Home defense plan?

Tonight I was sitting in my living room with my 5 month old son. My husband and I are both in the Army, and he is frequently away for training or deployments, as he is right now.

It was around 11:30, and someone suddenly banged on my front door. I set down my son, drew my weapon, and quickly turned on the alarm (should have already been on, I know), and then looked out the window to see my porch. No one was visibly on my porch, so I scanned the front of the house through the window, and noticed that the motion activated light on the side of my home had been set off. This raised my level of concern, and I called the police while I went through the house peering out windows for suspicious activity. I carried my son with me while I did this, since I didn't want him in the living room alone should someone break in the front door. The police response was very prompt, no more than about 3 minutes or so. While I waited for the police to arrive I stayed in my living room with my son and my weapon drawn, on my feet, with my phone in the opposite hand prepared to hit send to call 911 back should anything happen. I have two large dogs who were in the backyard at the time, and they weren't making any noise, so I was fairly certain no one had attempted to go back there.

The officer came, took a little walk around the sides of the house, and hemmed and hawed about how it wasn't very late, they probably just had the wrong house and ran off when they realized it. Right. He told me to call if anything happened, took note of my weapon on my hip, advising me to keep it near just in case, and left.

The whole time I was scanning the windows and waiting for the police to arrive I was running through my head trying to decide what on earth to do with my son. None of the rooms in my home are windowless, and the current alarm system doesn't have glass break sensors or window contacts (we're moving in a week, the new home will), so I was not very inclined to leave him out of my reach should the individual choose his window to break. I was also hesitant to bunker down in a less accessible room with him, not only because I would feel like a sitting duck, but I did call the police about 8 months ago when my dogs cornered something/someone in my backyard. They were going insane, and they had never barked at an animal before (to this day they still haven't freaked out the way they did that night). It took the police over 20 minutes to respond to that call, so I didn't want to risk being trapped in a room with limited means of escape.

I should also add that my biggest concerns are at night when we're sleeping. I make it a point to leave main living area lights on at night, such as the front entry, living room, and kitchen. In addition, I oftentimes leave the T.V. turned on. I have a theory that if the house appears to have people awake in it, it's less likely to be targeted than one where everyone is asleep and unaware. I'm also considering purchasing a second home security pistol for my husband to keep on his side of the bed for when he's home. He doesn't carry and all of his firearms are collectors pieces...it may be good to have should anything happen, that way one of us can go to a safer location with the baby and still be armed.

What would you do? Does your family have a set plan or rough idea of how you would respond to a home invasion? What safety measures do you employ at night? Do you have a predetermined safe room? If so, is it set up so it can be easily escaped, or is it a windowless space?

I am single, no kids..do have a rather large Black Lab that has a Rottweilers bark I won't hide nor will I retreat in my home.....I have weapons placed strategically in every room.......you know what happens next..Fire Fight

My family is my wife, our 2 sons and our dog. We have flood lights in the back of the house and street lights in the front. Our dog is an alert barker, large, intimidating and does not treat strangers kindly, he has been known to scare the crap out of delivery people and repairmen until he has been introduced. We lock our doors and use bars on our windows and sliding glass door. We keep 3 pistols, loaded, in the house when sleeping. I place 1 pistol in a hiding spot that is easy to retrieve if needed. All of our bedrooms are in line with each other, so it's simple to know if we would be firing into a child's bedroom with a miss. If someone is actually in the house I will grab my nightstand pistol with it's mounted light and secure our children. Once the kids are secure in our bedroom or whatever room is available, the police will be called if they haven't already. From there it's up to the person who broke in how they want to proceed, if they come after me or my family then lethal force will be employed. I don't like the idea of holing up in a room, but tracking 2 young kids through a house with a potential threat inside is a poor tactical choice in my mind.

I personally think dogs are one of the best ways to deter people from messing with your home. They are a hassle for anyone who might think about it and they can be great at sensing trouble before you do. Just a little training goes a long ways for a dog and even a small dog can be trained to alert bark and warn of potential threats.

If you have the ability to mount a good light on your pistol or whatever your home defense weapon is is, do it. A blast of bright light to a persons eyes in the dark is great for disorientation and scaring them off. Most of the good weapon lights over $100 will do a great job. My old TRL-1 lights up my house really well and is downright blinding if you're on the receiving end of it.

Well, I definitely have some personal input on this one-if not all the answers.
1st-as far as having an exact plan, no. Gotta have enough flexibility in terms of where to go, etc. And you have to take into account where you are or might be when anything might happen. (you might be in a kithen, den, garage, out in the yard,etc)
If a fixed plan of some sort is dependent upon getting from wherever you happen to be, to a particular room,etc- events may not play in favor of that.

2) 3 things to have within reach,if not on your person.at all times- Sidearm, flashlight, cell phone.

With the child, I understand that situation. Been trying to sort that one out myself,when my nephew is over visiting. Where to put him,move him or keep him should something arise-and how best to keep him out of the line of fire until I can get him somewhere more secure, and controlled. IF I can do so.

A word about dogs. Yes, they can be a good alarm system. A good dog will alert you at the approach of someone they know doesnt normally belong there.
BUT- the deterrent thing depends on the assailant. This I learned from personal, and painful, experience a few months ago.
I have 2 pitbulls. Non-aggressive in the least, but very alert, very protective, and will bark/growl at the approach of anyone/anytime.

A few months back, at least 2,possibly more folks (we arent sure, found most of this out after the fact) were approaching our place in what we believe to have been a robbery attempt.
Semi-rural area, only 8 homes on our street. 6 of which had recently been broken into/robbed. Mine had not, nor had the 8th-the one belonging to the persons suspected of the robberies-and of this event.
Mine hadnt been-we believe- because of the dogs.Most of the other homes dont have one.

One night in Sept. , I let one of my dogs out front to do her biz, before locking up for the night.Normally, I'd have been out there with her, having a smoke-but on this night the phone rang, and I went inside to answer it. No sooner had I done so, she began barking and growling at someone/something unseen in the dark, off-property.
As I was finishing the call, I heard a blast from a shotgun-and my other dog began barking and growling like mad. I ran back out front to find my 1st dog,Lady laying in the driveway, bleeding down one entire side.

Honestly, at the moment I could not make the connection-in my mind- between the gunshot and my dog's injury. Id actually thought she'd stepped into the road and been hit by a car. I got to her, washed off the side of her, to discover a shot pattern that peppered her entire side from her neck to her tail. (indicating to me, that the shot-which had sounded somewhat distant-may have been from about 40-50 yards.)
As soon as I realized what was up, I went and got my own shotgun-had the wife care for the dog, called the police, and did a search of my area as best I could.
Apparently the robbers retreated back down the street to their place at the commotion .(we had just gotten the second dog-im not sure they were aware of her,until she began barking).
My dog had done her part,but was killed for doing so. For several nights previous, she had been barking/growling at things unseen at different points around my place. I'd, at the time-written it off to animals-cats/racoon/etc. being out there. I now realize it may as well have been the previous attempts of these folks to get into my place.

The person,or persons responsible/suspected in this-both by myself and the rest of the neighbors-as well as by the Sheriff's office, are still free, and not charged- do to a "lack of evidence/witynesses" . As such, we consider them an armed,and on-going threat. As such I am now armed 24/7 in and out of the home. We have added alarm systems, lighting etc. as well.

A plan? Yes, if it doesnt belong here, front-sight, press, repeat as needed.

irish52084 said:

I don't like the idea of holing up in a room, but tracking 2 young kids through a house with a potential threat inside is a poor tactical choice in my mind.

I personally think dogs are one of the best ways to deter people from messing with your home. They are a hassle for anyone who might think about it and they can be great at sensing trouble before you do. Just a little training goes a long ways for a dog and even a small dog can be trained to alert bark and warn of potential threats.

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You're absolutely right in regards to toting the kids around with you. When we move into our new house I'll definitely be securing a large closet or something of that manner (basically windowless) with a lock and necessities to be able to put my son if someone attempts a break in and I'm home alone with him. After this happened I was googling for professional recommendations on infants during a burglary or home invasion...I was greeted by pages and pages of different news stories where the intruder executed the baby, left with the baby, held a gun to the baby's head, and so on. Didn't do very much to quell my fears on leaving him in a different room.

The dogs are fantastic...their abilities of perception are far greater than some will give them credit for. I've been fortunate in that my dogs are incredibly territorial, especially the Husky (go figure). They'll be nice as can be to someone they don't know coming in the house, even when I've had people that they'd never met house sitting. But if someone shady walks up to my door "soliciting," they're on edge before I even get to the door to yell through that soliciting is not allowed, they need to leave, and the police are on their way. I actually did do that once...we were living in an apartment and some mid 20s thugs pretending to be high school kids would come by every few weeks knocking on doors selling magazine subscriptions. Two for one deal...get a gullible person's personal information and a free view of their valuables. I yelled through the door that soliciting was not authorized in our neighborhood and I was calling the police. The guy got pretty belligerent yelling that he was allowed he had a permit. I yelled back that even with a permit, it was illegal in my neighborhood, he needed to leave, and I was calling the police. He punched my door and told me fine, call them.
...That night I drove to the gun store and bought a taser, since I was convinced he might come back because I pissed him off.

Glock34 said:

I am single, no kids..do have a rather large Black Lab that has a Rottweilers bark I won't hide nor will I retreat in my home.....I have weapons placed strategically in every room.......you know what happens next..Fire Fight

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Oh, those were the days, lol. Hell, when I was pregnant and living alone, if I had to go out to my car at night to get something I went with my gun at the low ready, round chambered, safety off. Test me.

j4l said:

A word about dogs. Yes, they can be a good alarm system. A good dog will alert you at the approach of someone they know doesnt normally belong there.
BUT- the deterrent thing depends on the assailant.

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I'm so sorry about your dog, that's awful. I actually tend to worry about that, I have four house pets (two dogs, two cats) and I'm one of those hardcore animal people. If we go out of town I don't worry about someone breaking in and stealing my stuff, its insured. I worry they'll leave the door open and my cats will get loose. That night my dogs cornered someone in my yard? *Don't flame me* I actually caved in and opened the back door to try to get them to come back inside, because I was worried that whatever it was would hurt them. Our back door is set up so the only way someone can get to it is up the steps of the porch, and they would have to walk around some decent sized bushes to do so. I knew given the layout if it was a person if my dogs were called off and they still had the balls to follow my dogs into the house, I'd have plenty of warning to shoot. So there I am, crazy pregnant, a bag of dog biscuits in one hand and my gun in the other, trying to convince my dogs to stop doing their job, for fear of their safety. Certainly NOT the smartest or safest thing to do, I don't recommend it.

My home defense plan is simple. #1 my house is at the end of a 1/4 mile long dirt road. If you come down it your passing trespassing signs(ect). So obvioulsy nobody can say they didnt know they werent suppose to be there.
#2 All my firearms (5 rifles, 3 handguns, and a shotty) are loaded and in our room or my glock is on my hip. if SHTF its gonna be a bloody gunfight! My wife would prolly go to her Mossin Nagant since even if she can barely shoot it, she is surgical with swinging it around like a club!

Yes we have a dog but he is a chiuahua(however you spell it) and he doesnt bark(imagine that) but he instead makes sneezing sounds. I dont really trust calling the police unless there is a body to report. They take to long and get kinda ancy coming down my driveway.

When someone is in your home and is a threat to you, you have to deal with them in an aggressive manner, IMO. If someone is in my home and poses a threat, no way am I going to run with my kids in tow to my room if I can engage and eliminate them without risking harm to my children. If you decide to protect yourself with a gun, don't try to wound or scare an attacker, shoot with purpose and shoot to stop or kill, whatever terminology you prefer, but end that threat quickly and efficiently. That mindset is, to me, the most important part of any home defense plan.

irish52084 said:

When someone is in your home and is a threat to you, you have to deal with them in an aggressive manner, IMO. If someone is in my home and poses a threat, no way am I going to run with my kids in tow to my room if I can engage and eliminate them without risking harm to my children. If you decide to protect yourself with a gun, don't try to wound or scare an attacker, shoot with purpose and shoot to stop or kill, whatever terminology you prefer, but end that threat quickly and efficiently. That mindset is, to me, the most important part of any home defense plan.

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I completely understand. I think part of my hesitance in taking him to another room was the knowledge that the person was most likely to break in through a door, immediately setting off a high volume exterior siren (quite useful considering I live in the city and the homes are close together...my whole block would hear it) and be promptly met with the barrel of a gun. The vast majority of intruders, especially in my neighborhood, only target empty homes that are easily accessible. Most burglars will be strongly disinclined to engage with the resident of the home while an alarm is wailing down the street and a gun is aimed in their direction. In thinking back on last night, and how the side light had been activated and the front door banged on, I actually think they were trying to determine if anyone was home/awake. They most likely went down the side first to get to the back door, but my dogs were in the yard. Then they came to the front and banged. I immediately went and set my alarm, so my inclination is that the sound of the alarm buttons (they're pretty loud, I always worry turning it off and on will wake up the little guy) were their tip that we were home and we were awake, so they left. I'm thinking its because my husband's truck is gone from the drive this week, and I prefer to park in the street where things are more open and visible and well lit.

That's not to say I shouldn't be prepared for the possibility of an encounter with a burglar, because someone if someone on meth or heroin breaks in there's no guarantee that they'll be thinking rationally enough to know their best option is to get out of my house...especially if they're armed. Now an actual home invasion is a lot more guaranteed to get unpleasant...that's actually why the first thing I did was arm my alarm system. That was if they did get in while I was not in the room and on guard, if they made me turn the system off I could send in the silent alarm.

On a somewhat related note, I do routinely pull up the incident reports for my neighborhood, to get a feel for what the crime trend of the season is. About 90% of the burglaries are non-forcible entry, because a lot of these people leave their doors unlocked all the time. None of the break ins have happened while someone was home, and they've actually been primarily occurring during the day while folks are at work. My friend lives just half a mile away in our neighborhood, and I called to tell her what happened and we were discussing the wandering and scouting that happens around this time of year. She is also one of those residents who never locks their door. One day her front door was open, the storm door shut but unlocked, when a crack head walked into her house. She walked in, saw my friend and goes, "Oh. I didn't know you were home," and just walked right out. Now my friend uses that as validation of the fact that this crime is pretty much always unlocked empty houses no one is going to hurt you....I take that story as great incentive to lock my doors 24/7. We do see a massive influx in crime right at spring time when the warm weather first hits, as though they're excited that its nice enough to walk around the city and troll for a good target so they come out en masse, and right when it starts to get colder so they can stuff themselves before going into partial hibernation in the winter.

All good points,x3. Head's in the right place, and looking at the right things.
Some more to consider- keep an eye out for, and an eye on,any vacant/empty homes in your immediate area, also.
Part of the aftermath of my situation was that we had found out that the vacant home across from me had been broken into,and we feel that the robbers in my area had been using that place at night to scout/surveil the rest of the homes. They'd sit in there at night and observe the comings/goings of folks along the street to see who was home and when, patterns,etc. before proceeding to try to break in.

Empty/foreclosed/vacant home=potential observation post.

I live in a fairly quiet neighborhood with a bunch of retired folks like myself. There are at least two empty houses in the area.

What I do is on the order of deterrence; when the wife and I take our morning and/or evening walks around the neighborhood, I am very visibly carrying. I also check on the empty houses on a regular basis.

When we first moved here, there were quite a few incidents of people who didn't belong in the area walking around. Now, we rarely see anyone or, if we do, they're heading out pretty quickly. Most of these are kids taking a "shortcut" to another neighborhood.

I've only had one instance of soliciting. I answered the door with my .45 on my hip and they decided they didn't really want to try to convert me. Never said anything to them but "Hi!"

There's only the wife and me in my household but the defense is entirely up to me. The society she comes from does not allow possession of firearms by private individuals. I'm working on getting her up to speed on being able to fire at least one of my guns, but she's not too hot on the idea.

SFCRetired said:

I live in a fairly quiet neighborhood with a bunch of retired folks like myself. There are at least two empty houses in the area.

What I do is on the order of deterrence; when the wife and I take our morning and/or evening walks around the neighborhood, I am very visibly carrying. I also check on the empty houses on a regular basis.

When we first moved here, there were quite a few incidents of people who didn't belong in the area walking around. Now, we rarely see anyone or, if we do, they're heading out pretty quickly. Most of these are kids taking a "shortcut" to another neighborhood.

I've only had one instance of soliciting. I answered the door with my .45 on my hip and they decided they didn't really want to try to convert me. Never said anything to them but "Hi!"

There's only the wife and me in my household but the defense is entirely up to me. The society she comes from does not allow possession of firearms by private individuals. I'm working on getting her up to speed on being able to fire at least one of my guns, but she's not too hot on the idea.

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Can soo relate, Top. Our area is (was) very quiet,fairly secluded.Mostly retirees-apart from my wife and I, and one couple about our age next door. It's a dead-end road in a semi-rural area, with little to no outside traffic. Everyone who belongs here knows or at least recognizes one another. Outsiders are made to feel decidely unwelcome, and are encouraged to make themselve scarce ,pronto-quick.

Prior to my incident, I became accustomed to this atmosphere, no real crime, no issues/threats etc. I was lulled into a false sense of security,and let my guard down,big time. Now, since the incident, I've made a point of being very visibly armed at all times.
Since the folks we suspect reside on the same road, and are still free-and they have to pass by/through me every single time they go anywhere- I make it next to impossible for them-and any strangers passing through- NOT to notice the .45 on my hip-and when practical, the 870 slung over the shoulder.

Same situation with the wife, also.She is/always has been very gun-shy, and not the least fond of them. When she was a child in Brooklyn yr.s back, she witnessed a mob hit right in front of her home, where a man was gunned down and died in front of her. Soo she's a bit slow to convince of the need to pack iron, and to learn to use it. And all of this in spite of the fact of our incident. But she is going to have to learn at some point.

Good thread. One idea which has good merit is to have both partners armed and train some scenarios to back each other up both in the house and on the road or in the car. You can only cover so well with one person, but with two it's better in many ways. If one person has temporarily disarmed the other can cover while they re-arm. You can pick strategic positions to cover each other.

In the car the person riding passenger can have their HG more accessible.

Over all, though the best idea is a layered defense of the home. Alarms, door locks, interior locks, cell phones, 24/7 carry, dogs, lights, motion detectors or some combination if not all of these. Though you may forget to arm the alarm, albeit rarely, you have other layers to slow the BG down.

I own a Dan Wesson .357 Mag, frequently (would like to be more frequent lol) go to the range. I also dont have a conceal weapons permit, but getting the class/license in the next week or so. (I plan on carrying).

My wife after finding out that Florida has a high number of children being not kidnaped but abductions, meaning they have no intention of returning your child for a ransom, they want to sell the child/organs etc. Also we had a few of what we call "mystery knocks" late at night. So the Mrs decided to get a firearm and her conceal weapons permit as well.

She goes to the range now with me and fires the .357 Mag rounds.

We are devising a plan as we speak. If you want some awesome detailed info on break ins and home security visit this website, I guarantee it will blow your mind and change your life with the helpful info they provide.

http://www.nononsenseselfdefense.com/

Also for added protection (I know you have a home system but you cant be too careful) you can buy $2.00 magnetic door alarm for cheap: http://bestofferbuy.com/Portable-Wi...ource=gbase&utm_medium=cse&utm_campaign=gbase
(I didnt tape mine I drilled each piece carefully and screwed them in) Also so what if you have 20 windows/doors and have to turn 20 buttons on before you go to sleep if it gives you a better quality of sleep.

Also you can turn a baby monitor into a monitoring device in kids room/remote locations.



Theres even $4.00 glass shock sensors: http://compare.ebay.com/like/350436...ff43484&itemid=350436168403&ff4=263602_309572

PS: If youre worries about child abduction theres the Brickhouse Child Locator, expensive but worth it. http://www.brickhousesecurity.com/child-locator.html

Theres also numerous inconspicuous (some even desguised as a bracelet or hidden in the kids shoes) GPS devices.

I would also encourage you not to have just a Home Defense Plan, but also a On The Road Defense Plan, we love children parks, our daughter really enjoys the company of other kids in these parks so we frequent them alot. What will you do if approached by someone in these areas whom posses less-then-honorable motives towards you? If your child is grabbed and the assailant runs, what will you do? You cant as well shoot at them at that point....chase them? What if they threaten to harm your child if pursued? These are things you must think about as scary as they may seem.

Good luck and yes Im paranoid, but when it comes to todays society and your family's safety, youre crazy not to be.

Rod0990 said:

I own a Dan Wesson .357 Mag, frequently (would like to be more frequent lol) go to the range. I also dont have a conceal weapons permit, but getting the class/license in the next week or so. (I plan on carrying).

My wife after finding out that Florida has a high number of children being not kidnaped but abductions, meaning they have no intention of returning your child for a ransom, they want to sell the child/organs etc. Also we had a few of what we call "mystery knocks" late at night. So the Mrs decided to get a firearm and her conceal weapons permit as well.

She goes to the range now with me and fires the .357 Mag rounds.

We are devising a plan as we speak. If you want some awesome detailed info on break ins and home security visit this website, I guarantee it will blow your mind and change your life with the helpful info they provide.

http://www.nononsenseselfdefense.com/

Also for added protection (I know you have a home system but you cant be too careful) you can buy $2.00 magnetic door alarm for cheap: http://bestofferbuy.com/Portable-Wi...ource=gbase&utm_medium=cse&utm_campaign=gbase
(I didnt tape mine I drilled each piece carefully and screwed them in) Also so what if you have 20 windows/doors and have to turn 20 buttons on before you go to sleep if it gives you a better quality of sleep.

Also you can turn a baby monitor into a monitoring device in kids room/remote locations.



Theres even $4.00 glass shock sensors: http://compare.ebay.com/like/350436...ff43484&itemid=350436168403&ff4=263602_309572

PS: If youre worries about child abduction theres the Brickhouse Child Locator, expensive but worth it. http://www.brickhousesecurity.com/child-locator.html

Theres also numerous inconspicuous (some even desguised as a bracelet or hidden in the kids shoes) GPS devices.

I would also encourage you not to have just a Home Defense Plan, but also a On The Road Defense Plan, we love children parks, our daughter really enjoys the company of other kids in these parks so we frequent them alot. What will you do if approached by someone in these areas whom posses less-then-honorable motives towards you? If your child is grabbed and the assailant runs, what will you do? You cant as well shoot at them at that point....chase them? What if they threaten to harm your child if pursued? These are things you must think about as scary as they may seem.

Good luck and yes Im paranoid, but when it comes to todays society and your family's safety, youre crazy not to be.

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I definitely don't consider it to be paranoid at all. My dad always thought I was paranoid with my gun and alarm system and what not...until I called him on Saturday to tell him what had happened the night before.

I definitely use layered security, and we have an alarm on the home we're in now...fairly basic system, based on a risk assessment of the homes layout. Now the home we're moving into next week is more vulnerable, so it will be set up with all the bells and whistles next week. My husband, bless his scatter brained spaced out heart, had forgotten to lock the front door at night before. I woke up, having gone to bed before him, to an armed alarm and a front door unlocked. I almost died when I saw, and he tried to dig out of the hole with, "Well the alarm was on, so at least we would have known if they came in."

I do notice that you're using DIY alarm equipment...do you have monitoring through anyone? I would strongly recommend it if you don't, and I would ensure it was connected to a cellular transmission unit rather than a land line. If someone comes up behind you as you're going into your home, they'll make you turn off the alarm, so you'll want a monitored system that you can enter a silent distress code into, over a cell unit in case they've anticipated you sending a silent alarm and cut the land line to prevent it from transmitting. And the best part of a silent alarm is it's sent to the company as such, and is forwarded to the police in a manner that they know you are in trouble and need immediate assistance.

Im single and live alone other than my dog. Which i know will attack anyone that does not belong in my house he may not be the biggest ( a blue heeler/ ausy sheperd mix). But when it comes down to it i just need him to give me the few seconds it takes me to grab my HG. And as for retreating i will not if some one comes in my house with intent to do me harm (god forbid) i will use whatever force it takes to stop the threat.

j4l im sorry to hear about your dog

And BTW to x3atthis i thank you and your husband for serving our country and ensuring the rights that so many of the people in this country take for granit:banghead:

My prayers are with you and your family god bless and stay safe