Home Defense Strategy

J

jared_2O1O

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What kind of home defense system/strategy do you have set up?
How do you "child proof"/idiot proof the systems for those (adolescent or adult) who have an inherent ability to get themselves and others hurt?

I dealt with some issues a while back where I got a little paranoid and started doing the whole pistol under the pillow thing, but I'm looking for a better all around firearm defense setup.


Also, I keep a light on my glock 22 (a streamlight TLR-1....great light....check out www.lapolicegear.com. Mine was pretty cheap and the price has gone down). What are the common opinions about lights vs lasers or lights in conjunction with night sights (wondering if my setup is flawed or if I've actually got a good tactical rig).
 
By no means am I an 'expert', but I like to keep things simple. Decent xenon flashlight and handgun on my nightstand (no kids in the house). Sometimes I'll leave the Saiga x39 next to the bed as well. It used to be the shotgun but my friend realized it was too complicated to operate for her liking. I'd like to get a Saiga 12 or 20 at some point.

An instructor pointed out a couple things. If 911 is called and you state an intruder is in the house, keep a house key tied to a glow stick. Throw it out the window when the cops arrive, notifying the operator you'll be doing so. Also try and stay in one room, don't go 'investigating' unless the kids are upstairs in a separate room.

Many people will agree that keeping a handgun under a pillow is not the best idea. You'd be surprised how much we move during sleep.
 
To paraphrase one of the smartest people I know (hi Marty!), if your home environment is so dangerous that you need the split-second reaction time of having a gun under your pillow, it's time to beef up your home security so you have more time to react.

Better locks, better doors, bars in the windows or wood dowels in the tracks, thorny plants under the windows, exterior lighting. Do the stuff that buys you time so you can relax a bit at home.

My personal solution for after dark (which may or may not apply to you) is to lock the front door and the bedroom door, then place the firearm in an unlocked lock box in my room. The gun is usually lying on top of (or placed within) a fanny pack which also has a flashlight, a spare magazine, and my cell phone in it. The fanny pack can be put on over a robe if necessary.
If the kids need me in the night, I lock the case before I open the locked bedroom door. Pretty straightforward.

Other than that, the gun is on my hip when I'm dressed. That's where it is safest and best under my control, that's where I know the little darlings aren't getting to it, that's where I know an intruder cannot get between me and my weapon, and that's where I know the kids' clueless friends will never find it.

YMMV of course!

pax
 
This is what I do...

SECURING THE HOUSE:

All of my regular exterior lights are on timers or photo sensors so they are always on at night. This summer I plan on installing motion sensor flood lights too.

I keep all the landscaping trimmed around the windows so there is no concealment for an intruder while he tries to break in through a window.

I have steel exterior doors with peepholes, deadbolts, and 3" screws for the hinges and strike plates. The same applies to the door to my garage (except the peephole).

I have an alarm system and a loud dog.

PREPAREDNESS:

I keep a pistol in a gun vault bolted to my nightstand for quick access. My bedroom door is about 6" away from the stairway, so if the alarm goes off I can grab my pistol and surefire and get to the top of the stairs very quickly. My bedroom doorway is perpendicular to the stairs, so I can peep my head out the door and look down the stairs from concealment. There is also a half wall the entire length of the stairs, so I can also use that for concealment if I need to get a better look. My only goal at this point is to keep anyone from getting up those stairs and I definitely have the tactical advantage.

I also use Masterlock deadbolts that allow you to disable the tumbler so even people with a key can't unlock them. This prevents any friends/family with keys from coming in at night and creating a situation where an accident could occur. I purchased mine at Target, they are an incredibly clever idea.
 
Do people really put guns under the pillow? I'm too restless a sleeper for that.

I'm like Kathy - gun and mags in an unlocked box near the bed with a flashlight. In fact, we have backup guns and flashlights.

Alarms, lights, etc.

For zombies and if time, the AR and Eotech and then the nuclear self-destruct device from SG-1.
 
All of my regular exterior lights are on timers or photo sensors so they are always on at night.
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I personally don’t like lights on outside the house all night long. And I would not appreciate my neighbor’s property being lit up like an auto mall either.

Despite their issues, I think the motion sensor lights are better than just leaving the whole property lit up all night, because when they come on, then there’s something to investigate.
 
I personally don’t like lights on outside the house all night long. And I would not appreciate my neighbor’s property being lit up like an auto mall either.
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Notice I said "regular exterior lights" not HID floodlights.

In our neighborhood, we only have a couple street lights. So each house has lamps on each side of the garage that utilize photo sensors. We are required by our neighborhood covenants to have those lights on all night.

I simply added timers to my front and back porch lights.

Not exactly an auto mall.
 
Problem with those sensors...

.... is where their thresholds are set.

My parents have motion detector lights at their place. Possums, cats, the family dog all set them off.

That's great if you just want the lights to come on. OTOH, it conditions everybody to ignore the lights. "Ah, just the possum/raccoon/cat/dog/bogeyman...."

I don't know how to change their settings, or I would do so.

Cheers,

M
 
My parents have motion detector lights at their place. Possums, cats, the family dog all set them off.

That's great if you just want the lights to come on. OTOH, it conditions everybody to ignore the lights. "Ah, just the possum/raccoon/cat/dog/bogeyman...."

I don't know how to change their settings, or I would do so.
Click to expand...

my parents have the same problem with their motion lights. after i got the ladder set up, i figured out that the lights they had were not adjustable.

these lights are off and on all night, even the wind sets them off. but they are using them more for convenience then security.
 
Number one, I have good vantage point of the most likely entryway for an intruder. My room is on the back of the house and I can see the back deck from my bedroom window. After that, I can see the intruder come into view to any of the other rooms from my bedroom door cracked open.

In addition to all that, I leave my Kel-Tec PF-9 on the dresser and my S&W 638 on the shelf next to my wallet which I carry everyday. The cell phone is right next to that too. I feel safe.
 
No kids in my house; dogs outside, that'll alert me to an intruder. Large light and small Glock near my bed. Bedroom door to outside never locked.
 
I like the dark.... as most grimsters do.
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And as most criminals do.

I wish our neighborhood would turn on MORE lights at night.
Interesting tidbit.....
One street we drive down to get to our street is always very dark at night. My wife & I always are regularly commenting that none of the houses have lighting or even turn a porch light on.
Our neighborhood has a H.O. association that puts out a quarterly newsletter that contains all the criminal activity that has been reported to the police. The 'dark' street ALWAYS has 3-4 times the number of problems as reported by any other street in the neighborhood.

Both my neighbors have 'street light' type sodium vapor lights in their back yards, and I am very glad that they do. Sure, some of it can filter into my windows..... but that's what blinds and curtains are for!

No homeowner has the funds to turn their residence lighting into a car dealership parking lot. Yet if they did you can be sure burglers would take their business elsewhere.
 
chris in va said:
An instructor pointed out a couple things. If 911 is called and you state an intruder is in the house, keep a house key tied to a glow stick.
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That's not a bad idea, and I understand where it would be advantageous for the police to come in thru the front or back door, but in lieu of that (say you are not in a room where you could toss a key out into the yard) - can't the police just come in thru the same "hole" that the bad guys did when they broke into your house?

(Holy run-on sentence Batman!) :)
 
I can't use the glow-stick trick anyway since I disable the locks at night. So the police wouldn't be able to open it with a key anyway. They can break it down, I'll pay for the replacement.
 
big dog outside.

little(loud) dog inside.

bunch of loud neighbor dogs.:mad:

loaded 92 with SF X300 and night sights,in a quick access safe,next to the bed...AR if things got really hairy(:eek:zombies,looters,rogue biker gang,Chinese troops,etc).

i plan to do a little more(motion lights etc),but thats the current security system.
 
When it comes to security, locks are huge, if you have Kwikset they are the easiest to pick and every time you use your key it makes it easier to pick that lock. The best to go with is a master lock because They have toy (false) cylinders in them. They are shaped differently so they don't get push up evenly when using a "raking" technique. Just keep that in mind.
 
At my place I am fairly satisfied we have a good home defence strategy.

All the windows are positioned so that if one was broken chances are we would know about it... Not to mention the fact we have two main doors with two locks on each plus magnet alarms that alert us when the door is opened I remain confident that we would be woken up in a home invasion...

So then five us, most of us armed will confront the burglar. I know for a fact when burglars hear voices or [A lot] of movement they will freak out under fear of being caught...

As for locks most crooks cant pick locks what so ever. I don't know why but only the criminals you never hear about pick locks. Also lock picking is mainly done on empty houses. It is an art and unless you leave your house for long periods of time you shouldn't need to worry about locks..

Dogs as an alarm...

It is a bit ghetto. I mean if the dog actually alerts you than that is all very well but one has to be aware that the dog serving him could be killed by a burglar.

It is a rare occurrence to say the least but it has happened. A few years ago in the UK where I am, a family had their two guard dogs abducted and dumped in a field. The dogs came back so the criminals took the dogs away and shot them in woodland...

Also there are a lot of lazy dogs and one would need to make sure that the dog wasn't a lazy one...
 
IMHO,other than normal locks on doors and windows having a well trained dog is one of the best security systems. dog will probably not stop a very persistent intruder from doing you harm but he may buy you the time you need to save your life.
 
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