The Firing Line Forums - View Single Post - Clearing a house with a pistol/flashlight

chrisp0410 · October 22, 2008, 02:52 PM

In most senarios, I vehemently state, DO NOT CLEAR YOUR HOUSE. You are inviting yourself to be an easy target. Houses, condos, apartments, all have rooms accessed via halls. A hall is a choke point. Where do you target an ambush? CHOKE POINTS. A lone homeowner clearing a house is foolish.

With that said, I also stated "most senarios." An exception would be if I knew loved ones were in another area of the house. Many modern home floorplans put a master bedroom on one side of the house with the kid's bedrooms on the other. If I owned one of these, I would be forced to clear. But I would also have a predefined plan; i.e. call to the kids to stay put, announce that I am armed, stay low and do what I have to to protect my family.

I am not in this senario, I own a three-story townhouse with bedrooms only on the third floor. If someone breaks through the double-keyed deadbolted exterior doors into my home (or climb a ladder to the picture windows on the second floor), they then have to deal with an alarm, the attack cat, two staircases and finally my Wilson Combat 12 GA.

I have insurance to replace my TV, stereo, microwave, etc., I have my shotgun to defend my a$$.

Chrisp0410

October 22, 2008, 02:52 PM	#68
chrisp0410 Senior Member Join Date: July 23, 2008 Posts: 108	In most senarios, I vehemently state, DO NOT CLEAR YOUR HOUSE. You are inviting yourself to be an easy target. Houses, condos, apartments, all have rooms accessed via halls. A hall is a choke point. Where do you target an ambush? CHOKE POINTS. A lone homeowner clearing a house is foolish. With that said, I also stated "most senarios." An exception would be if I knew loved ones were in another area of the house. Many modern home floorplans put a master bedroom on one side of the house with the kid's bedrooms on the other. If I owned one of these, I would be forced to clear. But I would also have a predefined plan; i.e. call to the kids to stay put, announce that I am armed, stay low and do what I have to to protect my family. I am not in this senario, I own a three-story townhouse with bedrooms only on the third floor. If someone breaks through the double-keyed deadbolted exterior doors into my home (or climb a ladder to the picture windows on the second floor), they then have to deal with an alarm, the attack cat, two staircases and finally my Wilson Combat 12 GA. I have insurance to replace my TV, stereo, microwave, etc., I have my shotgun to defend my a$$. Chrisp0410