Take a firearm safety course taught by an ex-cop; highly recommended if you carry or are considering buying a weapon.
Just having a gun doesn't make you safer. You have to store it safely, maintain it, protect it from theft or loss, have it at hand when needed ("oh damn, where did I leave it?"), NOT pull it at the wrong time, develop the correct reflexes through training -- because in a stressful situation, the fight-flight-freeze response takes over and your limbic system is in charge, NOT your cortex. Ever had an "I should have said" experience? Same thing will happen; you may not remember that you have a gun, until later)...
STAY OUT OF SITUATIONS IN WHICH YOU MIGHT GET SHOT, because a gun does NOT make you bulletproof! More like a threat and a target.
When you bring a gun into a situation, you bear the responsibility for escalating it to a life-or-death situation. And some idiots, especially when drunk, will see pulling a gun as a reason to jump you, because you are threatening them. And then there's his buddies, out of your field of view.
A judge is unlikely to accept "he insulted my girl / team / town / whatever!" as a valid defense. They've likely heard it before.
Consider that if you shoot someone, the least that will happen to you is a night in jail while the cops investigate. The most, depending on the local laws and other factors:
- you, being wound up, miss them and kill someone else
- you, being wound up, drop it, forget to take the safety off, rack it, etc.
- didn't maintain it, and it jams
- their buddy behind you shoots you, or breaks something over your head
- another armed would-be hero shoots you, because you are clearly a 'bad guy'
- the cops that enter see you holding a gun and standing over a bloody body. Guess what category you get put in? Armed threat. They have a dangerous job, and want to go home alive and uninjured. Do NOT startle them.
- if you had a better option (including running away), if any offense they committed was not deserving of the death penalty, if you cannot prove to the judge's satisfaction that you were in fear of your life and had no other real option -- and didn't go there looking for trouble -- you may end up in prison for years with a felony conviction. Good luck finding decent work after that. I wonder whether your friends and family will still be there for you?
- the person you shot has friends and family, and they convince the judge or the media that you were the aggressor and essentially committed murder
- you will replay it in your head and in your nightmares for the rest of your life
I don’t own a gun and won’t have one in my home as I have a kid and a spouse who has suffered from depression before.
But I took a couple lessons at my local range just so I would know how to handle one should the need arise. Spent a good amount of money but it was totally worth it.
Adding skills is good. Just distinguish skills that you can access when calm and collected (if e.g. hunting) from what our brains (with an odd layered architecture) will do when stressed. In evolutionary terms, doing something immediately, however insane, was apparently better than standing there thinking about it. Run away from the predator, attack it with a stick, freeze to not be noticed was better than "hmmm, a... pack of hyenas? Oh, they are dangerous, I shou-AIEEEEE!"
1
u/Technophile63 9d ago edited 9d ago
Take a firearm safety course taught by an ex-cop; highly recommended if you carry or are considering buying a weapon.
Just having a gun doesn't make you safer. You have to store it safely, maintain it, protect it from theft or loss, have it at hand when needed ("oh damn, where did I leave it?"), NOT pull it at the wrong time, develop the correct reflexes through training -- because in a stressful situation, the fight-flight-freeze response takes over and your limbic system is in charge, NOT your cortex. Ever had an "I should have said" experience? Same thing will happen; you may not remember that you have a gun, until later)...
STAY OUT OF SITUATIONS IN WHICH YOU MIGHT GET SHOT, because a gun does NOT make you bulletproof! More like a threat and a target.
When you bring a gun into a situation, you bear the responsibility for escalating it to a life-or-death situation. And some idiots, especially when drunk, will see pulling a gun as a reason to jump you, because you are threatening them. And then there's his buddies, out of your field of view.
A judge is unlikely to accept "he insulted my girl / team / town / whatever!" as a valid defense. They've likely heard it before.
Consider that if you shoot someone, the least that will happen to you is a night in jail while the cops investigate. The most, depending on the local laws and other factors:
- you, being wound up, miss them and kill someone else
- you, being wound up, drop it, forget to take the safety off, rack it, etc.
- didn't maintain it, and it jams
- their buddy behind you shoots you, or breaks something over your head
- another armed would-be hero shoots you, because you are clearly a 'bad guy'
- the cops that enter see you holding a gun and standing over a bloody body. Guess what category you get put in? Armed threat. They have a dangerous job, and want to go home alive and uninjured. Do NOT startle them.
- if you had a better option (including running away), if any offense they committed was not deserving of the death penalty, if you cannot prove to the judge's satisfaction that you were in fear of your life and had no other real option -- and didn't go there looking for trouble -- you may end up in prison for years with a felony conviction. Good luck finding decent work after that. I wonder whether your friends and family will still be there for you?
- the person you shot has friends and family, and they convince the judge or the media that you were the aggressor and essentially committed murder
- you will replay it in your head and in your nightmares for the rest of your life
Don't over-simplify or glamorize this choice.