I understand. I did not intend my response to be directed at a specific individual but rather at a general thought process. I also understand that acting outside of ones abilities can cause more harm than good.rotor wrote:It is nice to be alive to raise your young men. To each his own. I am a 70 plus male not capable of putting up a marine type "fight". I am not LEO and I carry a .380 for personal protection for me and mine. I know that I have limited ability with such weapon and no additional rounds (6). Any self defense move with that limited capability has to be well planned. If I had to carry bigger or more rounds I run the risk of not carrying. Everything is a compromise. I don't carry to protect mall goers and people shopping in 30.06/30.07 zones. I carry to protect me and mine and even that is the bare minimum. Talk about resting in peace is cheap. I admit the reason I carry. Those that carry better or feel more secure go for it. I am glad the good samaritan shot one of the BG and didn't get hurt. Brave man. I am just saying why I carry and what I feel my obligation is. If one of the BG that was shot would have turned out to be LEO in pursuit or a mall goer had been accidentally shot by the good samaritan can you imagine how this story would have been reading. Do you think Kay's Jewelers cares that a customer was killed in their store? We all need to act with our training and my training is not adequate to handle a situation like this. Come at me or mine where I think our lives are in danger and than I will act. Probably not that good either but better than unarmed. Definitely better than hand to hand.jmra wrote:In response to the "I carry to protect mine not yours" point of view, in general I agree especially when it comes to property. However, I simply could not look my wife or teenaged sons in the face if I stood by and let someone extinguish an innocent life when my intervention could have prevented it, especially if the innocent life where that of a defenseless person.
I am raising two young men to be men of honor and valor. That requires that I serve as an example. I hope and pray that I am laid to rest as a very old man by my aged children, but if I were to lose my life tomorrow in defense of a helpless child I could Rest In Peace knowing that my boys are in excellent hands with a strong mother and knowledge that some things are worth dying for.
Now to the rest of your post. I don't play the "if" game. If I did I would never leave the house. What happened is what happened. No ifs about it. True probabilities of an "if" can be found in historical fact. If it is likely to happen it already has happened frequently. The "ifs" you propose are historically a statistical non-event as they simply aren't prevalent in Texas CHL history. If we only focus on the possible negative ramifications of our actions how can we ever achieve anything positive?