Thinking about getting a gun for family protection

[PNW Skier]

If you decide to arm yourself in your car don't get caught speeding!

On a more serious note I feel as long as everyone in the house is taught and has learned to respect firearms there's no reason not to have a shotty for home defense. I wouldn't suggest a rifle or handgun for the same reason others have listed. You're much less likely to blow through a wall with some heavy birdshot than you are with a highpowered rifle/handgun round.

That said I'm a skeet shooter and occasional hunter so we have a bunch of shotguns locked up in the safe in our house but it's so far away from the bedroom that I'd have a hard time sneaking past the thieves to get to the guns. If you wanted to use it for home defense I'd get a small safe and keep it in the closet or just keep a trigger/action lock on it so that you could get to it quickly.

[MeatPuppet]

It took you 3 months to dig another story of a "law abiding gun owner saving the day" ?
Wow. I've changed my mind on gun control...

This took me about 30 sec


"In 1997, he said there were about 440,000 violent crimes and 9,000 murders committed with guns. By contrast, there were over 2 million violent crimes prevented through the use of guns. The media, Lott said, focus on the former category because it produces an actual victim or a dead body. The latter usually produces no rapist or murderer or actual crime. He said the media’s emphasis on the bad things that happen with guns causes the public to think that guns are more of a problem than a solution. After the Atlanta day-trader attack in the summer, which was widely publicized by the media, Lott said there were three incidents in Atlanta within ten days where citizens used guns to stop similar attacks. "Those get very little attention," he pointed out."

Edit: This might be of interest to the OP:

"Another misleading claim is that 13 children a day die from guns. But these "children" can be up to 19 years of age. Nine of those 13 deaths a day involve 17,18, or 19 year-olds --"

http://www.aim.org/media_monitor/A3207_0_2_0_C/