In the afterglow of unwrapping a mountain of gifts under our tree on Christmas morning, I bounded upstairs to take a shower before the family came over for dinner.
I trounced down, late per usual, to a house full of family and my husband standing in the foyer talking to a family member. “Want to see our new gift?” he said with a smirk on his face, eyeing the gift-giver, anxious for my reaction.
I glanced down and saw what you’re looking at on the left.
“You’re funny!” I answered, thinking it was a toy gun.
“No, it’s the real McCoy,” said the family member who had generously gifted it to us. As a gun-rights activist, he was concerned that we didn’t have one in our home to protect ourselves in case of intruders, especially since we live in a remote area.
Goosebumps bristled on my arms at the sheer thought of that death-machine in the vicinity of my children. I’ve read the stories about children dying while playing with guns found in and around the home and have always stood strong that I didn’t want them near my family, and immediately begged my husband to take it to his office after the holidays, and lock it in his car for the day. (Never fear, he’s not a U.S. Postal worker, he has his own business.)
Knowing that our gift-givers intentions were only the best, after our family left I later started to rethink my knee-jerk reaction as I sat by the fire, exhausted from an amazing Christmas day. Should we consider having a gun in a locked cabinet, especially when I’m here alone with the kids? My brain nagged at me: maybe I’m just being a big wuss. I looked up some gun safety rules on the National Rifle Association’s website and they all made perfect sense: adults in the home are responsible for educating the family, keeping the gun safely out of reach, locked away from curious children’s hands.
But if the gun is locked, in that moment of need–say an intruder comes into the house, would I even have my wits about me to unlock the cabinet?
And the pivotal question–once the gun was in my hand, could I force myself to shoot another human being?
