The Firing Line Forums - View Single Post

kunlao21 · May 24, 2008, 04:04 AM

These are all excellent posts, from informative and humorous to cut to the chase and serious.

Maybe it's just the demographic that's posting on this thread, but only a few have mentioned family members and their plans of action as well.

I’ve been a lead instructor at local self-defense and martial art schools for the some time now. Beyond techniques, family action plans are what I began developing as a means of defense and safety outside of the physical aspect. Not necessarily for firearm trained parents, but the concepts could be easily applied to those who do possess the knowledge and wish to implement that in their action plan.

Now please be warned… This is my school of thought, and I’m sure many will disagree and try and rip my post to shreds. But this is what I have developed given my experience, preference, environment and the abilities of those who had to learn to utilize this. In fact this is still a work in progress, as no 2 situations might ever be alike. But as with any learning… Something is better than nothing, and having a good plan with bad variables could possibly be more successful than just “wingin it.” It’s taken us just over a year discussing, planning and practicing with family and neighbors in developing this to what I feel is a “confident level.”

While my tac training and pie cutting are great for me, myself and I, our number one priority has always been our family when it came to implementing a plan. While we don't have kids of our own just yet, our nieces and nephews, 8-12 years old sleep over so often (4-6 nights a week), they have their own rooms setup as though they live there, and hence, had to be trained on this.

I keep a G23 nearby with a Crimson trace and a blow horn (I’ll explain later) in my nightstand. While I understand prevention is key (lights, gates, venus fly traps outside the window

), once the front door is kicked down, imminent contact is what I plan for. I wouldn’t want to engage if I wasn’t sure my family was in a safer place than here and now. The last thing I want is for my curious young family members to wander out because they heard something. But keep in mind, this isn’t investigating “noises” at 3am, but rather, the thought of someone is without a doubt, definitely in the house to do harm.

From the time the kids could understand the notion of safety, they were taught in fire-frill fashion how to maneuver throughout every square foot of every room of the house in complete darkness. They could lock/unlock every mechanism-front/back door locks, sliding glass, windows you name it….literally blindfolded in complete darkness. No, not mystical ninja-like, but freakishly well, to the point where it’s truly their second nature. They will not run to our bedroom door and risk making contact themselves. They will exit their bedroom window with no lights that might indicate their presence. The 2 or 3 kids staying with us at the time all have confidence that each other knows what to do, and that going back inside to find them is not necessary. If they cannot escape for any reason, they know to lock themselves in the closet from the inside and wait silently until help arrives, and not leave to look for auntie or uncle.

How do they know to start this Mission Impossible/SWAT scene? The wife has speed dialed “9” (911) on her cell as she exits our window, air horn in hand. The kids are cued to get the heck out if they’re ever awakened by this deafening noise from the wife outside their windows, which prompts me to open our door to locate the subject. There, she clearly sees the kids are exiting/not exiting from the windows and meet under the light post across the street while I remain inside and engage.

The wife and kids meet, and then split to pre-arranged homes to bang on doors and wake the neighbors, who already know why unsupervised children from my home are at their doorstep. My wife can explain to her original dispatcher that there is at least 1 intruder and 1 firearm held by a man of my description, and that there are no other occupants, or “x” kids hiding in the closets of this and that bedroom. While at the same time, dispatch receives multiple calls advising roughly the same information.

There are numerous what-if variables that can be screamed at me about this plan, which totally throw it completely out the window. While other hurdles you may face might force only a part or some parts of the plan not to work or be unreasonable:

- But I live in a 2-story house/apt/condo and my kids aren’t jumping out of windows
- What about multiple BG’s inside and outside, don’t want wifey to run into them
- My windows don’t open too easily
- A blow horn telling me the kids are leaving also kills my element of surprise
- My kids are too young not physically capable of performing or learning this
- My neighbors are 2 miles down the street and 10 acres away…and they’re idiots!

- etc etc etc

Like I said, there are a-z variables that make my plan useless to many, as well as some basic ideas which might be ideal. But the points of the plan are to separate my family from the possible danger within the home and contact LEO’s with the known basics of the situation. The wife and kids could hunker down, or they could run. Again, preferences based on your own experience and environment.

However, I am truly happy to report that they performed excellently 4 months ago, when an intruder was seemingly in our midst. All of the above went as planned when my brother in law arrived into town. Wifey gave him a key loooong ago before this safety plan began. He flew in after midnight and decided to let himself in to crash on the couch, and of course didn’t want to wake us…should’ve tried harder. His luggage hit the ground and he flung himself on the couch outside our bedroom. I handed her the horn and the phone and um…put my PJ’s on. She made it out the window and I was waiting for the cue as planned.... seemed like forever though! She sounded the horn and I cut the pie to find Donny in his boxers on my sofa with a priceless look on his face and a red dot reflecting off his nipple ring:barf:. I was so pumped, and PO’ed, that it was him, I forgot about the whole “other” activity going on. I must’ve given Donny a piece of my mind for at least 5 minutes, when I noticed blue lights reflecting from my chandelier…”Oh crap.”

I cleared the weapon and locked the slide back and put it on the dining room table. My brother and I opened up the front door with our hands up…in boxers and pj’s, of course. Undoubtedly, they were filming an episode of “Cops” at the time, J/K! But one of the officers kindly thanked the wife and me for taking the time and effort to teach the young an action plan like this. She said that many times, it’s just luck sometimes that kids aren’t looking down the barrel of daddy’s shotgun in situations like these. I apologized to her for not going out fast enough to update the false alarm. But it was a great learning tool for all of us.

There were and still are countless hours of games and fun drills we have to implement for the kids, but having good learners and patient teachers are an absolute plus. I highly recommend developing a plan of your own based on your views. Me? I’ve still got a lot of practice to do with the kids while I can keep up their interest in this thing. But I’m sure it’s something that sets a pretty good foundation when they decide on their own families.

Cheers!

May 24, 2008, 04:04 AM	#49
kunlao21 Junior Member Join Date: December 11, 2007 Location: N. Phoenix, AZ Posts: 9	If you don't like reading..skip me! :) These are all excellent posts, from informative and humorous to cut to the chase and serious. Maybe it's just the demographic that's posting on this thread, but only a few have mentioned family members and their plans of action as well. I’ve been a lead instructor at local self-defense and martial art schools for the some time now. Beyond techniques, family action plans are what I began developing as a means of defense and safety outside of the physical aspect. Not necessarily for firearm trained parents, but the concepts could be easily applied to those who do possess the knowledge and wish to implement that in their action plan. Now please be warned… This is my school of thought, and I’m sure many will disagree and try and rip my post to shreds. But this is what I have developed given my experience, preference, environment and the abilities of those who had to learn to utilize this. In fact this is still a work in progress, as no 2 situations might ever be alike. But as with any learning… Something is better than nothing, and having a good plan with bad variables could possibly be more successful than just “wingin it.” It’s taken us just over a year discussing, planning and practicing with family and neighbors in developing this to what I feel is a “confident level.” While my tac training and pie cutting are great for me, myself and I, our number one priority has always been our family when it came to implementing a plan. While we don't have kids of our own just yet, our nieces and nephews, 8-12 years old sleep over so often (4-6 nights a week), they have their own rooms setup as though they live there, and hence, had to be trained on this. I keep a G23 nearby with a Crimson trace and a blow horn (I’ll explain later) in my nightstand. While I understand prevention is key (lights, gates, venus fly traps outside the window ), once the front door is kicked down, imminent contact is what I plan for. I wouldn’t want to engage if I wasn’t sure my family was in a safer place than here and now. The last thing I want is for my curious young family members to wander out because they heard something. But keep in mind, this isn’t investigating “noises” at 3am, but rather, the thought of someone is without a doubt, definitely in the house to do harm. From the time the kids could understand the notion of safety, they were taught in fire-frill fashion how to maneuver throughout every square foot of every room of the house in complete darkness. They could lock/unlock every mechanism-front/back door locks, sliding glass, windows you name it….literally blindfolded in complete darkness. No, not mystical ninja-like, but freakishly well, to the point where it’s truly their second nature. They will not run to our bedroom door and risk making contact themselves. They will exit their bedroom window with no lights that might indicate their presence. The 2 or 3 kids staying with us at the time all have confidence that each other knows what to do, and that going back inside to find them is not necessary. If they cannot escape for any reason, they know to lock themselves in the closet from the inside and wait silently until help arrives, and not leave to look for auntie or uncle. How do they know to start this Mission Impossible/SWAT scene? The wife has speed dialed “9” (911) on her cell as she exits our window, air horn in hand. The kids are cued to get the heck out if they’re ever awakened by this deafening noise from the wife outside their windows, which prompts me to open our door to locate the subject. There, she clearly sees the kids are exiting/not exiting from the windows and meet under the light post across the street while I remain inside and engage. The wife and kids meet, and then split to pre-arranged homes to bang on doors and wake the neighbors, who already know why unsupervised children from my home are at their doorstep. My wife can explain to her original dispatcher that there is at least 1 intruder and 1 firearm held by a man of my description, and that there are no other occupants, or “x” kids hiding in the closets of this and that bedroom. While at the same time, dispatch receives multiple calls advising roughly the same information. There are numerous what-if variables that can be screamed at me about this plan, which totally throw it completely out the window. While other hurdles you may face might force only a part or some parts of the plan not to work or be unreasonable: - But I live in a 2-story house/apt/condo and my kids aren’t jumping out of windows - What about multiple BG’s inside and outside, don’t want wifey to run into them - My windows don’t open too easily - A blow horn telling me the kids are leaving also kills my element of surprise - My kids are too young not physically capable of performing or learning this - My neighbors are 2 miles down the street and 10 acres away…and they’re idiots! - etc etc etc Like I said, there are a-z variables that make my plan useless to many, as well as some basic ideas which might be ideal. But the points of the plan are to separate my family from the possible danger within the home and contact LEO’s with the known basics of the situation. The wife and kids could hunker down, or they could run. Again, preferences based on your own experience and environment. However, I am truly happy to report that they performed excellently 4 months ago, when an intruder was seemingly in our midst. All of the above went as planned when my brother in law arrived into town. Wifey gave him a key loooong ago before this safety plan began. He flew in after midnight and decided to let himself in to crash on the couch, and of course didn’t want to wake us…should’ve tried harder. His luggage hit the ground and he flung himself on the couch outside our bedroom. I handed her the horn and the phone and um…put my PJ’s on. She made it out the window and I was waiting for the cue as planned.... seemed like forever though! She sounded the horn and I cut the pie to find Donny in his boxers on my sofa with a priceless look on his face and a red dot reflecting off his nipple ring:barf:. I was so pumped, and PO’ed, that it was him, I forgot about the whole “other” activity going on. I must’ve given Donny a piece of my mind for at least 5 minutes, when I noticed blue lights reflecting from my chandelier…”Oh crap.” I cleared the weapon and locked the slide back and put it on the dining room table. My brother and I opened up the front door with our hands up…in boxers and pj’s, of course. Undoubtedly, they were filming an episode of “Cops” at the time, J/K! But one of the officers kindly thanked the wife and me for taking the time and effort to teach the young an action plan like this. She said that many times, it’s just luck sometimes that kids aren’t looking down the barrel of daddy’s shotgun in situations like these. I apologized to her for not going out fast enough to update the false alarm. But it was a great learning tool for all of us. There were and still are countless hours of games and fun drills we have to implement for the kids, but having good learners and patient teachers are an absolute plus. I highly recommend developing a plan of your own based on your views. Me? I’ve still got a lot of practice to do with the kids while I can keep up their interest in this thing. But I’m sure it’s something that sets a pretty good foundation when they decide on their own families. Cheers! Last edited by kunlao21; May 24, 2008 at 04:43 PM.