[PinkString]

I never answer the door with a weapon. In fact, I just don't answer the door if I do not recognize or know who is knocking.

[unf0rgiven6262]

Originally Posted by jfkIII

This is a very scary thread. Why would people want to live like this? I know you've got wonderful weather, fantastic shows, no state taxes, inexpensive housing, and excitement 24/7...but does that justify living in fear and everyone answering their doors with weapons? Seriously...this and that other thread (Summerlin killing) make it all sound like it's a war zone!

Wait you don't keep bear traps under your windows too?

[LV2ndHome]

Originally Posted by jfkIII

This is a very scary thread. Why would people want to live like this?

I would love to live in a world with no crime, no house fires, no natural disasters, etc. Unfortunately such a place doesn't exist, so I have no choice. We have to live in the world as it is, not as we want it to be. Some choose to close their eyes and believe bad things won't happen to them, falsely viewing that fact that they haven't been a victim in the past as "proof" that they are safe moving forward. That doesn't change reality.

I know you've got wonderful weather, fantastic shows, no state taxes, inexpensive housing, and excitement 24/7...but does that justify living in fear and everyone answering their doors with weapons?

I don't live in fear because I feel I'm as prepared as practically possible to weather most of life's potential storms that may happen to come along. It's no more inconvenience to carry a gun than carry a wallet. You don't ever notice or think about it being there until there's a need, just like you don't think about or notice your wallet until you need to reach for it for money or ID. In contrast, I would be living in fear if I was unprepared to navigate the potholes along the road of life.

My mother would have likely been killed if she didn't have armed protection, and she knew the intruder as someone who had never been a problem or in trouble previously. Even if she hadn't answered the door, I'd guess they probably would have either kicked the door in then or come back at a later date and still forced the issue. What more justification for preparation do you need? Should she have lived naively in ignorant bliss thinking that kind of stuff would never happen to her and have likely died that evening? I would also add that I don't think she ever lived in fear and always felt safe, both before and surprisingly even after the attack.

Seriously...this and that other thread (Summerlin killing) make it all sound like it's a war zone!

As I stated previously, I've never had to pull a gun on anyone. Most people that I'm around nearly everyday don't even know that I carry, nor has any stranger that has ever come to my door realized I was carrying. I'm reasonably prepared for a fire, tornado, earthquake, etc but have never had any of that happen to me either. Yes there are always a few isolated incidents, like what my mother went through a few years ago for example, and the recent Summerlin shooting as another, but it certainly doesn't sound like a war zone to me.

.

[jfkIII]

Originally Posted by PinkString

I never answer the door with a weapon. In fact, I just don't answer the door if I do not recognize or know who is knocking.

But that sounds like the fear is still there. I can't imagine someone knocking on my front door while I was home and not answering it, whether I knew them or not. In fact, one day, coming home from work, I saw a fire that seemed odd and unattended burning in someone's back yard about a mile from my house. My wife was concerned also. So I turned the car around, pulled into their driveway and knocked on their door. A young woman answered and I explained what we were seeing and my concern. Her husband and I went over and sure enough, it was something that he thought he had extinguished and it was strting to spread. They were very thankful.

Jehovah Witnesses knock on my door from time-to-time. I always answer and politely refuse their literature.

You may not answer your door with a weapon...or even answer it at all, but how do you feel, that if you knocked on your neighbor's door, that they might be answering it with a weapon ready to use on you?

[jfkIII]

Originally Posted by unf0rgiven6262

Wait you don't keep bear traps under your windows too?

LOL...both my neighbor and I have cans of pepper spray in case it's needed for the occasional black bear we see in our yards...BUT, I never answer my door with it in hand.

[jfkIII]

@LVD2ndHome...in hindsight, what your 80 year old mom did was obviously the right thing...as she survived a savage attack. I'm not questioning the motive of her answering her door ready to attack, as it was obviously justified. You didn't say if that incident happened in Las Vegas or not...but why would anyone chose to live in an area where one regularly needs to be prepared for such an attack? I am very surprised she did not suffer PTSD being attacked at that age. And surpised that she would continue to live wherever that happened.

[dynimagelv]

That's why she moved out of beautiful upstate ny.

[LV2ndHome]

Originally Posted by jfkIII

why would anyone chose to live in an area where one regularly needs to be prepared for such an attack?

That's my main point. There is no place on earth that you aren't at risk to being attacked. People that believe otherwise are choosing to wear blinders and live in denial. Yes, your odds are much better in some places than others, and some people are more at risk than others and thus need to use more precaution, such as in my line of work requiring exposure of large sums of cash in public. I'm at risk to be followed back to any residential area no matter where I choose to live. I routinely read stories over time of people winning big and then being followed out by thugs and robbed, often at the victim's house, and sometimes even murdered.

My mother was not living in LV, but she was living in a subdivision equivalent to the nice ones in Summerlin, with an extremely low crime rate. The tenant that attacked had been screened, had no previous criminal record, and had been a good tenant for quite some time. That particular evening he called and made some excuse why he couldn't be available to come by and pay at the office during biz hrs and asked if he could drop it by their house. Other than that request being a little out of the ordinary, they had no reason to expect being at great risk.

Originally Posted by jfkIII

I am very surprised she did not suffer PTSD being attacked at that age. And surpised that she would continue to live wherever that happened.

My mother has always been a pretty tough old bird. She grew up during the Great Depression years in a rural area. When she was just a very young kid, her mother had her catching chickens, chopping off their heads, and preparing them for dinner. My family has always been largely sportsmen, so she has always been comfortable around guns and and the blood & guts of preparing wild game for food, though granted I don't know of her ever having experienced human assaults. Even at 80, she was young for her age, far from the stereotypical hobbling around with a cane or walker around that age. Honestly I think she was more upset at her nice front door being ruined by the gunfire than the actual assault.

Why would she want to move? Where would she go that's better? She was already in the nicest, safest neighborhood around. Two hoods took their best shot and failed. Isn't that an indication she's pretty safe there, at least as safe as she would be anywhere else? It was clear that attack had nothing to do with living at that address. They would have still attacked no matter where she had happened to live.

[babycoconut]

A few weeks moving here, there was a woman that knocked on my door for this mess. I opened the door because I thought she was my neighbor as she resembled her. But it wasn't and she showed me some crappy home made card with a hand drawn smiley face saying that if she gets enough points she can take a trip with some company. She even gave me an enthusiastic "Yay!" after telling me that. I simply told her I didnt have time for this and i was not interested. I didn't know this was common here.

[Prosze]

Originally Posted by PinkString

I never answer the door with a weapon. In fact, I just don't answer the door if I do not recognize or know who is knocking.

Same here. If I'm not expecting company, a package etc. there is no reason to open the door in the first place.