Crow Hunter
New member
If I'm hiding in a building, and you're clearing the building with a flashlight, I'll "kill" you every time.
In training I've seen it happen time and time again.
I specifically do not advocate doing building clearing. That is something that requires very specialized training and needs more than 1 person. The only way I would advocate moving through a house with a light is if you have to get a family member that might be in danger or if you are going to investigate a noise that you are not sure is an intruder.
My comment is based on your "ninjas hiding in the shadows" comment. So I guess that while you were doing your low light training you didn't hide in the shadowed part of a room. You just stood out there in the open in a lit area and still managed to "kill" everyone...
Why not?
Before I go to bed, I walk through the house and check the doors and windows.
I don't have a humongous home so it only takes a couple of minutes.
You care enough about your security to get a firearm, to put a light on your firearm, to get an alarm system, but you can't be bothered to check the doors before going to bed?
I can't 100% guarantee anything that I do, can you? Even a physical/visual check is only 85% effective statistically.
I have a 1,400 ft^2 house with 4 doors. I check all of them every night and turn on the security system. There have been several times that I have gotten up the next morning to find that I had forgotten to lock a door or my wife had gotten up and unlocked a door for some reason and forgot to lock it back or even forgotten to turn on the security system. That is one of the reasons every thing is in layers of security, in case one fails or is not set correctly. I also have 3-point locking doors and dogs (outside) for further levels of security. Nothing is 100% guaranteed. I only have a light on my long arm. I don't use a light on my handgun. I tried it years ago but I CCW a separate light, so I keep a separate light on my bedside handgun as well to keep commonality of training.
Why wouldn't a family member simply knock on the door or ring the door bell?
Do your family members know that you are armed?
If so, then it seems incredibly stupid for them to simply let themselves in unannounced, knowing that you are armed.
And wouldn't they turn on some light once they were inside your home?
Why would they creep around your home in the dark?
This makes no sense whatsoever.
Why would they knock? The reason they are checking on me is because I am not answering the phone. Undoubtedly they would turn on a light when they got in. But that isn't what I am talking about. If I am in the bed asleep and someone starts jiggling door handles and the door comes open unannounced, I will be waiting there with a gun trained on the front door and a flashlight in my hand. If I can get there fast enough, I will turn on the exterior light, but I can't guarantee that I will hear it in time.
And how would you know that the stupid teenager wasn't there to kill you?
This might come as a shock to you, but teenagers have been known to rape and kill just like adults.
Maybe they would. But I personally would not want shoot an unarmed teenager there to swipe my Xbox, even if he was in my house and I had the right to shoot him. Without a light, how would I know if he was carrying a gun/knife/etc? You would be okay with shooting an unarmed kid?
So she quietly crept in to the darkened house and kept the lights out?
And you were just sitting in the dark at home?
And did you "light her up" with your weapon mounted light?
This is just nonsense.
Yep she did just "sneak in". She was scheduled to come home the following day, but instead she drove through all night. We lived in a subdivision at the time with no security system and the inside was somewhat well lit by street lights/neighbors security lights. (Very similar to your description) She didn't open the garage because she was in the company car and she came in the front door because it was so late (early) and she just wanted to get to bed.
I am a very light sleeper. When I heard the car door slam, I woke up, but I figured it was just one of the neighbors. Then I heard the front door jiggling (It sounded to me like someone picking the lock because she couldn't find the key hole in the dark), I got up, armed myself and managed to make it to the front door right as it was opening. When the door swung open, I lit her up with the light in my offhand. It scared the daylights out of her because she wasn't expecting anyone to be home.
After everyone had calmed down, we ran back through the scenario and what each of us did wrong. I should have told her that I decided not to go visit my parents, she should have called to tell me that she was going to just drive home, she should have come in through the garage because that wouldn't have been as suspicious and she would have noticed my truck was there.
Would you have just shot your wife?
When someone invades another's home, THEY have chosen to place their life in jeopardy.
I don't want to kill anyone, but I'm not going to endanger my life by stopping to ask an intruder what his intentions are.
You don't stop and "ask and intrudure what his intentions are". You put the light on them and if they have no means of harming you and they make no agressive motions towards you, you don't shoot. You hold them at gunpoint until the police arrive. I don't want to kill anyone but I would feel much better about it if I knew I was defending myself.
I wonder if a court case could be built on a "accidental" shooting based on not having a means of identifying a target? I bet even a "Castle Doctrine" shoot can be invalidated if it can be proven to be an "accident". Even if there are no criminal charges, it does open the shooter up to civil liability.
But it is your life.
Good luck.