Tuesday, February 7, 2012

I Could Kill a Man


A friend's relative gave him a gun for Christmas. One of those big semi automatic numbers with a banana clip. Being on the left side of politics his wife was not thrilled. They have a mature relationship though and he is keeping the gun. The compromise is that it will not be loaded in the house. As his wife told Kay, my wife, they are not the home security type.

I'm not the home security type either. If you are going to own a gun for protection you have to believe you can look a human being in the eye and then pull the trigger. I have never believed that about myself. It is highly likely that I would hesitate in the moment of truth and my indecision would give whoever I was intending to shoot the upper hand. So I have never owned a gun in my life, and until recently never fired one either.

While thinking about these facts I realized something has changed. I had children. I also married a woman I very much want to grow old with. So if there was a situation where I honestly believed you were going to hurt either my children or my wife could I kill you? Yes. I would pull the trigger without a second thought and put a hole right in your head.

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