The home owner wakes up in the middle of the night. There is an intruder in the house. He is half asleep, and is dark. By the time he finds his gun safe, or his key, and finally has his hands on a usable weapon. The intruder has left, or the homeowner needs an ambulance, and lots of cops.
A 7 year old finds dad's hand gun. While showing it to baby sister. Blows her head off.
This is the puzzle. The first paragraph is typical of what actually happens in a home defense situation. The second is horribly common. An unavailable weapon is totally useless. A locked and loaded gun is an unacceptable risk.
My solution was imperfect, but it was the best I could come up with. First I decided on caliber. The legendary stopping power of the .45 APC made it a natural choice. I am not interested in killing the bad guy. Any gun will do that. I am interest in stopping him from killing me. That meant no .38 special, class weapons (9MM, .40 cal., Etc.)(BTW. People talking about using a .22 for self defense just make me cringe). The .45 is also a fat slow moving slug. Penetration is not a big problem with it.
I had a friend who had a variation of the 1911 colt. I borrowed it. making certain that the gun was unloaded first. I handed it to my 7 year old son. I had shown him how to work the slide on the thing. And, I told him I wanted him to do that. The spring was too strong and he was unable to "lock and load" the weapon. I found, over the years, that by the time any of my three kids where old enough to work the slide on a .45. They where also old enough to understand the danger.
I also told my kids that they could handle the gun any time they wanted. All they had to do was ask first. This got to be a pain at times. But I was patient, and would get it out every time they asked, cleared it. And let them "play" with it. This seem to remove the "forbidden fruit" appeal of getting hold of it when I was not around. I also had a large leather strap hanging in the vicinity of the gun. A reminder of what would happen if they touched it, when I wasn't around. My kids never got wipped with a belt in their lives. So, it probably seemed far worse a threat, than it actually was.
Well, that was my approach. I kept an old colt next to the bed. A loaded clip near by, and handy. With my eyes closed. I could load and chamber a round in 4 seconds. I timed it.
I got rid of the old colt when the kids grew up and moved away. But Mrs. easymo missed the sense of security of having a firearm, when I was not around. Or when she was traveling alone, cross country. So, She bought herself a S&W Model 4516-1. I keep it loaded with 200 grain JHP ammo, and enough powder to move close to a 1000 FPS.
Anyway, For you gun owners. How do you solve this puzzle?
