If you plan to get a gun, learn to shoot it before carrying it around - and consider what else you'd be carrying around if you ever had to kill someone. And bear in mind that the person who dies could as easily be you or your daughter.

I used to compete with handguns (something I used to explain as 'very loud darts'). Gun laws are weird in Massachusetts: if you leave one (even hidden/locked) in your car and it's stolen you're responsible. And if you have a concealed permit, carrying it openly is often considered 'menacing'. So I had my Gold Cup the day I broke up a group of guys beating up another (I now realize the guy on the ground was probably gay). I had the shakes for a bit after - then got to thinking about how I'd feel after having killed someone - and there's no going back and undoing it. Yeah, I had match rounds and might have just knocked someone down, but I wasn't good enough to aim for anything but the center of mass. At least I didn't get deer fever. But after thinking about the aftermath, I started taking advantage of gun lockers at the range and haven't carried again.

Also: be prepared to go to court, maybe prison. Someone looking scary and pointing at you is NOT a reason to shoot them.