Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Primer: Realities of Self-Defense With a Handgun

No arguments from me. One of the reasons I don't carry.

You'd rather be dead than deal with the hassle of remaining alive? Even if you feel that way about yourself, what about others for whom you care?

I don't knock a man for making his own decisions reference self defense. That being said, Cheyenne does have a valid point about the protection of others in your family.

My ex-wife was a sheep. No matter how much I tried to make her understand that there were bad people in the world, and that the protection of our then infant son fell to her if I was not there to take care of that duty myself, she would always arrive at the same conclusion. She'd just say that she could not hurt another human. No amount of reasoning helped, and finally I came to the conclusion that she was only being honest.

OPC... this is good, sound, basic advice.

Anyone who follows it is far better off than someone who has "verbal diarrhea" when interviewed by responding officers and investigating officers.

However, it is truly basic advice. Ayoob's class takes this past basic, past intermediate, and into advanced training in how to deal with responding and investigating officers. He also trains you in how to say what you need to say so you've got a bit of practice at it before you have to try it out in real life. Interesting and highly valuable training.

IIRC, this portion of Ayoob's class is about 3-4 hours long, which means at current prices you're paying less than a hundred bucks for 4 hours of training that will save you, conservatively, many thousands of dollars if/when TSHTF for you.

I'm not gonna shut up about this, guys. You can pay now, or you can REALLY pay later. It's your choice.

Yes. Standing mute could cost someone a lot of evidence and witnesses if the police don't know what to look for.

Having read every word and then done some searches on classes offered I find there is now way I will ever afford one of these classes or the travel to attend one.

After thinking it over and sleeping on it I have decided that if I ever have to use my firearm for self defense I will be in big trouble. There will be no money for attorney fees. Loosing the farm and having my family become homeless is not an option. Therefore if I ever have to defend myself it looks like the best option would be to turn my carry weapon on myself before the police get there. At my age, income level and with my pain it is not all that bad a choice.

Here is something I belong to. Texas residents might be interested.
http://www.uslawshield.com/texas/
Hasbeen

I hate to break it to you, Scott, but the family of the deceased can still sue your estate.

Working on taking my name off everything I own. At 63 why do I need to own anything? Give it to the kids now and be done with it, at least in name.

But this way I will not go to jail and no officer will have to live with having to shoot me.

Well fortunately, where I live my greatest fear is from damn dogs when I'm walking and shooting them is not reasonable. A stout walking stick usually discourages them.

To answer your question, one, at my age, death is a blessing and two, yes. Losing everything and spending the rest of my life in jail has never interested me for defending my life. Unfortunately, we live in society and culture where the bad guys are the victims and the good guys are the criminals. Here in Montana, a shooting might be considered justified for self defense and probably would be but the civil trial will bankrupt you for life and have you out on the street corner begging for alms. That possibility doesn't interest me.

I have always believed there are things worse than death. If you take a law course dealing with shooting for self defense it will discourage you from defending yourself from much of anything. You see what people go through from defending themselves from Grizzly attack. Multiply that by ten to understand what happens from defending yourself from human attack.

Another reason why I don't carry.

Defending your self is a no win situation.

I don't get the defeatist attitudes. Life is not always easy, but death is a perminent solution to a temporary problem. Tough times do not last forever

We are all going to die of something so who cares. Death early or late doesn't make much difference.

Why allow your life to be cut short? Makes no sense to me. Once dead, there is no way back

And life in prision is better? Watching your family on the street with nothing is better?


If this is 100% true and I have to defend myself or family at the cost of everything for my family I will just take away that option. But I ill NOT be denied my right to defend thos I love.

Think about it. I am acrippled 63 year old. If I am arrested and thrown in jail what are my odds of survival?

A number of years ago I prevented an attack because I had a handgun. It was not necessary for me to shoot my attacker; that I had the upper hand turned out to be sufficient. Looking back at the incident, I was surprised that I had remained cool and kept my wits. Had I not been alert, a few seconds delay could have ended badly for me.

While my possessions aren't worth killing someone over, I will use deadly force to protect my own life or that of an innocent. If dragged to court, due to defending myself or others, I will depend on my own ability and a public defender.

Eternal vigilance.

I'll be 62 in January and I will not give up on life. You have already decided the outcome before the fact, never a good mind set IMHO

We don't need much training to know that we will be screwed if we shoot somebody, even if the shooting is justified. Of course, being screwed by the system may be better than the alternative.

Life is full of obstacles none of which are insurmountable

I make less that $1,300 a month. How will I get a good lawyer?