At what point - if any - do you leave the gun in the safe?

A well trained German Shepherd or Doberman can be trained to be dang near silent except for vocalizing low growls and whatever else you allow.

I am not an expert in this area, my wife however is and has done so professionally.
 
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Yep, we have three dogs that never utter a peep until someone beats on the door or comes through the door. And once it is established that the visitor is welcome, no worries.

Best alarm system I've ever seen, and I could not ask for more. They don't require electricity or a monthly monitoring fee.
 
+1 on 911 first
I have a dog 1/4 Rott,1/4 Pit, 1/4Lab & 1/4 Aus. Queensland who is very protective of the house & goes ape when anyone approaches until we have presented them to her for inspection.
Stay in your room with the wife cover the door, Don't go searching let the police do that. I have my two carry guns & a shotgun in my bedroom and all guns in my safe are loaded. When I grab one out I don't have to guess if it is unloaded and safe. I know it isn't.

SafeHandguns.jpg
 
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I was thinking of a situation that was in my local paper - guy answers a knock on the door, two women ask to use phone (no, I won't answer the door like that!). Anyway, then three guys barrel in, armed, and hit the guy on the head a few times, take some stuff and leave. Which just made me wonder - if he pulls a gun, does he live to tell the story?
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Well, that's a bit different than the bump in the night scenario you posed originally. He was already face to face with his attackers who had the drop on him, to pull a weapon at that point in time would probably have been suicidal and escalated the situation.
At that point, I would try to de-escalate by telling them to take what they want, please don't hurt anyone, and if he was really smart he would direct them to the large, heavy valuable things first so they make off with less (dvd/dvr/home stereo stuff).
 
"Announcing to the intruders that you are armed not only tells the approximately where you are it gives away your ability to suprise them which may make the difference between you and your family surviving the encounter or not."

Sorry, but if you announce that the law is on the way, and that you are armed and will shoot any intruder you see, they will leave, and quickly. You lose nothing, unless the sole purpose of entering the house was to hunt you down and kill you.

If you have kids on different levels, I'm sure you have a better plan than just stalking and shooting. Hopefully they will go to ground, rather than becoming a potential accidental target.
 
I’ll grab the gun 10 out of 10 times. Having in my hands beats not having in my hands all 10 times. The first thing I do is wake my spouse and the second thing I do is grab my firearm as she is calling the police.

Since there is only her and I in our home, there is no need to make an attempt at clearing my home. She stays on the phone while we bunker down as far away from the door as possible with cover, and I guard the door. Nothing in our home is irreplaceable. If they wish to do us harm…I am not going to give them the upper-hand.

I hope that helped.
 
Why just last night I heard stealthy footsteps in the hallway. Glad Ididnt kill the dude, it was my son.

Old houses settle at night after the sun goes down, they will make loud sounds that may scare a person. My hot water heater has calcified the rod again (well water) so when it heats up it knocks real loud. The water softener also comes on at times and makes noise that isnt a normal sound for many folks.

Use common sense here, get a barker dog, use motion sensors, lock the door and use good locks. Keep windows locked and a tiny bell on a fishline hung from the window will alert you to its opening.

HD is having a plan, securing the property and preventing entry. Do this and sleep lika a baby at night without worry.

My favorite Marine (NAM 68-70 and White house detail signed letter from the president and all that) has tiny little cameras all over his 5 acres along with the above mentioned stuff.

I also gots a favorite AF guy, 25 years, was a Secret Serviceman for H bush gots pics, signed letters etc. I often ask him about HD stuff and get good solid advise. I posted it here for all. Dont cost mush cash either.


Be safe
 
You leave the gun in the safe when you don't

Understand the laws in your State.
The state laws will validate your use or lack of use.
Of course I would keep it in the safe if you take Ambient or sleep drugs. At least then when you wake up driving your car in the middle of the night, you won't have a weapon.
 
The only guns i leave in my safe are the ones i'm storing for the moment...I keep 3 guns available. 1 hi cap semi, 1 snub revolver, an 1 compact 12ga...in an emergency i will hand my GF the shotgun and her cellphone and tell her to be prepared to call police.

I would then stick revolver in my shorts pocket and present my full size pistol at my door to my room and listen to try an figure out the situation...If there are unfriendlys in my house then i will have her call police and i will notify intruders they may be shot if they do not leave and police are on the way.

its basically what happened to me when i caught some people in my house before....but even tho i prob shouldnt have i had a high powered flashlight and i made sure anyone could hear me operate my handgun even tho it was already chambered

When i got downstairs the back door was open an i could hear them taking off...never had another break in but the buggers may have been the same ones who robbed all my vehicles multiple times...
 
A well designed alarm system along with a good dog is the first step in home defense if there are children, especially teenagers in the house.
By well designed I mean all windows and doors protected by contacts and even glass break sensors if necessary.
This will allow a reasonable amount of perimiter security and at the same time lessen the chance of a teenager trying to sneak in or out undetected.
We have all heard the stories of someone shooting or almost shooting one of their loved ones because they heard something.

If the dog barks or the alarm rings then the plan comes into action and everyone in the home should go where they were told to go and do what they were told to do ahead of time.

I have a keypad in my room so even if someone authorized is entering though the entry door I hear the time delay beeper chime.
If they don't key in the proper code in 10 seconds then the alarm goes off and there is no need to call 911 because the alarm company will be calling me.

With the price of video surveilance being what it is these days it doesn't cost a whole lot to have a few wireless IP cams around the perimiter of your home either.
This is the area I'll be addressing next in my ever changing home security system.
 
Sorry, but if you announce that the law is on the way, and that you are armed and will shoot any intruder you see, they will leave, and quickly. You lose nothing, unless the sole purpose of entering the house was to hunt you down and kill you.
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Sorry, but this proclamation is based on the idea that most intruder/burglars make decision based on common sense and a balance of threat-vs-gain-vs consequence. I agree that it is entirely possible that if you shout at a criminal, they will leave but to claim that this will happen or is likely to happen is just wishful thinking. It is more fair to say that this action may help, and may not.

Many crimes and certainly many violent crimes have nothing to do with common sense or gain vs consequence. If that were the case, people would not risk life in prison for the contents of a 7/11 cash drawer. A lack of impulse control, hateful indifference to others, immediate need-coupled with addiction is more likely to be what drives many violent criminals.
 
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Say Petit family and drive them to the bank to get your money.

Your choice.
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Right. Consider that a fluke and just drive Bubba to the ATM while the others are with your loved ones, and believe them when they say you and your family won't be harmed when you get back.

Just because the women were raped (in front of the others) and then burned alive, doesn' mean that will happen to you and yours if you decice on the passive approach.

Yes, it sometimes happens that the home invaders will eliminate all witnesses, but you'll just have to risk it, since your
family will be safer if you let Bubba and his friends decide their fate.

And remember that there aren't many creeps out there like those two who planned everything in advance and got excited at about the rapes and murders they knew they were going to commit.



If you take charge there could be gunfire and somebody could get hurt. Don't risk it. Might be better if you weren't armed, like the Petit family , since you could be tempted to actually fight back.

OK, seriously::cool:

Don't quite understand why you're asking others what to do in a situation likely be unique to you, but what you do or don't do will be your call ---same as for the rest of us. Unless you have a quick opening key pad safe, you might as well not be armed. :cool:

http://abcnews.go.com/US/dr-william-petit-testifies-trial-familys-alleged-murderer/story?id=11633236
 
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You leave the gun in the safe when you don't

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Understand the laws in your State.
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sorry rufus, this comment is just over the top to me. there isn't one state where the gun would have to be in the safe in the first place. Please let me know if I am wrong about this point since I have been wrong before. People have all different kinds of safes and/or safe scenarios as well, so there isn't anything wrong with safes. It is a safety from children as well. I will say that my/our safe scenario is a neglible time difference, so the safe willnot put a damper on our plans. Besides that, we also have an alarm anyways which is the best pregame you have or at least as good as a dog.
 
If surrender works for you, hey I guess thats ok but its not part of my plan.

I think you're teasing, you can't be serious... I must have read this wrong...

Oh well
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At the bottom of my post I said "OK, seriously........".

That's a good tip off that the previous part wasn't serious.

In fact it was meant to be rediculous to illustrate the obsurdity of surrendering to sociopathic, violent home invaders---like the two who raped, and burned their victims alive to cover their tracks---or maybe because they just enjoyed it.:cool:
 
I have enough bullets loaded up within arms reach to handle more than two people. Ain't no way I'd willingly let someone get the drop on me if I had any way of stopping it, especially in my own house.
 
Because I travel I had this addition to my home alarm added. It is a simple push-button that hangs on a chain near the bed. (Did this for my wife).

Pushing it activates a "Hot Prowl" alert, and the police are dispatched.

No other alarm is sounded, and no phone calls are made.

Yes I would always get my 12 ga as my #1 choice, or my handgun and my #2 choice, and turn the yappy Chiwawa loose. He hates everybody.
 
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