Stay put or go investigate?

There are too many variables. Because of my house's layout and where my children sleep, going to the source and having the conflict there is the only "good" option. For you the circumstances may be different

Just for starters:.

1. how confident are you that once you get there you are equipped (in all ways) to handle the task at hand

2. how far away is help ( if you stay put and call for help will the police likely take 2 minutes or 15??)

3. can you get the rest of the family together safely and bring them to your holdup spot without getting caught by surprise by the BG

4. if you stay where you are, is it a good place to defend

5. what's the backstop where you hear the sound like (if he's breaking in a window or door, where will his and your misses go if you engage there? Is that better than possibly shooting it out where you are?)

6. does it sound like it could be more than one BG?

I think in the end your going to nmost likely do what your personality dictates. If your the cautious, lie in wait type of guy you'll more likely go for that option. If your the aggressive, "the best defense is a good offense" type you'll go for that. No real wrong or right answer until the siruation arises and you can ascertain all the variables. Maybe you should have a plan for both options. JMHO

DON'T FORGET TELL THE POLICE WHAT YOU ARE WEARING AND THAT YOU ARE ARMED IF IT GOES BAD YOU DON'T WANT THE REPONDING OFFICERS TO BARGE INTO YOUR GUN BATTLE AND SHOOT YOU. YOUR DESCRIPTION WILL HELP TO AVOID THIS
 
yes i do have a dog, and i have no doubt that he would kill or die to protect me and my family. however the more i think about it the less i like the idea of using him for home defense. my dog, although very large and very intimidating to strangers, is not a trained attack dog. he is the family pet. he is under my care and deserves my protection. (the priority would still definatly be my wife and child). so i think the best place for him would be in the bedroom w/ wife and daughter while i take post at the top of the stairs. that said, where he is when thing's go bump in the night is pretty much up for grabs, so an intruder will have more to fear from him than me.

thanks for all the input.
 
Hawken, . . .

Motion activated lights are fairly inexpensive, and can be wired back to your bedroom so when you go to bed at night, you activate the circuits to them. Bg comes in, . . . moves, . . . lights come on, . . .

Maybe bg leaves, . . .

If you have view of downstairs, . . . you have bg located

BUT MOST IMPORTANT, . . . forget about your "stuff" down there. Your family is first, their safety (and yours) is paramount. Program your sheriff's number, . . . the local PD's number, . . . the State Police or Highway Patrol, . . . like another poster mentioned, . . . don't call 911. Call the ones you need, . . . but call them and wait for them to do their job.

I like Tamara's idea of telling the operator in a loud voice that you are armed, there is an intrusion, and you wish the boys in blue would hurry so you don't have to shoot anyone. Then prepare to shoot, . . . but from the position of defending your bedroom from a bg invader.

May God bless,
Dwight
 
Howdy,
We have a friend that installs alarm systems for a living. He said often times the best defense is a dog. The problem with a lot of alarm systems is often times people don't use them on a consistant basis. Depending on the sensetivity of the alarm they can go off rather easily. Just 2 weeks ago one of my co-workers recieved a call while at work from the monitoring company for his alarm system. He was told that one of his motion sensors had registered movement and caused an alarm to be activated. He was told the police were contacted as well.....Long story made short the actual culprit turned out to be a boquet of Valentine day balloons which faltered just enough to register motion in an otherwise empty room.
From personal expirence I had a run in with an overly sensitive alarm a few years back. I was able to come home one day early on leave and thought I would surprise my mom. I took a cab to her house and knocked on the door. Next thing I know an alarm system that I was totally unaware of goes off. so there I am on the porch alarm going off and waiting. The cops showed up and I explained the situation...Thank God I was in uniform. Not faulting the cops at all, but they throughly made sure of who I was and got in contact with my mom prior to her arriving home to make sure I was legit. They also stayed on the scene until my mom got there.
Becuase of the afore mentioned I know a lot of people use their alarm systems selectively.
 
Funny you ask this question because I just asked my father-in-law this question and he is a police chief. Make sure you know the laws of your state. Know when it is okay to use lethal force and when its not. According to statistics, most intruders are unarmed, looking for something to steal, and will leave pronto if they know someone is in the home. If you can see the intruder before he sees you and you see that he has a gun, its best to shoot first and ask questions later. I would stay put and let them know to get out or you'll shoot.
 
Zulustyle:

Yes, you do have a point there. For that matter, our motion sensor has been notorious about giving false alarms (we have 3 cats), to the point that it never gets activated, so we rely on the door and window sensors instead.
 
I've heard it said that attempting to clear a house by yourself is known in LEO circles as "Looking for a bullet."
 
Every instructor at every training program I've every went thru, along with every book written by knowledgeable people I've ever read says:

1. House clearing by yourself is pure suicide. You simply don't have eyes in the back of your head. ( A few years ago I read that only one student at the Gunsite Training Center had ever survived the Fun House and didn't "get killed")

2. If a family member is being hurt, then God be with you as you run into a possible ambush to try and help them (as you likely will). I like the go in real fast approach, personally.

3. By all means take up a defensive position and let the intruder be the one to commit suicide by coming to you.

You can't call the police everytime you hear what's probably just the cat,or something explainable, making a noise. You may need to investigate just to insure yourself that everything is ok.

TIP: Electronic hearing protectors can amplify sound so you can hear a flatulated mouse at 10yds. Be careful. :D
 
I've heard it said that attempting to clear a house by yourself is known in LEO circles as "Looking for a bullet."
Click to expand...

"Attempting to safely clear a typical residential structure solo is about as safe as trying to snatch a marble off the bottom of a running Cuisinart." :eek:
 
get yourself an AR with a bunch of 30rd mags loaded with lightweight 35-45 grain ballistic tips.....you hear some noise, just start firing (spray and pray).....and in the morning you can walk out into the living room and see it was just your Glade Air Fresher fan kicking on......
 
Tamara,

As far as phone calls, I can generally make myself clearly understood without raising my voice. My experience with professional dispatchers is that they are generally quite cool and casual on the phone, and I think it is conducive to good communication if the caller is as well. I was really referring to the idea of shouting a warning directed at any intruder "somewhere inside".
 
Just a quick story about a personal experience.

When I was a younger lad, I didn't have much money and usually lived in mildly sketchy areas of town. I'd had the occasional intruder before - as much my fault for not locking the door as it was theirs for being too drunk to know which apartment they were walking into.

Anyway, somewhat later I was living in a different place, in a studio apartment. I was working in a pawnshop at the time, there was always the possibility that one of my customers had managed to figure out where I lived so I kept a pistol and a shotgun near the bed.

One late night, I woke to a huge loud sound like someone sawing away at my back door. Being that it was a teeny apartment, I figured that I could clear it myself (small box with kitchenette and bathroom). I grabbed the shotgun and crawed out of bed.

The shotgun was a Franchi SPAS 12 with the nifty folding stock. For those unfamiliar, a serious BFG. Honestly, it weighed 10 pounds unloaded.

I realize that the sound is coming from the kitchenette - it is really loud. Adrenaline is dumping into my body, I'm getting tunnel vision - all the fight/flight responses.

I round the half corner to the kitchenette and flick on the light. Out of a closed bag of Lays Potato Chips jumps a mouse which zips down the counter and into a gap between the stove and the wall. Thank goodness I didn't have the finger on the trigger. The first round in that pig was 00. It could have done some serious bad things to my stove.

So...I guess, no moral here. Just an amusing story.

The mouse did come back, but he had a fatal mishap with a trap.

j

:)
 
I don't think the question was of legal action, it was more ethical. The #1 priority is to protect the family and yourself. If you have an intruder in the home and if "YOU" feel your life or your family is in danger you have the right to waste him.

kenny b
 
Although it has already been said quite a few times, don't try to clear the house yourself. The only way you leave your defensive position is if you have to get to another family member. Go fast, stay low, and God be with you.

1st priority is to get all the family members behind you so to speak, hopefully in a room with one access point that can be covered. Get on the horn to PD right away. (Some may call me paranoid, but I keep a cell phone on the nightstand, JUST IN CASE that highly trained team of elite ninjas has the foresight to cut my phone lines) :D

My house is tough, with kids being on pther end of house, but thats why I have a surly old chow and a 200lb english mastiff. (I don't think the big old mastiff would ever hurt a fly, but GOD HE'S BIG, and scares the holy crap out of anyone who sees him, the chow on the other hand, is cranky, old, and just plain mean when it comes to anyone not in his "pack".)
 
NYS Penal Law, S 35.20 as followes:

3. A person in possession or control of, or licensed or privileged to
be in, a dwelling or an occupied building, who reasonably believes that
another person is committing or attempting to commit a burglary of such
dwelling or building, may use deadly physical force upon such other
person when he reasonably believes such to be necessary to prevent or
terminate the commission or attempted commission of such burglary.

It's what is in the mind of the person at the time of the shooting. It boils down to what the person thought or was thinking. A jury must judge by what the person was thinking at the time by being in his shoes. Not what they believe to be right or wrong themselves. As I said before it boils down to what "YOU" believe at the time it happens.

kenny b
 
Wouldn't've done the mouse any good, either.
Click to expand...

Mouse was WAY too fast and me with sleepy eyes and all that. What was so amazing is the huge amount of NOISE the little varmint was making while snacking on my Lays!

I agree that clearing your own house isn't the best idea, but since it was such a small place (500 sq. ft.) and the Murphy bed was right in the middle, my six was clear and I only had to low look around the corner to the kitchenette. There really wasn't a very good place to barricade myself.
 
thanks for all the advice. although i wasn't talking about legal repercussions, i appriciate that too. my main concern was what would be safer for my loved ones. taking the fight to the intruder (let's just say it's a crazy hell bent on murder) or letting him come to me, and thus closer to my loved ones. i don't remember who posted it but i think the logic of "if you go to him and get shot, then who protects your family?" rings true. better to stay in an already secure area and not get jumped from behind.

one question about clearing your own house though. i would think because you know your own house, even in the dark, this would give you all the advantages over and intruder whos already tripped over something and woke you up.

i think i'll stick with stay put though
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top