I recently posted something that happened to me a few days ago and somebody made the comment that I seem to live an exciting life and I responded that since nothing actually happened, I suspected that this type of stuff happens to people all of the time with the only difference being that I might be more observant than others and other people might not even notice that it is happening. Additionally, I might "read more into things" where as others might not look at all of the negative possibilities first the way that I do. Then it was mentioned that it is better to prepare for the worst and have nothing happen then assume everything is okay and be taken by a surprise attact.
All of this got me thinking as to when is the right time to grab the gun or to be armed. I've put together the following situations (which actually happened -- readers of my posts might recognize some of them) and am curious how other board members would have reacted if these things happened to them:<OL TYPE=1><LI> You are awaken at 2:30 in the morning by a scrapping sound coming from another room and it is obviously loud enought to wake you up. Your wife is in bed next to you and your baby is in a crib also in your bedroom. You own no pets and there are no other people living in your home. No neighbors have keys to your place and your NEAREST family member lives about a thousand miles away and you got off the phone with her before going to bed. You continue to listen and after a few minutes the sound does not stop but is getting slightly louder as if it is coming closer. Do you: (a) Ignore it and hope it stops; (b) Lock the bedroom door and call the police and hid under the cover until they arrive; (c) call the police and point a shotgun at the door ready to blast anything that walks in; (d) investigate the noise WITHOUT a gun; (e) investigate the noise WITH a gun.
<LI> Again, in the middle of the night you are awaken by a loud thud quickly followed by the sound of breaking glass. This time, the baby is sleeping in her own bedroom seperate from your bedroom. Do you: (a) Call the police and remain in your bedroom until they arrive; (b) go check on the baby and investigate the noise WITH a gun; (c) check on the baby and investigate the noise WITHOUT a gun.
<LI> During a raining & windy thunderstorm in the middle of the afternoon, you hear a door open and to the best of your knowledge, you are the only one home as the rest of the family is away for the day. Do you investigate with a gun in hand?
<LI> Playing catch in your backyard with your little one in a neighborhood with an almost zero crime rate. Do you need to be armed?
<LI> Your doorbell starts ringing at 4AM and keeps ringing. It is a solid door without a peephole so you can't see who is there. Do you: (a) Let it continue to ring; (b) Open the door with a gun in hand (or some other way readily accessible); (c) Open the door with a weapon.</OL>
As these are actual events that happened, here are my answers:<OL TYPE=1><LI> I grabbed my S&W4006 to see what was going on. I didn't bring a flashlight because we have nightlights & sensorlights set up throughout the house so I was never in the dark and I wanted to keep the other hand free for a two handed shot if needed. It turned out that my wife had a birthday party a couple of days earlier and we gave some of the balloons to the baby to play with. The baloons came undone, flew next to the air vent and the air turned on and was pushing the ballons along the edge causing that scrapping noise with the edges.
<LI> Both my wife and I armed ourselves with firearms a cordless phone and a cell phone as we first went to check on the baby and then investigate the cause of the broken glass. It turned out that one of those shower poll spring things got undone and smashed into the window thus accounting for the breaking of the glass and the thud noise that we heard.
<LI> I had a stanger walk in out of the rain standing in my living room soaking wet. I sure felt better knowing that I had a S&W4513 in hand when I asked him to leave.
<LI> This might be specific to me as I live near a swamp but I wanted to throw it in for example purposes. I had an alligator make a dash toward my little one. Fortunately I was armed with a S&W4013, which I fired all ten rounds at the charging alligator to scare him away. {For those that did not read my original post, a fence has been installed and no alligators have come in although they do circle the fense from time to time especially after a heavy rain}
<LI> Slowly opened the door with gun in hand but hidden from view. Not seeing anyone, concealed weapon under shirt and went to investigate. Determined that we had lost electrical power earlier in the night and when the power came back on, it caused a short-circuit in the doorbell circuit. {For those that might be interested, a peephole has since been installed}</OL>After hearing a description of the situations and the course of action that I took, I'm curious which (if any) of these situations would have prompted YOU to have a gun at the ready?
FUD
Share what you know, learn what you don't.
[This message has been edited by FUD (edited July 27, 2000).]
All of this got me thinking as to when is the right time to grab the gun or to be armed. I've put together the following situations (which actually happened -- readers of my posts might recognize some of them) and am curious how other board members would have reacted if these things happened to them:<OL TYPE=1><LI> You are awaken at 2:30 in the morning by a scrapping sound coming from another room and it is obviously loud enought to wake you up. Your wife is in bed next to you and your baby is in a crib also in your bedroom. You own no pets and there are no other people living in your home. No neighbors have keys to your place and your NEAREST family member lives about a thousand miles away and you got off the phone with her before going to bed. You continue to listen and after a few minutes the sound does not stop but is getting slightly louder as if it is coming closer. Do you: (a) Ignore it and hope it stops; (b) Lock the bedroom door and call the police and hid under the cover until they arrive; (c) call the police and point a shotgun at the door ready to blast anything that walks in; (d) investigate the noise WITHOUT a gun; (e) investigate the noise WITH a gun.
<LI> Again, in the middle of the night you are awaken by a loud thud quickly followed by the sound of breaking glass. This time, the baby is sleeping in her own bedroom seperate from your bedroom. Do you: (a) Call the police and remain in your bedroom until they arrive; (b) go check on the baby and investigate the noise WITH a gun; (c) check on the baby and investigate the noise WITHOUT a gun.
<LI> During a raining & windy thunderstorm in the middle of the afternoon, you hear a door open and to the best of your knowledge, you are the only one home as the rest of the family is away for the day. Do you investigate with a gun in hand?
<LI> Playing catch in your backyard with your little one in a neighborhood with an almost zero crime rate. Do you need to be armed?
<LI> Your doorbell starts ringing at 4AM and keeps ringing. It is a solid door without a peephole so you can't see who is there. Do you: (a) Let it continue to ring; (b) Open the door with a gun in hand (or some other way readily accessible); (c) Open the door with a weapon.</OL>
As these are actual events that happened, here are my answers:<OL TYPE=1><LI> I grabbed my S&W4006 to see what was going on. I didn't bring a flashlight because we have nightlights & sensorlights set up throughout the house so I was never in the dark and I wanted to keep the other hand free for a two handed shot if needed. It turned out that my wife had a birthday party a couple of days earlier and we gave some of the balloons to the baby to play with. The baloons came undone, flew next to the air vent and the air turned on and was pushing the ballons along the edge causing that scrapping noise with the edges.
<LI> Both my wife and I armed ourselves with firearms a cordless phone and a cell phone as we first went to check on the baby and then investigate the cause of the broken glass. It turned out that one of those shower poll spring things got undone and smashed into the window thus accounting for the breaking of the glass and the thud noise that we heard.
<LI> I had a stanger walk in out of the rain standing in my living room soaking wet. I sure felt better knowing that I had a S&W4513 in hand when I asked him to leave.
<LI> This might be specific to me as I live near a swamp but I wanted to throw it in for example purposes. I had an alligator make a dash toward my little one. Fortunately I was armed with a S&W4013, which I fired all ten rounds at the charging alligator to scare him away. {For those that did not read my original post, a fence has been installed and no alligators have come in although they do circle the fense from time to time especially after a heavy rain}
<LI> Slowly opened the door with gun in hand but hidden from view. Not seeing anyone, concealed weapon under shirt and went to investigate. Determined that we had lost electrical power earlier in the night and when the power came back on, it caused a short-circuit in the doorbell circuit. {For those that might be interested, a peephole has since been installed}</OL>After hearing a description of the situations and the course of action that I took, I'm curious which (if any) of these situations would have prompted YOU to have a gun at the ready?
FUD
Share what you know, learn what you don't.
[This message has been edited by FUD (edited July 27, 2000).]
& all was happy. If it was a nasty thing, you could have been SOL.
, Art