outside of the movies, there is RARELY (as in astronomically small percentage) one... the problem is that most Muricans live in a fictional reality with the reasoning capacity of a teen boy

They say every gun enthusiast has their scenario they're planning for: home invasion, civil war, post apocalypse/disaster, mass shooting event, mugging, etc. When I think about what my scenario might be there isn't a single one where I don't end up dead, with or without a weapon. There is no number of weapons or amount of ammunition that would change that for me.

I struggle with that reality when I think about my own relationship with guns, but I can't help thinking that "prepared" is better than "helpless", even if the outcome is the same.

Yeah even when I awoke to a home invader, what was I going to do, groggily shoot someone I didn't recognize that had started running?

When I'm feeling really stressed out or overwhelmed, I like to get my guns out, disassemble them, admire their engineering, do a gentle cleaning, and then put them back. Of course, double checking that they're not loaded at every step where they're effectively guns.

Guns are fun toys, never a solution

When I'm at the range!

Lucky you.

The pig who shot Michal Brown said he had to shoot because Brown could have taken his piece away. If you accept that, then you agree that, at least in this situation, the public and the police would be safer without guns.

It used to be: I had to shoot him judge, he had a gun

Then it was: I had to shoot him judge, I thought he had a gun

Now it's: I had to shoot him judge, I had a gun.

Not so fun fact: Gun suicides are far more common than any other type of gun related death. Having a gun in the house is a big risk factor for suicide.

Clearly you’ve never spent time in the desert near Ship Rock at night. Never heard the stories told by the natives and the rangers and the soldiers. Never saw twisted shapes on four legs run backwards into the brush, living rot retreating from your headlights. Never heard the desert go completely silent, not the sound of coyotes or insects or wind, while you see shadows move in the starlight. Never seen things that look like deer but aren’t run as fast as your car on highway 191, taunting you, staring at you, trying to fool you into slowing down or stopping.

Not that a gun would do much good against them, but if your car breaks down just south of the state lines near four corners, some who know the area would say shooting yourself is a better death than the alternative…

Well someone doesn’t have depression and likes to flaunt it

I've faced many attempts to severely harm me but I usually escaped. I failed to escape twice: got kneecapped with a bat once (leaving me with a permanent injury), and stabbed once miraculously missing anything vital.

My crime: having to work late, growing up in a poor neighbourhood.

I'd feel a lot safer if I could be armed. I don't want to die.

Lucky you!

I have. Luckily I didn't have to pull it though, I just put my hand on it and the guy holding the knife at me decided "I'll catch the next one" and walked away.