...

[osokne]

...

[Gio]

Oh nice! Don't you just love that feeling?

[greasemonkey]

My lady came close with me, I said goodbye early in the am when I was leaving for work but then ended up staying there for a bit and she woke up later, hearing noises out in the living room, she grabbed what she needed to grab and asked what she needed to ask...I responded properly and didn't have to hear the slide cycle I was proud of her.

[hkusp9c]

if you have yelled out "who is it?"
then he might have told you he was a plumber?

that's what i do anyways before i do anything, so that the person outside won't do anything stupid thinking that no one's home UNLESS it's halloween.

[j1133s]

.... Get a knock on the door, I get up & throw on a shirt, I almost get to the door and I hear the distinct sounds of someone trying to open the door from the outside.

Opened the door with my left hand... and the 12GA in my right hand.

...Fortunately for both of us... I was in "ask questions first" mode... but still at the ready.

Whew!

So, here's BG (you think) trying to open your door and you actually open it for him/her? Don't do that, make the BG work harder

Also, when the gun is out, it means the situation is serious, so (1) don't stand next to the door where you think the BG is (in your case) and (2) just shoot and don't hesitate.

[mattt]

As a plumber that works on apartments take a chill pill. You knew there was a chance he was coming in that day and you still freaked out? My advice to you is move to a safer complex. I have to go into poeples apts all the time sometimes they wake up after I am already working on there pluming. I always ask the manager to let me in though.

[Captain Cogle]

Scary close call I had was with my wife. I was down and out with some serious stomach issues and was sleeping. I heard some one come in the front door, march across the front room and into the kitchen. I yelled out "Hello Honey" assuming it was my wife home from work. Dead silence for a moment. Then the sound of fast foot steps through the house again. So I called out again "Breanna?!" which was only met with dead silence again until I heard some one come back inside the house. Now I KNOW something funny is going on. I think I am being robbed blind. I jumped up out of bed, buck nekkid, grabbed the shotgun from beside the bed and threw open the bedroom door with the shotgun leveled from the hip, safety off but kept my finger off the trigger, ready for what ever I found. There stood my wife wide eyed. Scared the hell out of both of us.

She had been bringing in groceries and every time I yelled out she had been outside grabbing bags out of the car and was trying to be quite so as not to wake me. She forgot I wake easily.

[m1a1driver]

Yea at the apts where I live, they leave a written notice the day before, and if you arent home they just use the master key and go inside to do whatever maintenance they have to. I dont like people in here while i'm not here so I usually stick around when they are working. I live in a bad area and am moving soon. Last month I come home and hear gunfire in the street, and see people running away holding knives. I called 911 and told them what happened and which building they ran into. Sheriff shows up and goes to that building and the perp opens fire on the deputies who end up shooting and killing the suspect, So I am definitely finding another place to live!

[CHS]

As a plumber that works on apartments take a chill pill. You knew there was a chance he was coming in that day and you still freaked out? My advice to you is move to a safer complex. I have to go into poeples apts all the time sometimes they wake up after I am already working on there pluming. I always ask the manager to let me in though.

This.

[blakdawg]

I've had something like this happen a couple of times (once it was pest control + an apartment manager who hadn't bothered to give notice, once it was a confused pizza delivery person) and both times I was really glad I didn't shoot first and ask questions later.

This another reason it's important to think about defense-in-depth - e.g., multiple layers of overlapping security measures, so you don't have to rely on deadly force as your only option/reaction. In the case of the pest control/apartment manager, they were slowed down by my dog and the interior chain lock on the door, which gave me time (they woke me out of a sound sleep by opening my front door) to figure out they were idiots, not criminals invading my home.

[TurboChrisB]

Worst advice EVER

So, here's BG (you think) trying to open your door and you actually open it for him/her? Don't do that, make the BG work harder

Also, when the gun is out, it means the situation is serious, so (1) don't stand next to the door where you think the BG is (in your case) and (2) just shoot and don't hesitate.

[IntoForever]

For my work I have to go into many homes and apartments. I always knock lightly first (incase sleeping people are home and someone is awake waiting) no answer = knock normal and without an answer I knock harder. If there is a doorbell, that's my last resort before entering. Once inside I call out "maintenance" and without an answer slowly proceed to do what I'm there to do. One of my co-workers walked into an apartment to catch the occupants having sex, which he described as a traumatizing sight. I'll pass on getting shot at.

[leelaw]

(2) just shoot and don't hesitate.

What's that one rule of the four rules of firearms usage?

Does it have to do with positively identifying your target, not "just shoot and don't hesitate"?

[meaty-btz]

Odd question but does your appartment not have an inner deadbolt? All I have been in do have multiple deadbolts.

While home, inner and outer deadbolt get locked. While I am not at home, only top because you cannot access the inner deadbolt from the outside. That prevents any entry when I am home be it appartment manager or maint persons.

Layered defenses, while limited in appartments, are still available. Use them. Is your phone in your bedroom? Good while S.O. is out and you are home, lock inner lock. It is better to be woken while sick than ever, EVER, draw down on your S.O.. You don't want to give yourself any chance for friendly fire.

Door-bars, chains, door braces, inner and outer deadbolts, security doors are all options for appartments and present a good means to prevent surprise visitations by friendlies, esp if you are jumpy and armed.

Friendly Fire in these kinds of situations are what the Anti's latch on too. Being a jumpy-joe just feeds that fear in them and gives them plenty of ammo. If you are going to go about armed and be armed to defend you need to be installing protocols that contain or eliminate FF chances, period. That is YOUR RESPONSIBILLITY. Comes with the gun.

Worried about a camera being stolen, ask your appartment manager to allow you to install one in a steel bar-cage. Chances are a welded 1/2" steel bar cage should discourage anyone w/o power tools and anyone with powertools should alert you by the noise.

I've lived in some pretty bad places before. One where the appartment was under the "protection" of a gang. Same one where the local Samoan gang took on our gang and it got bloody. Same one where the interior halls looked like San Quentan Prison, where the doors were steel laminated solid cored jobs. Same one where 3 doors down the guy came home to catch his wife cheatin and tore through the double steel laminated door and shattered the door frame with his bare hands. That was more frightening than the gangbangers blooding eachother on the other side of the fence from the complex.

Oddly enough, no ones car got broken into or stolen, no ones car got vandalized who wasnt an active gang member. Unless something was going down, you could walk about outside at night without fear. The gang had "enforcers" patrolling the area day and night. By and large, they didnt bother the residents. It was a truly unique experience, I felt better protected by the gang than the police...

In my much nicer current appartment, I actually feel slightly less safe. My car as well as 10 or so others have been vandalized over the last 5 years. 4 have been stolen. Police response time dispite knowing for a fact in one instance was about 3 blocks away has always been about 5 min or more. We have really nice appartments, huge grassy area in front, pool, lots of families live here. Its surrounded by trees, really nice... too bad some dick wad did 2100 in damage to my GTO in a few seconds with a knife and no one was the wiser. If someone did that back in "the hood" he would be found face down in the local alley the next day quite dead or beaten to hell and back.

I have a similar story related by a friend who moved back east and paid protection money to the man who came by the day he moved in. I don't condone gangs or voilence or organized crime but I have to say, be safe. Layer your defenses. Avoid friendly fire at all costs.


I think I wandered off topic here.. hah!

[joemama]

As a plumber that works on apartments take a chill pill. You knew there was a chance he was coming in that day and you still freaked out? My advice to you is move to a safer complex. I have to go into poeples apts all the time sometimes they wake up after I am already working on there pluming. I always ask the manager to let me in though.

this x100

Thats one of the main reasons I always knock loudly and announce maintenance when entering an apartment. But I really hate it when I have a resident that knows were comming and act surprised when they didnt wake up or hear us pounding on the door even though they gave us permission to enter.