I want a gun

This photo was taken by a crime scene investigator who was sent out to fingerprint my car after it was broken into.
My car radio was stolen. My steering column was jimmied with. A piece of my ignition switch was broken off as the thief or thieves attempted to pop out the switch and drive away my car.
The break in was discovered on Tuesday morning as I prepared to go to work. I waited two hours for a police officer to show only to be told that I would have to wait another two hours for a CSI person.
Instead, I went to work, called 911 after I returned home and had a crime scene investigator at my home about 9:30 or 10 p.m.
But it is not the police I'm angry with. I'm angry at the criminals who violated my property, my trust, my sense of safety.
This was the third time in two years that something has happened at my home. In April 2004, about a month after I moved in, someone tried to break into my home. In fact, it was a guy I had hired to cut my grass three days earlier. Thank God a neighbor saw him in the act and called the police. He was arrested in the act, charged and given probation.
In May of 2005, I arrived home from work to find that my car had been stolen from my yard. It was a wrecked car that I was trying to sell for parts, so of course there was no insurance on it. And since I had been trying to sell it, the title was in the car. (I know, I should not have done that... but no one should have stolen it either.)
And here it is August 2006 and someone breaks into my car.
I don't drink. I don't do drugs. I try to live a wholesome life. I don't surround myself with questionable people. I'm a good person, I think. So why me? Why have I been targeted?
I have several and I do mean several neighbors who have lived in that neighborhood for 10, 15, 20, and even 30 years who have NEVER had any problems. And I do mean never.
The neighborhood consists mostly of older people, and many of the women are home most of the day. Their husbands work in factories or have two jobs. They keep their yards nice, and most of us decorate our butts off at Christmas, with some of the houses trying to outdo the next one.
It's a racially mixed neighborhood of whites, blacks and Latinos.
The only dogs on my street are the little kind, the cute things you keep in your home. Most of the cars are late models. I probably have the oldest and the ugliest car in the neighborhood. No, I know I do.
So all in all, it's not a bad area.
One of my neighbors speculated that I have been targeted because I am away from my home so long each day. I am away approximately 10 to 11 hours each day.
Plus, some folks think I have buckets of money after hearing that I'm a journalist.
Hello???? Did they not notice the car I was driving?
I must say that my street has not been that bad. But that is my street, or the top of my street. The bottom half, well......
The police officer who took my report Tuesday morning said they have been having problems with a bunch of teen-agers at the other end of my street - a bunch of kids who have formed some kind of gang.
What the heck????
And they have been causing trouble this summer at the end of my street, around the park and a couple of streets over.
Now I don't think the kids stole my car in 2005 and I know they didn't break into my house in 2004, but I do believe they broke into my car.
On Tuesday night, three of my neighbors woke up to find spray paint on their cars. No one slept Wednesday night. We all had lights on and were checking each other's property.
I just don't feel safe in my own home anymore and I don't feel safe leaving it for work.
How dare someone else do that.
I never and I do mean never thought I would be one of those individuals who would even consider getting a gun, but here I am not only thinking about doing it, I am doing it.
Once the check has cleared, I will be a gun owner.