posted on Mar, 2 2003 @ 03:26 PM
Nans, I would like to hear your response to what I could have done in this exact situation were it not for a handgun....
Many years ago, I lived in an apartment in a less than nice neighborhood (we can't all afford to live in the nice neighborhoods). My girlfriend at
the time let herself in one night kind of late, about 10PM, and shut the door behind her (thankfully, locking it). Within 30 seconds, there was a
heavy knock (more like a pounding) at my door, and a demand to open up. I looked through the peephole and saw 4 very large guys outside, and they were
getting insistent about opening the door (they had seen a single woman enter, didn't know I was inside).
In the next 5 seconds, I got my girlfriend to lay down in the bedroom closet, tossed my cordless phone in with her and told her to dial 911, while I
returned to the front door with John Moses Brownings most famous invention, the 1911A1 .45. I told them in no uncertain terms to leave, and that I was
armed. I racked the slide to make my point. All 4 of them looked at each other for a second, and then the largest decided to kick my door in. About
the time my door parted from the doorjam, I fired one round, lucky for the adversaries no one was hit, but they all suddenly decided they had
somewhere else to go. I then spent the next 6 hours talking to police, filling out paperwork, being questioned, and generally doing things that I
would rather have not done at 3 AM. The police later that night/morning found 2 of the 4 (the other 2 were later found, as thier friends rolled over
on them) and I had to ID them all in a lineup. Because they were local wannabe gangbangers, I had to break my lease and leave my apartment complex
(costing me a LOT of money).
My point is that I was confronted with 4 very large UNARMED men who no interest in anything except inflicting death or serious bodily injury on me,
and sexually assaulting my girlfriend. Had I not been armed, I have no doubt, I would have been overpowered and killed, and my girlfriend gangraped at
the least. My only regret of the time is that I didn't have a 12 guage shotgun to answer the door with instead of my .45.
Nans, in that situation, what would you have done?????
While on the subject, I read a story last week (unfortunately, dont have the link to it) regarding violence against women in Paris slums... women in
these slums must dress and act as men, or they are harrassed, assaulted, and occassionally killed by the men. (One story included a woman who was
burned to death in a dumpster becase she refused sexual advances of a man).... If these women had the opportunity to follow thier sisters in Texas,
Florida, and other states and obtain Concealed Handgun Carry Permits, I would imagine that such violence against women would suddenly stop altogether,
and these women could then walk the streets without fear.
Midnight DStroyer, I have to admit that a sword is a novel home defence weapon, although illegal in my state. If I were a 5th degree blackbelt, I
might agree with your choice (I am aware of the severe injury capacity of most edged weapons), but the vast majority of us dont have those kinds of
skills. I would still prefer to have the capacity of inflicting stopping power at a longer distance than offered by a sword.