My Beretta 92F

New York City NY

Description

My Beretta 92F. I hate it. I never wanted to buy it in the first place, but my ex-husband insisted that I needed a handgun because I did a lot of solo mountain hiking. I’m not much into handguns in the first place, I don’t enjoy shooting them, so target practice is a chore. But that’s not why I loathe the weapon. On the last night of our married life together, he held that gun to my head and described how he was going to dismember me and feed my body to the sharks. It was loaded, and the safety was off. This was after almost three full days of being held prisoner by him without sleep or reprieve from constant verbal and physical abuse. “You’re not worth going to prison over” He finally spat out, then threw the weapon into my lap and stormed out of the room. I looked at that gun and I realized that the entire power dynamic had changed. Because now I had the weapon. With the door open, I picked up the phone and called 911. When he heard me on the phone, and came storming towards me, I didn’t stop talking to the operator - I just calmly pointed the weapon at him. He got the message and backed off. The police arrived minutes later. The gun that could have ended my life undoubtedly saved it. So I hate that gun. And I value it far beyond the money I could get for selling it. I still don’t enjoy target practice with it. But it might just save my life again. For the inevitable anti-gun comments, this man also harmed me with his bare hands and a knife. He did not need a gun to kill me quickly then or now. However, I did need one to equalize the fight between him and me.