The self-defense argument has never impressed me. You are more likely to shoot yourself or a family member by accident or during an argument than you ever are to kill a burglar or intruder. In fact, you are 43 time more likely according to a study by the New England Journal of Medicine.
I was going to bring up the case I read back in the 90s about the couple who came home while their daughter was supposed to be sleeping at a friend's house the night before Halloween. The house appeared to have been entered. They called out and no one answered. Common sense says you call the cops. No, this guy believed all that malarkey that you can't depend on the police and must defend your castle yourself so he grabbed his handgun and did a room by room search. When he walked past a certain closet door, it sprang open and the man fired at the figure jumping towards him. It was his daughter who was trying the scare him for Halloween. She had forgotten something so she returned home to get it while her parents were out. While she was there, the parents returned home so she hid in a closet to give them a BOO! She was shot in the neck but still conscious. In the hospital, she regained consciousness briefly and saw her father weeping over her. She whispered, "I love you, daddy" and those were her last words.
When I tried to find this story online, I typed "Man shoots daughter he mistook for intruder" and--holy f-uck! These are tons of these stories starting from 2013 and going back year by year by year!
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