Show and Tell

Kelli is hosting show and tell Friday again

So, here's mine.

In a recent meme I said:

3) I qualified for the Concealed Handgun License the first time I'd ever been shooting.
True
Yup, I have the green man target to prove it. It was actually my 2nd time on the range, but the first time the trigger of my revolver was so stiff I couldn't fire the stinkin thing. The 2nd time I went to the range was when I met up with an instructor who fixed the trigger. I did not grow up around guns and have had NO experience so Subvet and I thought starting with a trained instructor would be the smartest way to go. I must say it felt good when after putting 3 shots of my first 6 either in the X or the 10 ring (the other 3 all went in the 9) he said, "Well, you don't need me anymore...." (For you who want to know, it was at 7 yards)
Now I just have to save up the $300 to take the class....
On a related thought, I've been asked by a couple of people upon learning that we now have a gun in the house "Would you really shoot someone?" My answer hasn't wavered. I HAVE THREE BABIES TO PROTECT. As my instructor pointed out (he also teaches self defense) egress from my home if invaded ISN'T good. I will have to stand and fight and I will do ANYTHING wait, EVERYTHING NECESSARY to protect my babies. Also, we bought the exploding bullets that (supposedly) won't go through walls so anyone who enters my home without my permission better be prepared to die. And yes, I do answer the door gun in hand. I'll tell you the reasons for all this home defense in another post.

Today's show and tell is the target. Subvet keeps telling me to be sure and say that I "started in the center then moved outward as my hands got tired." It is true, but I'm not sure what difference it makes. (I'm a novice remember.) There are 24 holes in that paper, if you're interested.




I also figure I'll tell you the reason why I finally let him get me the gun. He's wanted us to have a gun in the house ever since 9/11/01. I kept over ruling him, until this happened

We live in a small town. When we moved here the city limit sign said pop 2,300. It now says 5,600. Nope, I didn't forget any zeros. It's a SMALL town. One fine day when I was 8 months pregnant (the last time) I had both boys asleep in the van so instead of pulling into my driveway (which always wakes them up) I parked on the street in front of my house to let them sleep. As I sat there an "old" man (my guess is 60-70ish) walked up to my house, opened the storm/screen door and tried the doorknob. He stood there for a min or two, during which time I'm calling 911 on my cell phone from the car. He then walked down the street to the cross street. Now the road I live on is not a thru street and we're only a couple of houses from the corner. He went up to no other houses, just straight to mine. He turned down the cross road towards the back of my house. We don't have an alley, we share our back fence with the back fence of the houses on the next street. Meanwhile I'm giving 911 as accurate a description of the man as I can while I'm looking at him. The operator says she'll send someone out. The guy comes back up to my house (bypassing all the other houses) and this time knocks on the storm/screen door. Waits a bit then walks off again. I'm thinking a friend in blue should be turning the corner any second now...hopefully to catch the guy in my lawn. 2 hours later I call her back and ask where on earth my friendly neighborhood cop is. She says to me, "Did you want contact? You didn't say you wanted contact." I didn't know that I had to REQUEST for a cop to come talk to me when a guy just tried to walk in my house. Well, we went back and forth a bit and the next morning Subvet has a little tete a tete with our local chief of police. Turns out the call went from the county 911 operator to the city officers as a "WELFARE CHECK ON A CONFUSED OLD MAN." It's a good thing Subvet was there and not me.

Now, don't get me wrong, I know several of you readers are police officers. The city police officers did nothing wrong in any of this story as far as Subvet and I can determine. It was the 911 operator. I ended up (after a week of tracking this down and having everyone and their dog listen to the tapes of both calls) speaking to the 911 supervisor. She said she'd have put it out as a "suspicious circumstance" I said hey, I'll go for that, but that's a darn sight different from a "welfare check." I asked her why it went as a welfare check...."well, we go by tone of voice and the choice of words..." I interrupted her. Folks, I'd make a tinkle poor nurse if I broke down in hysterics at every emergency. I thanked her for letting me know that next time this happened I needed to cry and yell that some guy was trying to get in my house...help help help...and oh by the way...I'd actually like to speak to the officer sent out to investigate, pretty please!!!! Then, perhaps, it will get off the bottom of the totem pole of 911 calls.

Turns out, the operator who took my calls did get reprimanded over this. She a) should have sent it out as a suspicious circumstance (I mean really, if there's any question wouldn't you like them to choose the more potentially dangerous of the choices??) and she b) should have asked in the first call whether I wanted to speak to an officer or was just "letting them know." However, this incident greatly undermined our confidence in our officers' ability to protect us. I mean, the poor guy in blue on the street can only go by what he's told by the 911 operators. This, sadly, reinforced Subvet's belief that the city police are simply the "clean up crew" who come by after all is said and done. We therefore need to be able to protect ourselves. To any officers who may be reading this saga. I do truly hope that I've not offended you.

What is terribly scary is that had I gone on inside with the babies there was (at that time) a good possibility that the door would have been unlocked when the guy first tried the knob and he would have been in the house. Now THAT 911 call would have sounded a bit different!!