Soft ball bat. I am more accurate and able to handle myself with something like that than a gun. Even in a calm moment I could not hit the sky with a gun if I fired straight up. In a tense adrenaline fueled situation I would probably shoot myself
seriously, you excercise the utmost wisdom. Please don't gauge others by yourself. Some of us can hit a tin can at 200 yds and are safety conscious. I just don't think the need is there for me to prove my safety everyday, especially to my government.
+1 When I first saw this thread, that was my first response as well. It really is what you are proficient with. Layout is super important too. Y'ah gotta practice tho... it isn't a metal exercise. That said, HK-45 with a tactical light.
I live out in the countryside and do not need anything particularly robust. My weapon of choice for home defense is a bolt-action Model 34 Remington .22 made sometime back during the early 1930s. The tubular magazine holds 14 or so cartridges, which is plenty so far as I am concerned, and it is fine that it has no scope because that'd only make things more difficult for me in the (highly unlikely) event of a home invasion. All the better that it's more likely to wound than kill. It would bother me quite a bit to take a person's live, given how much I regret taking it from animals in hindsight as it is! Also handy are a Swedish, J. A. Hellberg Eskilstuna hunting knife with a 4.5 inch blade and from off one of my bookshelf displays an old rock pick, hatchet, and hammer - any of which would suffice if the bloke doesn't have a gun or there is no time to fetch mine. Awhile back I neatened up, debarked, and sanded a walking stick out of a fallen basswood branch I found in Minnesota. It's just shy of 44 inches in length and only weighs a little over one kilo, but with the big knot at one end would probably make a mean, two-handed club if I ever need it for that. I do not have anything with enough oomph to ward off a grizzly bear, mountain lion, or grey wolves - all of which are species that inhabit the same area as I - but at some point I'll likely get my father's .243 hunting rifle. I haven't much experience shooting though, as evidenced by my poor handling of shotguns and fear of the family 7mm's recoil, but am a fair shot if aiming at anything within 100 or so yards that isn't moving quickly. That really ought to suffice, given that any nasty critter further away than that would not yet be confrontational. It all really depends on the setting and context of what is going on. Under the proper set of conditions I would defend the home, while under a number of other circumstances I'd really rather not put myself at high risk dying over something as stupid as saving a few thousand dollars' worth of replaceable property. Likewise with muggers. There is no way I am putting my own safety at risk by getting between a violent, desperate man and the $3-25 I usually keep in my billfold. If he gets a credit card or something sensitive it'll be canceled ASAP. lol Most of the dangerous stuff out in these parts is in the evergreen forests, hills, and mountains. One seems better off safe than sorry if planning to spend a long while out there at a time - otherwise I doubt there would ever be a serious need to keep any armaments on hand. In those cases I'm more likely to take the hatchet, knife, walking stick, and some pepper spray since the foremost three actually have utilitarian uses when camping and the lattermost actually works on bears (whereas getting shot once or twice with a low-caliber rifle would probably just (*)(*)(*)(*) it off).
So in 2013 you are going to go up against a bad guy with a club, when he probably has a gun. Good thinking. - - - Updated - - - So basically you are unarmed. And nothing "usually" happens in your neck of utopia. Another future victim in the making.
No. I'm going to mow my lawn, wash my car, walk my dogs, and do all of it without absurd and irrational fear.
If by "unarmed" you mean not carrying a concealed, loaded handgun at all times of day and routinely going to the local shooting range to maintain a high state of proficiency in its use, then yes. Otherwise, the low-caliber rifle aforementioned is on a nearby rack, in excellent working condition, and if needed would take me less than a minute to have ready. The farm house I live in is large enough that a home invader would have to enter through the window of my study to make that a problem - unless you're assuming someone will be wearing a full suit of body armor and some sort of helm, which seems far-fetched. The last two shootouts in my neighborhood certainly didn't have that well-equipped of perps. The former was loaded on something while toting a semi-auto Kalashnikov and the latter was some loon who holed up in his home and had a standoff with local police. The last murder in my area was at least four or five years ago and the weapon used was a baseball bat - which is ironic given how nearly every family around here has guns. I'm not claiming my community is some sort of utopia though. Incomes around here are sub-par for the United States, the unemployment rate is high, the community has brain-drain as young people move away to find better opportunities, and there is some minor gang activity in town. Nonetheless, I think you may be overestimating the odds of me becoming a victim while at home - in the middle of a field miles out of town without a single housing development or well-established place of business within eyeshot - or while at work, which is less than two blocks from the local police department and has rooms with thick, steel doors suitable for lockdown on every floor. The crime rates were I spend all my time are low. That's not naivete - it's fact. There are risks I will admit, but that's life. If you want to convince me I need more protection you are free to try but I am a frugal man, have no car to freely move about the valley, and my income is under $6,700 per year, so going through all the trouble of getting a better weapon and gaining experience with it is not going to be high on my list of priorities right now regardless of how compelling a case for your position you may have to make. Even if I were completely prepared btw, I would still yield to a mugger to avoid unnecessary violence. As I mentioned earlier, no amount of pocket change or small stack of bills is worth a trip to the ER or morgue - for either myself or the criminal.
Doesn't matter what anyone wants, or thinks or feels someone else needs. What matters is what an individual thinks they need or want for their individual situation. 1. I don't care if someone chooses to be a victim by being unable to protect them selves. Like many of the dead law abiding citizens out there, they think it'll never happen to them, that's your right. 2. I do care that you anti 2A folks want to try and make me think like you. You have your rights, I have mine and I'll do what I feel is appropriate. 3. I don't care if anti 2A folks want to trust the government and laws to protect them from bad people, I believe it's my responsibility to protect me and my own and I'll use the same manner of protections the government does to do it because it's my right. 4. If I die in my effort, I'll die fighting with every tool I have available to me. Those of you who don't want all the available tools, that's fine by me...go your own way eh? It takes a good guy with a gun to stop a bad guy with a gun so I'll keep mine.
Mowed my lawn today too, that has nothing to do with what may happen at night. Or what you may walk in to after a night out. Keep thinking "nothing ever will or can happen". You will be fine. - - - Updated - - - Man up and get good. Dont fall for the old ball bat BS.
You can get to whatever old bolt action gun you have in under a minute? Gee flash arent you the fast mover. What are you going to do once the bad guy is standing over you and yours. Ask him to move so you can get to your antique .22. It dont matter how much you make to the people willing to break in and steal from you. Poor people get robbed all the time. And if a criminals life is too much to have on your conscience, you probably just should let him take whatever he wants. Criminals are scum. They deserve to die, they are asking for it in a sence. Its part of the self loathing that most criminals have. I am just willing enough to grant thier wish.
Kidding aside, Crew. The point is we're better off being mindful of the real threats in life: don't drink and drive; eat heart-healthy foods; smoke ultra light cigarettes. Are you seeing?
You crack me up. Nothing wrong with being prepared for the worst. I dont walk around with a loaded gun on my all the time, all amped up just looking for the next guy to look sideways at me. But I also believe in being ready if or when trouble finds me. Guys like you are always the ones that say nothing will ever happen and they aint worried about it in thier little slice of utopia.' Till something does happen. Then they are the ones that scream the loudest about it. And I am vigilant all the time, I have alot to lose. I am the protector of the people I love and my family. As the man of my home, I took that role and I take it seriously. I have seen what happens to people that are convinced that life is a bowl of cherries and they keep thier heads in the sand. They are put in a stresser situation, and freeze. They are so blown away by what is going on, that they just dont know what to do. I would rather be vigilant, even hyper vigilant if needs be, and nothing ever happen. Then be Mr Happy go lucky and get me or my family hurt because I chose to ignore my surroundings.
No, because you can do all of that and guess what. You are going to die anyway. No one gets out of this life alive. I drink about a block from home, so worse comes to worse I can walk home. I dont smoke, but I eat what I like. My father grew his own vegetables, was strong as an ox, even in retirement worked all the time in construction as a master carpenter, quit smoking in the 1960s. Got a clean bill of health............two weeks before dying of a massive heart attack in 1988. He was 63.
Sure. It is fifteen feet away from me, a few dozen cartridges are at rest on the plank directly beneath it (I'd only load a few rounds if pressed for time), and - the hours during which I'm at work aside - I'm in the same room as it for all but 2-4 hours per day. If for whatever odd reason a home invader gets in the way they have already won and it is time for me to cut my losses, which takes the form of being very polite, non-threatening in my body language, and however cooperative with them seems necessary to get them to grab what they came for and go away. While some might call that becoming a victim, I prefer to think of it as adaptability and proficiency in damage control. If they injure or kill me regardless, what difference would have it made if the same gun rack held a better weapon? Likewise, a handgun won't do any better unless it is on my person. Otherwise, if it is in a drawer, it'll only be a pace or two's distance closer in the event of an emergency, eh? Granted a clip is faster to put in than cartridges by hand but it's not as if the bloke(s) are at all likely to rush directly to my location, given the layout of this place. I think you've missed the point. I don't have hundreds of dollars lying around with which to exercise discretion in spending on a better firearm, more ammunition, transportation around town for it all, and access to a range. Owning a handgun is a luxury, not a need, and until I start bringing in at least three times the amount of income I already am that will not change. If the criminal is at a tactical advantage then yes, absolutely. Being robbed is better than suicide by crook. I'd also rather be robbed than kill a fellow human being but that doesn't imply I would not try to put up a less-than-lethal defense. I couldn't disagree more. You are certainly entitled to that attitude though.
As an aside to "it's your life...do what you want" Good luck with having a singular one dimensional plan to a dynamic situation eh? You do know you can call time out as well eh? I mean all criminals are the same, they respect time outs, they respect polite victims, they read body language even if they know if caught they face life in prison. I say yeah act like all of em are the same....decent, respectable criminals who recognize a citizen who is in damage control. hehehehehehe A better weapon that was at hand always gives you a chance, no or weak weapons gives you no chance. Your argument is a product of your brain washing eh? You don't really understand tactics do you? Good call, now you are getting the idea, and you state it quite succinctly. Right on!!! You were doing so well eh? You singular logic misses the point that at all times we are only a pace or two away from a drawer, again I'll ask...you don't understand self defense tactics, eh? UMM why wouldn't they rush directly to your location? You a psychic in criminal thinking eh? So you are OK with those that do eh? Owning one is a right not a luxury, and is left to the discretion of the individual and really need doesn't apply eh? As far as I am concerned you don't ever have to own one and no one cares, just don't feel like you have to impose your beliefs on me. Tell me how you can tell the difference in the criminals intent please and thanks Your call as to what you would do, but I can't read a bad persons mind so I would rather have the ability to stop a fellow human (criminal) than deprive my family of a father and husband because I didn't do anything wrong. Thanks
