I'm trying to reconcile my thoughts about owning a gun for home protection with my spiritual practice.

I've been reading about emergency preparedness and survival recently, and I've decided that it would be prudent of me to get prepared with the usual items....water, canned food, crank radio, etc. Most articles also recommend some type of home protection in case the sh*t really hits the fan and people become desperate enough to harm others to get what they need/want. Therefore, I've been considering purchasing a shotgun for home protection and simply keeping it locked in a safe place in my home for the incredibly unlikely event of an emergency.

I also read a lot about politics and now that I'm older and understand more about the country I live in (USA), I feel as though it's my duty to exercise my 2nd Amendment right to bear arms (perhaps before this right is taken away by our own government).

When reading about gun ownership in general, you'll come across a common piece of advice that says, "never point a gun at anything you're not willing to kill". I've been wondering if I would ever really be able to do that, even if I were the victim in a home invasion type of scenario where my life and my wife's life was truly threatened.

I'm wondering if there are any gun owners in this Sangha or if anyone has any thoughts about this issue?