I had to clear leather today

C

chaim

New member
So, I was watching TV in my living room today and minding my own business when someone tried to open my door. I guess they were trying different door knobs to see if anyone left their door unlocked. Of course, it seemed like they kept trying it forever (brain always slows down during an adrenaline rush). I drew my P250 Compact (I've rarely been so happy that I had a .45 on me) and yelled out "hello" to let them know someone was on the other side of the door. Maybe yelling out wasn't a great idea, but that is when they stopped trying to get in my door and moved on. This was at about 3pm on a Sunday afternoon in a generally safe and relatively affluent area.

I could hear them trying other doors after they left mine. It sounded like 2 or 3 male voices speaking a Slavic sounding language (I'm guessing Russian).

This isn't the first time this has happened (though it is the first time at my current apartment complex). I think it must be somewhat common at apartments. Sometimes it could be a drunk trying the wrong apartment, it could be a friend of a previous tenant who doesn't realize the old tenants have moved, and of course, it could be a thief who figures that there are enough people, and enough turnover, in an apartment that people may not notice that they don't belong there.

While it wasn't the first time, it was the first time it happened while I had my gun on me and I was in the living room just on the other side of my door.. The guys who tried to get in have no idea they had a .45 pointed at them from the other side of the door. I'm very glad I didn't actually have to use it.
 
Good thing you were carrying while at home. Of course there are more than a few here who would call you paranoid. However, I am not one of them. I have a G27 on my hip as I type this at home while on the couch.

I hope you called the cops. To give them a heads up if nothing else. Glad you didn't have to fill out any paperwork. :)
 
I think yelling "hello" was a reasonable thing to do. Good thing the door was locked; as fastidious as I usually am about such things, I still occasionally find I've left a door unlocked after coming in with an armload of groceries or whatever.

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Good thing you were carrying while at home.
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I usually (though don't always) carry at home. It isn't a bad idea, even in a good neighborhood. If I lived in a CCW state I definitely would all the time (I don't put my keys or wallet away somewhere and keep them in my pockets, it would be easy to do the same with a CCW piece).

Good thing the door was locked; as fastidious as I usually am about such things, I still occasionally find I've left a door unlocked after coming in with an armload of groceries or whatever.
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I usually keep my door locked. The only time I don't is when I have to make multiple trips to the dumpster or to and from my car for groceries or to unload from a trip. Then, I may leave it unlocked only while I'm going back and forth, and relock when I'm finished. However, I live with a roommate (my brother) who doesn't always feel it is necessary. He'll always lock the main lock (but not always the deadbolt) when no one is home, but he rarely locks the deadbolt and often doesn't lock the door at all if one or both of us is home. His mindset is "why bother locking if someone is home, no one will break in".
 
I never did call the police. A police officer lives in the building, and when they got to his apartment, they went running. So, it wasn't necessary.
 
Glad you didn't have to shoot.

Also glad you were ready if it came to that. I carry if I'm awake. If I'm asleep it's on the nightstand. If I'm in the shower it's on the bathroom counter.
 
Me, no leather holsters for 20 years. Kydex for me. If I am awake and dressed, G19 4th gen on belt. Track pants, G19 and IPhone.
Florida has a great number of CCW individuals. I have been one since the day we arrived, Dec 7th 2003.
Always lock doors, come and go through Garage, back in, engine off, door down. If we are out, alarm on.
 
How did they know they had gotten to a police officer's apartmen
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Since I was in my apartment I couldn't say for sure. When they got to him I heard a door open followed by yelling and running. I assume he either identified himself (verbally or visually through clothes or badge), or they didn't know but they were greeted by staring down the barrel of his gun.
 
This all seems overly dramatic to me.
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Why? You don't think people try to break into apartments? You don't think I'd draw if someone seemed to be trying to get into my apartment? You don't think they'd leave when I yelled out at them? You don't think they'd run when they got to the cop's apartment?

Anyway, whatever you mean, thanks for questioning my honesty or my judgement. Not something I tend to appreciate.
 
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I certainly don't think Chaim's being
overly dramatic. We live in a very
dangerous World. Not like it was in
the 50's or even the 60's. Being
prepared is just plain smart.
 
Doc Holliday 1950 said:
We live in a very
dangerous World. Not like it was in
the 50's or even the 60's.
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The murder rate in this country is currently lower than it was in the early 1950s and about the same as it was in the late 1950s and the early 1960s. We're currently living in one of the safest periods we've seen in the last century.

Murders%201.bmp
 
It's amazing to me that so many people think this is the next most dangerous period in history next to The Wild West. A friend of mine is paranoid to the point he thought guys cutting his neighbor's grass last week was suspicious. If they are going to be out of town, what did he expect them to do, let it grow out for 3 weeks? No, they hired the same guys I use, a father and son, and this time of year, grandson. They may be strange, but they are totally legit. My friend sent me a pic of them cutting the grass, with this text, "Never seen these guys cutting the grass before!" , and "I'm watching them in case the pull something!". I told him I knew them, and he was still suspicious. I told him they have been cutting my grass (I have severe allergies to grass and stuff) for 20 years, most of the time, when I'm not home. He got off that, then heard fireworks and got all wound up. Nothing has ever happened to the guy, but he seems to be getting more and more convinced something will.
 
Paranoia is a National movement! My grass is mostly weeds! We live in uncertain times, but worrying about someone cutting grass? Wow.

My Son bought me a vision doorbell? Whatever it is called. The main advantage, the bell actually works now.

Carry a Glock 19 all the time, and relax!
 
The world is safer. It is funny, kids when I was a kid (born 1970) spent most of the day outside and well out of sight of parents. I'd ride my bike for miles and hours by the time I was 8 or 9. We'd walk in the woods, play in creeks, walk or ride bikes to shopping centers (I remember my buddies and I pooling our allowances and walking to a shopping center about a mile away to buy a pizza and some drinks when I was 8 or 9). Today, kids can't go anywhere out of sight. It can even cause legal issues: http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/13/livin...g-family-under-investigation-again/index.html

People actually think things are more dangerous. There were far more child kidnappings and murders in the 1970s and 80s than today. However, the news didn't cover it like it does today. Of course, the same is true of crimes against adults. Amber alerts, 24 hour news cycles, crimes against children halfway across the country being treated as national news instead of local news, murders (especially workplace shootings) 10 states away making national news, all make it seem like things are worse than it used to be. Similar to how people think planes are so dangerous when they are safer than driving...car accidents don't get reported much, plane crashes get talked about for weeks.
 
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