> > Why do people have guns in their houses? I don't get it. If the gun is loaded, that's just an accident waiting to happen. If the gun isn't loaded, then it's not going to do much good if you're trying to protect yourself from a bad guy who suddenly bursts through the door and takes you hostage.
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> That doesn't tend to be what happens when people break in. But if you hear the sound of breaking glass or a door being forced when you're upstairs in the bedroom or something, that's plenty of time to pull out a gun and pop in a bullet or two. If there *isn't* time to load it, just its appearance could help. Most criminals are chickens posing as tough guys and aren't going to ask questions when they see a homeowner with a firearm. Most burglars try to avoid confrontations with the people they're robbing in the first place and might be inclined to run anyway.
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> The other thing is, who says a gun in a house is for personal protection? My .22 is for recreational target shooting, not self-defense, although if I had it on hand during a break in, I'd sure use it that way.

There isn't any right answer to this question, because the point at which self-protection outweighs accident risk depends entirely on the level and type of crime where you live. Around here, armed criminals (of any type) are the exception rather than the rule, so there's no point in owning a gun unless you're a target shooter or a farmer who needs to control pests. In this case, keeping a loaded gun in the house is just stupid. Way up the other end of the scale, there are city areas in (say) South Africa where *not* having a loaded gun is damn near suicidal.

If I lived someplace where there was a good chance that anybody breaking into my house would be armed, I think having a gun in the house would be a reasonable measure to take, but I still wouldn't keep it loaded all the time. If I lived someplace where there was enough violent crime that you really *needed* to keep a loaded gun around, I guess I'd move.

Brunnen-"learning new things about my friends all the time"G