Home Invasions on the Rise

[Creature]

I have spoken with my neighbors who are a bit chicken.. I told them, trying to make plans, if i call em, there is a problem.. Much like the issue above... I wanted them to know where My family would be so they could send led my way at the jerks knocking on my door.. if i wasn't in any position to move.....
I will be in X location at the time of my 1:30 AM phone call.. just start unloading... we will be out of the way..


I will take the silence that they are gone

I like sending led in directions though walls not having to worry about much, just staying out of the way....
I am in 2 story house.. so any aim will be down and not across the street.. My wife thinks I am nuts to be planning stuff like this out... But reading this.. makes it more of a reality than Most would like to accept..
I am hearing stories like this almost weekly now...

Huh? ...surely you cant be serious. I must be misunderstanding what you are trying to get across by these two statements. Certainly you are joking.

This isnt a game. You and your neighbors are responsible for every single shot and where it winds up.

[Caeser2001]

I don't like answering the door either. Probably 80% of the time, it isn't anyone I want to see. Friends and family call first.

or just walk in.

[kolob10]

A couple years ago, we left the house for church - same time every week. My youngest son (19 years old) remained behind due to the flu. My wife didn't lock the door when she left since we live in the boonies and my son was home About fifteen minutes after we left, My son was awaken (sleeping upstairs in the family room - balcony overlooking the living area) by someone coming through the front door. As he quietly peered over the balcony from a discreet location, he saw the guy walking through the living room area. There was the house 12 gauge 870 nearby so he laid the gun over the railing and racked one in the chamber. The guy looked up and stopped. My son asked if he could help him. The guy turned and ran out of the house in a flash. My son slowly proceede downstairs making sure no one else was in the house. as he looked out the front door a pickup truck with the tailgate down was leaving our drive in a rather speedy fashion. My son later said the only thing he thought about at the time was the mess this guys bodily fluids would make on his mothers piano (guy stopped in front of the piana) should he need to defend himself.

Later, while talking to a neighbor down the road, he told of a rash of breakins
nearby. I hope this encounter ended this guys career.

[garryc]

I had an attempted break in once. And I called 911, but first I called 1-9-1-1.

Seriously though, I've been a C/O for 16 years and I know how these guys think. They seek defenseless people. When a few of them get shot up then the rest decide it's not worth the gamble.

Basically the criminal makes the same calculation as a business man or a gambler, a cost/risk/benefit analysis. So they figure they might get caught, what are those odds? Then even if they get caught they only might get prosecuted, What's that risk? They might get prison time, been there with their dudes and it ain't so bad. Those are acceptable odds often. Then you through in " I might die here, today and right now, that's a deal breaker for most. It throws their cost/risk/benefit analysis way to one side.

Now when they are intoxicated they take chances that would otherwise be avoided. Why do you think they want you drunk in Vegas?

[Caeser2001]

We don't get a lot of people knocking on our door

sometimes I the mail only makes it to the front of the driveway.

[Caeser2001]

They seek defenseless people

it's a shame that the law would be on the criminals side when coming to the aid of an elderly neighbor when seconds count and the cops are minutes away. I know from previous experience in the above situation when the cop asked why I didn't stay in my home

[Langenator]

They seek defenseless people

Something to think about for any service members out there...nothing screams your wife is home alone like one of those "Half My Heart Is In Iraq/Afghanistan" stickers.

Blue stars say the same thing, just not quite as loud.

PSA courtesy of the Ft Bragg ParaGlide newspaper and Ft Bragg Provost Marshall's office.

I was TDY a few hours from home three years ago, and my wife, pregnant with #2 at the time, was home with our then 18 month old son. It was getting close to the due date, and she started having some problems, so my CO sent me home. After putting my son to bed that night, I went out to retrieve my rifle from the car (there was a rifle range at the TDY location), still wearing my carry piece (which was no longer concealed since I was home.)

While I was getting the rifle out of the trunk, I noticed an older Ford Ranger pickup parked across and up the street a little ways, with two people inside. As I pulled the rifle out and headed back inside, the truck started up, turned on the lights, and drove away.

Pretty sure I deterred something bad.

[Rmart30]

Not trying to take the thread too far off course but.... How many of you know how well your doors are secured?

I checked mine a while back and all the hinges and striker plates were secured with 1/2" screws...
I replaced them all withen short order with 3" decking screws.
I also added a 1/8"x2"x2' piece of flat bar (lowes) to the striker side of the door jamb.
That takes up some of the gap between your door and the frame. Mine had a gap of almost 1/2" and left less than 1/4" of deadbolt catching its plate.
The longer flatbar also strengthens it by putting the load over a wider area... 12 3" screws holding it rather than only 4 on the original plates.

[heyduke]

Honestly guys, after reading some of these posts, I'm glad I live where I do, out in the "country".

My cars are out in front of the house, never locked, usually with my wallet in one of them. Can leave the house to go into town and forget to lock the house doors and never a problem. I know most of my neighbors, and when we moved here, we're invited to the "family" summer picnic next door (the road I live on is named after the family up the hill from us). Neghbor let me use his ZTR mower when he saw taking 7 days to cut the front lawn with a push mower, and in return, I let him use my mower (after I finally bought one) after his broke down. Heck, I even hike to my bow stand in the morning.

That said, up in the largest town in the county (population 3k) the law recently caught the perps of a "crime ring" where they were breaking in and stealing from the local businesses.

Guess my point is that people being people, you will always have people who are willing to break the law and perhaps do harms to others to gain in their own agenda. That's a fact and we'll always have people like that.

However, like I said before, I am happy with my choice for my home and think I would go nutz if I had to live in a real city (before you go thinking me a real big hick, I use to work in D.C and some other major metropolitan areas on the east coast).

[Chui]

You know this already but I thought it pertinent, anyway.

Being rural nowadays doesn't mean you won't have home invasions BUT you are much less likely to have to face an armed, riotous mob when the power goes out and the food trucks are no longer carrying anything edible...