Here is my plan, how does it look?

[Wallabing]

In event of a burglary/home invasion

1. Call 911

2. Retreat to bedroom, lock door, wait for police to arrive. Try to identify suspect/s if possible from windows, blinds, etc.

3. If burglarer attempts to break down door, yell at the top of my lungs to go away.

4. If bedroom door entry is forced, shoot them.

How is does this plan sound?

[SigP6Carry]

really depends on where you are. If the burglar has any breath left in their lungs and you didn't inform them you have a firearm, in some jurisdictions, that's a bad thing if you shoot them. But, it's a different case in every town.

[Wallabing]

I dont know if they have a weapon either. For all I know they could charge in and start shooting/stabbing away at me. I'm not taking that chance.

[SigP6Carry]

I'm not telling you what to do, I'm merely opening you up to the idea that different jurisdictions have different stances on this type of thing. It could perfectly kosher where you are to shoot anyone who breaks it, it could be very bad where you live to shoot someone without warning them if they are not armed. It just depends. I'm not telling you that you're wrong, I'm merely using an example to try and explain that it relies more on where you are than what we say.

[Brit]

A few months ago I thought some one had broken in to my Townhouse.

Had my Wife call 911, my challenge from the top of my dog legged staircase, (not visible, until you had as an intruder climbed into my view, head first!)

"The Police are on their way, which ever part of you I see first, I will shoot it!"

Where I was located had the Garage under me.

No one in my house but me and my Wife, thanked the responding Deputy's.

[Dwight55]

Wallabing, . . . sounds like my plan. I live in Boonieville, Ohio, . . . deputy arrival time is somewhere between 5 minutes and 45 minutes, . . . it could be a long wait, . . .

OTOH, . . . if my wife and I are in the bedroom, . . . doors closed, . . . all I have important is in there with me, . . . bg's can have whatever is out there with them, . . . that is why I pay for insurance, . . . and why my gun safe is in my bedroom with me.

My location is sort of hardened, . . . it would take a lucky shot for the bg to take me out without knowing exactly where I am, . . . but either bedroom door opens, . . . it would be for me like shooting full sized carp in a bait bucket.

May God bless,
Dwight

[Lee Lapin]

Sounds like a good enough plan, but remember that no plan survives first contact with the enemy intact...

lpl

[OldMarksman]

In some jurisdictions, your plan would be appropriate. In those, the law states that a forcible, unlawful entry into your home provides a reason for you to believe that you are in imminent danger of death or serious bodily harm.

Not so in some others.

Now that you have publicly stated your intention, let's hope that you live in a state that falls into the first category and/or that you are never in a situation in which your having shot someone was not clearly justified and that the justification is not supported by the evidence.

[ZeSpectre]

My thoughts on the OP's plan.

1) Are there others living in this house? If so they need to be involved in your security planning otherwise they wind up standing around helplessly behind the reaction curve (see this dramatization)

2) Always have a "bailout" plan and actually practice it. It's all well and good to say "oh I'll just climb out that window"...have you ever TRIED to climb out that window? A "dry run" can highlight a lot of flaws in a plan.

3) Widen your scope a bit. What if you were in the bathroom?, or out back in the yard? Or in the garage, etc. I quickly realized that if someone were to "bust in" while I was doing laundry (in the laundry room in my house) then all my plans were utterly useless. I quickly made some modifications and additions to my plans I can tell you!

[pax]

In event of a burglary/home invasion

1. Call 911

2. Retreat to bedroom, lock door, wait for police to arrive. Try to identify suspect/s if possible from windows, blinds, etc.

3. If burglarer attempts to break down door, yell at the top of my lungs to go away.

4. If bedroom door entry is forced, shoot them.

How is does this plan sound?

It sounds like an excellent foundation, although I'd swap items #1 and #2. Now add refinements by asking "what if" questions.

What if someone else you care about is with you in the house when the intruder breaks in?

What if someone else you care about is in another part of the house from you when the intruder breaks in?

What if the intruder is between you and your safe room when you discover him?

What if the intruder snipped the phone lines before entering?

What if ...?

Ask yourself these types of questions to create contingency plans built around your good foundation of retreating to safety, calling 911, and defending yourself as necessary.

pax

[OldMarksman]

Widen your scope a bit. What if you were in the bathroom?, or out back in the yard? Or in the garage, etc. I quickly realized that if someone were to "bust in" while I was doing laundry (in the laundry room in my house) then all my plans were utterly useless.

Excellent put! I came to the same conclusion some months ago after having kept a gun in the bedroom for the thirty seven years I had lived in my current house and for several years before that.

Not too smart, in retrospect.

Consider what you would do if a violent criminal actor were to enter forcibly and very rapidly through different possible points of entry while you were in any of several places--kitchen, living room, dining room, basement, and so forth--and develop your contingency plans accordingly.

(Looks like pax just said about the same thing).

[sonick808]

what if a savvy crook had setup a cell phone jammer to cover the perimeter before entering, and you had no land-line ? (these devices cost $300 or so online to jam all current cell protocols in a 150'+ diameter)

Just thought of this after reading pax' post.

I think i'll add my kenwood handheld ham radio with pre-programmed repeaters into my 'plan'........

[matolman1]

pax said it all. Just read his over and over and follow the advice.

[1shot2kills]

you got to remember too though... alot of break ins are merely opportunistic... meaning hey that house looks like a good candidate i could use money, alright lets do it. unless you live in a higher class area where it would be appropriate to have your place "cased". so make sure to make your place look less apetizing... keep the view from your windows to the street clear. park your high dollar car in the garage. and things of this nature to make it look less "appetizing". keep your cell phone on you or in your safe room. make sure you have your local SD's phone number in it and just because, you want to make sure to let the intruder know you have a weapon. alot of times that will be enough to scare them off. kinda like the sound of a 12 g shotgun cocking. but once you make that announcement be prepared to use it, cause sometimes the bad guy isn't int he right state of mind, obviously. the use of drugs can make a person grow "balls" and think they are superman.

and the what ifs are a good thing to run through, as long as the whats ifs are reasonable. you dcould go as far as what if the aliens come from mars to help the bg and they use there mind control powers? ummm while it is a what if, its not likely. keep in mind, bad guys are bad guys because thats what they do. they do bad, and most of the time they don't do alot of homework on handy little devices to jam cell phones and wut not.

im not a professional and ive never been in a situation but ive ran through scenarios in my head enough times. i knwo that if i hear the BG coming in i run to my room lock the door, load the clip in my gun and let the slide forward. make my announcement. while im dialing 5-0. i live in an upstairs apartment i know the sounds of the floor so i can just about know if they are advancing or if they are retreating. so i can kinda use that to my advantage. basically learn to use what you can to your advantage.
ive ran through my apartment a few times "practicing" and dry firing and also seeing exactly how long it would take to run from my kitchen to my room and to the computer room also. where i store the shot gun . so i know either room i go in im secure

any who im sort of rambling so im gonna stop it here

[Brit]

Just a few minutes on the laptop, then hot fruit and Porridge (oatmeal) slippers and dressing gown, G19 from bedside table in pocket.

I am up, I am armed, just my Wife and I in the house.

Jeep inside garage, backed in.

I am a board member of the HOA, we have members who want to paint (tart up) the outside wall, not me, it looks drab, I like it, drab is good.

Hurricane tape on all glass, Government required for Federal Buildings, 3M.

Baseball bat protected, you can wale on the sliding glass door for quite some time, it hangs tough! When all is said and done the one who is best at physical protection has that job in our house, that's me. We are out, monitored alarm is on.

Paranoid? Aware!

Keep Safe.

[45Gunner]

1. Call 911

2. Retreat to bedroom, lock door, wait for police to arrive. Try to identify suspect/s if possible from windows, blinds, etc.

3. If burglarer attempts to break down door, yell at the top of my lungs to go away.

4. If bedroom door entry is forced, shoot them.

How is does this plan sound?

You are way ahead of the game in that you have a plan.

In my State of Florida, it is legal to shoot someone that has unlawfully entered the home.

I'm with you at Numbers 1 & 2.

Once my family is secured in the bedroom with the door locked and my wife has the shotgun locked and loaded, I am on the hunt. It's my Vietnam mentality. I am at a distinct advantage here as I know the layout of my house and every obstacle that is in it, e.g., the chairs sofas, pedestals, etc.

Once a slimeball has entered my house without my express invitation, I figure he ain't there for a tea social nor is he there to wax my car in the garage. As the sign says on my wall: If you are found here at night, you will be found here in the morning.

[KingEdward]

For a burglary - if you are sleeping in the bedroom then
pretty good plan.

For a home invasion, depending on timing/forced entry you
may have little or no time to retreat to another room.

I've been witness to one of these (two armed home invaders
caved a door in around midnight and got to the residents BR
and held them at gunpoint in about 30 seconds)

My plan is to get to safe room and wait and repel grave threat
if it is coming through BR door.

But I also keep a couple of things ready in case there is no
time to retreat and it's time to adjust to the threat right then
and there.

[OldMarksman]

In my State of Florida, it is legal to shoot someone that has unlawfully entered the home.

Don't forget that little words "and forcibly."

Once my family is secured in the bedroom with the door locked and my wife has the shotgun locked and loaded, I am on the hunt. It's my Vietnam mentality. I am at a distinct advantage here as I know the layout of my house and every obstacle that is in it, e.g., the chairs sofas, pedestals, etc.

That doesn't mean you won't get killed. Read this, courtesy of fiddletown:

It's better not to go investigating "bumps in the night" if you think there actually may be a BG there.

[1] You arm yourself. You investigate as best you can from a place of safety in house with your family. You wait and quietly listen. Does the sound repeat? Can you begin to identify it? Can you positively identify it as something innocuous? If the sound is clearly from outside, you look out nearby windows.

[2] If you can't identify the sound and believe there is a danger, you assure that your family and any known visitors are all together and with you in a place of safety. You call the police. You maintain telephone contact with the police. And you wait.

[3] You do not go anywhere to investigate, because --

(a) If you go looking, and there is indeed a BG there, you will be at an extreme tactical disadvantage. You can easily be ambushed or flanked. You may also have given a BG access to family members to use as hostages. Or there maybe more than one BG, one of whom can get to your family while you're occupied with the other one.

(b) When (whether you called them or they were called by a neighbor who may have also seen or heard something) the police respond, they don't know who you are. You are just someone with a weapon.

Massad Ayoob tells a story about the National Tactical Invitational, an annual competition in which some 130 of the top shooters and firearm trainers participate by invitation only. One of the events is a force-on-force exercise using simunitions in which the competitor must clear a house against a single "BG." According to Mas during the first six years of the NTI, one, and only one, competitor got through one of those six NTIs without being judged killed, and he was head of NASA security firearms training at the time. And one, and only one, made it through the seventh year. The tactical advantage of the ensconced adversary is just too great. And remember, these competitors were highly skilled, highly trained fighters.

http://www.thefiringline.com/forums/...0&postcount=35

Once a slimeball has entered my house without my express invitation, I figure he ain't there for a tea social nor is he there to wax my car in the garage.

The law in Florida says that in the event of an unlawful and forcible entry, "a person is presumed to have held a reasonable fear of imminent peril of death or great bodily harm to himself or herself or another when using defensive force that is intended or likely to cause death or great bodily harm to another..." . Realize that that presumption is rebuttable. Evidence pertaining to your state of mind could prove pivotal in rebutting that presumption.


http://www.leg.state.fl.us/Statutes/...776/SEC013.HTM

As the sign says on my wall: If you are found here at night, you will be found here in the morning.

.. and that, which is documented, subject to discovery, and now electronically permanent, could be portrayed as an indicator of state of mind.

Warning to others: watch what you post, e-mail, text message, or put on signs.

[MTT TL]

Always have a backup plan. Have backup plans for the backup plans.