When we first got married, my husband and I had very different opinions on self-defense. My husband is a veteran who served two tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, where he used various weapons, including an M4, a .50 caliber machine gun, and a grenade launcher. He’s also an avid outdoorsman who has been hunting since he was a boy, so he has been around guns his whole life.
I guess opposites really do attract, because before I met my husband, I had never even picked up a gun. In California, where I grew up, the gun laws were much stricter, and gun ownership wasn’t as common. In fact, my mother believed that only criminals owned guns, so we never had any.
Admittedly, I used to be indifferent to the subject of gun control, but that changed dramatically after I became a mother. As a Florida resident, the news of the Parkland shooting hit too close to home for me. I knew that I didn’t want guns near my kids or in my house, especially after giving birth to our first daughter. But my husband had a different point of view; he went out to buy another gun, arguing that he needed to protect his family.
To have or not to have guns is one of those “deal–breaking” topics you should discuss with your partner before you get married.
Still, I knew what I had married into and was fully aware that guns were part of the package. As a way of compromising, my husband took extra precautions to make me feel safe with the guns securely stored in our home. We purchased a safe where he kept all of his guns except one to be used for home defense, which he kept by the bed. Even though it was out of sight, I still felt uneasy. The thought of having a loaded gun around my baby scared me. So, I asked him to keep the gun unloaded. He reluctantly agreed.
The thought of having a gun for self-defense seemed unnecessary in our middle-class, suburban neighborhood. Even in a panic, I seriously doubted my initial response would be to reach for a gun. I thought that was what 911 was for, right?
Early one morning, after my husband left for work, I heard the sound of someone kicking at my back door, then glass shattering. Instantly, my fight–or–flight instinct kicked in. Quick as a flash, I jumped to my feet and ran over to my husband’s nightstand, where I knew he kept the gun.
Unfortunately, I had no idea how to use one. I imagined it would be like in the movies, where you would just aim and pull the trigger. That was wishful thinking. I ran to the back door with the gun in hand and saw a man seconds away from getting through the door. He looked up and saw me running toward him, screaming at the top of my lungs, with the gun aimed in his direction. He paused for a second and then ran away.
It’s a good thing he ran away because if he had looked a little harder, he would have seen me trying to pull the trigger of a gun without a magazine in it. At my request, my husband kept the pistol unloaded, and I had never learned to load it! Once I was sure the coast was clear, I grabbed my baby, locked myself in the bathroom, and called 911.
A gun probably saved our lives that day, and it didn’t even have bullets in it.
After that, I knew without a doubt that I needed to learn how to use a gun properly. The entire experience taught me there’s a lot that goes into self-defense. There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think about how things could have turned out differently. There was so much more I needed to learn, but I knew that having a gun at home really can make the difference between life and death in a self-defense situation.
Looking back on my experience, I’m proud of myself for having the courage to stand my ground. It gives me peace of mind knowing that my husband and I have a self-defense plan going forward.
This story is a compilation of numerous stories we’ve heard from many of our members who have been in situations where they had to defend themselves. Having a self-defense plan is an active choice to be prepared for any eventuality that could put you, your family, or your property in peril. The mother in this story didn’t think that true danger could enter her home, but when faced with a threat, she realized the value of a gun in the home—and a plan. While an unloaded gun saved the day in this scenario, there are countless other stories out there that didn’t end so well. For all of these terrible events, and for all mothers who want to protect their families, all of us here at U.S. LawShield are proud to defend you.
The information provided in this publication is intended to provide general information to individuals and is not legal advice. The information included in this publication may not be quoted or referred to in any other publication without the prior written consent of U.S. LawShield, to be given or withheld at our discretion. The information is not a substitute for, and does not replace the advice or representation of a licensed attorney. We strive to ensure the information included in this publication is accurate and current, however, no claim is made to the accuracy of the information and we are not responsible for any consequences that may result from the use of information in this publication. The use of this publication does not create an attorney-client relationship between U.S. LawShield, any independent program attorney, and any individual.
I’m happy 2 hear she saved the day 4 her family. If she didn’t have a weapon it could’ve been worse. Sometimes a bluff is just enuff 2 scare off an assailant.
I would like to share this story on MeWe, and Parlor but you have No link to MeWe, or Parlor How can we Correct this situation? I have Left Facebook and Twitter , I have left my accounts open but unused ,
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Seems to me it would be better to keep the firearm loaded in a single gun safe with a combo lock that could be easily reached rather than keep a loaded gun unsecured in a household where one of the adults knows nothing about handling a firearm or obviously in a household with children.
I agree with an above statement. It is better to have a loaded and ready firearm locked in either a drawer or safe, with a key or combination lock that only the owners have access to. Leaving an uloaded, and unsecured weapon somewhere in which anyone can get to it, still leaves huge holes in safety. A home invader could steal it, or worse, a child full of anger could take it, get ammunition from somewhere off the street or steal that too, and cause great harm. As a member of law enforcement, my opinion is, any weapon that is not on your person, wether loaded or not, needs to be locked away someplace, that only those the owner authorizes, has access too.
I know of many women like this one. (and some men) I know of a few that are changing their minds after all that happened last year. Thank you for the story!
Every household is different, everyone’s background is different. To you LEOs who pontificate about how to store firearms, where and how much security – keep that in mind ok? Just like the skill level of you and your fellow LEOs are in most cases are slightly superior to the average civilian – your skill levels don’t even reach the acceptable level of most combat veterans. I know, I was for the past 10 years an Independent Contractor Tier 1 Veteran charged with training multiple LEOs from a variety of Local, State and Federal agencies. Most of those LEOs and their level of skill/training in things like CQB, Marksmanship, Instinctive shooting and personal protective methods was, to say the least, marginal to downright laughable. The husband in this story obviously kowtowed to his fearful and domineering wife. I too spent many years in the military – almost 30 to be exact, my wife and I had two kids, and being in Tier 1 and Tier 2 level Special Ops units – gone frequently and being involved in many missions I may never be able to discuss, ever, I laid things out plainly to my wife. We do it my way when I’m at home – or it’s the highway. You know very little about firearms, self defense or defending our home. I know nothing about raising kids from toddlers to teens. You trust my instincts, I will trust yours when it comes to kids. So, I trained her and she “trained me” with the kids as I came home after missions. Worked out quite well. No books exist to cover everyone’s circumstances.