Practical Home Defense Discussion Thread.

[Citadelgrad87]

Apologize for the "guard dog" tangent . . . now back on track!

Not so fast. Gus loves the water, frequently he stands on the steps with water to his mid torso. I tell my wife he's cooling his junk, although there's not much junk left.

[blueman]

Some excellent advice has been posted here. In my professional experience about 90% of the home burglary alarms I respond to, the homeowners leave the side gate unlocked, allowing free access to the rear of the house. By placing a lock on the side gate (if your home has one) at least requires the perpetrator to climb the fence if they really want access to your home. Home alarms are great, along with surveillance cameras, whether real or imitations.

Regarding less lethal options like tasers and pepper spray, I would caution that if you employ these options and the perpetrator doesn't flee the home be prepared to either flee yourself, or be ready for a physical confrontation. Also give consideration to the types of commands you give to the perpetrator. Its better to tell them to leave your residence and let law enforcement catch them later than try to order them to put there hands up. Are you willing to hold someone at bay until law enforcement gets there? Do you have handcuffs or something else to restrain a perpetrator with? Are you willing to go "hands on" with the perpetrator at that point? I would rather keep my distance than try to go Jean Claude Van Damme on them. Fights generally don't go the way they do in the movies. In this instance firearms are a better option if you have it available.

[Foebia]

Good things to think about, my wife is not into Guns and a complete victim when she walks/shops. Still working on it... She just opens the door to anything without even checking the peep hole. It's kinda like she does not think bad things can happen and prefers to live in imaginary paradise.
I would love a dog though, thanks for sharing the pics.

[roseawebs]

Easy solution: defense best tactical flashlight and dog . But, what are the ? I know it is little bit off topics but i always prefer dog as home defense.

[mif_slim]

If you're going to use force, dont use less-than-lethal force. If you feel you need less-than-lethal force, you're not in danger of great bodily harm to or your loved ones.

[calif 15-22]

Not so fast. Gus loves the water, frequently he stands on the steps with water to his mid torso. I tell my wife he's cooling his junk, although there's not much junk left.

HA! My doodle HATES the water. Even at the beach. We have to drag him into the pool and he swims like a brick!

[BennyAdeline]

If you're going to use force, dont use less-than-lethal force. If you feel you need less-than-lethal force, you're not in danger of great bodily harm to or your loved ones.

Yeah...I'm not a fan of "less-than-lethal" home protection.

Sprays mean you'll be choking too.

Tazers are hard to hit with and you only get one shot.

Knives and bats mean you have to get too close. Furthermore, do you really want your family witnessing a death brawl? Are you Bruce lee?

Protecting your home and family entails neutralizing a threat as fast as possible. A partially injured person becomes more dangerous and god knows what they will pull out of their pocket or waistband. A dead man poses no threat, so real firepower is the best way to ensure safety.

Plus, the cops will say if they weren't enough of a threat to shoot, that they also weren't enough of a threat to taze, stab, beat, or spray.

Shooting someone probably sucks. None on us want to do it, but many are willing in order to keep our families out of harms way. I love my kin far too much to gamble their lives with an underpowered weapon.

[357manny]

Great thread. No, this is an excellent thread! I would add something, but pretty much everyone has covered it all.

To chime in:
1) scary big-ish dog (yeah, my boxer would rather jump and play and lick a burglar, but they don't need to know that!)
2) automatic security gate with remotes for main driveway (other neighbors just have wood/picket gates
3) motion security lights (we have 1 at the gate entry to our driveway, 1 further up the driveway, and another at the back entrance to our house--nobody walks up our driveway without lighting up the area)
4) leave the porch light on overnight
5) reinforced locks on entry doors (did that over the winter)
6) baseball bat at master bedroom doorway, gunsafe with 2 pistols in closet
7) baseball bat at main door entrance

Wife and I have a "plan" for home invasion--we bring everyone to our safest room, have a gunsafe with 2 pistols. We still need to put an actual plan together, and do the drills.

[BennyAdeline]

I'd like to pose a scenario I've been thinking about. I'll leave out the answer I came to so as not to bias the topic.

Bad guy comes in. You shoot him and he's down...weapon is out of reach and he's bleeding fast. Wife call the cops. Bad guy begins sobbing and begging for help. Your ears are ringing. Your kids are crying. What do you do?

[357manny]

I'd like to pose a scenario I've been thinking about. I'll leave out the answer I came to so as not to bias the topic.

Bad guy comes in. You shoot him and he's down...weapon is out of reach and he's bleeding fast. Wife call the cops. Bad guy begins sobbing and begging for help. Your ears are ringing. Your kids are crying. What do you do?

I was just thinking of similar scenario, where the bad guy(s) were gotten under control.
While I have the gun on him, I'd ask wife to get 3 rolls of heavy duty duct tape, and the first aid kit. Get him to sit in a chair or next to a sofa, and tape him down to it, hands first then feet/legs. Then after he's totally secured & immobilized, would offer to give him first aid (wound seal, tourniquet, whatever).

The threat was eliminated when the bad guy was shot and incapacitated. If he's still alive, and unable to continue being a threat, then I'd do my best to lock him down for the EMT and cops.
My initial gut thought would be, "why not eliminate the problem, while I can?", and pull the trigger. But in front of kids and wife, and having to live with that? Honestly, it's important for a family that we do the right thing as a family. You have to live with consequences of your actions, and I don't want my kids living with mistakes I made (dad in jail for murder, living with guilt of a murdered person, always having to hide the secret).

[omgwtfbbq]

4. Keep a phone by your bed.

To expand on this point, you should consider keeping a land-line in your home. The way CA's 911 system works, when you call 911 from a land-line it goes to jurisdiction in which the residence is located. Typically the address from where the call originated with show up on dispatch computers. This is how local LE agencies can respond to 911 hang-ups.

Whereas, if you call from a cell phone, it goes to the nearest CHP dispatch center. They then have to connect the call to the local agency, wasting valuable time. Also, when calling from a cellphone, you're location will not show up on dispatches computers.


As an additional note, I try to portray, "The Gray Man". I don't have blatantly 2A apparel or car stickers. I don't have items that might attract burglars visible from the street. I don't leave my garage door opener in my car. I don't leave anything in my car that I think might attract a burglar (keys, ipod, GPS etc.)

Many times a car will get burged and the assailant will take the garage door opener or a set of keys the owner left in the car, and then return to burg the residence.

[L84CABO]

I was just thinking of similar scenario, where the bad guy(s) were gotten under control.
While I have the gun on him, I'd ask wife to get 3 rolls of heavy duty duct tape, and the first aid kit. Get him to sit in a chair or next to a sofa, and tape him down to it, hands first then feet/legs. Then after he's totally secured & immobilized, would offer to give him first aid (wound seal, tourniquet, whatever).

The threat was eliminated when the bad guy was shot and incapacitated. If he's still alive, and unable to continue being a threat, then I'd do my best to lock him down for the EMT and cops.
My initial gut thought would be, "why not eliminate the problem, while I can?", and pull the trigger. But in front of kids and wife, and having to live with that? Honestly, it's important for a family that we do the right thing as a family. You have to live with consequences of your actions, and I don't want my kids living with mistakes I made (dad in jail for murder, living with guilt of a murdered person, always having to hide the secret).

You're going to want to be really careful going anywhere near a bad guy...like to tape him down?? He could be faking to lure you closer. I'll call the police, ask for an ambulance, toss him a towel if he's conscious so maybe he can stop the bleeding. No way in hell am I going near him though. Sorry if that means you bleed out Mr. Bad Guy. Maybe don't break into my house.

[357manny]

You're going to want to be really careful going anywhere near a bad guy...like to tape him down?? He could be faking to lure you closer. I'll call the police, ask for an ambulance, toss him a towel if he's conscious so maybe he can stop the bleeding. No way in hell am I going near him though. Sorry if that means you bleed out Mr. Bad Guy. Maybe don't break into my house.

Yeah, very true. Adrenaline can give amazing burst of energy. Tossing him a towel, or even get a pair of handcuffs, may be the wiser thing.

[ElDub1950]

You're going to want to be really careful going anywhere near a bad guy...like to tape him down?? He could be faking to lure you closer. I'll call the police, ask for an ambulance, toss him a towel if he's conscious so maybe he can stop the bleeding. No way in hell am I going near him though. Sorry if that means you bleed out Mr. Bad Guy. Maybe don't break into my house.

+10

Didn't you ever see youtube videos where it takes 4 cops to subdue a drugged up BG???

If he's incapacitated you don't need to 'tape him to a chair'.

If he's not incapacitated you don't want to be close enough to do it and especially don't want to send you wife to go hands on with someone who, a minute ago you were certain was ready to do you 'great bodily harm'.

[tanks]

Typical first line of defense (not my house, but down the street).


Second line of Defense to buy me 15 seconds to get me to third line of defense.



Third line of defense sprinkled around the house (secured in lockboxes/safes).