Wildncrazy

I am one of those people who have been on the wrong end of a guy held by (a couple of) a bad guy(s). I am the only person they did not shoot and kill in a string of 11 robberies. They leveled off to shoot me but a car came along and scared them off.

Had I been carrying it would not have happened. Had the gun been in a gun safe then it still would have happened. So even with the present rulings don't think you are automatically safe.

I firmly believe in the right to keep and bear arms. I think there are 2 kinds of people, those that won't shoot and those that will. I am now one of the ones that will.

Those that say a gun isn't a defensive weapon have never been on the wrong end of one.

If you don't want to have a gun in your house then don't, but don't try to come into my house uninvited. If you are invited you have nothing to fear.

But for home safety I think a paintball gun loaded with marbles trumps a gun anyday. It's noisy enough to scare them, won't penetrate the walls with enough force to accidentally hurt a family member and you have a couple of hundred rounds. At close range paint balls don't feel nice, put marbles in the gun and it's another level of pain.

RedY2KS2k

Since I keep it in my home, my handgun, should I ever use it, would ba a purely a defensive weapon.

Wildncrazy

Once upon a time I had 2 teenagers trying to steal the rims of my S. I ran out with my paintball gun loaded with paintballs. I lighted them up pretty good. They took off running so I ran after them. When they got to their car I got it pretty good too.

I called the cops, who promptly said I shouldn't have done that, to which I responded THEY shouldn't have been trying to steal my rims either. He just chuckled.

Long story short, due to the paint on the car and on their person they caught them. Turned out one of them was my next door neighbor. Putting them in juvie stopped a whole rash of tire slashing, rim theft and other mischief.

Now had they had guns that would have been foolish, but I had watched them for 2-3 minutes out my window and surmised they either didn't have guns or they were buried in their clothes too deeply to be able to get to them quickly. I was able to pop out the backyard gate and could have popped back in just as quickly had the need arisen where I had my 12 ga. leaned against the fence. I never told the cops that.

The next door neighbor came over the next day to give me grief over his poor little boy's bruises, but after a lengthy conversation he said he was secretly kinda glad it happened, "maybe it would teach him a lesson". His wife was the one that was all upset over "her poor little baby".

With a paintball gun you can fire so fast and projectiles are hitting so fast that it throws off the person's equilibrium. If they play paintball they will do everything in their power to protect their eyes.

So for you guys who despise guns, there is another non lethal alternative. Unfortunately if the bad guys have bigger guns, or just plain guns you'd better have one as well and be prepared to use it.

There is no perfect solution since the right solution depends upon the circumstances. There is a time to smile and hand over your money and hope they aren't in a shootin' mood. Unfortunately that doesn't work in most cases since it's a power trip for the robber, not just about the money. Most of the people robbed by the people that robbed me simply handed over the money but got shot to make sure there were no witness -except for the cameras in a few of the stores.

There is a time to fight like hell!!

There is a time to run!

There is no alternative to being prepared.

Vanishing Point

The paintball story reminded me of a story my grandfather told me. It seems that he and a friend would sneak into a neighbors field to steal watermelons when they were young, usually about dark. Well one night the owner was waiting for them and shot them with rock salt loaded into 12 gauge shells. He said it hurt and stung so bad it even hurt to move even slightly!

boltonblue

That statement goes along way towards explaining the first course of action.

If it were my kids. they'd be complaining about bruises too, just not from paintballs.

cordycord

I've got two "vintage" paintball guns--I never thought to use them against intruders.

Apparently UK finally banned handguns in 1997, after increasingly stringent controls. Since 1997, violent crime has increased. This isn't "gun crazy" America, it's Europe. The consequences of a ban would likely be worse here, as our porous border would allow drug runners and gangs to have all the guns, and regular citizens none.

Penforhire

Mike you were following the safety rules (which it sounds like you know) and no harm was done, nor would it next time, because you kept the working end pointed in a safe direction. That DOES sound like a poor design though!

One of the reasons I am a fan of decocking levers on modern automatics.

mikegarrison

How do you know? Maybe they would have just shot more quickly, before the car scared them off.

Wildncrazy

I know because as they left the 2nd one stopped in the doorway and lined up to shoot me. Just as he did the one outside hollered at him to come on and not to shoot me, they couldn't afford for anyone to hear the shot.

Also there's the fact that they shot everyone else killing several and the fact that after the trial they said they should have killed me when they had the chance.

Just minor clues.

mikegarrison

You missed my point, I think. So they didn't shoot you as they were leaving. If you had pulled out a gun, what makes you think they wouldn't have shot you the moment they saw it?