Local home invasions are increasing!

stratus is correct

+1 Stratus.

When you have children under the age of majority, your guns must either be locked up or on your person. If it is on you, your child will not be able to grab it out of your purse or nightstand or whatever. If it is on you, you do not have to worry about "time to react". You need almost none.

My CHL instructor does recommend to not keep a loaded gun by the side of the bed, on the theory that many of us need the physical activity of getting out of bed to go GET the ammo (assuming the unloaded gun is by the bed). I probably do not need to do that. OTOH, I absolutely, positively, will not allow my husband to keep a gun by his side of the bed; I would not even sleep in the same house if he did. Reason? He sleepwalks, sleeptalks, doesn't have a clue what he's doing or saying. Usually it's totally goofy talking, but he has been known to go do things. One of those things CANNOT be "get ahold of a gun". Therefore, the loaded gun is on my side under my control where he can't get it without waking me.

Nobody is going to get into the house without me being able to react. Alarm, dogs, the noise of breaking glass or kicked in door, or even the civilized sound of a doorbell...none need be met with "oh, nuts, I have to go find my gun!"

Carry. It may save those children's lives.

My $.02.

Springmom
 
Right now, I have my OACP in my lap, and my gf has the USP by the bedside while she naps. :)

I don't have my CHL yet - she does - but, if I carry out in the world, I don't see how different rules would apply to me when I'm in my home, which is a thing to be defended.
 
Sad to report that our local newspaper, Newsday, just had an article that 3 more home invasions took place in the past day. Even though they caught the original gang, new vermin have taken their place. Same MO, broke in through sliding doors and weak apt doors, pulled guns, and pistol whipped and robbed. In at least one case a single woman lived with her 15 year old daughter. Imagine when we get the gun ban like SanFran?
 
I know what you mean, I live on LI as well.

Just before leaving for a business trip a couple weeks ago I bought my wife a Remington 870 with an 18 1/2" barrel. She also now keeps her cell phone on a charger in the bedroom. She understands that if she hears what she thinks is a person in the house she is to leave our 3 yr old daughter locked in her room and cover the stairs with the shotgun until the cavalry arrives. She also knows to call the police after she has secured the stairs.

We make a point of keeping the downstairs doors and window locked closed. Even in the summer when oppened for ventillation there are blocks on them to keep more than an arm getting in. We also have a 103 pound Rhodesian Ridgeback who owns the downstairs. If anyone gets near the house he lets us know. So far I do not know of one home invasion on LI where a medium to large breed dog was present.
 
Good point Musketeer, I have a smaller dog but she barks like crazy if anyone or anything comes near our home. I came to the same conclusion, I have not read about any dogs being present in the homes that have been invaided. Additionally, the main point of entry seems to be mostly sliding doors of which I have none. A few of the people actually had the doors unlocked so the perps just slid them open and entered! The woman from the last invasion was naked in her bathroom having just finished a shower, she was blow drying her hair when the gun came up in her face. She actually smacked the gun with the blow dryer and the thieves took off, what dumb luck. And I do mean dumb, she could have easily been killed but was lucky it was just two punk kids instead of cold blooded killers like the previous gang. We are such easy picking here on Long Island, my neighbor for example has sliding doors and they are always left unlocked. I wish people would be more careful and safe, this is reality and could happen anywhere but I guess its like the smokers who don't yet have cancer, they think it'll never happen to them, till it does.....:(
 
The sliding glass door thing always worried me... We do not have one by my mother, who lives alone in a good sized house near Ronkonkoma, does. She also has absolutely ZERO common sense about home security, leaving doors unlocked and assuming the neighbors would see any strangers... She has an unloaded shotgun in the bedroom inside a case from before my father passed away; living alone there is no reason it should not be ready to rock and roll. She is only about 60 and still works a full week. Her mind is fully there so this is not old age clouding her logic but the effect of growing up in the "Long Island Protective Bubble." She also is a smoker who thinks she will never get cancer...

My wife is glad to have the dog but figures if someone really was determined they would just shoot it. I have yet to get her to beleive that these home invaders do not want to make a lot of noise and attract attention, as a gunshot would do. They also want to catch you completely unaware and prevent any resistance. You cannot reason with a dog so I would think they are avoiding such houses. Just the prescense of the animal works wonders in keeping all sorts of unwanted visitors away. We are far from a rich house with no obvious wealth so it is not like they figure we would be worth more trouble than another house on the same block without a dog.

I am more concerned about recent happenings on my block. It sounds like one of the kids across the street may be a part of a gang or in trouble with one. We do not know the family well but they practice "free range" child rearing. Parents are hardly ever in sight and the kids are alone and completely unsupervised. Too see them on Sunday you would consider them a decent working class Italian family, with brothers, sisters, cousins and grandparents coming over for Sunday dinner. The rest of the week though it is different. A couple are troublemakers and large groups have been congregating in the street. Event the 11 year old makes a habit of getting into trouble up and down the block and is home alone almost every day. My next door neighbor saw a group of over 50 she believes and the rumour was they were "looking" for a kid on the block. Given my neighbor's propensity for gossip I would cut the group in half but 20+ is still a respectable group. We make certain when the older kids from across the street are hanging out in the street that the dog gets some free time in the yard. You can see the 6' stockade fence shake when he hits it and he lets them know he is there. I want every one of those pieces of garbage to know that at the very least there is a dog there that could take out their throat.
 
My wife is likewise unconcerened about security and leaves the door open when letting the dog out, and it makes me nuts. I have drilled it into our kids head about the door and they both lock it when they let the dog out and make sure that all the doors are secure. Forget about me keeping a loaded gun nearby, my wife would go ballistic so that is out of the question. I maintain security when I am home and that is really all I can do, I hope in the next couple of years we can move to another state where there are more personal freedoms, and less taxes.
 
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