“You really carry your gun around the house?” The lacrosse Dad looked at me like I had pin lice on my eyebrows. Still, I don’t think he considered me a gunloon. We’d hung out at numerous games and practices. His daughter had play-dated at our house. We’d even been to the range together. But Home Carry is an enormous psychological barrier for a lot of people. It’s one thing to have a gun; it’s another to HAVE a gun. As in have it right there, on your hip, ready to go. Which also freaked him out. “There’s no strap or button to stop anyone from pulling the gun out of your holster?” “If someone’s trying to pull a gun out of my holster, I’m in deep trouble.” He shook his head. “What are the odds you’ll ever need it?” he asked. Funny question that . . .
Wayne and I had discussed the statistical probabilities of self-defense a few hours earlier. The Afghanistan Army vet related his conversation with a soldier who’d just arrived in country.
“The guy was saying this and that about his chances of making it home in one piece. I said ‘It’s fifty-fifty. Either you’re going to make it back with your legs and your life, or you’re not.”
Welcome to Wayne’s world. A place where either you’re either prepared for the worst case scenario, or you’re not. And even then, you might survive an armed encounter, or you might not.
“You can do everything right and you still get blown away,” Wayne said, echoing the rabbi’s sentiments. “A Navy SEAL rappels out of the helicopter, blows the charges, does everything he’s supposed to do . . .
“He’s working with his team, he’s feeling great. He comes around the corner and BOOM. He gets blown away by a four-year-old with an AK. Not his fault. He did everything right. It just happens.”
In the same sense, Wayne reckons you’re either you’re prepared for what could happen in your home by having access to a firearm, or you’re not. But if you believe that you might need a gun for home defense, start with this: you’re right.
The video above [via myfoxdetroit.com] tells of burglars who invaded at least 60 houses before being caught. Given the cops’ abject failure to apprehend these criminals with “good old-fashioned police work,” I’m thinking they’re withholding information about the crooks’ violence against some of their victims. “We didn’t want people to panic.” Like that.
Anyway, with those numbers, what’s the bet the bad guys entered at least one house where the occupants were inside at the time? Just for fun, let’s say the odds were 60 to 1. Assuming the police would give you a heads-up and tell you those odds—which they sure as hell wouldn’t—-would you home carry?
Maybe not. Maybe you think the danger of having a gun in the house is greater than the danger of facing a home invader—setting aside what happened to the Petit family.
Where you draw the line, how prepared you want to be, from not at all to bunkered for WWIII, is a personal choice. But if you do want to have a gun available, you want to HAVE it. Right there, on your hip. Ready to go.
Either you’ll never need that gun, or you will.
But if you think that stashing guns around the house is safer than carrying one on your person, you’re dead wrong. Every day, I read stories of children who find “hidden” guns, with tragic consequences. If you think that you’ll be able to get to your gun safe and open it should someone barge in the front door, you’re also dead wrong. Time it. You’ll see.
I carry a gun at home because I made the switch from non-gun owner to gun owner. Crossing the divide between gun-free and home carry was simple, sensible and no big deal. It’s just a gun. It won’t go off by itself. I don’t have to think about it. It’s just there if I need it. Or if I don’t.