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john65pennington's avatar

Do you have a "first line defense" for the safety of your family?

Asked by john65pennington (29258points) January 16th, 2010

Home invasions are on the rise. the police will take at least 5 to 6 minutes to arrive at your home. do you have a defensive plan in place for the safety of your family, until the police arrive?

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53 Answers

stranger_in_a_strange_land's avatar

A .45 ACP under the pillow and a shotgun next to the bed. I don’t plan on calling 911 until it’s over.

El_Cadejo's avatar

No….but my walls are covered in swords soooo i suppose in the heat of the moment id be pretty well prepared.

lucillelucillelucille's avatar

I have a shotgun and a photo of my mother-in-law ;)

RareDenver's avatar

@uberbatman until the invaders grab a sword off your wall

El_Cadejo's avatar

@RareDenver shhhh dont you use logic with me!

Scooby's avatar

Just me & my baseball bat! :-/

Seek's avatar

We did, for a long time. But he died about a year and a half ago.

The new system is in research and development. He’s teething now, so the biting’s good… but the bark leaves something to be desired. He is a little on the cute side, though. That will get better as the training progresses.

wonderingwhy's avatar

Alarm system (motion activated), new york lock, and a mossberg 590 by the bed. With some of the recent break-ins, moving is starting to sound like a good idea too >.>

Nullo's avatar

@RareDenver
THAT is when the epic sword battle starts.
I suppose the first tangible line of defense is the door (a nice door; made of aluminum or something), followed by the dog (more of an alarm dog than an attack dog, but hey), followed by the 9mm, followed by the baseball bat. I expect that 911 would be called in the middle of all that. It might help that there are nicer houses than ours on the street.

Ivy's avatar

Yes, two German Shepherds and a Glock to back them up.

filmfann's avatar

We have no guns in the house. First line of defense for the safety of the family would be not to leave loaded weapons in easy reach.

jrpowell's avatar

I keep a golf club by my door. We have three curious kids in the house so keeping a loaded gun is just about the dumbest thing possible. I do have a rifle but it is dissembled and I don’t keep ammo in the house.

hungryhungryhortence's avatar

HK P30 for myself. My partner has the Sig 226 and several other pistols, rifle and shotgun if necessary. His children are each familiar with firearms and frequent shooters so they understand safety and respect no horseplay.

MRSHINYSHOES's avatar

Well, in addition to having a very protective and loyal buddy, our big Akita Bonkey, we do have a plan in case of a home invasion. We have a rooms with locks on the doors, and in those rooms we have telephones. Those are the first places we would go to barricade ourselves and call 911. We also have a good security system installed in the house itself, and, just in case, for extra protection, I have a bat in my bedroom and two 10-inch hunters’ buck-knives in the closet. And I do know some nifty Aikido moves as well. Lol.

stranger_in_a_strange_land's avatar

In addition to my first remark; An untrained person with a firearm is more dangerous to themselves than being unarmed. You must learn basic firearms safety, marksmanship, weapons handling, local laws regrding use of force and know that you have the determination to kill. You must also secure your weapons against unauthorized use (children, etc). In my case: I live alone, am a combat veteran of two wars and shot “expert” with the M1911A1 pistol every year since 1977. I’m also an NRA certified Firearms Safety Instructor. I also know exactly what the “rules of engagement” are in both my home state and state of residence.

Capt_Bloth's avatar

I am defenseless, but have little anyone would want. That’s kind of like a defense.

hungryhungryhortence's avatar

@Capt_Bloth: who really knows what you have and don’t have and there are those who would prey on your body, the appearance of you having little might even make you a more attractive target. You are valuable, bad people see it too.

wonderingwhy's avatar

@stranger_in_a_strange_land GA! safety first and always know your state’s castle laws.

MissAnthrope's avatar

My cousin has a big, scary dog in the main house and I have a baseball bat in my room. I’ve mentally prepared and gone over possible scenarios – I’m not at all afraid to use it.

life_after_2012's avatar

my xd 40 first then my smiff n wessin 10mm – last resort is my sub compact dx 9mil – if thats not enough – then i had no buissness pissing people off that bad – because no burglar or crackhead or whoever wans to force them selves in my house needs more then a handgun maybe even a shotgun to pull off a homeinvasion – anybody with a ar-15 or bushmasster odviously has a bigger agenda in mind

borderline_blonde's avatar

We’ve got cameras outside our house, an alarm system, and a safe full of loaded guns. Maybe that seems like overkill, but when the zombies attack…

life_after_2012's avatar

when zombies attack i wanna be at your house

hungryhungryhortence's avatar

@life_after_2012: —great… my partner has been itching for his own AR-15.

Dr_Lawrence's avatar

Two alert dogs with loud barks.

unless obviously having nothing worth stealing counts!

stranger_in_a_strange_land's avatar

@hungryhungryhortence Shotguns are better for home defense. Extended magazine and #4 buckshot loads. Puts more lead on target and faster than any assault rifle at short range Why do you think cops carry a shotgun in the cruiser?.

hungryhungryhortence's avatar

@stranger_in_a_strange_land: I agree and also because I feel the shotgun won’t go through the walls and hurt neighbors. The pistols are 9mm and .22 though, fine. I think he wants the assault rifle for the idea of multiple intruder invasions and because he and the kids enjoy it so much at the firing room, I’m not much interested in it. I want a Sig 19ll next.

stranger_in_a_strange_land's avatar

@hungryhungryhortence That’s why I suggested the #4 buckshot loads. Maximum power with minimum wall or door penetration. It’s what many police departments use.
Depending on a .22 pistol for defense is risky. 9mm or .38 SPL is about the minimum to stop an attacker. Personally, I favor the .45 ACP: my old M1911A1 under the pillow and a Glock 30 for carry.

hungryhungryhortence's avatar

@stranger_in_a_strange_land: your suggestions have been noted for discussion later, thanks :)

Fred931's avatar

Ive got a crapload of weapons in my bedroom. Or is that Combat Arms…

judochop's avatar

1. Giant dog with large teeth and big head.
2. 8 round close quarters shotgun with grip.
The first round is bird shot the second round is a .03 hollow point, the third round is again bird shot. I alternate the rounds. If I need to blow a hole in the wall or blindfire down the hallway this gets the job done.
3. My neighbors pretty much have the same set up.

After my divorce I had to move in to a not so nice neighborhood. My street looks awesome, flowers, yards done nice, no trash, no shitty gangbangers on the corners. There is a reason for this. They know to stay off of this street. We have made it clear that we will not tolorate stupidity.

TexasDude's avatar

1). Locks
2). An AR-15 with a barrel-mounted flashlight and a collection of 30 and 20 round magazines.
3). Knowledge of my state’s laws, which allow me to stand my ground against a home invader.
4). The know-how to know when it’s appropriate to use my AR-15, and how to do so most safely and effectively.

Dr_Lawrence's avatar

Doesn’t somebody have a land mine perimeter around their property, backed up by multiple 4,000 round per second Gatling guns rigged to fire automatically when intruders approach?

I am glad to live where such firepower is not required to feel safe at home.

judochop's avatar

@Dr_Lawrence
I don’t think you “need” to have fire power to feel safe at home but what will you do if you are alone and half asleep and someone comes in? Hide under the bed or in a closet and dial 911? Safety is a precaution. I feel safe at home, I really do and I know that I will be safer if I am home asleep and someone decides to try and have a B&E festival in my living room.

augustlan's avatar

Multiple swords, knives, and guns. My husband is a collector. Because we have children, the guns are in a safe – unloaded – and the ammo is stored separately. He and I both know the guns will not do us any good in a sudden home invasion situation. My real first line of defense is my husband… a very big dude with a look that scares most men into submission immediately. ;)

HungryGuy's avatar

I’d scream COBOL code at him…

TexasDude's avatar

@Dr_Lawrence, I don’t live in an area where “firepower” is really “needed” either, but I’d rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it. I don’t know how I could live with myself if something happened to my family and I was ill-equipped to defend them. I’m not a ninja master, and my gun just happens to level the playing field on the off chance that something would happen. There are scary people out there, and I take right to self-defense very seriously.

Dr_Lawrence's avatar

Since responsible gun owners keep their guns and ammo properly locked up in a gun cabinet, and use trigger locks as an extra safeguard, I believe large arsenals may not always be accessible in response to a sudden and overwhelming home invasion by more than one perpetrator.

Irresponsible gun owners may have quicker access to their weapons, but so do their own children and the home invaders!

I think an excellent monitored alarm system both scares off would-be intruders and summons trained and armed help.

I am not opposed to guns or law-abiding gun owners. I think having guns in the house may make people feel safer than they actually are in the case of a home invasion.

TexasDude's avatar

@Dr_Lawrence, that’s what my training and responsibility is for: to prevent the bad guy getting them first. I can very quickly access my guns if need be, but everyone knows to not even think of touching them without my permission and direct supervision, and I am sure to enforce that. I do have an alarm, and like I said before, the weapons are there only if I truly need them. Thank you for respecting my choices, though.

judochop's avatar

@Dr_Lawrence
I realize that you have a perception on what a responsible gun owner should do with his or her things however if I had my guns locked up in a storage cabinet or gun safe then I would not be able to access said gun in time to do anything with it aside from give myself away. I grew up around guns. My grandfather was a hunter and marksman, my father is a cop, my mother used to target shoot, I spent time in combat with the US. Army. I would consider myself to be far safer and far more trained than most police officers and leauges safer than anyone from an alarm company. There is no reason to have guns locked up with trigger locks or in a gunsafe while you are home at all. The key to being safe with any weapon is training and knowledge of what the weapon will do.
Guns are safe it’s the person on the other end of it that you have to be concerned with. I agree that most gun owners do not know how to properly handle the stress of a break-in and would most likely endanger their neighbors lives if they ever had to pull the trigger.

Nullo's avatar

I once heard that oven cleaner makes for an effective deterrent, moreso even than pepper spray.

TexasDude's avatar

@nullo, I used oven cleaner to strip the stock on my Mosin Nagant before I refinished it… that shit is caustic!

HungryGuy's avatar

For those of us who live in countries where gun ownership is illegal, there are plenty of ways to create perfectly legal deadly weapons with ordinary household goods and a little knowledge of chemistry. Don’t try this at home, boys and girls!

1.) Gas mask.

2.) Spray bottle of bleach in one hand.

3.) Spray bottle of ammonia in the other hand.

Zen_Again's avatar

@Dracool You beat me by one GS. I have a bitch and a 17 – waddya got?

hungryhungryhortence's avatar

@Dr_Lawrence: My ex husband and I once owned a condo in a street that was on the borderline of a zip code that changed from fair to iffy and when our next door neighbors had their front door broken down and we heard a few gun shots, we called 911 who said help had been dispatched- they never showed. In all that time I worried not only for our neighbors but also for us because we had no defense, no way to keep anyone from running into our home and I hated that helpless feeling.

Nullo's avatar

@Dr_Lawrence said:
“Doesn’t somebody have a land mine perimeter around their property, backed up by multiple 4,000 round per second Gatling guns rigged to fire automatically when intruders approach?”
Conventional miniguns are too expensive for mere home defense (averaging some $100k per 12-second firing sequence). Better to buy two Ruger 10/22 rifles and this. Some hocus pocus with electric motors and motion detectors, and maybe the alarm system, and BAM! Cheap automatic home defense system!
A couple of bonuses: they make 50rd 10/22 magazines (for a total of 100rds here), and since the gun’s mechanism is still technically semi-automatic, no special permits are required!

HungryGuy's avatar

@Nullo – Indeed. If that’s a real product, and those are real guns, it would be so easy to replace the crank with a low-rpm electric motor controlled by a servo relay wired into your alarm system. Better have a few lawyers in your pocket, too :-/

Nullo's avatar

@HungryGuy
It’s a kit, you see. You use the Rugers for the actual ‘gun’ part. The lawyers will be helpful in the aftermath, but that would be true in any case where you shoot intruders :D

HungryGuy's avatar

@Nullo – Right. The Rugers are the two guns, and the stand and the crank part is the kit that you buy and mount onto the guns. I see. Again, it wouldn’t be hard at all to replace the crank with a low-rpm motor switched by a relay controlled by a motion sensor or your alarm. Sounds like a plan…

TexasDude's avatar

@Nullo and @HungryGuy, that would be awesome

Nullo's avatar

@HungryGuy
I’d throw in a remote control to leave on the nightstand, too, so that you can adjust the RPMs, and remotely stop/start the contraption. And maybe a webcam, while we’re at it.
@Fiddle_Playing_Creole_Bastard
Glad you like it! Cabela’s is an awesome store.

Dr_Lawrence's avatar

Ok, this thread has become an weaponry overkill pissing contest. I can’t control my yawns.
Goodnight!

judochop's avatar

I think I’ll just hold up the peace sign and offer an intruder a cup of tea. Perhaps if we take the time to sit down together and talk things out said intruder will just leave.

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