As sort of a homage to @Antipathy 's thread, this is more of a question of COULD you?
And by that I mean could you take another's life.
It doesn't matter the reasoning, although self defense issues put you in the position of ultimately having to make this choice whether you're prepared or not.
A lot of trained soldiers still get shaken by the first time they take a life, and some can never get over that feeling.
Myself, I always believed if the time came I would be able to make that choice. I have two very young sisters, and the area I live has began gaining a lot of infamy in the last few years for assaults and B&E crimes (Breaking and Entering). Now I dont have my own registered firearm *YET* We have several in the house and normally I keep one in my room, and I would do everything for these little girls. I already know when they start bringing boys home I'll be cracking some heads
What about you? Do we have any homicidal sociopaths lurking on General?