When someone comes a knockin'

Status
Not open for further replies.
I will look out the peep hole in my steel front door, if I dont know them... I go and sit back down. Although I am sure that they can hear me walking around, I dont worry about their personal feeling on the matter, I didnt invite them over.
 
This is an easy one for me. I look out the window and if I don't recognize the person I don't answer. Even if I'm expecting someone I look first.
 
I live in a safe neighborhood, have no known enemies that I'm aware of and have always passed pyschological exams over the years for job employment.

That being said, I am always armed or have a pistol sitting next to me. Cutting the grass, watching TV, typing this, even showering....it's on the hamper under a towel. Sleep besides a night stand with assorted pistols with night lights. There are also various types of firearms in different rooms in our house. My wife is 100% agreeable to this, although she does at times think it's funny how I live this way without ever thinking it's not "normal". For me, I've always carried and God willing, always will.

So yes, I open the door and greet our guests with friendly and warm words. If I know them, they don't see the pistol on me. If I don't know me, I open the door in a way that I'm bladed and it just looks like I'm real casually just standing there with my hand on my hip. Actually, it's holding a pistol that's hidden behind my body. I can't allow anybody to get the drop on me because I have to protect my family.

And I love almost everybody! :D
 
If reported accurately, he not only answered with gun in hand, but he pointed said gun at the deputies.

By deputies' own statements, the deputies had not identified themselves, either.

Holstered or out of sight has some advantages.

When in doubt, don't open the door.
 
On the very rare occasions that I'm expecting company, when that knock comes, I look out the nearest window before answering. Otherwise, day or night, when that knock comes....I just don't answer the door.
 
Just a few nights ago around 10pm someone unexpectadly knocked on our door. From where I was on the sofa I couldn't see the door and no outside lights were on. Knowing the door was locked, I took the extra couple seconds to grab my .38 off the nightstand and went to the door with it held behind my back (no pockets). Turned out no one was at the door when I got there. Since home invasions seem to be the " in vogue" crime today this has become my standard response.
 
Had a salesman make a midday sales call the other day. Kind of dirty, grungy looking fella, shabbily dressed. No vehicle, no ID. Had some brochures and a spray bottle of cleaner.

I answered the door with a Sig in each hand (9mm in my left behind door, doberman named Sig in my right).

Guy didn't stick around when he saw the doberman.
 
I had one of those guys selling cleaners come to my door. I dunno why but I got the feeling I better buy or they would be back with mischief. Problem was I didn't have 30 bucks scratch on me. What to do? I acted real interested, and said I wanted to buy only that I was broke and had not the cash. I kept apologizing to him and gave it a few damn!s and finally he went away. I think I got away with it, no mischief has been done to my house.:D
 
This incident has been linked a couple of times already. It seems deputies shot a man to death when he answered his door with a gun in his hand. They were knocking on the wrong door at 1:30 in the morning and did not identify themselves as police.

How can we keep incidents like this from happening?
 
Your side - once again, if you answer the door with a gun in your hand - you are just not thinking. ID the person. Call the law if doubtful.

It's really simple.

As far as the police, different issue.
 
As most have said in this thread, the police shooting would not have happened. Most have said they will talk through the door first to identify. I go to my window on my porch. The door is in the living room but adjacent to the room I can look from.

I did this one night a couple months back. Someone knocked at like 11:30. My kids were up late watching movies with me. I told them to stay away from the door while I ran to the window to look. Then up to my room to get my 92. Cocked and back to the door. To ask who it was. The person was heading back to their car. They got in and drove away. Never opened the door till everyone was gone. Then did a quick walk around house for stragglers with gun in hand. Heart was racing for a good 15 minutes.
 
I don't have a good angle to peek out and see who's knocking on my door. If it's day time, I'll ask who it is and open it if I recognize them. If night time, I don't answer period. All of my friends know to text me before they come over. I never feel bad about not answering. If an instance came up to where they didn't seem satisfied with me not answering, or maybe I hear voices and they aren't getting softer as if they were walking away from the house or maybe I hear them coming around to a window, I'm heading to my spare bedroom that contains my gun safe. I'll grab my AR and have a pistol on me as backup. I'll then wait in that room. If they bust down the door, I can remain ready in the spare room and surprise them when they come into the hallway that's visible from the room. I live in a small two bedroom house so there's not going to be much room for a fight if somebody came in. I keep a scope on my AR for sport reasons but don't see that as much of a disadvantage in a close quarters combat situation within my house. It'd just be point and shoot anyway so wouldn't matter if I had a scope or irons on it. I remember one of my first USPSA matches when I realized after several targets that I wasn't even looking at the sights. I was just looking at the targets and pulling the trigger so I kept doing that to finish the stage as all the targets were probably within 15 or so feet. I was surprised when the stage was scored and I had almost all alphas with no misses. That made me realize how useless night sights and such would be on a gun used for close quarters combat.

My house was burglarized last year. I know who did it and he was never arrested for it but did six months in jail for burglarizing a jewelry store a few months later. He was released a couple weeks ago and is back living with his mother next door. Needless to say, I'm pretty alert and on edge when I'm home knowing that just a couple feet separate our driveways. I keep a snubbie in my pocket when I go outside for whatever reason (he's often outside) and when inside my house I have a larger semi-auto within reach. I keep spare magazines in strategic locations that I might retreat to for a good defense position should I need to reload.

I do not have any formal home defense training so if you guys have suggestions or other things I should think about, speak up.
 
Glenn is the voice of reason here. I can't believe how hard people make this... it's simple:

DON'T OPEN THE DOOR TO SOMEBODY YOU DON'T KNOW... NOT FOR ANY REASON, EVER! JUST DON'T DO IT! It doesn't matter whether it's day or night, if you have a dog, if the kids are home, if you have a gun, if you have a security system, if a cop lives next door, if you're a cop, if you're a black-belt, if there's a trap-door under the welcome mat, NOT FOR ANY REASON EVER!!! F&%K!!!

About 99.9% of your door-knocking problems can be solved by the simple application of a "NO SOLICITING" sign on the doorbell. It doesn't have to be fancy... in fact, the more plain it is, the more impact is conveys.

A doorbell camera/intercom system is the icing on the cake. You don't even have to get up from the couch to see who is knocking... and you can retreat to the bedroom or wherever your primary defensive position is and call police.

Of course everybody should have at least a basic CCTV system covering the entire exterior of the house, and a simple home-alarm system (even if not monitored), that can be activated in the event somebody at the front door doesn't get the hint.

Our family practices a standard "trouble" scenario, which everybody to runs to the master bedroom, the wife to immediately dial police and stand-by on the alarm panel while arming herself, the kids inside the closet, and dad at the bedroom door in a concealed position to cover the main hall and exterior bedroom window. There are variations on the scenario, but they never start with dad being a moron and opening the front door to somebody he doesn't know. And my kids know they are NEVER allowed to open the door unless I tell them too, even if it's somebody they think they know.

My primary defensive weapon is a 12ga pump backed up with a G17, both equipped with a light and laser.

If you don't have one of these, ask yourself why not? My setup is different, but the wireless funtion of this one gives you another tactical advantage of being able to talk to the person at the door while on the move inside the house:
http://www.amazon.com/Entry-Guardian-Wireless-Sensor-Security/dp/B00592CCGY/ref=pd_sim_sbs_e_4

AAAADL4hzN4AAAAAAZyPLw.jpg
 
Glenn is the voice of reason here. I can't believe how hard people make this... it's simple:
Click to expand...

So firing shots through the door from my semiauto as I dive through the living room to get to my AR is not necessary?

I suppose the "No Soliciting" sign is cheaper than ammo. Doesn't carry quite the same gravitas.

In all seriousness, I know where home invasions happen. I just refuse to live my life in fear. My family would get very nervous if I opened the door with a gun on me all the time. Not the message I want to send. I've only answered the door armed once in my life. 3am banging on the door. The person had no idea I was armed (kept it behind my back) and they turned out to be harmless. Brandishing a weapon, even legally, sends a message I am trying hard not to convey.
 
Before I was 18 I never answered the door if I was home alone, if mom was home, she had a .25 in her hand or in her pocket when she answered. After I turned 18 I answered with the 12ga close by and a Ka-Bar in hand, always checking out the window or peep to ID the visitor. Now that I'm 21, I open carry a G22, PX4, or my M10-6 and an LCP in my pocket at home and on the grandparents farm. I'll ID the visitor from the window, and answer with my gun out of sight but always with my hand on my gun, and the SERPA lock or thumb break disengaged. once they leave I'll do a walk around to check for stragglers. If it was at night I checked to see who it was and sent them on their way without opening the door. I still try not to open the door at all, but a face to face conversation is a courteous gesture to those who come around. They never see my weapon so all is kosher.

Few days ago at about 8:30pm we had a frozen food salesman come a knocking. We were having an off night so we were only sitting down to eat dinner at the time. Mom answered and I was ready to quell a threat (from my cozy vantage point that would avoid friendly fire) if need be. We didn't notice him come up the driveway, which is odd since headlights shine straight in the front window. He must have come in dark.

2 years ago we had an unmarked rollback roll up the driveway, on a mid-summer afternoon, I was home alone and there was no reason that he should have been here, fearing theft of one or both of the vehicles in the driveway, I called our local constable who happens to live 5 min away from our house and greeted the driver with a loaded 12ga. Said he was here to repo a red F150. We don't own an F150. We have a black expedition and an old white F250 plow rig for winter use. Insisted that the truck he wanted was here. The constable came right down as did PSP. As soon as I saw the constable turn into our driveway I laid my gun on the ground and waved him over, 2 troopers arrived shortly after, no weapons were drawn by LE. The guy was legit and the troopers walked the property with me and the driver to see that there was no red truck. He left and the troopers informed me that I had done the right thing by calling it in and keeping him at bay, and for informing them of my description and that I was armed, however I should not have confronted the driver, but it was understood why I did as it sometimes takes troopers 30-45 min to respond to my area. Troopers also said there were a bunch of auto thefts carried out like this with false repo papers and such. That was a scary ordeal. Had me all sorts of besides myself for a month or 2.

There have been a lot of home invasions lately, and I'm not willing to open up to the crackheads that have been breaking in. We don't entertain much, and all our friends know to let us know that they're coming over. We live in a rural area that should be safe. Our neighbors watch out for us and we return the favor. Because of where we live, we don't get the door to door salesmen very often.

I don't feel the need to be armed 24/7 but I am. I'd rather be prepared for that 0.0000001% chance that I'll need to be armed to defend myself. Some people see me as a nutjob for always having a pistol on me, others think it's the best thing since sliced bread. I do it because I value my life, and I support the second amendment. Up until a few years ago, my mom never kept her .25 on her, but now it never leaves her pocket or purse. This is a crazy world we live in and I'd rather be over prepared than unprepared.


Tapatalked via my highly abused iPhone
 
I don't carry a gun to open the door unless I'm already carrying, which is rare in the house. I do have 2 large dogs and I keep a baseball bat in the umbrella stand by the door, but I'm not going to get a gun out of the safe every time someone knocks.

At 3am things are a bit different, but if I felt the need to have a gun to answer my door I'd move.
 
Shoot through the door and then open to see who knocked? Jk but seriously, I peep through the window before I ever open the door.
 
Why would the bad guys rob people in shaky neighborhoods, the bad guys rob people in the good neighborhoods and from people that have more than them. 95% of all breakins in my town/city are carried out by bad guys from other towns/cities.
Click to expand...
Because people in bad neighborhoods generally abide by a no snitching code. Whereas people in good neighborhoods have no compunction about spilling their guts about anything and everything they noticed. In addition, the bad guys generally stick out like sore thumbs in good neighborhoods, while blending in perfectly in bad ones. There's also the fact that people in good neighborhoods don't generally keep cash around, whereas people in bad ones deal exclusively in cash.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top