couch, you are right on with what you are saying. Pulling a firearm should be the LAST resort.
Most definitely. It would absolutely never even be pulled out unless I was sure about shooting whoever is on the offense. Pulling it out and not feeling confident enough to use it as intended is like bending over and dropping your pants. You're just asking to get fucked even worse. All its going to do is make the situation worse unless you know 100% the other person is going to back down. In California, from what I've read, there must be a warning shot first! I need to look further into this and see if this is just inside the home or what. I doubnt theres any way they can prove if I shot the perp or the wall first... Stop the problem, shoot the wall, thats the way I see it. If someone is stupid enough to break into a home, they have to at least be smart enough to know they might not come back out.
I don't think guns are a good threat. As wheelr stated, they are an absolute last resort. I need to get a link of my lapd hate thread up in here to help show my side. When the dude was banging on my front door for a half hour nonstop with a bandana/hood over his face in the middle of the night when I lived with my ex in Los Angeles, I wish I had a gun. I just so happen to know where my neighbor across the hall's bed is located so I wouldnt have been affraid of it going thru my door, thru him, thru the neighbors door/wall and hitting him, unless he was up that late. He never is... I was fully aware of the surroundings and if I had a gun at that time things could have easily gotten ugly. A simple note slipped under the door as a warning... if it didn't stop and that handle didn't stop turning back and forth he would have went right down. Over the past year I have lost a lot of respect for people in general. This doesnt mean I think someones life is less important, but I tend to care less and less about others that are leading shitty lives as time goes on.
I'll happily stop on the side of the road to help someone push their car or change a flat. Open doors, give money to strangers in need, all of that not only makes me feel good about myself (selfish I know), but it rubs off on others. Hopefully one day they will think of that and do something nice for someone else, and so on and so on. The minute someone decides to fuck with me though when I have done nothing wrong, I don't care one bit about them. If someone is banging on my door trying to get inside my apartment in the middle of the night and my girl is hiding in fear of whats on the other side, I will not hesitate to make you pay if I am able. Look for a fight and you'll get one is all I'm saying. I see absolutely nothing wrong with that.