Here’s a question for gun control activists.

It’s a real “sit down, listen, and think” question.

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Let’s say you’re sitting at a bus stop with a friend and you’re headed out to a gun control demonstration.

You’re clutching a “commonsense gun laws” sign. Your friend is wearing a Beto O’Rourke T-shirt, which reads, “HELL YES, We’re Going to Take Your AR-15.”

You’re sitting next to a woman who’s staring at your sign and at your friend’s shirt.

The woman looks at you and her eyes narrow.

She’s about to ask a question — and you expect a barrage of anti-gun control memes.

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Instead, she calmly asks, “I’m curious. What would you say to me if I had to use a gun to defend myself against someone who knocked down my front door and tried to kill me? Not a theoretical person, but me — the woman sitting a foot away from you? Give me a real answer, please — one that would work in real life.”

The man seems stumped for a moment. That is, until he goes through his mental Rolodex of talking points, ignoring the woman’s plea for a practical reply.

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He says, “Well, if we get our way and the government confiscates all guns and makes it illegal for people to have guns, then no one could use a gun to kill you.”

The woman pauses and then says, “He tried to kill me with a knife!”

This is an imagined conversation for the purposes of this piece. And here’s why: A woman in McCleary, Washington, a town some 80 miles southwest of Seattle — population about 1,700 — found herself in this terrifying scenario for real, according to KOMO News.

On Nov. 27, 2019, at around 9:25 p.m., a woman who identified herself as “Aubrey” was at her home with a male friend, aged 60.

Her estranged 47-year-old husband — against whom she had a restraining order — was armed with a knife.

He arrived in a rage and broke into her house.

According to Grays Harbor County Undersheriff Brad Johansson, “A struggle ensued with the man with the knife, and a 36-year-old female who was home at the time was able to shoot the suspect with the knife, fatally wounding him.”

The woman called “Aubrey” offered this statement to KOMO News: “Life is precious. Rage is real. If it’s your life or theirs, you have to do what you have to do.”

After emphasizing that “her friend was being attacked,” she added, “Cherish every moment of life.”

The Sheriff’s Office reported the incident appeared to be one of self-defense.

Johansson said, “Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. It appears that the male subject entered the residence forcibly, and the homeowner protected herself.”

So, to those staunch gun control advocates out there in our country, there’s what happened, as the Sheriff’s Office reported. Accepting the facts as reported and setting aside emotions and political ideology, sitting face to face with “Aubrey,” what do you tell her when, if not for her gun, she might be dead?

Remember the initial answer from the man at the bus stop? “Take away all the guns,” he said.

Disregard for the sake of argument the “right” or “wrong” of gun control and confiscation. The entire gun control position seems to rely on a myth that it is possible for the government to confiscate all guns, even from criminals.

And what about defending yourself against people who use other weapons, such as knives? Do you expect “Aubrey” to get into a knife fight with a homicidal man in a rage?

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Let’s forget about this hypothetical gun control advocate. What about you, the gun control person reading this? What would you tell “Aubrey”?

Forget the platitudes, memes, tropes, and talking points. What would you, as a person, say to this woman, as a person — a woman who knows her estranged husband would have killed her and her friend that night if she hadn’t had a gun?

You’re sitting next to the woman called “Aubrey.” She’s asked you a direct question that deserves a direct answer: “What would have happened to me if I did not have the right to possess a firearm?”

What alternate scenario, within the realm of reality, do you have for her?

How could she have realistically protected herself without her gun that night?

That night after that man smashed down her door and entered the house in a fury and armed with a knife — what would she have done without a gun?

Again, tell her what would have happened to her if you had had your way — and her gun had been “bought back,” meaning confiscated.

Don’t you owe it to “Aubrey” (and all those like her) to give her practical alternatives, since you’re among those who prefer she not have a right to own a gun?

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Or is “Aubrey,” and people like her, expendable while you work toward your fairytale political goals?

I’m not hearing any answers. Because, in the real world, there are no good ones.

A person’s right to self-defense is inextricably linked to a person’s right to keep and bear arms.

The Framers of our Constitution knew this — and we should continue to honor the right to self-defense that they recognized as God-given.

Shouldn’t gun control arguments pass through a “critical thinking” filter to qualify as valid?

If you don’t consider what will happen to real human beings — like this poor woman who was actually threatened by a man with a knife — as a consequence of your political ideology, how can you have the audacity to advocate for laws that would have disarmed her?

If you had your way, “Aubrey” would not have been able to protect herself that horrific night.

And instead of her self-defense — we’d be reading about her murder.

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