It's perfectly understandable. The sad part is that anyone should feel the need to violently protect themselves from fellow Americans.
I want to give my friends at DU some advice if they are contemplating arming themselves. Before you do, go sit down in a quiet room. Think very deeply about what it means to fire a gun at someone. You must understand that you will seriously injure or kill them. Search your heart, your soul, pray on it if that's appropriate. Ask yourself, at the moment of crisis can I pull that trigger? If your answer is yes, think about it some more. Remember, real life is not the movies. You don't converse with your assailant. Nano seconds count. In war there is a one simple rule. In a fight it is him or me. Make damned sure it's him. The other side of the coin is that it is far worse to brandish a gun and then not be able to use it than it is to not have a gun at all. When you show your gun, you put him on notice that he is in mortal danger. He will opt for rule one. For a normal person the whole idea is horrific. Damn Trump to hell for making us have to have this conversation.
On a personal note, for years my ex badgered me to buy her a gun and teach her how to use it. I refused because I knew her well enough to know that if push came to shove, she would not use the gun. She would hesitate. As I said, in a crisis situation it is better to not have a gun than to scare an attacker into using their gun.
For as long as I can remember, I have scoffed at the NRA types that always said that the reason for the Second Amendment was so citizens could defend themselves against a tyrannical government. I never for a moment thought that was true. At this point it is hard to deny that they may have been right. I still hope with all my heart that they were wrong.
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