[riddleofsteel]

I awoke early one morning (3:30 AM) to VERY loud pounding on the door. So loud it sounded as if someone was pounding with a sledge hammer. We have had several home invasion type robberies in our city and I guess that was on my mind as i lept out of bed. I popped open my bedside quick safe and pulled out my P229 and flashlight. I went to the front door and peered out of the peephole. Wouldn't you know it, the bulb on the front porch was either burned out or had been disabled. The pounding continued. At this point I was unwilling to just open the door so I called out loudly.
"Who is it?"
"We are county deputies investigating a 911 call!"
"Prove it!!"

At that the deputy shined a flashlight on his partner's badge in front of the peep hole. Holding the pistol behind my back I opened the door and addressed them thru the screen. It seemed that a woman had called 911 and told the operator a man was beating her and had a gun. Then she hung up. The address the computer gave was close to mine but not exactly. I pointed out the address on my door was XXXX not XXXY. The deputies asked if a woman was at this address. I called my wife to the door and she reassured them we did not call.

Here is my point. If i had opened the door with my pistol in hand/in view a trigger happy deputy could have punched my ticket. They were primed looking for a male perp with a gun at 3:00 AM on a dark night. Defend your home yes, but use some common sense and I.D. your targets. Also check the peep hole/window before opening the door in the middle of the night.