Clearing a house with a pistol/flashlight

They are telling people to use a warning shot if there is someone in their home as a show of force if they simply are scared and feel they have to do something… Good/Bad/Right/Wrong.. I have no idea..
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Warning shots are almost never a good idea.

You are responsible for the final resting place of each and every shot you fire. If you fire off a "warning shot" through the wall and it hits little Isabel in the house next door, you will likely be prosecuted for manslaughter. After that comes the civil suit.

By the way, your posts would be a lot easier to read if you used standard punctuation and learned to use the quote tags.
 
Z-Wave

My wife and I have a little box next to the bed with a button on it that says "All Lights On." Hear a bump, reach over press the button, and lights in every room of the house come on. Anyone breaking in with the intent of using cover of darkness to perpetrate their mayhem has now got a big bright wrench in their plan.

There are several technologies that can let you do this without running any wiring through the house.

X-10 is an old technology from the late 1970's that sends the "On" signal over your power lines, cheap and works great in most houses with modern electrical wiring, not so good in the really old houses with rat's nest wiring.

Z-Wave is a more modern technology that uses 900MHz radio signals to signal the lights to turn on, and will work great even in really old houses. Depending on how many rooms you want to light up, about a hundred / hundred fifty bucks and your house could be set up this way. Plug your lamp into a module a bit bigger than a pack of cigarettes, plug the module into the wall and you're pretty much set.

The bedside control usually includes a clock / timer that can turn lights on at different times (with a random offset as well to give the lived in look) so that when you go on vacation it looks like you're still there.

If you're worried about the BG cutting the power lines, just put your lamps on a small UPS (battery backup, available at office supply stores), and you'll still be able to light 'em up even when the lines are down.

Oh and once the lights are up we apply a little "behavior modification" via 12 ga pump.
 
Before we shipped out to Iraq my unit did a lot of courses in tactical building entry. I do agree with everyone that training that we recieve is very different from the standard citizen just being concerned with his familys safety. They are not even remotely similar. When we go in there we have a totally different set of goals and objectives in mind. Now that I am home, I am basically trying to think of ways I can incorporate the training I recieved into a good home defense strategy.
 
Seals, army personnel, and cops are VERY different from private citizens: in their role, their training, their duty, their purpose. Start reading guys like Masaad Ayoob and others who are legends in the PD world.
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Why would you discount the advise of people who actually have real world experience in clearing rooms and replace it with the advise of someone who has none?

The bottom line is that no one knows what the situation is going to be so any statement that starts with "I'm always going to do X, Y and Z" doesn't understand the problem. If you have people elsewhere in the house, you are going to have to get to them. If its just you and another, you may be in separate rooms when the break in occurs.

If we all knew where, when and how home invasions were going to occur, life would be great. However we dont. Therefore as with most things, one size fits all solutions usually won't pass the test of real life.
 
Why would you discount the advise of people who actually have real world experience in clearing rooms and replace it with the advise of someone who has none?
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Are you saying that Ayoob has no experience clearing rooms? If so, that is simply untrue.
 
Ayoob, after a couple of beers, he'll let you know how much he knows.

ALWAYS let the threat come to you.

Know your line of fire.

Call for backup and wait.

Lights/lasers let you see a target if you know where to look, however, it also lets the threat know where you are as well (unless you own some IR stuff that's really amazing).

The number one rule is self preservation.

Military training is NOT the same as civilian training. That's the problem with cops as well. SF want a bees.
 
They are telling people to use a warning shot if there is someone in their home as a show of force if they simply are scared and feel they have to do something… Good/Bad/Right/Wrong.. I have no idea..
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Yeah, here's where we diverge greatly. In all of my instruction I have been trained that warning shots are to be aimed at COM and repeated until the threat is gone.
 
I Spoke with some Seals when i was in the NAVy long long ago...

They said in tranning.. they have an deal where they do something like this...

it is 4 or 5 of them and 1 guy in the place/room...
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Your "Seal" buddies must have failed. In the absence of special circumstances (IEDs, heavy fortification, or maybe surveillance so that they know the exact second you're entering) a team should not have much difficulty overcoming one person. Speed, violence of action, and proper tactics are the key.

With all due respect, sir, I would guess that the people you talked too were paper warriors.
 
House clearing and flashlights

I've been through house clearing training (Tactical Defense Institute) and night-time use of flashlight. Two points.

First, I would not attempt clearing my own house, let alone one I was visiting, unless there were visitors at risk (normally only my wife and I are present). Going through a live-fire house shooting at bad-guy targets is one thing. Going through my own house risking getting shot by a bad guy is something else entirely. Assuming it's a night-time invasion, I'd stay in the bedroom, call 911, and shoot anyone who tries to get in. If it's during the day, I have guns located around the house. I'd get one, call 911, then let the bad guy come to me.

I think putting the flashlight on the gun is a very bad idea. It means you have to point the gun at whoever you're trying to ID. There are several techniques for holding a flashlight in one hand and your gun in the other. They're worth learning. At TDI we were taught to keep the flashlight off, then press the button and sweep it quickly around the room, let off the button, and MOVE. That way you get a glimpse of the room, but don't let the light become a target.

I have night lights in several rooms in the house. They give enough light that at night I can see fairly well, but I'm in the shadows. Give them a try.
 
I think putting the flashlight on the gun is a very bad idea. It means you have to point the gun at whoever you're trying to ID.
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!@$!#!@#!

No it DOES NOT! If you have done the type of training that you described, then you know that a quality defensive light like a Surefire can light up a room when being pointed at the ceiling or at the floor. You can easily get enough light to ID a person with the bounced light.

YOU DO NOT HAVE TO POINT YOUR WEAPON-MOUNTED LIGHT DIRECTLY AT SOMEONE TO ID THEM!
 
Are you saying that Ayoob has no experience clearing rooms? If so, that is simply untrue.
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I can't imagine that a part time police officer in a small town would have much real world experience clearing rooms. Certianly not as much as someone who has swat/military experience.
 
A general word of caution since several posters have mentioned Ayoob.

Mr. Ayoob is a member here and enjoys the same protection against personal attacks that every other TFL member does.
 
IMO, warning shots are ok if u know where they r landing. e.g. here in PK we mostly have 6" thick concrete walls, it will take a half dozen of AK-47 rounds in the same place every time to punch a hole. With modern expanding bullets, chance of a ricochet is also negligible. yes i have fired my 9mm into the wall & it expanded into a 1" wide mushroom with little damage to the wall & a bounce out of 1' only. So properly aimed warning shot r a good thing & no, there wont be any legal issue since ur home was invaded. You could be even justified in killing the man in such scenario. I thwarted a home invasion by 3 BGs long time back but I guess I should post it as a separate thread some other time, however, luckily it didn't require a gun to do that.
 
Hey, if you hear someone in your house late at night, how about calling yourself with your cell phone to your hard line phone? Assuming you have an answering machine, you can pretend to be your own secuirty company.

"Mr. XXX. We have a silent alarm triggered. If you don't pick up the phone, we will dispatch a unit to your location immediately.""


You may not need to say anything. Who the heck calls late at night? I'm sure it would make the burglar reconsider for a split second

Of course, nothing beats a clear plan of action set in place for the most common contingencies before it happens. Whether armed with a defensive weapon or just cell, you are the first responder.
 
Hey, if you hear someone in your house late at night, how about calling yourself with your cell phone to your hard line phone? Assuming you have an answering machine, you can pretend to be your own secuirty company.
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If you have time to place a call, the correct thing to do is to dial 911 and get the cavalry on the way.
 
Reminds me of a FOF, you find a bunch of guys in your living room and you light them up with your Surefire. You tell them to get on the floor - guess what - they don't speak English. One decides to take a leak on your couch. Another comes towards you, saying "Por Favor, Senor" with his hands up.

What to do?
 
If you have time to place a call, the correct thing to do is to dial 911 and get the cavalry on the way.
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If I called 911 every time I think there is someone in the house they might throw me in jail... :p Im convinced my house is haunted because I swear I hear people walking down my hallway, but there is never anyone there when I investigate (yes I know some of you are like: oh nos, sit tight, dont investigate... but whatever)
 
So who do you call - GHOSTBUSTERS!

Sorry - but if you constantly have to 'clear' your house with a gun because of noises - might rethink things.
 
A light attached to a gun is a perfect aid if your opponent does not have a gun. I am thinking for four legged animals rather than the two legged kind. It blinds them and does make the eyes reflect offering a good target.

I agree one should not go and clear his or her's house from armed bandits. Stay put or if your are sure it is safe to do so, flee. If you are armed staying put is normally the better choice assuming that you are not being invaded by 500 gang members. It is always possible that your invader is a drunk that has lost his way and peeling a dead, bloodly, sticky, fouled bubba off your carpet is an experience that most can do without. Dying men defecate, urinate, get erections etc. and released bodily fluids can spread disease and require a biohazard cleanup. Best course is to sit tight and let the police resolve the issue when possible.
 
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