Well,some excursion in personal psychology:
When I got my first assault rifle in the army, the immediate feeling I had, when I got it handed, was a heavy weight of responsibility. you hold it in your hands, and it is just as heavy as you expected, but then, there is also new mass on your shoulders. A really chilling feeling. When I first loaded it with live ammo, the feeling was way more intense. From that point on, a decision of me could mean the death of somebody else. It could be a good or a bad decision, but generally, a decision that I don't want. Not then, not today.
As soldier, you have to take this responsibility. You might not like it, but it is your duty, and in that moral codex, you use it as the soldier in your head would, and not like the civilian that you left back home. Had the interesting result that I was generally shooting in training situation, when others still hesitated. And was generally approved by my trainers, that I decided not a millisecond too late. The situation was escalating quickly, as intended in the training.
Luckily, training was NEVER like the real world. In the real world, people don't want to push the situation to the limits. It is no rehearsal anymore, in which you can just start again. It is no Hollywood movie either. you don't get Warsaw pact terrorists sabotaging people, you get slightly drunk and risk seeking teenagers. And there, you really see what guard training is actually about: Not the fastest way about shooting the intruder with a single shot right in the head. But about knowing all options and alternatives before you need to do that, and how to control the situation towards not needing to waste ammo or time at all.
The feeling of responsibility did never go away. You grew confident on it, learned that it was somewhere between the fear of actually having to use deadly force, and the excitement of having so much power at hand.
Why it matters to that thread? Because gun owners never automatically also get guard training. Many gun-owners are really believing that, if they just wave around with their pistol and shout a lot, the bad guy will stop. or that by shooting the intruder, the work is done. And that just training at a shooting range, will also make them better in guarding their house and family. The opposite is the case. Without the training, they are just as dangerous for their families, as the possible intruders.
If you have never practiced reading the situation in which you are in, you will also not know what kind of force is now needed, or if it might even be wiser to take a step back and get in a better position. You might even not think about the need to have a second buddy in a good position to give you cover, because the real world enemies are never like training targets. They will try to move you into a better position for them as well, if they are as smart and evil as they can really get. In that moment, having a second pair of eyes is extremely good for your health. Even if this second pair of eyes is just shouting "Watch out!"
Such training is never mandatory. People really believe for fighting the bad government or the bad criminal, all training you need you get from the shooting range, but that is wrong. The shooting range is only perfecting the final 1% of the force you have available. If you don't know about the other 99%, these 1% will become 100% you have. Either you shoot instantly and maybe kill an innocent person or a criminal that could have survived otherwise, or you die yourself. Which is the glorified situation that idiots brag about, but which professionals disdain.
I would say, many who did law enforcement here, know the other 99% well and don't need any lecturing. But I suspect, they are a tiny minority among all gun owners. And I am pretty sure, that they also know the responsibility better than people who are thoughtless enough to buy a gun without also buying the proper training. People who have the training likely also know, why a gun alone doesn't disarm a situation and that a bad guy can not only be armed himself, but also be not alone on your property, before you ensured that.
I know that now, as civilian, I am not trained in the other 99% and likely poor in the 1%. I couldn't take the responsibility, because I can't be responsible, not able to do the proper decisions needed. Having a gun now, would mean much more danger from my side, than from any thinkable attacker, that did yet never come here.
