Posted on 07/31/2007 4:11:14 PM PDT by DeFault User
1 less gun for grandkids to worry about DANNYE ROMINE POWELL "Maybe we should buy a gun," I told my husband.
As I waited for him to answer, I listened to the birds chirping. I looked toward the sky, hoping for rain.
"No, we shouldn't," he said finally.
"Listen to this," I said, picking up Sunday's paper. I read aloud from the front-page story, "Forced to Kill," about four Charlotte people who had each shot someone trying to protect themselves.
The killings were legal. Necessary. The police said so.
I could slip instantly into the shoes of one south Charlotte man, who woke to the sound of the doorbell seven years ago. When he heard loud banging, he grabbed a revolver and ran downstairs.
A young man had thrown an iron patio chair against the window, shattering the glass. The older man fired two safety shots. When the young man swung the chair again, the older man aimed a third time and fired, killing the intruder.
I could imagine us in the exact situation -- without a gun -- defenseless.
Not in my house
"Can't you see that happening to us?" I said."Sure, I can," my husband said. "But we have an alarm system. And we're not getting a gun."
"Your reason?"
"Two reasons," he said. "Our granddaughters."
That stopped me cold.
About 200 people in the United States kill someone each year in self-defense.
But how many die each year -- innocently -- from guns?
Let me tell you.
In the 10 years ending in 2006, 486 children under age 18 in North Carolina, alone, died from gun-related injuries.
Amazing the figure is that low, considering that 82,000 kids in this state are exposed each year to unsafely stored firearms.
Thanks to my husband's unruffled thinking, our grandchildren won't be among them -- not in our house.
Unforgettable near miss
Our conversation triggered a memory, one I usually manage to tamp down.
I was 9 years old, visiting a neighbor a year or so older, whose father had been a colonel in World War II.
Her mother ran out to the grocery store, leaving us alone for about half an hour.
As soon as she'd pulled away, my friend unearthed her father's gun -- a relic from the war -- ornate, as I recall. Official-looking, heavy.
It's not loaded, she said, pointing the gun at me.
We sat there, each of us cross-legged in our chair, about eight feet apart. She tried to squeeze the trigger.
I felt no fear. She'd said it wasn't loaded. Why doubt her?
She squeezed and squeezed, still pointing. The trigger didn't budge. When she heard her mother in the driveway, she ran to put the gun back.
My friend called the next day, tearful. Her father had found her out, and spanked her. The gun, she whispered, had been loaded after all.
I sat speechless, the phone to my ear.
She was lucky. I was luckier.
In our house, we'll remain unarmed.
Defenseless is better than discovering someone we love dead.
IN MY OPINION Dannye Romine Powell
Beware any statistic that defines children as 18 or less. I'm surprised they didn't use 21 or less. 90% of those "children" died in crime or gang related violence, not by innocently stumbling over a poorly stored firearm.
I was going to teach my children to walk across the street.
But then, my wife said “What if they get hit by a car.”
And I knew.
I would rather them live on this side of the street.
It just isn’t worth it.
Drive a car?
Fuggetaboutit.
I hope her grandchildren are not victims in a home invasion.
You forgot the barf alert. That aside, proper training and storage can go a long ways to minimizing the dangers to innocent children. I would not let the stupidity of other people deter me from protecting my loved ones and myself.
Sorry.
I wonder how many of those "children" were gangbangers that died in turf wars? I suspect most of them.
and most of those children were shot because of dumb parents who don’t know how to put a gun where children don’t just stumble upon them...
This article provides yet more validation.
I suggest they put up a sign in their yard delcaring it a
“ GUN FREE ZONE”
“Take all or whom you want”
The story Fairy tale.
2 adults, 2 kids in my house
all armed, all trained.
We don’t dial “911”
We call the coroner.
There, fixed it.
There were probably 10,000 or more whose lives were saved by someone having a gun available for self protection.
Gee, maybe the evil gun had a safety device?
80% were gang shootings.
A couple of points:
Anobody stupid enough to not keep their firearms secure from kids have no business owning them.
Most of these kids quoted in this story who have been killed by guns were probably gangbangers or their victims, intended or accidental.
This story is pure Unadulterated Bull$hit Propoganda!
Because they got into grandfather's gun cabinet?
Ah yes, the ole counting on scaring the criminal away with noise defense. Deluded enough to believe it, too.
Sounds like she’s has a “sensitive” husband.
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