Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Thoughts on the Use of Guns for Self-Defense

We often hear that guns do not kill people. People kill people, and guns are sometimes needed for self-defense. Today, I found this story of how a man saved his life by his timely use of a gun. It was clearly one of those cases that becomes a statistic--a defensive use of a gun. The twist was that his assailant was allegedly his own wife, and he killed her:

Police said that the couple was involved in a dispute, and afterward, Karen Dion grabbed a shotgun and fired it at her husband. Gary Dion then retrieved his own firearm, and, after being confronted by his wife, who still had her shotgun, he shot and killed her, police said.

Domestic violence is so common in our society, and people often have serious lapses of judgment. Had this home had no guns, perhaps the couple would have resorted to knives or baseball bats. Or maybe that woman would still be alive today.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

From what I have heard this is not the first time that she had tried to shoot her husband, and even if there were not any guns in the house someone would have been killed or seriously injured due to Karen's long history of psychological problems that were just intensified due to her injuries sustained in a motor vehicle collision. I have known Gary for many years and I consider him a Brother and True friend.

Even though he is not perfect and has done some crazy things in his lifetime(like we all have at one time in our lives) he is a good guy and he would not take anyones life unless he was in a situation where he feared for his life and had no other way out.

I will forever stand behind Gary and the horrible choice that he had to make that day. Gary will have a long road of nightmares and self blame that he will have to live with for the rest of his life....He is the true victim in this case.