catielynnb
Sharpshooter
I had an interesting experience yesterday with my coworkers and boss while eating sushi. Now, after my last time out with them (see here for story), I've decided to just wait until I get my CCDW (Ky ya'll) before attempting that again.
My boss, has a bit of what I'd call a fear of guns. Fear, irrational most likely, but I promise not to judge him or where his fear comes from.
Towards the end of our lunch somehow the topic of the Martin/Zimmerman debacle came up. I'm not sure how, but I know that until then I wasn't paying much attention, mainly because I was trying to avoid the fish eggs in the sushi. My boss doesn't like to watch, read or hear about the news so when Coworker 1 was done talking about it he asked what happened. Coworker 2 and I jumped in and explained what we knew, not the speculation but the actual facts (I'm so not opening that can of worms here, it's not that important...). Our boss let us finish and Coworker 3 asked about Castle Law... which is what made this whole deal get even more interesting.
I kinda took over at that point, explained Castle Law to him. Coworker 3 asked about getting a CCDW and how that process works. At which point our Boss interjected 'Well, if someone was breaking into my house just to steal from me, I'd let them. I wouldn't want to point a gun at them and kill them.' The four of us got pretty quiet so I asked 'How would you know they're just stealing from you, is your home not that important to you?'
(Conversation, as best I can remember)
'It is, but it's just stuff. A life, even a criminal, is still a human life. I do not want to be responsible for that.'
Me: 'But if they're in your house, they are, essentially, attacking you. That's what Castle Law is for.'
'Still, I would not point a gun at someone even if they were in my house.'
Me: 'What if your daughter was there with you? What would you do then?'
(that was probably a mean statement, but it was to get him to think about his little girl)
'Well, I'd have her call 911 and we'd just hide in a closet or something. Let them steal and leave.'
Me: 'How can you guarantee that they're going to leave once they steal whatever they've come for? And when it counts, the cops are never on time.'
(my other coworkers jumped in, it'll be marked by the color above^^)
'Well, I have two shotguns where I can reach them. I'd be the one scaring them out of my house. My life is more important than letting someone just break in.
'My husband and I both have a plan if someone was to break in the house. Even if one of us isn't home. He's a police officer and he made sure we had a plan.'
'I wonder how (wife's name) would feel about me getting a gun...
'I have a plan, my father and I went over it when he went back to 3rd shift. All his girls are home and we've had problems in our neighborhood before. Even if he didn't have a thought about this, I would. My mother and sister even knows where the guns are in our house and how to operate them...'
It went on for a bit more just rehashing the same things, but one of the last lines he brought up about the whole situation stuck with me.
'Where I grew up, only the bad guys had guns. It wasn't a pretty place.'
I understand that, but I'm not really sure where to go the next time this comes up, because I know it will.
I'm just thankful it was only us five, and not the other two who have given me tons of crap before. They'd have just played off of his fears.
Side note, I've missed you guys. It has been a crazy week... so I've just been lurking.
My boss, has a bit of what I'd call a fear of guns. Fear, irrational most likely, but I promise not to judge him or where his fear comes from.
Towards the end of our lunch somehow the topic of the Martin/Zimmerman debacle came up. I'm not sure how, but I know that until then I wasn't paying much attention, mainly because I was trying to avoid the fish eggs in the sushi. My boss doesn't like to watch, read or hear about the news so when Coworker 1 was done talking about it he asked what happened. Coworker 2 and I jumped in and explained what we knew, not the speculation but the actual facts (I'm so not opening that can of worms here, it's not that important...). Our boss let us finish and Coworker 3 asked about Castle Law... which is what made this whole deal get even more interesting.
I kinda took over at that point, explained Castle Law to him. Coworker 3 asked about getting a CCDW and how that process works. At which point our Boss interjected 'Well, if someone was breaking into my house just to steal from me, I'd let them. I wouldn't want to point a gun at them and kill them.' The four of us got pretty quiet so I asked 'How would you know they're just stealing from you, is your home not that important to you?'
(Conversation, as best I can remember)
'It is, but it's just stuff. A life, even a criminal, is still a human life. I do not want to be responsible for that.'
Me: 'But if they're in your house, they are, essentially, attacking you. That's what Castle Law is for.'
'Still, I would not point a gun at someone even if they were in my house.'
Me: 'What if your daughter was there with you? What would you do then?'
(that was probably a mean statement, but it was to get him to think about his little girl)
'Well, I'd have her call 911 and we'd just hide in a closet or something. Let them steal and leave.'
Me: 'How can you guarantee that they're going to leave once they steal whatever they've come for? And when it counts, the cops are never on time.'
(my other coworkers jumped in, it'll be marked by the color above^^)
'Well, I have two shotguns where I can reach them. I'd be the one scaring them out of my house. My life is more important than letting someone just break in.
'My husband and I both have a plan if someone was to break in the house. Even if one of us isn't home. He's a police officer and he made sure we had a plan.'
'I wonder how (wife's name) would feel about me getting a gun...
'I have a plan, my father and I went over it when he went back to 3rd shift. All his girls are home and we've had problems in our neighborhood before. Even if he didn't have a thought about this, I would. My mother and sister even knows where the guns are in our house and how to operate them...'
It went on for a bit more just rehashing the same things, but one of the last lines he brought up about the whole situation stuck with me.
'Where I grew up, only the bad guys had guns. It wasn't a pretty place.'
I understand that, but I'm not really sure where to go the next time this comes up, because I know it will.
I'm just thankful it was only us five, and not the other two who have given me tons of crap before. They'd have just played off of his fears.
Side note, I've missed you guys. It has been a crazy week... so I've just been lurking.