I think you guys are getting far afield here. I might have read it wrong or remember it wrong but wasn’t the sheriff talking burglars? I believe as with every situation you have to assess the situation first. There are too many variations of an intruder or burglary coming into your home. To me that makes almost anything said here of little use. Have a plan, code words for loved ones and ID the target before firing.
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For context, my “what happened to deterrence” post was in direct response to a post suggesting it was giving “them” all the power if you make your home difficult to get into you.
All the things you talked about that make your home your castle and make it hard to get into are what I was referring to when I said deterrence.
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It need not be expensive.
When I lived in an apartment as a broke college student, I simply used these:
Like, $5 a window/door.
$40 to make your door significantly more difficult to break in while home
It’s not like you need to spend a lot of money, an ounce of prevention
3-3.5" screws in you rlocks/hinges/strike plates is very inexpensive as well. Screws, a drill, and a few minutes per door.
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This is why you don’t run willy-nilly into shooting things, as all good gun owners know is, identity the threat. If it is some 2 year old Cat Burglar, no you don’t shoot. If it’s some 16 year old all amped up on meth or whatever and has a firearm, after identifying yourself and they point the firearm at you, go ahead.
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If they have a firearm, identifying yourself and giving them the opportunity to point the firearm at you might not be the best tactic.
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Doing so is a great way to attract lead.
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Try a stun gun or taser or even pepper spray, that should be a first step . Non lethal until you can assess the threat.
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It could also be the good fairy coming to leave a treat under your pillow. Anyone breaking into my house at night will be treated with all the respect due to him.
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What variations? Who in their right mind breaks down a door or breaks a window to enter their own home? Oh, the village drunk mistakes your home for his and kicks in your door which is what he usually does to his hovel when the key won’t work because his wife changed the locks again because he beats her when he comes home blind drunk? Well, Pilgrim, maybe blasting him into the hereafter is doing everyone a favor including him. I reject your “too many variables.” A felony has been committed and I submit at oh dark thirty you are not in condition to make Monday morning quarterback reasoned responses. You have to act forcibly before it is too late for your family and for you.
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Me thinks thou dust misunderstand. I’m talking about too many variations of what thieves will do. So we, the defender, need a basic plan of what we will do. I agree with you. you break into my home, you’ll have holes 45acp sized or 00 buck sized. i attempt to hold the attitude of, you break into my home, don’t come around my family or else. Things can be replaced but I would be very pissed off if my dad’s, who is dead, if his pistols that he gave me were stolen.
reminds me I gotta get a gun safe.
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I think assessing the threat needs to come before choosing the need to use lethal, non lethal, or no force at all. Choosing the wrong response can end badly in situations where you will often only get one chance.
I carry pepper spray when out and about because there are many situations where I can see a problem coming and have time to assess the necessary level of response. Someone breaking into my home is an imminent threat to my family and will have a very brief moment while I identify the target to convince me that I don’t need to apply maximum force in response.
I also wouldn’t want to apply less lethal force to someone before I have determined they are truly a threat.
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My brother did just that when he was a young dumb kid and forgot his keys. He wasn’t even drinking at the time. Still not in his right mind but not a threat. I have read of that happening several times especially in those housing communities where all the homes look the same. It isn’t always the drunk wife beater. Could be a father after his coworkers partied it up with him on his birthday or teenager after partying with his friends. Not in their right minds but still not a real threat. Would shooting them be legally justified? Likely if you convince a prosecutor and maybe jury that you feared for your life. But I’m sure their families would disagree not to mention suffer for it.
The assumption with someone breaking into your house (or maybe just sounding like they are breaking into your house after knocking something over on the way to the bathroom) needs to be that they are an imminent threat. But as I said in my above post. The threat will have a very brief moment while I make sure they are not a family member, friend or lost neighbor to otherwise convince me they are not a threat.
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You just reminded me of a time when I was a teenager. I came home after school and found the house locked up. So I took the doors off and let myself in. Luckily the security door was unlocked; my parents knew I would be home before them. I immediately re-hung the doors, but noticed multiple police cars in the neighborhood after that.
Not quite the same scenario, but people do break into their own homes. I’ve never had someone break into my house on accident, but I’ve read many stories of people busting into the wrong house thinking it was their own. I can only imagine how confusing that can be in one of those cookie-cutter neighborhoods after a few drinks late at night.
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That’s why the rule to know your target before opening fire. In my post I assumed that readers would know that rule of engagement was in play. As for homes looking alike, it has been a long time since tract homes were all identical. Levitt Towns were built right after WWII by contractors who had four years experience building barracks. I spent two and a half years living in Quonset huts. Now if you want something that looks just exactly like the building next to it, Quonset huts fit the description to a T. A great many of the Marines living in those huts also were young, with undeveloped sense or lacking it from inception and combining that with the general acceptance at that time of heavy drinking, somehow they managed to find their way to the right hut. Some of the older Marines had a serious problem with alcohol which in the 50s was tolerated as long as they showed up for duty the next morning able to perform. By “serious” I mean drinking a case of 24 12-ounce bottles of cheap beer a night. If anything, alcohol consumption was encouraged with quarterly beer busts with all the beer one could drink provided by the Special Services Office. That practice continued for many years after I left as anyone who served in Nam can attest. I think tales of someone mistaking another’s house for one’s own are after the fact attempts at mitigating a deliberate B&E for criminal intent. There was a reason why it was called stupid water.
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The practice of making houses look exactly the same isn’t dead here unfortunately. They have been cramming new houses in the nearby “city” and in some of the neighborhoods everything is identical. In others every other house is a different color but the pattern repeats. I’m sure it’s used as an excuse in many cases but I’m sure mistakes happen as well at the end of a long day.
On a somewhat similar note. When I lived in VT it seemed like almost every other car was a Subaru Wagon. They are very good in the snow. One day I put my key in the door, opened it and was about to start the car when I realized it was not mine. Apparently Subaru used to be known for using a more limited number of key patterns then other makers. My identically colored and interiored car was parked one row over.
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Wasn’t limited to Subarus, GM cars and trucks, if I recall correctly only had four key patterns so one had a 25% chance of having a key that would fit somebody else’s car or many somebody else’s cars.
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I unlocked the wrong Chevy, once. It was in a grocery store parking lot. Luckily something seemed off when I sat in the driver’s seat.
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Sure you weren’t in Seattle? It was a very popular vehicle for a protected class of women there.
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Haha, last summer coming out of a Dollar Store, I wasn’t paying close attention, opened what I thought was my cars passenger door and this guy says: you got the wrong car. I quickly said I am sorry, I wasn’t paying attention and closed the door. I’m happy I didn’t get a gun put in my face.
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