Bad Parent: Packing Heat
Why we keep a gun in the house.
by Shelley Abreu
December 4, 2008
In my own community I've never heard of any child being accidentally killed by a firearm, yet there have been home break-ins. Several years ago, our community faced a series of house invasions where the homeowners were bound at gunpoint and robbed. And last year near Knoxville, Tennessee, down where my grandmother used to live, a young mother did in fact defend herself against an intruder in her home. Suzanne Carson was alone in her home with her two young children when she heard a noise at her back door. When she went to investigate, she was confronted by a young man trying to break into her home. She retrieved her gun with just one thought: she had to protect her kids. She shot three times and scared off the intruder.
Regardless of all this, I realize my choice may hold some inherent contradictions. As a practicing Christian, my faith informs most of how I live my life and raise my family. I'm pretty sure that Jesus would be anti-gun. He would advocate peace. I get this, and I do struggle with my choice, otherwise I imagine I wouldn't be lying to that nurse. But I will not love any enemy who forcibly enters my home. If threatened, I would aim that gun and shoot if it meant protecting my children. Under the Second Amendment that is my right, and I believe whole-heartedly in protecting that freedom.
Holding a gun hardly feels maternal. Yet it's that very maternal instinct that moves me to protect my children at all costs.
As a parent, I'll always be a little ambivalent about my pro-gun choice. On a day-to-day basis I see myself as a nurturer. It's my job to hug and kiss my girls — to make them feel loved and secure. Holding a gun hardly feels maternal. Yet it's that very maternal instinct that moves me to protect my children at all costs. In a sense, I'm no different than a wild mother bear who will tear anyone or anything apart if she perceives a threat to her cubs. But being human, we are held to a different standard — a moral standard. But that's the whole rub: if my children were threatened, all moral reasoning goes out the window.
Any kind of risk to my children's life is scary to me. In the end, though, I realize the kind of risk gun-ownership poses is a risk I can confidently control and minimize. Crime is not. So next time, I'll be answering that nurse with a "yes." Owning a gun might be a difficult choice, but it's nothing to feel guilty about.
©2008 Shelley Abreu and Babble
About the Author
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Shelley Abreu is a freelance writer and mother of three. She lives on Cape Cod. Visit her blog about faith, family and finding happiness at www.shelleyabreu.com. |
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