Had a few lessons re-affirmed the other night....

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About the 911 call, that is unacceptable. Even goverment in many fields are trying to run on skeleton crews. Just wait as goverment gets further bogged down with more roles in our daily lives than ever, we'll see a lot more of this stuff.
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I understand what you are saying its never good to do an unneeded 911 call, but in his defense at the time he made the call he did not know who it was so it was the right thing to do given the information he had.
 
Make a lot of noise to the appropriate agencies to let them know that your call went unanswered.

It is the nature of government to only address those issues which will affect their reelection. The people who are dependent on government know the system and how to get their benefits. You as a tax payer are entitled to emergency services that work in a reasonable manner. If you do not let them know, there is no chance of improvement. Even if you let them know the chance of improvement is small.

Maybe a call to the local TV station or a letter to the editor might improve the system if a direct approach to the government does not yield improvement.

The amount of assets which politicians allocate to the 911 system is proportional to what their perception of the need is. The more they hear about failures the more money they tend to put into it. If there are no complaints then they assume it is working, and might even cut the budget.

20 years ago I was with a sheriff's department in Mississippi that only had one dispatcher that also took the 911 calls. The dispatcher also ran the computer checks on the license plates, VINs, and driver's licenses we called in too. That County only had a population of about 40,000 and over 800 square miles and only two deputies on patrol at any given time. Most of the population was concentrated in one city with about 30,000 that had it own police department. The deputies got paid $500 every two weeks. Our radios only covered about 95% of the county. Small budget.
 
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WA, your point that shooting is not the first option is well taken, but picking up a pistol does mean that your testosterone has taken over your brain. OP kept his wits about him rather well, I would say, by keeping in mind the principle of identifying his target before firing.
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For many folks, the gun makes them feel invincible and/or manly. You see it hear all the time. Look at the vitriol tossed at the CCC rule. Look at some of the responses here

The OP went back into the bedroom to retrieve his shotgun and then left to confront the intruder. All of the correct steps he took in IDing the target and not shooting could have been done from a place of cover whilst shouting I've called 911, get out of here I'm armed and going to shoot. That would have permitted verbal response without the potential of gesture misinterpretation.

But hey, folks would rather screech and puff their chests than analyze stuff with a goal to ensuring the best possible outcome.

WildjustblowemawayiftheylooksidewaysatyouAlaska TM
 
When I got attacked a few years back by 5 dudes in a Hilton Hotel parking garage (they came at me from all sides and held a sharpe knife to my throat from behind, cutting my neck), I would have given anything to have a gun but I didn't carry back then. I would not have thought twice about pulling the trigger when that happened. I still feel the same today, if not more so.
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Well now, this explains a lot, you were once victimized, and have now prepared yourself for the worst, that is fine. You have taken on the mindset that "I will not be a victim again" and that is also fine...to a point. If you react out of fear of that past event, and act inappropriately, that night in the garage may turn out to be one of the better of your days.

The roommate is a complete dummy and is extremely lucky he is still with us.
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There is no question this was a stupid move, and if he were your roommate, he would likely not have been so lucky considering this;

When in your home, it's even more justified to shoot, (Castle Doctrine)
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And This;

Some folks may want to warn the dirt bag (with a loud yell) that you have a gun and will shoot him if he does not leave immediately. Myself, I really don't care to yell at anyone who is breaking in my home myself as it could give my position away.
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In the OP's case, his warning not only got the "dirt bag" AKA: his roommate, to leave, but come back and announce himself. Had he remained silent, and the roommate advanced, well, likely could have gone badly. The OP was prepared, but used some common sense to attempt to "identify" the threat.

Whatever happens after that, is up to the decision the intruder makes from then on
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So, under the presumption that you would not announce that you are armed, and are gonna wait
Yep, (2 seconds)
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Then take action, how would this situation have played out at your house ? Would you be able to justify (in your own mind) that you had killed your roommate ?
 
OutCast: Your response (as usual).....

:rolleyes: Well OutCast, at least you are consistent.

I would not expect your response to be any different than your normal (give the bad guy a break) slant on these type scenarios. A lot of us out there look at these home invasions a lot different than you do........
 
The OP went back into the bedroom to retrieve his shotgun and then left to confront the intruder. All of the correct steps he took in IDing the target and not shooting could have been done from a place of cover whilst shouting I've called 911, get out of here I'm armed and going to shoot. That would have permitted verbal response without the potential of gesture misinterpretation.
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No Ken, that would make too much sense, and, some seem to think, takes away some sort of imagined "tactical advantage" by possibly "giving away your position".

If I am in a defensive position, I really do not see that I have lost any tactical advantage by announcing I am armed, aware of the BG's presence, and am prepared to shoot if necessary. I have just drawn a line in the sand, nothing more. If you are in a combat situation, outside, you may keep a tactical advantage by staying silent, inside , that advantage is moot.

Ask any LEO, or Soldier, or Marine, who has experience with clearing a building, they will tell you that ; Even knowing which room an armed person is in does not lessen that persons advantage to defend from inside by much, if any. Unless you are defending against an overwhelming force (SRT, large offensive force) You have lost no advantage, and might well diffuse the situation before violence erupts.
 
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A lot of us out there look at these home invasions a lot different than you do........
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We are not discussing a "home invasion" We are discussing the OP's response to his roommates bad decision making. As someone pointed out, this is not black/white, but has a shade of gray. Now, care to answer my question ?


I would not expect your response to be any different than your normal (give the bad guy a break) slant on these type scenarios.
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This has nothing to do with "giving the BG a break" It's about identifying a threat before you pull the trigger, you remember, one of the "Rules" ? Give yourself a break.
 
The 911 system only works well if the community has a normally high IQ.Every phone system has only so many operating lines and people screening the calls.Having 100's of calls from people asking if there is school today because of snowfall can wreak havoc on a system.Happens all the time.
 
OutCast: "Give yourself a break" quote:

:p Yadda, Yadda, Yadda. The same old story. Don't do this and you shouldn't do that, etc., etc.

You need to give yourself a break and open YOUR eyes. You don't have all the answers my friend, (any more than I do). I am trying to explain about how I would handle these type scenarios in my home.

Try reading your own personal quote (at the bottom of each of your posts),
"Without freedom of THOUGHT, there can be no such thing as wisdom".... Exactly right! Other folks have ideas too.
 
Problem is, some other folks personal ideas...

... would wind them up in prison, based on the things they say on this forum.

A lot of us know people who've startled friends and relatives when coming home unexpectedly. Probably more than a few of us have broken into our own homes, having mislaid keys or locked them in the car. Probably more than a few of us did this not wanting to wake up sleeping family, and not realizing quite how much noise we'd make raising that window that's never locked...

Probably more than a few of us have had roommates or relatives come home drunk, and try to enter the wrong doors.

Probably more than a few of us have had strangers mistake our place for our neighbor's down the road, with whom they are supposed to stay.

Shooting at things that go bump at the night is risky. Some folks seem pretty glib about the concept. Being prepared to defend doesn't mean you have to itch to pull a trigger.
 
MLeake: your response

:confused: Who said anything about "itchy trigger fingers" and/or wanting to "shoot anything that goes bump in the night"? Those are your comments, not mine! You tend to put words in other people's mouths. If you actually read all of my post, you would see that I was referring to how I would address the intruder situation in MY home. I stated that (at night) you may only have a few seconds to recognize the threat and defend yourself before being attacked, (or in this case identifying your roommate). I never said shoot the guy as he is coming through the window. In the original scenario, the roommate was entering the home through a window (unannounced, just like a burglar would do). In either case, I would still be prepared and ready to react. Why? Because as you are standing there trying to have a discussion with this guy (to see if he is a drunk neighbor, roommate, or a real armed burglar) he may decide to plug YOU with a few holes while you are talking to him.......

My personal decision would be to blast the guy with a scorching 105 lumens of blinding light from my tactical flashlight (attached to my Glock 21) and identifying the intruder in short order. After that, if he doesn't immediately leave my home he has definitely made a bad decision, I can tell you that. That whole situation requires very little time (a few seconds at most) to identify the "intruder" coming through the window (friend or foe)....
 
Wild Alaska:

You might not have done much different than I did if you knew my exact layout of my house. The window he was coming through was probably 20 feet from my bedroom door. My girlfriend was in there and the nightstand that the phone was on also had my loaded 9mm handgun. She is very well versed in firearms herself so I'm not sure what she did as soon as I walked back out of the room but I would be very surprised if she didn't have that pistol in her hand or at least within reach if she heard a struggle take place. The door to my bedroom could see the window he was trying to enter through and I had only my bedroom or the bathroom in which to retreat behind me. My first thought was to protect myself and my loved ones and by placing myself between my loved ones and the intruder. We might still disagree that I should have went and waited in the bedroom with my girlfriend, but that also could have resulted in a bad situation if my roommate came to my door to say "hi". If I had been home alone at the time, my actions might have been different. However, I had to think about a little bit more than my own well being and my LCD tv.

I do appreciate the critique and I have definitely ran tons of scenarios through my head trying to determine if I could have handled the situation better even though the outcome was as good as I could have hoped for.
 
My personal decision would be to blast the guy with a scorching 105 lumens of blinding light from my tactical flashlight (attached to my Glock 21) and identifying the intruder in short order.
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At least you are learning something, as your original response was;

Some folks may want to warn the dirt bag (with a loud yell) that you have a gun and will shoot him if he does not leave immediately. Myself, I really don't care to yell at anyone who is breaking in my home myself as it could give my position away.
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I think anyone would take that to mean you had no intention of identifying the threat, that's how it reads. You originally were concerned about "giving your position away" You have now articulated that you do not feel that to be a sound strategy as you plan to "blast him with 105 Lumens" Thus identifying the threat. (that light will also "give away" your position, particularly if it is weapon-mounted, but that is, as I said before, a moot point)
Perhaps we are not as far apart as you might imagine, you just need to get off the defensive "soap box" and explain yourself a tad more clearly and completely.

I am trying to explain about how I would handle these type scenarios in my home.
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And that is certainly your right to do so, however It seems clear that when someone points out different strategies, that put you at a lesser risk of making a fatal mistake, you take offense to that. No offense is intended, merely trying to share some knowledge based on experience. If it bugs you that much, take it with a grain of salt. Hopefully someone else may come away with more tactically sound ideas. MLeake said it perfectly;

Problem is, some other folks personal ideas...
... would wind them up in prison, based on the things they say on this forum.
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This is not to much about personal criticism as it is broadening the lexicon of rational thought. I certainly would not claim I "have all the answers" but I do have a few ideas that have managed to get me through nearly five decades, and to remain alive, (through several defensive situations) and, on the right side of the law.
 
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