Polite Society

My wife called me at work today to let me know the neigbors down the street had been robbed. Apparently their house had been broken into while they were gone. They were canvassing the neighborhood to see if anyone had seen anything and from what I understand not having much luck at it, which is not especially surprising since they are surrounded by empty houses.

My wife wondered if we should have the security system activated. It is installed, but up to now we hadn't put much thought into having it turned on. We live in a quiet neighborhood, two miles from the nearest town, and Franklinton is rural to say the least. There is usually someone here since I work nights and am home during the daytime, and the houses on either side of us are occupied. The neighbors to one side of us spend their summers in New York state, we watch their place while they are gone and they return the favor.

Something else my wife brought up was the purchase of a firearm. I haven't had one since I found out the .357 Magnum I owned had been stolen, I immediately returned the purloined firearm to the rightful owners and haven't bothered buying a replacement for one reason or another. It's a good idea, and I would truly like to have one of each; pistol, rifle and shotgun.

Some will say that firearm ownership does not deter crime, but looking at the crime statistics of Kennesaw, Georgia makes me wonder. Cherry Tree, Pennsylvania is wondering as well. The same people who say that firearm ownership does not deter crime will say all sorts of other things to discourage firearms ownership as well, but I don't think their reasoning makes sense.

First off, let's make something perfectly clear. The police are not obligated to prevent crime. They will if they can, of course, but their purpose is to investigate crime, not prevent it. They carry firearms for their own protection, not for ours. And finally, they cannot be all places at all times.

A friend of mine told me a story about a home invasion. He heard the invader and called the police. He was told by the dispatcher that the response time was likely to be 30 minutes or more and that he should barricade himself into the bedroom and wait for the police to arrive. He told her to just send the coroner then, that he had a gun and was going downstairs to shoot the thief. 5 minutes later the squad cars rolled in with lights blazing and caught the would-be burgler. The officers that responded then asked the homeowner about the gun. "What gun," he said, "I don't have a gun." "The dispatcher told us that you did." "The dispatcher told me that you wouldn't be here for another half an hour."

My daughter in law told me about her mother who walked out of the bathroom to find an intruder in her home, helping himself to her belongings. She went right for the bedroom and grabbed the shotgun, when she emerged the intruder was gone and her belongings were still there, piled in the middle of the floor. Apparently he knew what she was going for, and rightfully figured it wasn't worth his life.

All in all, I think I would rather be the subject of one of those two stories rather than the subject of a robbery, or worse.