25 replies to this topic

[Scubatooth]

A handgun with a caliber that starts with a 4. Too many stories of 9mm or lesser rounds not being enough gun for a quick resolution. In your house both distance to your target and time to react will be very short. The police will be by in 10 or 15 minutes, if your lucky, to clean up the mess. A sturdy gun safe to keep all the truly valuable things secure.

Jerry not that I disagree with you, but the ability to dispatch a intruder is dependent on the skill/accuracy of the shooter when SHTF and the adrenalin is surging. I carry a 9mm most of the time using heavy(147gr +p) jacket hollowpoints, with a back up frame as well. This is only because my kimber hasnt gotten done in the custom shop. Yes i know there is a lot of irony in that I am a paramedic and conceal carry. To put it nicely i won't leave any work for a fellow medic only the medical examiner if it comes down to it. The biggest problem I see is that people that carry but dont seem to train or take classes in defensive/tactical shooting. So when it really hits the fan they either cant hit the broad side of a barn or get it taken away from them and used on them.

Now my security is a little different there is no alarm system, but I have cameras(HD UV/IR w/audio - was a sams club special a while back) that cover any possible entry into the house, then a couple more inside. They all feed to a server in the house and will store upto 14 days of footage. All of the doors are double barrell/key locks so no smashing glass and getting in. Like others have done I have rotating lights as since I work nights and sleep during the day want the house to look like its lived in. Also on the front and back door have NRA member insurance stickers -- policy#191145ACP as a joke. Currently all the weapons are stored in the closet in sleeves, or underneath my bed, with ammo and magazines near by. This a temporary arrangement as I have a new fire rated gun safe (90 mins @ 2400 degrees) coming (thank you uncle Sam) that will be used to store all of the weapons plus valuables & documents. Additional sets/backups of documents, originals and valuables will still be stored in safe deposit boxes at multiple branches as to cya a cya. If they break material goods can be replaced; friends, family, and loved ones can't and will be defended accordingly.

Edited by Scubatooth, 02 March 2012 - 02:14 AM.

[drdiver]

A handgun with a caliber that starts with a 4. Too many stories of 9mm or lesser rounds not being enough gun for a quick resolution. In your house both distance to your target and time to react will be very short. The police will be by in 10 or 15 minutes, if your lucky, to clean up the mess. A sturdy gun safe to keep all the truly valuable things secure.

Good points. I'm just not as accurate with a .45 as I am with a 9mm. Might consider switching to a .40SW some time, though.

[peterbj7]

You can tell this is a Texas-based forum! Guns aren't an option for me in either Belize or Britain so I use other measures. My external doors at one house in England were white plastic-covered aluminum, very solid, with 8-bolt locks (two each on each edge of the door. Designed so that even the police wouldn't be able to break in. I used to have a house with oak window frames to which I fitted locks, but I had a burglary in which the villains cut away the wood around each lock. Remarkable, as the locks weren't visible from the outside. I forget the value of what they took, but the damage cost five times as much to repair. There I had insurance.

Like many people in Belize I have no insurance. It's either prohibitive or not available. My first line of protection is having someone at my house 24/7, even when I'm away. My second is a dog - Belizeans are afraid of dogs, though most Belizean dogs are so gentle it's a mystery why. My third is security bars on all reachable windows. My fourth is double locks on every door, with at least one being a deadlock.

We have had a spate of break-ins while the householders are in bed. On several occasions they were also beaten up, though we think that was personal and they were targeted. But the most recent burglary while people slept was earlier this week at a beachfront hotel, and the rooms were cleaned out.

I had my hotel room burgled one night on business in Denmark. They took everything including my car keys, so also took my car parked outside. That was never found. On that occasion I am sure it was an inside job and the hotel actively provided help. So it's not only in places like Belize that this happens!

Not a house burglary, but let me relate what happened to my brother many years ago. He and some (high) school friends bought an old car and decided to go on a touring holiday in Europe. When they got to Naples in Italy, a well-known hotbed of crime, they parked the car in the middle of the town on a busy shopping street in the middle of the day. Because there were four of them their luggage was on a roof rack, so they took everything off the roof and put it inside the car. Still visible but at least secured. They were then away for around 4 hours, returning still during the business day with lots of people still around. The car was where they had left it, still locked (doors and trunk), but everything inside the car had gone. Even the roof rack had been taken. The thieves had in the midst of shopping crowds unlocked what was then a very unusual car for Italy, with very strange locks, stripped it of everything of value, and then LOCKED IT UP AGAIN! I'm going to Rome shortly and was going to visit Pompeii and Vesuvius, but I read that crime there is if anything worse nowadays and the guide book I read recommends against going anywhere near the place unless en masse and with a guard.

[drdiver]

You can tell this is a Texas-based forum! Guns aren't an option for me in either Belize or Britain so I use other measures.

Not all of us in Texas own guns. I don't own any and never will. They make you less safe and add an extra level of paranoia to your life. Carrying one demands an attitude of "should I shoot this guy or not???" and you always have to be on guard. I refuse to live that way and bet I will live longer and am safer than many that do. Just my two cents.

I'm sticking with good lighting, double barrel locks, and dowels in the windows.

It's a valid opinion. Many people aren't comfortable with guns and I think that's fine. Everybody has a right to chose how they wish to live. I grew up with guns, I used to hunt, and I just plain enjoy them. But to be fair, I don't feel they make me less safe or make me more paranoid. I don't feel because I have guns I have to be on my guard at all. But, when somebody comes into my house at 2:00 in the morning threatening my family, I know what my attitude will be, "I'm scared, I'm mad, and he is going to be shot." and my family and I are going to be safe. Upset, but unhurt and alive. And all the lights, locks and dowels are all for naught in that situation.

[georoc01]

I also think there is a distinction between home security and personal security. A gun does no good when there isn't anyone around who knows how to use it, and has to be secured in such a way that you can get to it fast enough for it to be useful, yet not so easy that others can get to it and use it on you.

Peter also brings up the consideration of an inside job. No method is truly 100% secure. The only thing we can do is things to reduce the odds, some are better than others and depend on where you live, your lifestyle and what makes most sense for you.

[ScubaSis]

KUDOS to ADT!! My sister and brother in law use ADT security. I'll make a long (funny) story short......ADT sent the police out to their home. When my sister arrived to find them there, she was sure she had accidentally set off the alarm. She spent the night there alone with no other problems, but ADT called this morning telling her it was the BACK DOOR that tripped the alarm not her remote!! Funny story ends up not being so funny after all....but now she knows to be more careful and watch her surroundings.

[peterbj7]

In other words, don't buy a dog and bark yourself.

[Sharklover]

I am a big fan of local privately owned security companies. I have had both and gotten much better value and service from those companies which cut out the garbage you don't need and contract directly with the monitoring companies. Their response is lightning fast.

For what it is worth, I want to offer a bit of a dissenting opinion about guns from some who have posted here. I kind of do think that single women, living in a country like the US, should consider the question of guns as smart bad people can bypass many alarm systems.

I'm not a gun person. Not too many left leaning Chapel Hill educated pediatric people are. So when I found myself in need of feeling safer in my home, I did a lot of research. I went to Texas and had an ATF arms guy take me out shooting, my first time ever touching a gun. I shot everything from a shotgun to every caliber handgun to an AR 15 rifle. Turns out I have a pretty scary gift. Then I talked to a lot of law enforcement friends. Across the board, for home defense, they all said to get a shot gun with a short barrel. So that's what I have. It lives in the corner of my bedroom. I can't forget to secure it when the nieces and nephews are around as it is in plain sight all of the time. And at 3am, when I am still half asleep, if someone is coming upstairs to cause me harm, I believe that it is much easier to hit what you are aiming at with a shotgun than to get into proper shooting position with a handgun and take the chance of missing. And then of course should the intruders be silly guys trying to steal my TV, I won't shoot them, but I bet that most of them will run like crazy when they hear the pump action of my shotgun.

[scubaski]

I am a big fan of local privately owned security companies. I have had both and gotten much better value and service from those companies which cut out the garbage you don't need and contract directly with the monitoring companies. Their response is lightning fast.

For what it is worth, I want to offer a bit of a dissenting opinion about guns from some who have posted here. I kind of do think that single women, living in a country like the US, should consider the question of guns as smart bad people can bypass many alarm systems.

I'm not a gun person. Not too many left leaning Chapel Hill educated pediatric people are. So when I found myself in need of feeling safer in my home, I did a lot of research. I went to Texas and had an ATF arms guy take me out shooting, my first time ever touching a gun. I shot everything from a shotgun to every caliber handgun to an AR 15 rifle. Turns out I have a pretty scary gift. Then I talked to a lot of law enforcement friends. Across the board, for home defense, they all said to get a shot gun with a short barrel. So that's what I have. It lives in the corner of my bedroom. I can't forget to secure it when the nieces and nephews are around as it is in plain sight all of the time. And at 3am, when I am still half asleep, if someone is coming upstairs to cause me harm, I believe that it is much easier to hit what you are aiming at with a shotgun than to get into proper shooting position with a handgun and take the chance of missing. And then of course should the intruders be silly guys trying to steal my TV, I won't shoot them, but I bet that most of them will run like crazy when they hear the pump action of my shotgun.

Not sure if I understand your post that your shotgun is unsecured and loaded prior to visits from your brother/sisters kids and then you lock it up just before they arrive on thier visit. Don't know how small the kids are, they can get into everywhere, but a loaded gun in plain view is a poor choice. What happens if someone breaks in when your not around?

JMTCW,
Stan, CCP in MA.

[Sharklover]

I am a big fan of local privately owned security companies. I have had both and gotten much better value and service from those companies which cut out the garbage you don't need and contract directly with the monitoring companies. Their response is lightning fast.

For what it is worth, I want to offer a bit of a dissenting opinion about guns from some who have posted here. I kind of do think that single women, living in a country like the US, should consider the question of guns as smart bad people can bypass many alarm systems.

I'm not a gun person. Not too many left leaning Chapel Hill educated pediatric people are. So when I found myself in need of feeling safer in my home, I did a lot of research. I went to Texas and had an ATF arms guy take me out shooting, my first time ever touching a gun. I shot everything from a shotgun to every caliber handgun to an AR 15 rifle. Turns out I have a pretty scary gift. Then I talked to a lot of law enforcement friends. Across the board, for home defense, they all said to get a shot gun with a short barrel. So that's what I have. It lives in the corner of my bedroom. I can't forget to secure it when the nieces and nephews are around as it is in plain sight all of the time. And at 3am, when I am still half asleep, if someone is coming upstairs to cause me harm, I believe that it is much easier to hit what you are aiming at with a shotgun than to get into proper shooting position with a handgun and take the chance of missing. And then of course should the intruders be silly guys trying to steal my TV, I won't shoot them, but I bet that most of them will run like crazy when they hear the pump action of my shotgun.

Not sure if I understand your post that your shotgun is unsecured and loaded prior to visits from your brother/sisters kids and then you lock it up just before they arrive on thier visit. Don't know how small the kids are, they can get into everywhere, but a loaded gun in plain view is a poor choice. What happens if someone breaks in when your not around?

JMTCW,
Stan, CCP in MA.

Not sure I understand your question but I will try to answer it. The shotgun is unloaded and locked and hidden from sight before the kids come. Don't worry, I have a graduate degree in kids and know that they can and will get into everything, especially anything that is forbidden. My comment was regarding the fact that with handguns, people often forget that they are even there in some drawer, and therefore often forget to secure them, as they are not in their plain sight. I have taken kids to the morgue who found them.

Mine is loaded, unlocked, and in plain view 3 feet from my bed when I am sleeping in it.

Edited by Sharklover, 09 March 2012 - 06:40 PM.