04-25-2007, 11:37 AM
I lean left of center on the handgun issue, but this seems a perfect example of where a gun may have been used appropriately as intended.
Guns for better or worse empower people to act beyond their normal capabilities offensively, or defensively. In this case Ramey's use of the .38 leveled the playing field against the much younger/stronger intruder.
Further, she used her weapon thoughtfully (though she admitted she didn't bother to think TWICE), and with intention... her goal to disable, not kill, so the law could take over.
Had she been directly attacked, who knows if she would have been effective "shooting to kill," but on her own property she would have been justified (in my opinion) doing so.
What scares me about handguns as a tool of empowerment, is when the get into the hands of people that lack good judgement... and god knows there are a lot of those people out there. When someone has more courage (bravado) than brains, handguns can be a very bad thing.
Guns for better or worse empower people to act beyond their normal capabilities offensively, or defensively. In this case Ramey's use of the .38 leveled the playing field against the much younger/stronger intruder.
Further, she used her weapon thoughtfully (though she admitted she didn't bother to think TWICE), and with intention... her goal to disable, not kill, so the law could take over.
Had she been directly attacked, who knows if she would have been effective "shooting to kill," but on her own property she would have been justified (in my opinion) doing so.
What scares me about handguns as a tool of empowerment, is when the get into the hands of people that lack good judgement... and god knows there are a lot of those people out there. When someone has more courage (bravado) than brains, handguns can be a very bad thing.