Guns are personal protection when you cannot retreat, for example, attacked in your own home.

 

So, you don't use them if you aren't cornered?

So, you don't use them if you aren't cornered?

 

Generally speaking that is my opinion. Guns are a last option.

 

The thing I will add is when someone else forces a threat of serious injury or death upon you or your family then an immediate response is fair game. Otherwise always retreat to a defensive position.

 

At the end of the day, don't go looking for trouble because plenty of it will find you.

 

Generally speaking that is my opinion. Guns are a last option.

 

The thing I will add is when someone else forces a threat of serious injury or death upon you or your family then an immediate response is fair game. Otherwise always retreat to a defensive position.

 

At the end of the day, don't go looking for trouble because plenty of it will find you.

 

OK. Still not able to reconcile with other discussions I've read, but maybe what they post is more bravado than anything.

 

Just glad I'll never have to worry about any incident that may involve a gun I own.

OK. Still not able to reconcile with other discussions I've read, but maybe what they post is more bravado than anything.

 

Just glad I'll never have to worry about any incident that may involve a gun I own.

 

Do you believe I am personally inconsistent on this issue? And if so please spell it out for me and I will try to explain my thinking.

 

And like you sometimes I think it is just a little bit of bravado.

 

Do you believe I am personally inconsistent on this issue? And if so please spell it out for me and I will try to explain my thinking.

 

And like you sometimes I think it is just a little bit of bravado.

No. Not you specifically. Actually, I don't remember you participating in the threads that I'm referencing.

So, you don't use them if you aren't cornered?

 

You have lost me? If the ability to retreat is there, you should take it. The best way to avoid danger is to do just that, try to avoid it. When you are cornered is the time when retreat is no longer an option and you go to the absolute last resort of shooting the threat.

Even after this expanded explanation, I don't see how one can say guns are personal protection, then espouse the philosophy you describe. And it goes against the posts I see consistently in other threads.

 

The part where said "including using your firearm" would seem to suggest that you are using a gun for personal protection to me. A last resort but an option an armed citizen has for their protection obviously.

 

I cannot speak on whatever posts you see on this board but I am confused how my posts could suggest guns cannot be for personal defense.

 

If you see some you do not know but have no reason to believe they are a threat, if you plan to approach them, holster your gun first. If you deem the person could be a threat, try to avoid them by leaving the seen, finding cover where you can continue to assess the situation from a safer place. If you cannot avoid the threat, your only option may be your firearm.

When the victim heard the alarm, why did he not call 911 or the police department directly? Unless I missed something in what I have read and heard, he did not.

 

Regardless, and no matter how noble his intentions, once he left the house, with the gun, to investigate, he placed himself in harm's way by approaching the situation in an offensive posture, not defensive one. Nothing good was going to come from this.

 

When one inserts themselves into a something like this, armed or not, they not only increase the danger to themselves, but to the investigating officers, too. The police are there investigating a potentially dangerous situation to begin with. Now they have to protect themselves from a person who may or may not be a threat, protect the person who may or may not be a threat, protect themselves from a possible threat from a real criminal, and investigate a possible crime. From my point of view, it's hard to have a good outcome given all that.

To follow up my previous post ...

 

I've been in simular situations to this more times than I wish to count. I've been at work alone when the alarm across the street or in the rented space in our building has gone off, several times. I live on a private road and have had several instances where strange vehicles have been parked on the road or strange people are hanging out in front of houses posing potential danger to my family and others who live on the road. (Do I racial profile? Damn straight, Skippy) We've had low flying helicopters hovering over our property late at night, obviously police looking for somebody. We've had home alarms go off, too. Not once have I had the urge to grab a weapon and investigate, and I have a fair amount of weaponry. I also have a CCP.

 

Common sense has told me to follow the same procedure, every time:

 

(1) Call the cops, give them my phone number and location as well as the location of the alarm or witnessed event.

 

(2) if the situation warrants, get myself (and my family, if necessary) into a defensive position and in addition, if the situation warrants, retrieve and load a weapon. (Although I have a CCP, I do not carry a loaded weapon.)

 

(3) Sit tight.

 

The cops will come to you after they have investigated or taken care of the situation. They always identify themselves, then.