Stand your ground or cower and hide hoping they do not find you.

[cloud8a]

When facing an SD/HD situation. Someone is breaking into to your home or attempting to mug or car jack you. Do you run and hide or cower in your home with the phone and hope the BG does not find you? Do you stand your ground and prepare to engage?

I am posting the entire poll question here because I could not fit it above for some reason.

If being car jacked or mugged do you run away? Or do you stand your ground and prepare to engage?

[neon]

If this is a break in..

I would stay in my bedroom and call 911. Gun pointed at the
door.

There's no way I would go through the house..you don't know
how many BG's are in there.

[hogdogs]

SEEK AND DESTROY! Split plan home requires I head from my lair to make sure those in the other end of the house are also safe.
Brent

[Wildalaska]

The poll is poorly written in an attempt to promote an agenda and/or puerile bickering rather than provoke critical thinking and further does not reflect tactical reality.

I would chose, if offered as an option, "Under appropriate circumstances, retreat to cover and prepare to respond while using a cell phone whilst cowering behind a barrier", otherwise shorthand known as "Cover, cower, cellphone"

WildthethreecsAlaska ™

[Senator Vitaman]

Well, that really varies from situation to situation. If you're in a car it might be best to just drive away. If in your house with family I think it's best to get in to a safe-room with a gun.

[cloud8a]

It is written fine. There are four options given under the Idea that crime is being committed. This is not about someone knocking on your door late at night. Not about someone asking for change in a aggressive manner at your car window or on the streets. You are being burglarized, Carjacked, or Mugged, and you know it. Which course of action are you going to take?

Personally I would avoid Cower, Cover, Cellphone.

I would chose Stand ground/Prepare Engage.

If I could get to my phone 1st I would do that. If being car jacked I would try and hit the gas, If I could not do that I would stand my ground and engage. If being mugged I would Stand Ground/ Prepare engage. If in my home I would not go busting through the bedroom door like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. But I would not stay hidden while someone is either looking for me or cleaning me out. There are other lives in my house beside my own.

[OldMarksman]

Do you run and hide or cower in your home with the phone and hope the BG does not find you? Do you stand your ground and prepare to engage?

Arm yourself, get on the phone, get everyone into one place, and let the threat come to you.

If the threat does not come to you, great.

I do not like the term "cower":

cower definition
cower (ko̵u′ər)
intransitive verb
to crouch or huddle up, as from fear or cold
to shrink and tremble, as from someone's anger, threats, or blows; cringe

That's not how I would describe getting into a defensive position and preparing to defend it.

If being car jacked or mugged do you run away? Or do you stand your ground and prepare to engage?

First, try avoidance, disengagement, escape and evasion, provided you can do so safely and provided that you would not abandon anyone.

If you are inside your car and someone attempts to car jack you, and if you can drive away, do so. Your car packs many times the energy of a .45 Automatic. I would not get out of the car to avoid engagement.

But then, where I live I am not required to do so. Check the law in your state.

[jg0001]

I would stay in my bedroom and call 911. Gun pointed at the door.

This is the point I made once and got hammered for.

Assuming this is the setup... and you can hear the badguy trying to breakdown the door --- DO YOU SHOOT HIM BEFORE HE MAKES IT THROUGH? i.e. shoot through the door?

IMO, in this case, you certainly have the tactical advantage... you know where he is, he doesn't know where (exactly) you are (in terms of where to shoot). Once the door is down/open, he could be at you in under 2 seconds and you may be far less able to control the adrenaline and make the shot -- or you may get shot first (if the BG is armed).

[oldone]

There just might not be enough time to call police. If there was, that's what I'd do.....but for most time.....open fire and then call police. Family comes first.

[neon]

You are being burglarized, Carjacked, or Mugged, and you know it. Which course of action are you going to take?

I answered the first one.

Carjacked or mugged? Well depends if the BG has the drop on
me then I would do as he says unless my life is at stake and
then I would consider other options.

The carjacking again depends if the BG has the drop on me. Who
else is in the car my family?

Every self defense situation is going to have multiple facets.

[ZeSpectre]

The poll is poorly written

Agreed.

"cower" implies cowardice however getting your family and "forting up" in a tactically superior position while calling for additional backup can be a prudent and reasonable tactical decision not a demonstration of lack of backbone.

Additionally, a home invasion, mugging, and carjacking have almost no similarity to each other and to try and put one blanket set of actions over them all is simply foolish.

The only "blanket" statement I think might fit everything is "never give up".

[matolman1]

You first grab your home defense weapon (battle rifle, shotgun or pistol) while alerting your significant other to get to your predesignated safe area.

Then you gather up the children quickly while loudly alerting the intruder that you will kill them if they take another step inside of your home.

Once the kids are safe, you barricade yourself in your room and have your significant other (or older children) call the police, keeping the phone on the entire time, alerting the police to the exact details of the incident, who you are, that you are armed, how many are with you and any other details you feel are important at the time including that the police need to loudly and clearly identify themselves if they enter your property.

You also tell police clearly that you feel as if your life is in danger and the lives of your family are in danger.

Then, if anyone approaches your safe room area, you eliminate them.

Now, this scenario gets infinitely more complex if the "intrusion" occurs in an area that separates you from your children's room.

In this instance, you must attack the intruder with speed and extreme violence of action.


If it is simply you in the house, barricade yourself in your room, call the police as described above and follow all steps above.

[OldMarksman]

It [(the poll)] is written fine. There are four options given under the Idea that crime is being committed. ...You are being burglarized, Carjacked, or Mugged, and you know it. Which course of action are you going to take?

I beg to differ.

In the house--if you would arm yourself, get everyone into a safe place, get on the phone, let the threat come to you, and, of course, fire if attacked, which of the following would one select?

Cower and hide with your phone and hope the BG does not find you?
Stand your ground and prepare to engage?
Call police, stand your ground, and prepare to engage?
Open fire?

[cloud8a]

The safe room option or trying to get evreyone in one place is risky.

First you leave your room to locate other family members who might just be safer staying asleep and in their place. Secondly if you do get everyone awake and heading in the direction of a safe room you and your whole family might run into the threat who is now inside your house. That would be worse than just you running into the threat. It is difficult to predict where a BG is going to break in and where he might go once he is in.

Aiming my gun at the bedroom door would not work for me because what if my scared kids came barreling through it at the sound of the BG breaking glass or kicking my door in.

[Brian Pfleuger]

The choices in your poll are skewed to your dislike of not just the word "cower" but also the concept of retreating, as such, the correct answer is not presented.

The proper choice, if time and circumstances allow, is to retreat to a safe room, call the police and announce in no uncertain terms to the BG that you are armed and will defend yourself if need be and the police are on the way. LOUDLY and REPEATEDLY. There is none of this "hope the BG doesn't find you" nonsense and no responsible person on this board has ever suggested that there is or should be.


That will be the entirety of my participation in this thread.

peetzadoweneedtohavethisdebateevery3dayskilla

[OldMarksman]

matolman1 nailed it.

[OldMarksman]

DO YOU SHOOT HIM BEFORE HE MAKES IT THROUGH? i.e. shoot through the door?

Would you guess where he was on the other side of the door and unload in that direction?

Not for me.

[skydiver3346]

It all depends on each particular situation I would think. But generally, I have to agree with what Matolman1 and Oldmarksman said, (sound judement on how to handle a home self defense situation). Definitely call the police if you have the time to do so.

Of course, if the intruder enters your home anyway and confronts you and/or your family, (then all bets are off). It is now time to end the threat yourself, (by any means necessary). Hopefully, that is not the case.

[pax]

Closed.

pax