by Sometimes you read letters to the editors that just make you shake your head. This is especially true when they are published in papers with a history of pushing for more and more (useless) gun control.
A case in point is this letter to the editor published Thursday in the Hartford Courant. I have left off the author’s name and address out of mercy.
I like guns. I like the smell, the heft, and the look of them; but I don’t own one or want to own one.
A properly stored gun is useless for defending my home. I know enough responsible gun owners to understand that it would take way too long to unlock a gun safe and load a gun, especially in the dark.
If you really believe that the threat of an armed homeowner would scare away an intruder, try to make some mechanism that would imitate the sound of a pump-action shotgun. That would be just as effective, and a lot safer.
While I might agree that a firearm stored in a gun safe in the garage or basement would take too much time to grab in an emergency, there are such things as bedside pistol safes which are both secure and easy to open. That is presupposing break-ins or home invasions only come when we are tucked away in our beds dreaming of sugar plum fairies.
As residents of my area learned this past week, home invasions can come at 11am in nice quiet, semi-rural neighborhoods. A pistol in a holster on your belt is properly stored and is not useless for defending your home. Moreover, you are not searching for your firearm at the last moment.
I might also add that those of us without children or grandchildren in the house do have more options insofar as keeping a firearm nearby.
The writer’s suggestion of a pump-action noise maker is a case of someone believing everything that comes out of Hollywood. You might do just as well with a recording of a German Shepherd barking loudly and scratching at the door that is turned on by an infrared switch. That is, of course, until the intruder figures it out and kicks in your door.
I vaguely remember a show that made fun of the "barking dog" scheme. The character used one of the novelty tapes of dogs barking Christmas carols.
In poker it is called running a bluff. Sometimes the other guy calls your bluff. And the stakes in a home invasion are a lot higher.
And if everyone tries to bluff, the bad guys are going to call the bluff every time.
I have a grandchild in the house and my firearm is always on my belt. I suck at cards, so I never bluff. 😉
Actually I believe a recording of Obama saying, "if you want your shotgun, you can have your shotgun" would cause any intruder to fall over and die laughing.