I guess this prompts two questions:
1. Just what are you prepping for?
2. Are you willing to kill someone to protect your few months' supply of baked beans?
1. Just what are you prepping for?
2. Are you willing to kill someone to protect your few months' supply of baked beans?
I can't speak for others, but I'm prepping for a 10-15 day breakdown of the system.
As a pragmatic matter, if society is in a situation where somebody is willing to die to get a hold of my month's supply of baked beans then I'll probably be willing to kill them. As a general principle, I donate my still long from expired canned food every year when I replace it fresh.
People with guns don't seem to consider any other factor, besides that if the opponent has a gun, or can get yours away, you're not in a good defense position anyway. Guns are mainly useful for offense. Maybe that's why some preppers want them.
I would rely on multiple layers of complexity for defense, since that's how modern security design works. A gun is a single point of failure. A shelter or person full of extremely undesirable defenses is more reliable, less dangerous, and probably much easier to stock.
If the person trying to steal my beans will go away if I say "stop I have a gun" or simply barricade my door then I'm sure as hell not shooting them. It's a last resort.
I am hoping to never need to use my emergency kit again.
Also, you should talk to cops about pepper spray, tasers, etc. and how often they fail.
In a last resort, I don't want my attacker using my weapon against me, and if they can, I don't want it to be fatal. Which is why I don't carry knives for self defense, even though i'm trained in eskrima.
You have time for all that? Using a tazer or peper spray means your basically in well within pistol range and very close to hand-to-hand range. How exactly are you going to deploy your sound or smoke weapon?
> Guns are mainly useful for offense. Maybe that's why some preppers want them.
Guns are plenty useful for defense. Have you ever received any gun training?
Who is to say the people in this hypothetical situation just want our "baked beans"?
New question: is the reason one might want to have a gun in an emergency simply to be able to injure, maim or kill someone regardless of a specific reason?
If you say it's "for defense", remember that the concept is subjective; a robber being beaten for stealing may fear for their life and "defend" themselves. Specific reasons are less controversial and more practical.
I want to help maintain or improve the welfare of those I care about, regardless of scenario.
In order to achieve this outcome, it is usually sufficient to go to work, invest, and partake in mutually fulfilling rituals.
For the edge cases, a gun might be useful. And, in this thread, it is the edge cases that we are discussing.