Nervous moment tonight.

.40CLTlocal · Jul 27, 2012

Every Thursday night my wife, son, and I go to my parents for a big family dinner. I don't normally OC there since its just there and back. But tonight was different, I chose to take it with us. We headed home around 8:30 and pulled in about 9. Since the kid was asleep I was going to go in first and let the dogs out so they wouldn't wake him up. Thats when I realized they were already outside. We never leave them out when we are gone. My heart stopped. Many times before I have thought about coming home to find them let out by some one that had broken in. I told my wife to stay in the car and lock the doors. I drew and chambered a round and slowly walked around back to the fence. The back door and windows were both secure. I went back the the front and went in through the front door. I can tell you it is a very surreal experience to clear your own home. In the end I found nothing. All doors and windows secured, all rooms and closets clear. I guess in our hurry to get out of the house they just got let out in the back yard. I realized that I need to carry everytime that we leave and will be coming back after dark. We live off a very busy road and it's to much to chance. For the record, Had I found a busted in back door I would have not gone in.

davidmcbeth · Jul 27, 2012

Just a thought .. could have had the wife drive away with the kids ...

Also, did the dogs aid you in you house search?

I have a cat, pretty much useless in this respect but I can tell when someone other than a family member is home from its behavior. At least it uses the toilet.

chiefjason · Jul 27, 2012

And might want to reconsider carrying unchambered. Handguns make very poor clubs. I came home once to a partially open door to my garage. I figured it was more likely that I did not pull it shut in a hurry to leave. But working through your house when you are not sure will get the heart going quick.

PFC HALE · Jul 27, 2012

davidmcbeth said:
Just a thought .. could have had the wife drive away with the kids ...

Also, did the dogs aid you in you house search?

I have a cat, pretty much useless in this respect but I can tell when someone other than a family member is home from its behavior. At least it uses the toilet.

Cats are very useful! grab said cat, smack it around a bit and throw it at the perp! im sure they would have a fun time defending against 20 pissed off claws coming at them, then a handful of live rounds being shot at them right after the cat! :banana:

cricketdad · Jul 27, 2012

.40CLTlocal said:
Every Thursday night my wife, son, and I go to my parents for a big family dinner. I don't normally OC there since its just there and back. But tonight was different, I chose to take it with us. We headed home around 8:30 and pulled in about 9. Since the kid was asleep I was going to go in first and let the dogs out so they wouldn't wake him up. Thats when I realized they were already outside. We never leave them out when we are gone. My heart stopped. Many times before I have thought about coming home to find them let out by some one that had broken in. I told my wife to stay in the car and lock the doors. I drew and chambered a round and slowly walked around back to the fence. The back door and windows were both secure. I went back the the front and went in through the front door. I can tell you it is a very surreal experience to clear your own home. In the end I found nothing. All doors and windows secured, all rooms and closets clear. I guess in our hurry to get out of the house they just got let out in the back yard. I realized that I need to carry everytime that we leave and will be coming back after dark. We live off a very busy road and it's to much to chance. For the record, Had I found a busted in back door I would have not gone in.

Not only after dark.

For people in the Fayetteville area:
There is a white van with a Day and Night Heating and Air sign on being used in robberies. The sign was stolen from the business. My coworker got home after work (1530) and found his place emptied. Neighbor saw the van and thought it was a service call.

skidmark · Jul 27, 2012

Congratulations on surviving what could have been a very traumatic experience.

I agree that carrying unchambered is merely aerobic exercise. You cannot guarantee you will have even the short amount of time it takes to chamber a round before it will be too late to use your handgun to defend yourself/your family.

And speaking of defending your family - clearing your house can be extremely dangerous. You will be no good to your family dead, crippled or laid up for months in the hospital because you ran into an armed burglar. Also, if there was a person inside your home and they shot you, who would be left to defend your wife and kids? This is why it is recommended you call your local police/sheriff's department and ask them to send someone over to clear your house. Go read this http://www.agirlandhergun.org/2012/07/24/a-litt/ if you want to hear it said better. (For anyone not familiar with her story, AGirl has recently gone from Condition White to being very active in training and practicing self defense.) More reimforcement for this plan can be found by reading the comments following the blog entry.

stay safe.

bellyfat · Jul 27, 2012

big ass dog

i use my big ass dog to clear the house everytime i leave with him.
if he stays hom, then the house stays clear. ...best securty system on the planet. ggrrrrrr

WTFOVER · Jul 27, 2012

bellyfat said:
i use my big ass dog to clear the house everytime i leave with him.
if he stays hom, then the house stays clear. ...best securty system on the planet. ggrrrrrr

While some dogs may scare away some people it isn't the best security system on the planet. Dogs can be killed and or put into another room while the house is cleaned out.

NC-Heel · Jul 27, 2012

Carrying a unloaded firearm makes zero sense to me.

.40CLTlocal · Jul 27, 2012

Carrying chambered is something that I have been working on and will esp be doing now. I did clear with the dogs. They didn't sign that anything was amiss. One is a black lab the other is a black mouth cur. They are extremely protective when we are home and when strangers come around, but there is no promis that they could keep someone out when we are not home. I know it was risky to clear the home myself, but like I said had I seen some obvious sign of intrusion I would have had the wife leave and call the police. Perhaps I may have waited a safe distance from the breached door until they arrived and had them on speaker the whole time.

Roger Mosley Jr · Jul 27, 2012

cricketdad said:
Not only after dark.

For people in the Fayetteville area:
There is a white van with a Day and Night Heating and Air sign on being used in robberies. The sign was stolen from the business. My coworker got home after work (1530) and found his place emptied. Neighbor saw the van and thought it was a service call.

Thanks for the headsup on the van!!

RedneckJeeper · Oct 18, 2012

Very interesting experience. my most recent purchase was a lc9 for daily carry and im pretty comfortable with leaving it loaded 24/7 my first handgun was a beretta 92fs and i some what got used to carrying it loaded due to the rotating firing pin wen the safety is engaged even though its DA/SA, i then purchased a metro arms 1911 45 AC2 wonderful gun but carrying with it loaded was just scary with the hammer back. i sold it. but im getting less nervous of carrying loaded everyday.

Nervous moment tonight.

.40CLTlocal

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davidmcbeth

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chiefjason

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PFC HALE

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cricketdad

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skidmark

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bellyfat

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WTFOVER

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NC-Heel

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.40CLTlocal

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Roger Mosley Jr

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