Kramer Gun Page

I am going to get a little philosophical on you here. First, what do you expect from the gun? They don't work like on TV, but then again what does? For example, The FBI, a Sheriffs dept., and local police were involved in a gun fight in Florida some years ago. During the course of the fight several officers were wounded by one of the bad guy's who had a rifle (Long guns are almost always better than a pistol if available), the second man was incapacitated at the beginning. The guy with the rifle had been shot and mortally wounded at the very beginning of the fight but was able to continue to fire back with deadly accuracy for over a minute and a half while running for cover and moving around.

A gun has the "potential" to stop someone cold, like on TV, but it very rarely does.

Second point to consider. Can you take a life? STOP!!!

Really think about this for more than a few seconds.

Try to visualize and feel each step.

You hear someone in your house moving around near the kids room. Got the parental instinct cooking yet? You rush as quickly and quietly as possible to your gun trying to hear where he is and where he may be going. Can you get to it in time? Gun securely in your hand, you go to confront him.

THERE HE IS!!

You hear shots being fired!

How many shots did YOU fire? Caution: most inexperienced shooters don't even know they fired and they unloaded the whole weapon! Practice will really help here.

Another thought: Where did the bullets go? Did they all hit the intended target or did they go wide and go through the wall into the kids room? The rush of adrenaline will often adversely effect your aim.

Is the bad guy dead? You're a good shot, well practiced, and he is now in a pool of his own blood on your floor. Your going to see that look in his eyes as he dies the rest of your life. If you have never looked into the eyes as the spark of life is extinguished, nothing can prepare you for that transition between life and a vacant stare. You will continue to see him, freshly dead, laying there because of you. He'll be in your dreams, you'll feel him every time you walk through that part of the house. He will be a part of you that you can never escape. You will ask yourself "If I hadn't killed him would he have really hurt us? Would he have come to a saving knowledge of G-d?"

Can you deal with the consequences of your actions, even if you are right in everything you did? Something is different about you, you lost some innocence you can never regain. Can you deal with it? Can you lose that part of you and go on?

Maybe just thinking about it that half a second before you pull the trigger is enough for the intruder to get the advantage.

I understand I'm hitting a little hard here. Everyone plays the scene up to shooting the guy, but no one thinks about five seconds after, or the life that changed you.

Serious thoughts for a life changing action. Can you do it? I have no doubt, especially were the children are involved. Can you deal with the consequences? Only you can answer that.

Ancient Asian warriors often referred to fighting without fighting, Maybe it is best to leave an angel at the door. Only you can decide.

Disengaging Marine sergeant mode.

Yes, I own several guns. They are tools to me. Each one has it's own use. Would I defend my family with them? May the L-rd grant I never have to.

Final Note:
One of the most dramatic demonstrations of this was presented on Television here in the U.S., on a program discussing the handgun ownership issue. The L.A.P.D. has a practice range where a movie projection is played out in front of the subject with the instructors able to vary the action and the trainee can fire a real gun in a fairly realistic setting. The range can tell electronically if the subject actually hit the intended target. All of this is videotaped so the trainee can then review their performance and improve. For demonstration purposes they brought in several people from both sides of the handgun ownership issue. In almost every case were the person had no prior firearm experience, they were shouting at the screen WHILE they were firing at the target, emptying the firearm and still pulling the trigger on the empty gun. When asked how many rounds they fired, they in all sincerity told the proctor. None. They continued to insist they did not fire until confronted with the video of their performance.