Is a pistol faster than 911?

The most obvious answer is: yes. The AP reported the story of a woman in West Covina, CA who was shot to death while talking to a 911 dispatcher. This is similar to a story I posted on before where a woman called dispatch while hiding in her bedroom closet except when her attacker confronted her she shot him to death.

I believe that 911 dispatchers do the best they can. As I have previously stated, I also believe that by and large police officers do their very best to help us out when we’re in trouble and help us all sleep a little better at night. That said, they’re not fast enough, and they can’t be. They aren’t supermen. Even with an almost impossible response time of 30 seconds (almost unheard of), how much damage or death can some creep inflict in that amount of time? Police can’t be everywhere at once and we wouldn’t want them to be. A 185 grain bullet traveling at 1200 feet per second is a lot faster backup than a patrol car doing 80mph.

Guns aren’t the answer for everything BUT I believe that citizens should use the systems in place for their benefit, e.g. 911 and I also believe that people have a responsibility to care for themselves. I can’t always say that a gun would have saved a life, but in this case it wouldn’t have hurt to have it either. I hope more people start arming themselves for their protection and for the ones they love. A gun is just a tool, but it’s a pretty dang good one.