Mommyish Poll: Would A Gun In The House Make You More Safe?

Earlier today we wrote about Sarah McKinley, the Oklahoma mom who shot and killed an intruder to protect her 3-month-old baby. McKinley’s husband had passed away less than a week prior, and so the 18-year-old mother was already mourning her tragic loss and dealing with life as a single mother when two men entered her home, one of them bearing a 12-inch hunting knife.

The story has everyone talking not just because it’s utterly horrifying but also because we can’t help but think what we would have done in McKinley’s case. She went ahead and shot the intruder in order to protect her baby, and I can’t think of a single mother who wouldn’t have done the same. The difference being, of course, that most of us don’t own a gun. For some, it’s simply illegal. For others, it’s not worth the risk of having a weapon in the home when there are little kids present (accidents happen, after all).

I was chatting about this story with some my colleagues and, no matter what our personal stance on owning a weapon, we all agreed that we would shoot another person to protect our children. I shared the tale of a family friend who, years ago, was certain that there was an intruder in her backyard one evening. Her husband was out of town, her kids were upstairs sleeping and this woman a therapist was being harassed by one of her male patients.

She assumed this man lurking in her backyard was her patient and, in that moment, she called 911 and cursed her husband for not allowing a gun in their home. She says without a doubt that she would have shot the man had she owned a gun. Turns out the “intruder” was actually the roofer. (I had a similar story occur to me at 4:00 one morning, long before I had kids, when I saw a man approach my front door followed by a loud thump. It was the newspaper delivery man.)

But back to McKinley. This woman actually had two guns in her home and she wasn’t afraid to use them. And it’s a good thing! Who knows how this story would have ended otherwise? All I know is that this horrifying scene is making many moms out there question how they would protect their own children if faced with a similar situation. What would you do? Weigh in below.

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