In The Home Carry

[secret_agent_man]

A lot of good a gun in a glove box is. This story illustrates the importance of keeping a combat grade knife handy in a vehicle at all times. Something for deep, plunging thrusts to rapidly incapacitate your opponent while minimizing your risk of injury. It's a given these days anytime you are around a road, you are a possible target. A sad commentary on the state of affairs in America, where you once could See The USA In Your Chevrolet and not have to lock your car doors at motels.

[Bartholomew Roberts]

Originally Posted by L_Killkenny

But it's absurd to even try to prepare for everyone of life's downfalls let alone the ones with the least probabilities. That's why we wear seat belts but not helmets when driving,

The issue is not one of just probability; but consequences as well. The probability I will need a seat belt (to use your example) is extremely low. I wear one in spite of that low probability because the effort it takes to do so is minimal and the consequences of being on the wrong side of that probability can be very severe.

Personally, I've never understood the mentality that buys a handgun for self-defense purposes and then leaves the firearm in a nightstand or locked in a gun safe. The whole point in owning a handgun is that it is convenient to carry it. If you aren't going to carry it, why sacrifice accuracy and power for an advantage you'll never use?

I'll feel free to either point out that you need to move or "may" point and laugh at you the same

If you want to go around unarmed pointing at armed people and laughing at them, that is your business; but it doesn't sound like good tactics to me

[therealdeal]

Home invasions where people are murdered, raped or severely beaten can and do happen everyday. But it's absurd to even try to prepare for everyone of life's downfalls let alone the ones with the least probabilities. That's why we wear seat belts but not helmets when driving, why we tie off when working in high places but not when on a 2 foot ladder and why we don't go jogging with dark clothes on in the middle of the highway at night.

I disagree with this statement only because I feel the non-helmet as a coincidence. The tides of change come and go, and I can actually see helmets becoming more accepted while driving as the yrs roll on.

just like hockey

[therealdeal]

of course it is possible this won't happen too but if it did - just like many trends in society - it could gain momentum

[Dwight55]

Thanks, therealdeal, . . . I needed a grin and a giggle here early this morning.

just like hockey

As I read that, . . . I of course know that you meant the hockey that is played on the ice, . . . skates and sticks, etc.

Us rednecks, hillbillies, ranchers, and farmers know of a different hockey, . . . and I grinned when the thought came to me, . . . "Yeah, . . . it would be that kind of hockey if it came to government mandated helmets while driving."

Anyway, . . . thanks for the chuckle.

May God bless,
Dwight

[TexasJustice7]

Some people think that if things are bad enough, what we need to do is move. There are cicumstances that prevent people from that option. Besides, since when do I want to allow the criminal elements to dictate where I will live. If I live in the city limits and the police can't protect me,
and if the government cannot provide homeland security, I provide my own.
This I think is the American way. Like the old sodbusters in the old west, who
kept moving everytime, they were pushed out. After awhile they got enough backbone to refuse to move. I don't go armed because I fear criminals. I go armed because I intend to raise the price for them to make me a victim. That does not guarantee I won't be a victim, but it raises the probablity that any home invader, or criminal intent on doing something pays the price. We are not very effective at changing any criminal's behavior, but we can make it cost them. So when crime comes to my neighborhood, I don't think it is time to pick up and move. Too much stubborn blood in me!

[kimbershot]

i'm moving to a gated community for old geezers (not quite there yet myself-but close). only have to worry if demented, blood thirsty geriatrics take their geritol.then i will have to home carry.

[secret_agent_man]

seat belt...I wear one in spite of that low probability because the effort it takes to do so is minimal and the consequences of being on the wrong side of that probability can be very severe.

I wear one because the next ticket I get for not wearing one will be my third. The three strikes and you're out law could get me a life sentence.

[Toney]

If i got my pants on my p3a2 is in my pocket. For the last few years i have'nt carried a bigger gun around the house, don't really expect anything to ever happen. I expect we at the most danger from road rage, someone that's been up for days on dope just has to think you cut then off or about anything. That's why i never leave home without packing.

[psyfly]

My old granny used to use the phrase, "...it just wears me out..." to express her frustration.

It just wears me out to hear people discuss "probability" or "chance" as if it has anything at all to do with an individual occurance.

I live in a nice, quiet, rural neighborhood (about 20 miles from a small town).

The crime rate (probability or chance) is very low.

In the past 20 years, I have had three friends and one acquaintance who were murdered in their nice rural homes (well, one in her front yard).

As others have intimated here, "It ain't about the odds, it's about the outcome."

I'm virtually always armed.

Best,

Will

[FP2000H]

There is almost always a gun within reach in my home. I'm usually am dry firing when I watch a movie/show or am on the computer, but I keep a live mag in my back pocket. If I'm going to sit, I'll pull the mag out and tuck it under my leg. I religiously check the chamber and mag on any gun I'm dry firing if I set it down and come back to it even if I know it would be impossible for a live round to have found its way in there. I realize it can also be dangerous to second guess oneself like that, but not second guessing myself is what led to my ND so...

Yeah, four rules and all that.

You are almost more vulnerable in your home because of the lax situational awareness that accompanies a feeling of security and safety. Think about when you're in the bathroom; think about when you're taking a shower! Imagine facing an intruder naked and wet. Forget that.

Dis ma rubber duky when I be washen ma ballz.

[graysmoke]

My Gunsmith got me to start carrying around my home. After telling me a few reasons why I should, it made a lot of common sence.

One main reason to carry in home....Home Invasions are on the constant rise as the most commited crime in America.

Crap happens very sudden, and un-announced....There is that split second you don't have time to go to the room in your home were the gun is kept.

[kilimanjaro]

Chance and probability have nothing to do with it. There is no roll of cosmic dice or a lotto drawing with your address number on it, the people who do these things deliberately select their victims and follow them to the home, or select the home as being more advantageous to them from other homes on the same street. The lighting is different, the house across the street is dark, the curtains are already closed, frilly teenage girl curtains in a bedroom window, etc., etc., the point is you are selected, not randomly, but according to what they have decided are discriminatory factors in their favor. Just choosing what neighborhood to check out raises a resident's 'probability' from near zero to 3-4-10 percent, then which street even higher, which block to 1 in 4 or 5, once these animals start the selection process, the danger rises astronomically.

[therealdeal]

sometimes it can be completely random for whatever reason. I agree selections occur, but even a selection can be random. Case in point, many times a peeper, raper, robber, etc will go house to house in a specific area until they find the one with the unlocked door, window unlocked+open with only a screen barrier, and so-on. It has been documented that many times the target house was the 3rd or 4th one 'come into contact with'.

[BlueTrain]

What leads you to believe "home invasions" are on the rise? For one thing, you won't even find statistics on "home invasions." You can find statistics on burglaries, robberies, murders and so on but not home invasions. That's newspaper talk, just like assault rifles. Do a little research (not so easy, let me say) about crime statistics. They are hardly the same everywhere. Some places are surprisingly safe, others surprisingly dangerous. Birmingham, AL, is more dangerous than El Paso, overall. On the average, crime is dropping nation wide.

[Kevin Rohrer]

What leads you to believe "home invasions" are on the rise?

(written tongue-in-cheek) Because the Internet says so.

[BlueTrain]

Well, make no mistake, things happen. But I'd call it a media expression more than anything. It just gives the wrong image. It makes it seem like a bunch of bad guys knock down the front door and rush in. Only the police do that.

[markj]

Them in home invaders pass my opld shack up for the brand new 250,000.00 homes 2 roads over. Them folks have new SUVs and 4 door 4 wheel drive monster trucks cost over 65 grand. Me? I drive an old 3/4 ton 4x4 just put in another motor as the last one went 230000 miles..... got an old 84 1/2 ton an old 70s sski boat, yep keep up on the old stuff you never got to buy it again but folks think you are poor since i dont have all them monthly payments.....

A good dog is hard to beat for early warning...

[federali]

A good friend of mine was at his hunting cabin doing summer repairs off NY's Taconic Parkway, about two hours north of NYC. A car drove up his 100 yard long driveway. A woman got out leaving two men in the car. She knocked on the door and said she was having car trouble and needed to make a call.

My friend could hear the car running. He offered to call for her but she insisted on making the call herself. Suspicious, my friend did not allow her to enter the house. Instead, he closed the door and worked the action of a lever gun. At that sound, the woman and her companions fled in their "defective" car.

I know: it's better to have a gun and not need it than to need one and not have it. I can't bring myself to carrying in the home but I won't second-guess those who do.

[Stressfire]

A good friend of mine was at his hunting cabin doing summer repairs off NY's Taconic Parkway, about two hours north of NYC. A car drove up his 100 yard long driveway. A woman got out leaving two men in the car. She knocked on the door and said she was having car trouble and needed to make a call.

After a conversation with a coworker, found out similar had happened to her husband a few years back during a rash of robberies out in their area of the boonies.

Having already been "caught" by their security lights, the group hightailed back to the vehicle, but did not leave - presumably wanted to see if anyone was actually home (the nerve!). Her husband came out on the front porch (not a "great" idea) with his Mini14, trained it on the driver and told them to leave (Sheriff had already been called).

Driver actually dared him to shoot him and told him that he (husband) couldn't hit him if he tried. This would be when her husband returned that he had been an Army sharpshooter & took out his headlight. She said the ruts were so deep from the driver's burnout it took her all the next morning to smooth out the driveway.

[cambeul41]

I know: it's better to have a gun and not need it than to need one and not have it. I can't bring myself to carrying in the home but I won't second-guess those who do.

Splendid! And I will not second-guess those that don't -- but that does not stop me from being curious.

[Nnobby45]

What leads you to believe "home invasions" are on the rise? For one thing, you won't even find statistics on "home invasions."

Well, that cuts two ways. With the lack of statistics you've mentioned, how do you know they aren't on the rise.

And so what if they aren't?

They increased noticeably at some point. And who cares about minor increase or decreases where stats are concerned.

I continue to hear about them in my own community on a regular on going basis, and Reno is another one of those cities not not for high crime rate---where bad things happen to good people, anyway.

As I write this, there's a serial robber/rapist on the loose in adjoing Sparks, Nv. who's been following elderly women home apparently to find out where they live, then laying in wait for them, in their homes, at a later date.

[Justice06RR]

Carrying on-body is a given, but in the case of the poor couple it may not have changed the outcome given how the criminal killed them. As always, just having a firearm or even a knife is better than nothing, and the closer it is to you the better.

[therealdeal]

what I think isn't going to be cuttin the mustard here, but I would guess personally that home invasions are on the rise. I read about them on the news CONSTANTLY.

[orionengnr]

i'm moving to a gated community for old geezers (not quite there yet myself-but close). only have to worry if demented, blood thirsty geriatrics take their geritol.then i will have to home carry.

Yep, just stick your head deep in that sand pile...everything will be just fine.

Don't even stop to consider the possibility that because you live in a nice nieighborhood, you have nice stuff...that those people who would rather not work for a living would like to take away from you.

Them home invaders pass my old shack up for the brand new 250,000.00 homes 2 roads over. Them folks have new SUVs and 4 door 4 wheel drive monster trucks cost over 65 grand.

Ba...ba...ba...bingo.

What leads you to believe "home invasions" are on the rise?

Well, let's start with this. When I was a kid, the term "home invasion" did not exist. FWIW, neither did "I-phone" or "Facebook". Each is in common use today. The world continues to change, and not always for the better.

As a poster on our Texas CHL Forum uses as a sig line..."Carry 24/7 or guess right." I couldn't have put it better myself, and have embraced the concept.