“I often tell people, if you dont think that you have what it takes to take a human life then dont bother buying one. Dont waste your money. Dont waste your time,” [Sheriff Chapman told CNN].”Dont put it in a drawer and think thats the answer to everything, because it isnt.”

via Gun rights groups say Georgia home invasion proves their point – CNN.com.

I don’t think I have what it takes to take a human life. I don’t.

Right after the home invasion I described earlier (“you can’t make me“), I freely told friends that if my husband had tackled either of those intruders in our home, I would have taken the 12” cast iron skillet from our kitchen and helped him out by bludgeoning. I felt that angry.

And then I took that image to its logical conclusion. And I picture my daughter again, asking “Mommy?”

I watched Piers Morgan interview Breitbart.com’s Ben Shapiro last night. Mr. Shapiro claims that the second amendment is designed to allow us to protect ourselves from the tyranny of government. He mentioned many historical examples. Semi-automatic weapons are necessary to this ability to protect, he argued.

Then I remembered this: “Egypt’s Peaceful Uprising a Blow to Al-Qaida.” I think those folks were armed most heavily with… Twitter?

They’re thinking of having police permanently present at morning drop-off and afternoon pick-up at our elementary school. I think of the officer who is currently stationed at our school. I love him and respect him and have full faith he would do his best to protect everybody in that school. But would he, one man, be able to stop a deranged young man (the likely perpetrator, statistically) in time?

There are things we all do to make ourselves feel safe. For whatever reason, my husband and I have never thought “firearms” when we think of what it would mean to make us feel safe.

Why is that? My husband, for the record, is no “Liberal,” like I am. Not at all.

There is a core difference between me and anybody who will feel safer with a firearm. It’s that core difference, I think, that needs to be examined thoroughly, and treated gently, if we’re going to make any headway in gun control.