Leaving aside (for the moment) the discussion about stashing guns around the house being a good or bad idea, I'd like to point out something from he OP.
Quote:
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..but because she had a gun in her purse, and left her purse downstairs, she inadvertantly armed the intruders:....
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The language used is indicative of the thinking here. "inadvertanly armed the intruders"? Where the heck does this idea come from? They
STOLE it.
If someone steals your money, are you inadvertantly enriching the poor? Inadvertantly redistgributing wealth (yours)?
I could give dozens of examples of this kind of thing, and while grammatically correct, they would each and every one, be wrong. Unless, of course, you believe that the actions of others are your responsibility. I do not.
Yes, the result was not what was intended, so technically the language is correct, but it gives an extremely slanted impression. Unfortunately, this is the society we live in today. And one of the reasons we have many of the problems that we do. Everything is always
our fault, never the fault of others, the ones actually doing the deed. Its our fault, because we
let it happen.
I, for one, am sick of this kind of thinking. It only focuses on what we do or don't do to prevent or make a crime more difficult,
never on the simple fact that if the people who commited the crime had not done so it would be a moot point.
"Oh, you
let them get a gun! The HORROR!"
Bushwah! They
stole it! Anytime anyone takes your property, without your permission, you are not "inadvertantly gifting" it to them, they are
STEALING it!
Now, if you are a journalist (or anyone else), with an agenda against personal firearms ownership, saying that you "inadvertanly armed criminals" focuses blame on the gun owner, NOT the criminals. It becomes our fault, not theirs. After all, if we hadn't had the gun in the first place, they never would have gotten it, right? So it must be our fault. Right?
Fine language for someone with an anti-firearms bias, but why do we repeat it?
Seems to me that if that poor woman hadn't had more than one gun, should would be considerably worse off today. She shot one of the thugs, did she
inadvertantly let the others escape?
Might as well go and arrest the parents, after all, if they hadn't inadvertantly procreated, their little darlings wouldn't have grown up to be ciminals! Makes as much sense to me....