maggie b.: I am a city girl who knows nothing about them. We [I] don’t keep them in the house. I don’t feel comfortable with them.
I have never thought of buying one and I seriously doubt I could shoot anyone . . ..

My sentiments exactly.

maggie b.: My husbands family are all country people, as well as military people and they are very good with guns. I am a city girl who knows nothing about them. We don’t keep them in the house.I don’t feel comfortable with them.
I have never thought of buying one and I seriously doubt I could shoot anyone unless I was protecting my children.I’ve always felt mace is the way to go. It incapacitates without killing. That way, if you’ve made a mistake about the persons intentions, there is harm but no permanent damage done.

There’s a kind of pepper spray they sell if you’re going hiking in Alaska and might encounter bears. It’s a great self-defense tool. We’ve had that in our house for years.

I’ve always felt mace is the way to go. It incapacitates without killing. That way, if you’ve made a mistake about the persons intentions, there is harm but no permanent damage done.

I am adamantly opposed to the personal owning of handguns. In general, having a gun in the home significantly rises the risk of firearm homicide and firearm suicide in the home. Furthermore, for years my husband fixed almost all the facial fractures at a major trauma hospital. Many many of them were gunshot wounds to the face–he’s a great plastic surgeon, but many of his patients–cops, kids who’d tried to kill themselves and missed, battered wives, criminals involved in the drug trade–never got back anything close to the faces, and, in many cases, mental abilities they had before.

That said, if you are going to have handguns in the house–and I am friends with many who do–you must go through training on how to use and care for a gun. A gun in the hands of an untrained user is an even deadlier thing. If you give your neighbor that gun, it’s so much more likely that, if this cretin comes over, he’ll use it on her. I think that’s a lot more responsibility than, were I you, would want.

One of my very best friends was raped when we were 24. She kept a gun in her house for years–at one point we were housemates and I lived in a house with a gun. She knew how to use it, care for, and store it. It didn’t freak me out. She offered to take me to the shooting range so I could learn to use it, but I declined. After about ten years, she got rid of the gun. She felt it made her less safe in reality.

My son, though, dated a girl whose dad had 500 guns–ex Army–and when my son visited him, they’d all go to the shooting range. I think that’s a good thing, actually. I think my complete lack of understanding about guns makes me less safe. I don’t ever want to own one or have one in my house, but I think I’d like to learn about them. My husband and I have talked about going with gun owning friends of ours and teaching me how to shoot and get familiar with guns. I’m thinking about it.