[Guyon]

I've read through this entire thread and have a few comments.

nsf003 ought to be commended for taking advice and coming clean with his parents. Moreover, I agree that any person who stabs you in the back isn't a friend and should be avoided.

John: I'm glad you tempered your criticism of nsf003. I think that "readying" the weapons was justifiable, even if he's 15. If nsf003 "owns" these guns, chances are he's grown up in a family of shooters / hunters. More than likely, he knows how to handle a firearm. Heck, where I'm from, kids start hunting anywhere from 10 to 12 years old. Moreover, nsf003 shows the presence of mind to come to TFL and learn about the proper uses of defensive force. He seems to know the severity of brandishing, and I'm glad it's been reinforced in this thread.

Still, if folks here had a angry, screaming idiot banging on our door and shouting all manner of things, I'd be willing to bet that most of us would slip a pistol into our pocket, waistband, etc. just in case. I generally do this when any unexpected visitor knocks on my door. These days, you just never know what someone's going to do.

I bet that quite a few TFL'ers have instructed their children (teenagers) how to handle a firearm in case of a forced entry into the home.

In this case, I sort of doubt that the woman planned to crash through a door or window and attack nsf003. Nonetheless, if he feared for his safety and if he had been trained to handle a weapon in case of a home invasion, then readying a firearm was not a bad safeguard. The key here is making sure that he knows the extremely few scenarios in which deadly force is legally (and even morally) justifiable.

That said, we don't know the whole story here. We have no idea why this woman was so angy. We don't know the "things" that nsf003 did with his so-called friend. Perhaps this woman's anger was somewhat justifiable as well. Her mistake though was taking it out on a 15-year old. If she had problems, she should have given the parents a call.