I heard an interesting news story on the radio today about an 87 year-old woman in New Jersey who was arrested for bringing a concealed handgun to the courthouse. She had forgotten to move it to her trunk which she normally does.

Now the whole thing could have been completely avoided if she had never purchased the handgun in the first place. She really has no business carrying around a weapon like that, but not for the reason you might be thinking. I fully support gun ownership and self defense, but this lady is more dangerous, both to herself and others. The gun was in its original box and she admits that she's never used it. Well, how do you expect to hit even the broad side of a barn, let alone a would-be assailant?

It's the same reason that I keep all my weapons unloaded and locked up in the garage. For them to really be useful during an altercation they would need to be loaded and ready at hand. There's more danger of my 3 year-old finding the gun than some crazy nut coming into the house and attacking us. That's a risk I'm willing to take.

If I ever buy a pistol--and I just might because they're fun to shoot--I guarantee I will get my money's worth out of it. I don't expect I'll tote it around with me though.