2-5 months. But from what I have heard from people who have been living here long & from all the local news I watch, it seems like no neighborhood is 100% safe here. Obviously there are are places that have very low crime rate & then there are places with huge gated communities but then so far while visiting friends even in the suburbs we have successfully managed to enter a gated community before always signing in or waiting for someone to let us in. We have heard of planned armed robberies even in the safest neighborhoods here.
Going back to the first thing you mentioned about not having enough time to load a gun in case of an immediate threat, I used to give the exact same reasoning to my husband when he started talking about owning a gun. To me keeping a gun in a house with a child used to be a very horrifying thought. I actually did a lot of research on it as to how so many accidental gun deaths involving kids are recorded as attempted murders so we never get to hear about how dangerous keeping a gun at home with kids can be but then in a detailed article I read (It was an anti gun article), every single case had a child find gun just laying around somewhere. Not even in a drawer but open in the living room, under a sofa, on a coffee table, behind a TV, on the mantle, parent's bed or even the front yard.
And as far as having enough time to load a gun is concerned. Then this will get long but lets say someone rings my doorbell, I answer it but don't open it & these people are persistent because they know what they want. There are many cases where they watch your household or neighborhood for a couple of days to find out who is home & who is not at different times of day so they can execute their plan accordingly.
Anyways so they are knocking or trying to intimidate me which 2 nights ago happened. The Ahole new there was a lady in the house even before he could hear my voice. Its scary to know that this person knew who was behind the door. The way he was talking loudly & trying to convince me to open the door was scary. I am glad I called my husband right away & started talking loudly to let this person know that I had help coming. Obviously I used a string of words to let him know my husband is calling the police as well as how he will be home in 2 minutes. He was still 10 minutes away & we didn't call the police either.
Now I have only heard of one case so far where a group of people have shot through the door & barged in. Shot 2 guys in their legs & then looted the whole house. Obviously this is the worst case scenario & we don't live in a jungle so something like that happening to us is highly unlikely but going back to dealing with the immediate threat. The first thing I do is check where my child is, check the garage door & then go to the place I keep my gun. If I have practiced enough times to quickly open the safe & open the gun case, it shouldn't take me more than 10 seconds max to get my hands on the actual gun. At this point I call the police & stay on the phone with them, now while I am loading it, I start walking either towards the door to check if these people have left or not or check my windows to see if they really do plan to barge in. If you talk to a police officer they will tell you, more than often when an intruder or a robber hears you load your gun (the clicking sound) they will run off. All I have to do is tell the operator on the phone loud enough for everyone on the other side to hear that I have a gun & I won't hesitate using it if I have to.
Now if they are your average run of the mill kiddos, they will run off & never even think about coming back to your house, probably even your neighborhood (cause if one house has a gun, what are the chances of others not having one either) If God forbid, it is a properly planned robbery with armed people & a getaway car waiting for them then I sure as hell would love to cause some damage to others before someone tries to harm me or my child. Now in the above mentioned scenario if my husband is home then it gives us even more time to prepare as one can reach for the weapon while another secures the child & calls the police.
Does all this sound scary? It sure does. It probably sounds absurd. But I dealt with just a glimpse of it 2 nights back & the emotional turmoil was bad enough to make me change my mind about keeping a gun in a house with kids. I realized its all about what you choose to do in those split seconds. No ADT or an approaching Police car can make me feel secure more than how much a concealed gun at my own disposal can.
And it won't be like you are showing off in front of your kids to every Tom, Dick & Harry that you own a gun. Its there & if God forbid the need ever comes to use one, it comes out. If not then no one talks about it.
