“Clearing” rooms during home invasion

It depends on how many assailants are present at the time. And from a military point of view, it is impossible to clear the house by yourself (if we speak about a house with multiple entries and multiple floors). If you start cleaning the house from one point to another, you still can be flanked and you cant be sure that cleared room is still clear when you finish with the very next one.

It is quite simple, barricade yourself and call 911.
 
Totally depends:
One attacker or multiple?
3-5 year old kids who don’t listen or three 19 year old MMA champion sons plus a SOF / SEAL son home on leave?
Small home with 3 rooms or 5,000 square foot multi-level?
Urban or in the boonies?

Too many variables, but a German Shepherd or AK103’s Rory’s’ could be a good start.
 
Rather than a clearing I would react in a rescue mode. Get the kids in a safe place is number one priority.
 
I read a Jeff Cooper book,"To Ride,Shoot Straight,and Speak the Truth"

He dedicated a chapter or so to a secure house.
Its been several years,forgive my memory.

Most houses have the bedrooms off a hallway . He suggested a hall gateway bad guys could not get through,but that you could see through/shoot through.
A barrier.

I'm not sure that works for everyone. Some consideration would need to be given to escaping a housefire.

Technology such as IR illuminated cameras,like trail cameras,might help.Motion sensors.Any early warning,

Hard to beat the right dog.
 
This thread was started a year ago and just revived. Interesting comments so far.

A home invasion happened very near to my home, and I live in a nice gated community. It is still accessible to the public, but license plates are taken down and recorded by video. My community is connected to an even nicer community where there are multi-million dollar homes. So for T. O'Heir's comment's, we can't all afford to live on Star Island or Tahiti Beach. As for the statistics he quoted, I guess we don't need to carry guns either. :rolleyes:

As for MTT TL, I'm not sure that it is wise to post online that your children had guns in their own rooms at 12 years old. That is against the law in most states as it violates safe storage requirements.

On to the actual question at hand... What to do in a home invasion if your wife and kids are in different rooms. That would really depends on the situation. The incident that occurred in my neighborhood involved several intruders. The homeowner was doing some work outside of his house and left the garage door open. The intruders entered the garage door and grabbed the first person they saw, which was one of the kids. Kids are a lot easier to control so it was probably a calculated move on their part. They marched the parents around the house collecting valuables and then tied them up. The reality is there probably wasn't much that could have been done at that time. The lesson is to always close the garage door and make sure you are armed at all times.

There are so many scenarios that leave one with few options other than compliance. Imagine if you are just walking around the neighborhood with the family and a couple of guys drive up brandishing weapons. They tell you to get in the car and hold your kid at gun point. Are you going get into a gun fight in the middle of the street with your family in the crossfire?

So back to the home invasion scenario. If you hear a loud noise and the alarm goes off, what do you do? I have a pistol in a quick access safe right next to my bed. I would grab that first and move towards my kids' rooms. All of our rooms are on the same side of the house. You have to determine if the intruder has already passed your room based on your home's layout. I would move as quickly as possible to the kids rooms and listen for the intruder. If the intruder has not reached their rooms yet, then grab the kids, and have them follow you back to the safe room. Hopefully the wife has grabbed the home defense shotgun or rifle and you barricade in that room. If the intruder(s) have reached the kids' rooms, you have to decide if it is safer to engage or to comply. That is a highly personal decision that is based on the circumstances and your skill level.

I don't think there is some broad "one size fits all" solution.
 
As others have mentioned, having an alarm system and a hardened home will help buy you time to get to your family if it don't discourage the attack altogether. If someone boots your door in the middle of the night I think you're going to have to directly engage the threat. There isn't going to be time to round up the family and retreat. If the attacker haven't made entry yet then round up the family to the best defensive positon and call 911.

Clearing by yourself is bad news. It simply can't be done in any safe manner. I can't quote the source offhand but I've heard that officers who clear a building alone vs with a partner are 300% more likely to get shot. Having a partner helps but even two people isn't really enough.

I've been to a lot of trainings on this subject including Simunitions and the person coming through the door almost always loses. Best thing you can do as a private citizen is make sure you're home is hardened enough to never have to move through a doorway alone against an armed assailant.
 
Alarm system that tells everyone someone is in the house quietly through your cell phone. Even that Ring doorbell system takes a video of the person at the front door and you can talk to them anywhere in the world while they think you're inside. You can phone the police or your shooting buddies to show up. You're choice.

Alarm system. My cousin's house was broken into a few years ago. They were waiting for him in the dark house when he returned from work. The three pistol whipped him and got money from his bank and he ended up in the hospital.

Alarm system (dog is the cheaper option) because there are products there that will tell you if there is movement in any particular room. With your cell phone, you'll know exactly where the invader is. I'm looking for one for my 90 year old mom and I'll put two sensors at 2 corners of her roof and the whole family will know if anyone is messing around her house. There are indoor sensors too.
 
Get a nice big, snarling dog..................too many folks playing too many extreme "what if" games which can on ad nauseum and the result is the same - there is no right or wrong answer.
I have lived in 7 different states and 11 different cities, some small, some medium, some large, and have never had these extreme scenarios ever happen anywhere close by. While never say never, I am also not going to live my life existing in constant fear/paranoia that a horde of meth heads are going to be crashing through my door to kill me either.
Assess your own situation and go accordingly.........(Flame suit on, bring it! :D)
 
Great post Mr. O'Heir.

My wife and I are empty nesters now...have been since '97...we live in a 2 story home, on a farm, ~30 minutes from any kind of realistic police response team. We have no nearby neighbors who'd be able to hear any kind of alarm. We have a good/great alarm system.

All of that notwithstanding, we sleep behind a locked door with a loud, defensively minded German Shorthaired Pointer, sleeping on the other side.

We each have bedside guns, and a retreat hallway leading away from the stairway to the 2nd floor. It ends over the garage, in my wife's sewing room. We keep a loaded shotgun there for defensive work while we await the arrival of police. We keep a cell phone with each bedside gun.

When our grand-daughters have sleep overs, the pooch sleeps with them and we leave our bedroom door open but use bedside drawers to conceal the guns.

This works for us, though we've never had to put it to the test...we're 74 & 72 years old. I sincerely hope you find a plan that works for your home environment...and give it some very serious thought.

Best Regards, Rod
 
stephen426 said:
As for MTT TL, I'm not sure that it is wise to post online that your children had guns in their own rooms at 12 years old. That is against the law in most states as it violates safe storage requirements.
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The fact that this even comes up just shows how sorry the state of things really are these days. :rolleyes:


Back on topic, get a couple of big dogs that live with you and are a part of the family, and wear your gun every waking moment. Youll likely be fine in 98% of anything that might pop up.
 
First and foremost is safety of family. I may not want to clear a house but just to ensure that other members of the household are safe.

You have the advantage of knowing the terrain.
Do you have thermal or NVG?

It may be better to secure the members of the household and let the police take the risks.
 
4V50 Gary said:
First and foremost is safety of family. I may not want to clear a house but just to ensure that other members of the household are safe.

You have the advantage of knowing the terrain.
Do you have thermal or NVG?

It may be better to secure the members of the household and let the police take the risks.
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In a nutshell ... Absofreakinglutely. :)

Everyone else in this discussion -

Even with training in clearing structures, and having cleared thousands of them during my career, when it comes to my own property - and my family's safety - my first and foremost concern would be to make sure we're all safe and protected against suspected intruders. If family is present on my property, once I can confirm their safety and location, I'll let the local guys & gals come do their thing.

I consider checking to confirm the security of my house, without any reasonable cause to suspect it's been breached by an intruder (or intruders), and without having to worry about other family members being present and having to be isolated in safety, to be a different consideration. Depending.

Basically, having been trained to check and secure premises and areas where I suspect intruders have made an "entry", I'd sooner have the locals come do the task. Now, if it takes up to 30 minutes, or more, for a response? I'll reappraise, as may be necessary. Sometimes there may be no perfect answers to situations, but that doesn't mean you have to quickly choose the "bad" ones without due deliberation and caution.
 
room clearing is a team exercise for people that have had the training. why does this keep coming up for people concerned with residential burglaries or suspected burglaries?
 
2020 burglary statistics

There are 2.5 Million burglaries per year, 66% of which are home break-ins.
A burglary occurs every 13 seconds.
According to the FBI, 65% of burglaries happen between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m.
Homes without a security system have a 300% more chance of getting broken into.
65% of burglars know their victims!
85% of burglaries are committed by non-professionals.
65% of burglaries occur during the day to reduce the chance of someone being home.
An average break-in lasts between 8 and 10 minutes.
According to the FBI, the average loss per burglary is $2,416.
Only 17% of US homes have a security system.

My comment, more than half happen during the day probably while the homeowner is away, wondering how many had barking dogs, few I'm thinking.
I don't have the statistics to prove it but believe a couple of barking dogs to be the best deterrent there is, add to that it's unlikely anyone would ever be able to sneak into a house at night with any even half alert dog.
 
Double K said:
I don't have the statistics to prove it but believe a couple of barking dogs to be the best deterrent there is, add to that it's unlikely anyone would ever be able to sneak into a house at night with any even half alert dog.
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Yea, not likely to happen, and even with a little yappy dog, youll likely know where they problem is pretty quick, no need to "clear" anything.

Get some big, protective type dogs (hell, even the ankle biters can be very protective), and if they are dumb enough to keep coming in after all the barking and carrying on has woke you up, the screams and pleading will tell you just where they are. Again, no need to clear anything. :)
 
I have 3 crazy Chihuahua mixes, the worst one is half miniature Pinscher, they miss nothing anytime of the day or night. Lot's of people turn around half way up the sidewalk and leave just from the commotion going on inside the house, I'm good with that btw!
 
I'm not sure that it is wise to post online that your children had guns in their own rooms at 12 years old. That is against the law in most states as it violates safe storage requirements.
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Many of us have children that were 12 years old before there were "safe storage" laws. Those laws are the product of infringement of the 2nd Amendment over the past 30 years (thank you, Bill Clinton).

As far as clearing rooms after a home invasion, I might suggest that you use the responding officers to clear the house. You are not trained, you are not proficient, and things might go from bad to worse if you were charged because you went hunting the home invaders. Your duty as a gun owner does not include the apprehension of perpetrators. In some states you might be covered under "castle doctrine", but many states do not give you that privilege.
 
Creeping around your home in search of badguys is not really a good way to exploit many conditions in your favor. Honestly, I think its silly business to engage in room clearing if you are acting alone.
 
Scorch said:
Many of us have children that were 12 years old before there were "safe storage" laws. Those laws are the product of infringement of the 2nd Amendment over the past 30 years (thank you, Bill Clinton).
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I think a lot of the thinking here, is generational in nature. The older generations (prior to those who were born in the late 70's) had a lot more freedom, and usually a lot more responsibilities at a younger age.

We did things as kids that would have a parent arrested these days, and no one gave it a second thought or batted an eye.
 
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