Which home is safer?

[PredFan]

But since gun ownership is a constitutional right it makes no sense to try to stop people from owning them through legal means.

Exactly.

It does make sense to have people lock up their guns so they can't accidentally be used irresponsibly.

Nope. I call it Darwinism in action.

It does make sense for criminals to wonder if the next home they pick just might have an owner with a loaded gun in his hand.

Yup.

 

[PredFan]

If they know that no one is home, it does not matter.

So what?

Strong windows and doors, a burglar alarm, and maybe a dog, if you really have a problem.

And a gun, if you get strong-armed at your front door.

Some people like guns, some people don't, but their benefits in defending a home are dubious, unless one's home is under armed attack.

Dubious unless you are under attack? So, before you get attacked you'll get a warning enough ahead of time to purchase a gun?

I live in a major metropolitan area, and the number of times that an armed attack on someone's home has occurred in the past 40 years in this area can be counted with the fingers of one hand, and are far out-numbered by the number of murders committed by trigger happy defenders of their homes.

Haven't heard of home invasions? And what's this "murders by trigger happy defenders of their homes"? If I'm defending my home then it isn't murder. You are trying to make me believe that more people have killed someone in the defense of their home than have been invaded by armed crooks? I want to live there!

 

[PredFan]

The people most likely to break in your home are the cops and the DEA, who often brreak into the wrong homes. They have far more offensive weaponry than any citizen, and they can't be stopped. Remember Ruby Ridge.

Wrong. In my town, we've had breakins, and I'm talking home invasions, a lot in the past couple of years, and I have never heard of the police breaking into the wrong house. Ruby Ridge happened once.

Call the cops with your cell phone if attacked. Call your neighbors.

If my neighbor is unarmed, he's no use to me. In the time it takes the cops to get here, me and my family could be dead.

If you love guns, you are welcome to them, but don't bother with the rationalization that they make you any safer in your home.

It isn't a rationalization, it is a fact. A fact which you utterly failed to contradict.

 

[PredFan]

Never said they cant have one, just that its more likey it will be used against them then ever protect them,

And you are wrong. It CAN be used against me but it is in no way "more likely" that it will.

 

[pocketfullofshells]

Lol! The one on the left?

Ok, I don't see how but I'm with ya.

the how is most likely someone in the house will accidentally shoot them self or someone else, or have a few to many and get in a fight and do something dumb....all more likely then someone just breaking into your house and shooting you....unless your like a crack dealer or something some 1500 people a year are killed accidentally with guns...how many people are killed in home invasions and that stuff? I bet a lot less. Most people are killed by someone they know, most often who lives with them. That or in gang violence outside in the streets or in gang related homes...The average family just living in there home I think is far more likely to have someone in the house killed or injured by there own firearm, then from just some random guy walking in your house and killing you. Its still there choice to own one, but does not mean its statistically making them safer.

 

[PredFan]

My neighbor had a teenage son who ran around with some hoody kids. They broke a window on the front door and opened the door when no one was home. The second time, again when no one was home, they broke a window in the cellar to get in. Once, years later, he stole the license plates off my car because he was out of work and had lost his own tags. I felt sorry for him and let him off when he was caught and we went to court. Thank you please, Dr Who, I don't want be known as someone who shot my neighbor's kids, even if they are lowlifes.

1st of all, if no one is home, on one is going to get shot. and 2nd, would anyone shoot someone for taking their licence plate?

 

[PredFan]

Well, enough subject changing and strawman answers. Time to point out the real answer.

The home on the right (with the target) is safer, because home-invaders are far more likely to skip it entirely and go elsewhere. The one on the left (with the no-guns sign), though, is just the kind of place the home-invaders like the most: One likely with victims who can't fight back and hurt them.

"Gun control laws are the criminal's OSHA. They provide him a safe working environment."

Of course, no one will post those kinds of things on their front doors, but your point is valid. If a criminal chooses to invade an occupied home and the perp has two choices and he knows one home is unarmed, it's a no-brainer that he'll pick that home.

 

[PredFan]

Why do you people who love guns keep trying to force gun ownership on people like me who don't want them? Can't you live and let live?

Guns laws have nothing to do with home safety, as I have stated, based on my own experiences. Are you people incapable of listening, or reading, except what you want to hear?

You're dilusional.

No one is saying you have to have a gun and there are no laws that state you have to. Gun laws restrict gun ownership and you are right, they have nothing to do with home safety.

Are you capable of understanding what you read?

 

[PredFan]

Alright! A new gun issue thread. The last serious one we had went something like 500 posts...

Anyways, despite being known as a lefty around here, I am I guess you could say
"pro-gun". While I have never been a member of the NRA, I am a member of a number of other conservation/hunting advocacy groups. So my house would certainly be the one on the right.

Living in a rural area is a bit different for me. The biggest brown bears on the planet are a constant issue where I live. So most houses, vehicles, and individuals are armed in some way, at least in the summer. That being said...

I dont have a key to my front door. It hasnt been really locked in years. My keys havent really been out of my ignition since I bought the truck quite a few years ago. While there might be some notable contrasts here with life in many places in the lower 48, the way kids are taught about guns is entirely different and much more appropriate.

There are some unintended consequences, accidents with guns do happen. The effort needs to be in mitigating that. Which means that the vast majority of people, urban or rural knows how to make a gun safe, or recognize and distinguish what gun is potentially loaded or is safe.

I also think it is important for fairly young kids to understand that the capacity in a gun could be death, or serious injury. Which means kids witnessing or participating in hunting would have a better understanding of the power of some firearms. While it is also an important biology lesson.

Then of course there is the sport and recreation shooting. Personally I casually compete in a number of shooting sports. Trap, Skeet, Sporting clays with the shotgun.
Small and large bore with pistol and rifle. That of course is on top of my consistent hunting.

These activities are genuine fun. Kinda like bowling or darts, or well anything that is a recreational hobby.

For now, I will leave everyone with this.

Guns arent dangerous, people are.

A thinking lefty? Whooda thunkit?

 

[PredFan]

From my neck of the wilderness {middle America} my 22 rifle is used for raccoons/opossums/skunks that become to familiar during the season for rabies. Small rural areas such as mine get hit by many a methlab manufacturer looking for things that they can sell/steal...weapons locked up and weapons kept in your house are the #1 things that they remove and take with them...when NO ONE IS HOME!!!

That's what gun safes are for. Duh.

How pray tell is that keeping your home safe???

Jesus, people, just because you are armed up the 'ying-yang' doesn't mean that you are safe...they break in when your not home and steal your stuff and away they go!

Whoa there Tex! Nobody is saying you are safe with a gun, we are saying you are safer. Big difference.

 

[PredFan]

BINGO!!!!!!!!!!!!!​

I always slept, really-well....and, never had to worry-about fumbling-around (for a gun), when my English Staffy "Rusty" was on-the-job!!

*****

(Almost a spittin'-image of Rusty.)

​

Wow! They make bullet-proof dogs now? Otherwise, I don't see how a dog will stop a home-invasion.

 

[pocketfullofshells]

A gun in the home is 43 times more likely to kill a family member or friend than it is to kill in self-defense

Kellermann AL, Reay DT. Protection or peril? An analysis of firearm-related deaths in the home. N Engl J Med 1986;314:1557-60.

Figure he is way off base, and cut it in half....or 1/4 still means person in the house with guns is more likey to die by a gun then the other house.

 

[PredFan]

of course far more common is the kid getting the gun on accident and shooting someone, or someone getting drunk and useing it...but they never push that though.

Is it? We can get the stats from the NRA any time. Can you show that more people are killed from accidental shootings than robberies are stopped?

 

[PredFan]

There seems to be some interesting conversations going on.

A question for Samsara...why should "assault weapons" banned? and what do you define as an assault weapon?

Question for anyone...Who should be able to carry a concealed handgun in public?

Anyone who can pass a background check. I, fortunately, did pass.

 

[PredFan]

One point being missed here is that attacks on homes by armed burglars are much more rare than NRA or Acorn would have us believe. Such a thing, although truly frightening, has never happened to anyone that I have known personally. Almost all homes go unbuglarized for years at a stretch, and when they do get hit, it is by teenage novices, not well-armed professional burglars.

I have known people who commited suicide using guns, but no one can blame the gun for that.

I wish someone would come and shoot the deer which eat all the plants in our yard.

So, because you personally haven't heard of any, that means that the NRA is lying.

Got it.