I get Kate's point. Women usually are far more sensitive and unable to make that decision. But reality is this: the day may come when it is a him-or-me scenario. The thug is going to take you out, or you are going to take him out. Somebody is going to die. If it is me, I want to have a vote if it is him or me. That is why I carry. Nobody will ever see my weapon until I've decided to use it and have pulled it out. And at that point nobody else's opinion will matter.
Jack, yes, there will be psychological consequences. That's where training happens to help me make the best decision in the moment, and looking back will not matter... hindsight is always 20/20 (or at least better). I'd rather deal with those issues than push up daisies. That's what matters.
I disagree with you about women being more sensitive, and, somehow, less inclined to pull the trigger.
1) Ludmillia Pavelichenko (I may have spelled her name wrong) was probably the second most lethal sniper in military history. The Nazi high command sent 36 of their best snipers to take her out, and she sent all 36 home in body bags. The Nazis were reduced to trying to bribe her on the battlefield with bullhorns offering her money, unlimited shopping, a beautiful home, and so on if she would only defect. She usually killed these officers as well. She had 307 confirmed kills....which means that her actual number was probably closer to 500 or so.
Good for her.
As a Jew, I'd shake her hand and feel deeply honored to do so.
2) Studies seem to indicate that many soldiers become secretly squeamish on the battlefield, and deliberately miss when shooting at the enemy because they can't stomach the idea of taking a human life when push comes to shove.
3) Among Native Americans, it was usually the women who did all of the torture.
4) It's an open secret in shooting circles that women--for whatever reason--have a much steeper learning curve when it comes to pistol and rifle. I, personally, learned to shoot from a female instructor . . . who could castrate a housefly from 200 meters with her 7mm Remington 700.
5) I was working as a paramedic in Miami in the late 80s, and there was a rash of murders in the underworld where the hitter was never caught. I always believed (and I wasn't alone in my opinion) that the hitter was a woman. Always a small-caliber pistol up close. Usually a .25 ACP. And--if we were right about it being the same person--she had a body count of around 17 victims. This assassin was believed to work for Colombian drug lord named Griselda. I met her once at Jackson Memorial Hospital, and she was one of the scariest human beings (assuming, of course, that you want to call her that) that I've ever met. She had dead, reptillian eyes....the eyes of a conscienceless sociopath. I don't consider myself a coward, but she really frightened me on a very deep level.
So I respectfully disagree with you on this point about female sensitivity. Post SHTF, I believe that male chauvanism may get a lot of rapists killed.
And this is as it should be.
