“We may assume the attacker will be obviously bad, yet that may not be true. They may only be bad in and for that single moment you have to react. There was a church shooting were the perpetrator was member of prayer group and waited to the end to do his evil… In another case a worship leader mentally broke down… Could you deal with someone you have been praying side by side with for weeks or just led the whole church in worship? Defense is defense, it knows no demographic line.” – Warren Abbot of Armoured One Tactical

My take: Planning for self defense in a realistic way means counting the cost — looking at the possible moral, emotional, spiritual, practical, legal, relational, financial impacts of self-defense choices — before deciding to carry a deadly weapon.

These are not easy questions. Only necessary ones.

The middle of a gunfight is no time to be facing an existential crisis. Get that stuff squared away in your head first, and then live the rest of your life with the quiet confidence of someone who knows what choices they are willing to make, and why.