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| The locks are on the door to protect the guy trying to break in |
A home invasion is when someone enters your home by force to rob you, take your family hostage, or worse. They are not there to share a cup of coffee; with that you should take steps to prevent this. Even with prevention its still possible and you may have to make the ultimate decision to take lethal action to defend yourself. Home invasions don't only happen in high crime areas or rich neighborhoods, they can happen anywhere. I know that I see a story of home invasion almost daily on the news and I don't live in a "bad area".
Safe Room
The first thing to you and your family need to develop is a "safe room". This is a room in the house that everyone will congregate in the event of a home invasion. There are a few tactical reasons for this.
- You want to be able to defend your family, with them all in one room (this makes it easier)
- You can give instruction to your wife or kids to contact the authorities while your focused on defending the safe room (contact the authorities immediately)
- No one can be taken hostage (someone can be taken hostage if you are separated)
- If shots have to be fired your family will not be in the crossfire
- It makes family accountability easier
Stay in the safe room until authorities arrive. Bad guys may be waiting for you to come out and attack. Never leave the room to take on the attackers single handedly, this puts you and your family at risk.
Many people purchase a handgun and feel "safe". Obviously you need to train with that weapon, get trigger time at the range. Also train shooting at a variety of distances in low light conditions (as most home invasions happen in the 3am-4am hour). You may be groggy when you are called to attack; so muscle memory training will need to take over. This type of muscle memory only happens by practice!
If a home invasion occurs you will need to position yourself in the far corner of the safe room on the side that is behind the door. Tactically this is the best position for defense, because you will be the last thing the attacker see's when entering the room (giving you the tactical advantage). This will also give you the time to determine if they are "friend or foe" and if you need to take lethal action.
Firearm Selection
Firearms are really personal preference. If your a novice with firearms I suggest a single barreled shotgun with 00 buckshot. I suggest this because its easy to operate and to operate in the dark. A shotgun doesn't need well aimed shots to stop potential threats.It can also take out multiple attackers. Best case I suggest a pump action shotgun to cut down on the reloading time of a single barrel (the pump action sound usually is enough to scare someone off). I don't have small children in the house and that allows me to keep my pistol by the bed. I understand some may not have this option, so you may want to keep the weapon locked in the safe room. If you do have a pistol I highly suggest tritium night sights. They make these sights for many types of pistols today and will make taking down bad guys in the dark a lot easier. With the pistol I keep my cell phone and a flashlight by the bed.
Home Security
Home security is what you do to detour the bad guys, Home defense is what you do to the bad guys once they are in the house. Home security is a broad subject and I'll cover the basics. There are a plethora of alarm systems and that should be your first step. Dog's do wonders at keeping the wannabe home invaders away as well as alert you when someone is there. I know my dog does at least and as much as you want to yell at them for barking when someones pulling in the neighbors yard...don't. They are just doing their job by alerting you know someone's outside.
Below are a few more tips
- Don't post on social media sites that you will be away on vacation
- No brainer but...lock doors when and when not home
- Outside lighting detours bad guys
- At least have a double locking system on doors to exterior
- Hide valuables in children's rooms (thieves usually bypass kid's rooms)
- Check out all doors and windows regularly
- Become friends with your neighbors and look over each others home's
- If you can't afford an alarm system, purchase some alarm system stickers for your window or signs for your lawn (most criminals don't want to take the chance)
- Keep blinds down so would be criminals can't window shop your house
Remember survival is not always wilderness survival. Protect your home and protect your family...live to fight another day
Hello Black Scout Survival,
ReplyDeleteThank you for a fun, informative web blog. I enjoy reading it and watching your reviews of outdoor & survival products.
I'd like to comment upon the "home defense primer" post because I think you made a few points that need to be discussed. I like your choice of a shotgun for home defense. It makes sense to have a long gun when going up against goblins, which we all know typically run in packs. When recommending shotguns you noted that they "doesn't need well aimed shots to stop potential threats.It can also take out multiple attackers."
Respectfully sir I strongly disagree with these statements. At inside the house distances, say 10-15 feet, or 3-5 yards, even a cylinder bore barrel will have a pattern that is around 1.5-2" in spread. About the width of a broom handle. This will require the shooter aim the gun, just like any other weapon. Full stop no discussion. Folks need to think along those lines while training and employing that weapon. A miss against an armed goblin could well mean death to you and your loved ones. Shotguns are powerful tools that need to be practiced with in order to be safe and effective as a defensive tool. Consider a 20 gauge with #3 buck for folks who are recoil sensative.
You mention also that the sound of a shotgun being racked will scare off goblins intent on doing harm. I don't like this tactic at all. If a goblin is breaking down my door I'm going to rack the gun as soon as I pick it up. The noise I'm hearing might be goblin number 2. Goblin number 1 might be halfway to my daughter's room already. Waiting to arm the weapon for "dramatic effect" could be a tactical error that gets you aligned behind someone else's eight ball. Lets not go there, lets arm up as soon as we can and get our loved ones into your safe room. Once there; Go Alamo and call in the Cavalry. If the goblins wish to push the issue you are ready to defend yourself.
Thank you again for a great web-site & I hope you take this advice in the spirit it is given.
Thanks! Colorado
Thanks for the feedback. Let me elaborate I may have not been clear enough in the article. You are correct that scatterguns do new a degree of well aimed shots. But I was more indicating that if you were not a proficient gunfighter you may need to go with a shotgun. The reason is that pistol shots require a higher degree of accuracy and for some this may be hard to get a good natural point of aim in darkness. A shotgun allows a user some degree of a broader shot group than the needle point of accuracy needed for a pistol shot. If you shot shotguns at close range you know the impact pattern is larger than say a 9 mm.
ReplyDeleteYes I agree you should be locked and loaded in condition 4 when the bad guys come through the door. But I don't keep my guns condition 4 in the house. I can put I round in the chamber within seconds and I know because I've had a home intruder book it after hearing me place a round in the chamber when he was outside the door of my basementr. I was just giving a real life experience of my topic of discussion. But yeah don't wait till they get in the house to start getting ready. I agree.
Thanks brother for the discussion and clearing up my topic. Sometimes when writing its hard to clarify things midstream. Let's all live to fight another day.