Originally Posted by MacCool

No. Relying on an airgun for self defense is a silly concept. Guns are designed to kill people, and that's an option that you have to have if you feel that you need a weapon to defend your life or the life of another.


There I must disagree. Owning a weapon is a huge responsibility. Not only do you have to find a secure place to store it, but you absolutely have to make sure that you know how it works, how to maintain it, how to use it, and most importantly when to use it. Statistically, it is still true that having a gun in the home makes you far more likely to injure yourself or friend/family than it is to use it to effectively to save your life. The only way to beat those odds are to get instruction, and practice with it regularly. And by instruction, I'm not talking about the the 4 hour permit-to-carry course most people have to take. I'm talking about additional courses afterward, and this is especially true if you're going to actually carry it on your person.

Do not believe, like so many Americans, that just buying a gun, bringing it home, and sticking it in your bedside table will automatically make you safer. If you don't train with it, real instruction, then the opposite will be true. The same is true IMHO if you just rely on your CCW course as all you need to make you an effective pistolero.

Originally Posted by TROOPER

Throwing a gun in your bedside table will not help you when the poop hits the fan.

If you don't know how to use it, as many people don't. They just buy it and never even shoot it to make sure it works, and throw it in a drawer.

If you can't hit a target at "minimum" 10-15 yards away, just think what it's like at 2am, when it's dark, you're confused, scared, heart racing...

You forgot where they safety is, and that's if you remembered to load it and c0ck it...

And as Mac said, you also have to know the law, as to when you can fire.

And think about the law afterwards, because even if it was justified, you'd probably spend the next 2 years in and out of court.