Your friend sounds A-OK.
She is on a journey, as we all are, and hasn't arrived at the "CHL/CCW" phase- maybe she will, maybe she won't.
But...
If the discussion continues to be faith-centered (Christian, in you rcase) consider this synopsis of a discussion i had with a friend of mine. Both of us also took the Christian arguement path.
Short version:
If Saints Michael, Gabriel and Rafael appeared before me and said that no harm that can be prevented by use of a firearm will ever happen to me or my progeny, I would happily NOT carry one ever again. I do in fact, like guns themselves, but I carry for defense only. Yes, I could take a life, if necessary in the course of legitimate self-defense.
The decision i had to come to in order to carry a firearm and realize I may take life if I ever had to use it is as follows: My life is not mine, it is a gift from The Almighty. My life is His, and I am in stewardship of it. I am also in custodianship of the lives of my wife, children, and possibly others depending on the situation. I can only assume that He made me the way he wants me: among other things, ALIVE. It is not reasonable for me to assume he wants me dead, or else I would be. I further believe He made me for a purpose or maybe more than one purpose. Not the least of these purposes is to know Him and love Him on THIS world; and to raise children to do the same. I can't do either one if I am dead.
Therefore, to not avail myself of legitimate effective means of preserving my life when faced with grave harm or death is to not be in proper custodianship/stewardship of His gift (my life)- it is to hold His gift in disdain(*) which is a grave sin.
Furthermore, in Evangelicum Vitae, we read the following which says, in short: its a terrible thing to have to take life to defend yours, but its the fault of the attacker; and you are still innocent even if the attacker is crazy and not really an evil person; but you still owe it to God to defend your life. See here:
"Christian reflection has sought a fuller and deeper understanding of what God's commandment prohibits and prescribes. There are in fact situations in which values proposed by God's Law seem to involve a genuine paradox. This happens for example in the case of legitimate defense, in which the right to protect one's own life and the duty not to harm someone else's life are difficult to reconcile in practice. Certainly, the intrinsic value of life and the duty to love oneself no less than others are the basis of a true right to self-defense. ...legitimate defense can be not only a right but a grave duty for someone responsible for another's life, the common good of the family or of the State. Unfortunately, it happens that the need to render the aggressor incapable of causing harm sometimes involves taking his life. In this case, the fatal outcome is attributable to the aggressor whose actions brought it about, ...even though he may not be morally responsible because of a lack of the use of reason."
The above even makes refernce to those who take life on behalf of others, soldiers, and police, especially.
END
So my take is that I owe God the gratitude of taking his gift seriously, even if faced with the solemn task of defending life with violence.
Hope that makes sense,
C-
(*) I read that phrase, "hold [His] gift in disdain", in "Nation of Cowards"and i liked the way it sounded, so i adopted it to my speech.
She is on a journey, as we all are, and hasn't arrived at the "CHL/CCW" phase- maybe she will, maybe she won't.
But...
If the discussion continues to be faith-centered (Christian, in you rcase) consider this synopsis of a discussion i had with a friend of mine. Both of us also took the Christian arguement path.
Short version:
If Saints Michael, Gabriel and Rafael appeared before me and said that no harm that can be prevented by use of a firearm will ever happen to me or my progeny, I would happily NOT carry one ever again. I do in fact, like guns themselves, but I carry for defense only. Yes, I could take a life, if necessary in the course of legitimate self-defense.
The decision i had to come to in order to carry a firearm and realize I may take life if I ever had to use it is as follows: My life is not mine, it is a gift from The Almighty. My life is His, and I am in stewardship of it. I am also in custodianship of the lives of my wife, children, and possibly others depending on the situation. I can only assume that He made me the way he wants me: among other things, ALIVE. It is not reasonable for me to assume he wants me dead, or else I would be. I further believe He made me for a purpose or maybe more than one purpose. Not the least of these purposes is to know Him and love Him on THIS world; and to raise children to do the same. I can't do either one if I am dead.
Therefore, to not avail myself of legitimate effective means of preserving my life when faced with grave harm or death is to not be in proper custodianship/stewardship of His gift (my life)- it is to hold His gift in disdain(*) which is a grave sin.
Furthermore, in Evangelicum Vitae, we read the following which says, in short: its a terrible thing to have to take life to defend yours, but its the fault of the attacker; and you are still innocent even if the attacker is crazy and not really an evil person; but you still owe it to God to defend your life. See here:
"Christian reflection has sought a fuller and deeper understanding of what God's commandment prohibits and prescribes. There are in fact situations in which values proposed by God's Law seem to involve a genuine paradox. This happens for example in the case of legitimate defense, in which the right to protect one's own life and the duty not to harm someone else's life are difficult to reconcile in practice. Certainly, the intrinsic value of life and the duty to love oneself no less than others are the basis of a true right to self-defense. ...legitimate defense can be not only a right but a grave duty for someone responsible for another's life, the common good of the family or of the State. Unfortunately, it happens that the need to render the aggressor incapable of causing harm sometimes involves taking his life. In this case, the fatal outcome is attributable to the aggressor whose actions brought it about, ...even though he may not be morally responsible because of a lack of the use of reason."
The above even makes refernce to those who take life on behalf of others, soldiers, and police, especially.
END
So my take is that I owe God the gratitude of taking his gift seriously, even if faced with the solemn task of defending life with violence.
Hope that makes sense,
C-
(*) I read that phrase, "hold [His] gift in disdain", in "Nation of Cowards"and i liked the way it sounded, so i adopted it to my speech.