Home Defense

[FlyinRock]

Before any knee jerk reactions, this can be very serious in any number of ways. Here is the scenario;
you are awakened at 0100 by glass breaking or some other sound that makes you wake up. As you listen, there are more noises that make it obvious someone is trying to break into your domicile. You and your wife are in bed, a house guest is in the guest room. The house has been burgled the day before (saturday afternoon) and at least $8000 in cream is gone. Broken windows have been covered over, door jambs have been reinforced. Here we are at 0100 Sunday night and some thugs are trying to break in. You see the shadow of one at the front door trying to jimmy the door, another at the side door and another at the kitchen door. The one at the side door has broken the glass and is trying to manipulate the dead bolt which has been replaced with a keyed lock. His hand is inside trying to work the deadbolt.
The thug at the kitchen window is trying to jimmy the back door which has been reinforced with a steel plate behind the deadbolt.
You hear the thug at the front door kick in the glass and you wonder who will come in the house next?
So, what do you do at this point? You are armed and ready to shoot. They are not aware you are in the house.
Hmmmmmm ..This is meant to be a thinking exercise and one that should be considered if you find yourself faced with similar circumstances.
This is based on an actual incident in SoCal circa 1985
Semper Fi
Rocky

 

[CAMike]

In CA: Yell STOP, loudly...repeatedly. Call 911 if you can. Retreat to a room (armed) and instruct everyone in the house to lay on the Ground and stay where they are. If the BG's continue to enter the house and it's dark- you better light them up with a flashlight to be absolutely sure they are not a drugged out Charlie Sheen type house guest punking you or it's a neighbor kid. If they made it past the locked door and kitchen window and you identify them as "unknown" then shoot-shoot- look- shoot. But then again I'm in CA so your mileage may vary depending of the District Attorney in you geographic area.

Personally- I'll do as much of the above as possible but flashlight light or not- once my repeated verbal warnings goes out and they enter the house, SSLS will be the priority. I'll have to suffer the consequences later when it's determined the intruders were unarmed bullied gay deaf/mutes.

 

[ea6bflyr]

First, I'd have my personal firearm at the ready, then make enough noise in an attempt to scare the burglars away. Scale the force to the treat; Just because you have a weapon, doesn't mean you have to use it. The thought of a homeowner with a weapon is usually enough to scare away a burglar. If the burglar intends to do harm, then you have the right to self defense. Shooting someone just because they entered your home, more than likely posing no threat, is stupid.

Knowing when and how to use deadly force is just as important as owning a firearm.

-ea6bflyr

 

[Rocketman]

Knowing when and how to use deadly force is just as important as owning a firearm.
-ea6bflyr

Yup and as Mike alluded to that can vary wildly from state to state. What FlyingRock described is a home invasion by two thugs that have every reason to believe that the house will be occupied. To me that is very different than a kid climbing through an unlocked window to boost your laptop when he thinks you are at work. Different threats entirely that may require different responses. In a home invasion my assumption will be that my life is in grave danger. The thugs Rock describes are in much more danger of being shot by me than the kid sneaking in the window at 2:00 pm on a work day.

 

[Flash]

This is based on an actual incident in SoCal circa 1985

What happened in the actual incident?

 

[phrogpilot73]

I live in Virginia. Shoot them dead.

 

[yak52driver]

Wisconsin recently passed a Castle Doctrine law. I would: 1) yell "I'm awake, I have a gun and I've called 911. 2) Call 911 and leave the phone connection open 3) If they come in after that I assume they mean myself and my family harm.

In fact, last October over Halloween I had someone try to break in my back door at about 3 a.m. and I did just that. They ran. Police caught them the next day. They were from Chicago visiting "friends" and thought small town Wisconsin was a great place to rob some homes. They hit three businesses in town and a number of homes. Police poppped the trunk of their car and found all the stolen property.

 

[bunk22]

I live in Texas so you would unload, reload, reassess.....unload.

 

[MasterBates]

In Dubai, I think I'd just use the scimitar hanging on the wall.

Sent from my PH44100 using Tapatalk

 

[Jim123]

Did "call 911" and "all emergency calls get automatically recorded" exist yet in 1985? I remember you could either dial "0 for Operator" or look up the police/fire/ambulance local phone number inside the front cover of the phone book (some localities would include convenient stickers to place under the receiver on the phone).

All of which in the 1985 scenario probably means turning on the lights and alerting the intruders.

And none of which applies anymore in 2012.

The only thing I'll add is don't shoot any of them in the back if they're running away. That'll get you in trouble in just about any state.

 

[Jim123]

In Dubai, I think I'd just use the scimitar hanging on the wall.

On deadbolt-manipulating-hand-guy's hand... claim that I thought it was a zombie attack.

 

[eas7888]

The only thing I'll add is don't shoot any of them in the back if they're running away. That'll get you in trouble in just about any state.

Roll 'em over and shoot 'em in the front. . .

The story goes: you hit them in the front, they spun around and caught the second shot in the back. Bad luck for him to get hit on both sides, I suppose.

 

[phrogpilot73]

That'll get you in trouble in just about any state.

Probably not Virginia. That's how awesome the gun laws are. Open Carry? Yup. Concealed Carry? Yup. Castle Doctrine? Withdrawn from the sponsor of the bill at the behest of the VCDL. Why? Because it would weaken already existing case law that allows citizens to defend themselves.