Prim,
Anthy,
Wait. Before I get to your longer message - did Mr. S sit in readiness in case he was called on to defend the party? With his gun? I thought he was watching the grill or something! That kind of vigilance does not seem necessary outside of an active war zone! Or was I write the first time, and it was just the burgers he was vigilant about? (In which case my apologies to you and Mr. S)
That said, to your longer point - I am truly sorry if my post caused you any distress. I was about to say that I did not mean to imply that the decision to buy a self-defense weapon = killing to protect the TV. Except... I'm not sure I didn't.
First off, what a terrible experience!
I am so full of admiration for how you handled it!
I never had an invader in my house, but someone put a half-brick through my window once. Second floor. Glass all over my son's crib, thank goodness he was downstairs. The sense of violation, the feeling of safety stripped away has stayed with me for months. We got the house alarm after that, and I used to keep it on while I was home. At least I knew no one was breaking in if the alarm didn't go off. (And yep, the first thing the police asked was where my husband was. As it turned out, they didn't mean him being there to comfort me)
Had I seen the guy, though, would I have shot him? I hope not.
Then there was that time back in college when a guy would not let me pass, and I got so angry, I punched him in the solar plexus. He went down, gasping. That was a Bad Life Choice. If he had been really dangerous, he could have seriously hurt me. Given that he didn't, he didn't deserve me attacking him with that degree of violence. If I had a gun though? Would I had shot him? I hope to heaven not, but I don't know. He grabbed my hand, I think, and I was
angry. At least my punch did not do lasting damage.
But if I had a gun and there was an actual invader in my house, how would that go? There are basically four scenarios that I can see.
1. I shoot and kill or seriously injure the intruder
2. I miss, or graze him, or I just draw and point to scare him off. The intruder then:
a. Runs away or surrenders
b. Draws his own weapon
c. Rushes me to take my weapon from me
If it's 1, I may have killed a man and I will never know for sure that he intended to hurt me. Also, I am now facing a lengthy legal process. As a white, no longer young woman, I would probably come through OK.
2a is the scenario most people hope for, right? That means that my intruder wasn't drunk or high, and probably not very violent, and probably I could have dealt with the situation without the firearm. As anthy did. But maybe not.
2b or 2c - now I have no options except to shoot with the intent to cause maximum damage within the split second. If I don't, I am probably dead. I would not bet very much on my accuracy under such circumstances, so yeah, probably dead.
Had I not pulled a gun, I might have survived. But maybe not.
To be continued...
If there was anything that depressed him more than his own cynicism, it was that quite often it still wasn't as cynical as real life.
Terry Pratchett, Guards! Guards!