GUNS/RLTD Home Defense

[Oscar Wilde]

For me a shotgun is my #1 go to weapon for home defense.

TS

Here as well.

In the event all other security measures have been breached, Mossburg 500 with an 18 inch slug barrel and collapsible stock (35 1/2 inch total length) to tend to the matter personal like.

The 00 will turn sheet rock into chocking, blinding dust and 2x4 studs into pine scented shrapnel without leaving the confines of the outer brick veneer.

O.W.

 

[Mr. Peabody]

Ahh, the fresh pine scent mixed with smokeless powder! "Yes detective, that is the scent of white pine in the air. And if you step over here to this side of the wall, watch out for all that blood and brains on the floor as it is rather slippery, notice this sheet rock, you can see a very sweet ass sweet pattern this 500 has."

 

[AzProtector]

Our first line is living way outside of a town of 30k with virtually no crime
Second, my polygamist neighbors
Third..4 irritable and unsocialized Rottweilers
Fourth, 1911s, Glocks and AR's
I run my business out of the house so Im home most of the time anyways

 

[TerryK]

I would suggest a side saddle for your Mossberg, and a pouch with two speed loaders for your .357.

Sounds like you have a good set up, and good weapons!

Question about the motion sensor lights. Can you adjust how low they pick up? I would like to add those, but have 4 dogs, and would like them to be able to come & go without tripping the light.

I like the side saddle and speed loader ideas. Don't know why I never got them a long time ago.

The 4 outside floodlight can have the motion sensor adjusted up or down. Some, not mine, but some even have a jumper switch inside that you can change so it ignores small pets yet still triggers on humans. My perimeter alarm system motion sensor I have on my back porch can be adjusted that way.
My camera system, you can just use a mouse to redefine the areas in the field of view that you want to trigger the alarm when they detect change. It's pretty cool because if you have a tree branch or curtain that may move in the wind, you can just cut it out of the sensing area.

 

[NoDandy]

I like the side saddle and speed loader ideas. Don't know why I never got them a long time ago.

You could as an alternative get a bandolier for shotgun ammo. For your pistol, get a good wide belt, to attach your holster, and speed loader case. That way if you need to move around any, you have everything with you and you do not have your hands full. I would also suggest a good flash light, in a pouch hanging on your belt. Craftsman makes a good rugged push button LED. Don't forget to have a pair of slip on shoes, or boots handy, do not want to be moving around in bare feet.

Hopefully you will never need these preps. But better to have, and not need, than to need, and not have

BTW, what kind of .357 do you have?

 

[Medical Maven]

Topic of conversation in MY house last night was dealing with "roving hell raisers". Those who might just wander down your road setting fire to whatever..home boy molotov's through the windows....

You can be well armed and snug in your hidey hole...but if your house gets torched that's not going to help you much.

The Korean store owners in the LA riot got on top of their buildings to target molotov cocktail throwers. If you are dealing with a largely unarmed mob throwing molotovs, the top of your house, looking toward the street would be a good way to shortcut being burned out. You would have an excellent view. A second person could stay in the house, covering your backside.

 

[mecoastie]

If you are using a shotgun practice reloading. Get a few dummy shells and use them. When we used to qual on them, the time wasted fumbling with reloading was huge.

 

[Illini Warrior]

The Korean store owners in the LA riot got on top of their buildings to target molotov cocktail throwers. If you are dealing with a largely unarmed mob throwing molotovs, the top of your house, looking toward the street would be a good way to shortcut being burned out. You would have an excellent view. A second person could stay in the house, covering your backside.

having your ladders ready to access your roof is riot/arson important .... hitting a thrown gas b o m b fire immediately, even with a garden hose, can save your house .... soaking the roof down, if other homes get fired, can keep the sparks off .... winter makes it rough but still doable

if you take a defense position on the roof - don't get cut off from your ladder

 

[Dozdoats]

Topic of conversation in MY house last night was dealing with "roving hell raisers".

Best way to deal with that is to live in a community consisting of roving hell raiser ELIMINATORS.

The attrition rate for roving hell raisers around here would be ... rapid.

 

[Medical Maven]

having your ladders ready to access your roof is riot/arson important .... hitting a thrown gas b o m b fire immediately, even with a garden hose, can save your house .... soaking the roof down, if other homes get fired, can keep the sparks off .... winter makes it rough but still doable

if you take a defense position on the roof - don't get cut off from your ladder

If one could, you would want a couple of secured ropes in addition to a ladder for getting off the roof. Having the ropes out of sight ready to be thrown down could give you some surprise as to how you would get off the roof if the need arose during an assault. Some heavy gloves for sliding down the rope would be ideal for a fast descent. And don't forget a sling for your shotgun/rifle.

Finally this type of scenario would be perfect for utilizing body armor.

 

[Bubble Head]

Nails, air and boards can be your friend. Nails can be used to slow down traffic, placed in boards to be stepped on (don't forget where you place them if in the woods) and air cannons can be loaded with nails and wire. I have seen people do 200 yard shots with an air cannon. You only get one shot but that is all it usually takes. You can web search on how to make them. They are simple and cheap so you can have more than one ready. They will stop someone with a Molotov trying to throw it at your house. Keep a box of roofing nails on hand. Boards with nails placed around windows is a standard cure in Alaska for bears. And speaking of bears they have the Polar Bear alerts for camping in Bear areas. They use trip wires and set off a 12 gage round just for sound to let you know your perimeter has been penetrated by a bear. There are lots of home made items that can be found in reading about Vietnam or talking to a few Vietnam Vets. The new technology with motion detectors is great but when up close get dirty.

 

[Medical Maven]

Nails, air and boards can be your friend. Nails can be used to slow down traffic, placed in boards to be stepped on (don't forget where you place them if in the woods) and air cannons can be loaded with nails and wire. I have seen people do 200 yard shots with an air cannon. You only get one shot but that is all it usually takes. You can web search on how to make them. They are simple and cheap so you can have more than one ready. They will stop someone with a Molotov trying to throw it at your house. Keep a box of roofing nails on hand. Boards with nails placed around windows is a standard cure in Alaska for bears. And speaking of bears they have the Polar Bear alerts for camping in Bear areas. They use trip wires and set off a 12 gage round just for sound to let you know your perimeter has been penetrated by a bear. There are lots of home made items that can be found in reading about Vietnam or talking to a few Vietnam Vets. The new technology with motion detectors is great but when up close get dirty.

Even inside the interior of your house the use of rug-sized planks of plywood, (covered with a thick rug for camouflaging it), would be a highly effective early warning and disabler of the aggressor. Hallways, (in which the aggressor could not avoid stepping on the plank), would be the ideal area for placement. The thing is that you can never slip and forget that it is there. It might be something to put out only at night in certain situations that are not full-blown TSHTF.

 

[Marthanoir]

having your ladders ready to access your roof is riot/arson important .... hitting a thrown gas b o m b fire immediately, even with a garden hose, can save your house .... soaking the roof down, if other homes get fired, can keep the sparks off .... winter makes it rough but still doable

if you take a defense position on the roof - don't get cut off from your ladder

If any thugs make it down as far as me (and that's a big if) they'll find the shutters up on the windows as well as steel mesh as a defence from molotovs , it'll be tough going for them

 

[Housecarl]

having your ladders ready to access your roof is riot/arson important .... hitting a thrown gas b o m b fire immediately, even with a garden hose, can save your house .... soaking the roof down, if other homes get fired, can keep the sparks off .... winter makes it rough but still doable

if you take a defense position on the roof - don't get cut off from your ladder

Thought might be given to laying in hoses, connectors and hose attached lawn sprinklers to cover the roof. Also good if you live in a wild fire area.

 

[tiger13]

There are advantages to being very heavy into black powder shooting and being able to use that to your advantage should the need arise to come up with, shall we say, interesting deterrents to a mob.

 

[wobby]

I actually consider a shotgun to be the worst home defense firearm, at least if talking INDOOR defense. Far better to have a pistol with frangible ammo. The shotty is fine for out in the yard, but not inside the house.

Dennis raises a good point, overpenetration is likely to be a concern no matter what firearm is chosen. I have the furniture in my home placed to allow for shooting lanes that would make it less likely that a shot would be aimed toward where anyone spends significant amounts of time. Overpenetration with a shotgun can be mitigated somewhat by using smaller shot, my goto is a Remington 870, the first 2 rounds are #6 shot, then backed up with #4, and as with anything, there is no substitute for practice.

Wobby

 

[Illini Warrior]

Thought might be given to laying in hoses, connectors and hose attached lawn sprinklers to cover the roof. Also good if you live in a wild fire area.

a manifold with valves to cut in/off the various hose leads to the roof is advantageous ... an in-line booster pump to increase the pressure would also increase the overall effectiveness .... there'll always be one roof section more endangered than the others ....

in areas of the country with a more constant fire threat .... some people have permanent piping in the attic and roof mounted sprinklers

 

[Illini Warrior]

Dennis raises a good point, overpenetration is likely to be a concern no matter what firearm is chosen. I have the furniture in my home placed to allow for shooting lanes that would make it less likely that a shot would be aimed toward where anyone spends significant amounts of time. Overpenetration with a shotgun can be mitigated somewhat by using smaller shot, my goto is a Remington 870, the first 2 rounds are #6 shot, then backed up with #4, and as with anything, there is no substitute for practice.


indoor or outdoor .... no freaking way would I be using birdshot for defense purposes .... big guy - winter/multi layer clothed - high on drugs .... he'll be laughing at you

recent article that covered the topic well .... http://www.activeresponsetraining.net/bird-shot-for-self-defense

 

[Bardou]

Speaking for myself, it's not a good idea to say what kind of defense we have. I want it to be a surprise. But living out in the boonies here with no lights, they better carry a flash light. The backhoe will come in handy if and when the time comes.

 

[roman]

in a home invasion most of us would survive without problems A small town punk or a couple of illleagals wanting to stal food and loose items. but in a Shtf sit with troops or Police we wouldnt stand a chance. The only way to prevail in that situation is to not be home when they come to deliver some of their 3 am justice..sorry for the gloom and doom But a shot gun and a pistol is usless against. Mraps and Armoured Hummers with a turrent..

 

[Oscar Wilde]

.... a shot gun and a pistol is usless against. Mraps and Armoured Hummers with a turrent..

Ya got a point here .... I'm thinkin though this ain't want the OP has in mind.

Something more conventional like Bubba and Shameele wantin his stuff ....

O.W.

 

[Zahra]

Topic of conversation in MY house last night was dealing with "roving hell raisers". Those who might just wander down your road setting fire to whatever..home boy molotov's through the windows....

You can be well armed and snug in your hidey hole...but if your house gets torched that's not going to help you much.

I've given a lot of thought to this PP and found a very affordable solution to harden the windows & glass doors to prevent them from being a weak link to defense -- Ace Security Laminates.

"Applied to ordinary glass, ACE makes windows smash-resistant, bullet-resistant and bomb-resistant. A fraction of the cost and weight of conventional ballistic or reinforced glass, ACE can help you:
•Retrofit existing buildings and windows
•Secure buildings quickly and discretely
•Use the existing window framing and wall assembly without undertaking costly re-construction or reinforcing
•Reduce costs"

I don't know what professional installation would cost, but they have a DIY kit for homeowners that contains 140 square feet of the film plus the tools to do it yourself and installation instructions & video for just $550 plus shipping. (Not sure how many windows that would do so some folks might need more than one kit, but even at that it's not expensive really). Here's the link to the page that describes the kit and you can look over their whole site from there and learn more about their products plus see videos of the products being tested: http://usace.com/diy-instillation-kit/

This is most likely something I'll do fairly soon. Otherwise I live in a gated subdivision of a demographically safe community (which on the other hand makes this subdivision and the several others like it around here high value targets as well). My particular house was the model home for this high end subdivision until a year ago when I bought it and it's highly visible within the community because of its location and extensive landscaping, so the house itself would be a magnet for troublemakers out to either get whitey or punish the 1% (not that I am)... so in addition to the gated access I have security cameras to DVR like Terry does -- am blessed with good neighbors who are heavily armed and know how to use them, and then I have my own weapons as well, oh... and the house is constructed of native stone & stucco which provides some degree of added fire protection (but no structure is invulnerable).

Do I think this is good enough?? Not really, but if events from nearby cities should start to spill over into our area I believe I can count on neighbors here banding together for our mutual protection and forming armed watch groups at the gate etc. Also interested in learning of any other ideas to harden defenses further!

 

[OldArcher]

Again, I vehemently disagree. Far more likely that a novice would kill his family sleeping in the rooms near him from overpenetration.

I prefer my Mossberg 590A1 SPX w/M9 bayonet, and 9rds of low recoil 00Bock, 6rds Brenneke KO slugs in side saddle, Aimpoint Micro T-1, and ATN PS-7a. For quiet, 3rd Gen G21, Gemtech Blackside .45acp w/LID, 28rds all-up w/.45acp in RWB 27rd magazine, Hornady Critical Duty, and Bad Attitude on S4B adrenaline lift-off surge...

Not a good place for uninviteds to come... Have squeegee, mop, sponges, Clorox, and big baggies to go...

Maranatha

OA

 

[BH]

No one has mentioned muzzle flash or noise as a result of pulling a trigger inside a house. Inside a 13x13 foot room with an 8 foot ceiling if you pull the trigger on a 12 gauge, you will not hear another sound for likely several days. Likewise, if it is night with no lights on, the muzzle flash from the first round fired will likely be the last thing seen for quite awhile. I have some tactical 45 ACP ammo that is 185gr/1100fps monsters. The muzzle flash is several feet in diameter and would definitely be the last sound and sight possible for anyone in the immediate vicinity, whether in front of behind the trigger in an enclosed area in the dark.

 

[biere]

When it comes to noise, perhaps some electronic ear muffs might be nice. They amplify sounds until they hear a loud noise which they cut off.

As far as not hearing things for days, lots of folks have had accidental discharges inside their house.

A 308 bolt gun accidently discharged put a hole through the mobile home sidewall and down into the yard outside.

Sure it was loud.

Did not make it impossable to hear though.

Depending on how close you are to the road I could real easily see a rocking chair in the yard to let folks know someone is watching.

I keep my dogs on cable runs and what not and while close to the pavement I could certainly see adding some chain on to let them get to the end of the property line safely while not being dangerous to scaring anyone in a car or something.

Biggest problem is watching all 4 sides of house. I kind of figure dog runs overlapping could cover 2 or 3 sides and rocking chair and cooler of pop would cover 4th and most likely side.

Would probably invite friends over for a cookout.

Bring your own gun.

 

[GardenMum]

I actually consider a shotgun to be the worst home defense firearm, at least if talking INDOOR defense. Far better to have a pistol with frangible ammo. The shotty is fine for out in the yard, but not inside the house.

OK, Dennis, for the lingo-challenged (that would be MOI) what is "frangible ammo?"

 

[Dozdoats]

Not Dennis, but...

Frangible ammo uses bullets which break up easily. Often the bullets are made from powdered metal which is pressed together under high pressure. Often they contain no lead. They were originally intended for use in training, to cut down on damage to target systems, ranges etc. and to limit exposure to lead dust.

Some people think these attributes make them useful for defensive ammunition. Others disagree, considering penetration an important factor in effective defensive ammunition.

http://frangiblebullets.com/

https://www.sinterfire.com/Default.aspx

http://iccammo.com/frangible/

 

[Garryowen]

OK, Dennis, for the lingo-challenged (that would be MOI) what is "frangible ammo?"

Frangible means it will fragment when it hits something. Glazer 'safety slugs' are plastic tubes filled with small lead shot. They allegedly will not fully penetrate residential drywall interior walls. IIRC, the Air Marshalls use these when they ride on airlines. They are designed to cause intense trauma without deep penetration.

 

[timbo]

Comment on muzzle flash. When first on the dept. I fired two rounds at a fleeing felon. (you could do that legal back then)
First off on the first shot, I was totally shocked at the the flash. I saw NOTHING for several seconds. It was a very dark night with little ambient lighting.
The second shot was not quite as bad but if I would have kept running I would have run into a tree.
Now I probably do the old close one eye trick to get past the flash.

Sound. For several years I did some peer counseling for cops that had been involved in shooting,deaths, etc on our dept.

I would always ask the cop if they remember hearing the shots fired. None of them remembered hearing either their shots or the shots being fired at them.


I've read that this seems to be true in combat military conditions. Somehow our brain to ear messages block out that loud sound.

Amazing ain't it?

 

[Mr. Peabody]

My new HD primary go-to is now my 10" AR15 with suppressor and light. No muzzle flash, no loud noise. The many 45s are still available "around the place" and next to bed but I will use the AR with the suppressor if at all possible. The overall length is same as a 16" with no suppression. The Mossy 930 SPX is always available which makes me think that I will have to choose between all of these. It's like choosing your favorite child.

 

[Weps]

in a home invasion most of us would survive without problems A small town punk or a couple of illleagals wanting to stal food and loose items. but in a Shtf sit with troops or Police we wouldnt stand a chance. The only way to prevail in that situation is to not be home when they come to deliver some of their 3 am justice..sorry for the gloom and doom But a shot gun and a pistol is usless against. Mraps and Armoured Hummers with a turrent..

Any small arms that's not AT and is less than .50BMG is useless against an MRAP, HUMMWV are good all they way up to 7.62x51mm.

If troops are rolling, MRAP's are the least of your concerns, they're not like PD's who are rolling in with a handful of barely trained LEO and a single MRAP or M113.

Troops will be reinforcing the armor, not the other way around like you see with a PD. An M2A2, M1126, LAV-III, or LVTP7A1 which will be armed with M2HB .50BMG, Mk.19 40mm AGL, M242 25mm Chaingun, BGM-71 TOW or a mix there of, all of which have FLIR/TIS. This is assuming it's just Mechanized Infantry or Cavalry, not additional Armored units rolling in M1A1/M1A2 which wound be pumping out 120mm M1028 Canister rounds, using their M240 Coax and M2HB .50BMG via CROWS.

Troops are going to be highly trained (most probably veterans), infantry/cav squads, platoons, ect... with assorted small arms, M4/M16A4, M249, M240, M203/M230, AT4, M72 LAW, SMAW, M3 MAAWS, M67 Frag, M32 Milkor MGL, ect... some units will have a DM "Designated Marksman" armed with an M39 EMR or M21 DMR.

Then we're talking specialized munitions like Enhanced Penetrators, Armor Piercing, Enhanced Long Range, Thermobaric, Flechette aka Beehive, 40mm Buckshot, HEDP, ect...

Air Support will be derived from AH-64, AH-1W, MH-60 DAP, UH-1Y VENOM, AC-130, A-10, F16, F15, F22, ect.....

All being supplied intel and logistics by one of the largest military support structures in the world.

They'd send in SOF or SOC assets to deal with the really hairy areas, those that have band together to fight and causing serious problems for regular units, or simply pummel the area into a smoking hole, using serious air delivered munitions.

Having a shotgun, pistol, or rifle isn't going to be the defining point at that crossroads, it's going to be a culmination of skill, ingenuity, and sheer will to fight.

 

[timbo]

The first thing to do in a fight is avoid it.

No time for nose to nose confrontations.

Think the Irish Rebellion, not WWII.

 

[biere]

I spend a lot of time here and on arfcom. A fella on arfcom has his own little website called "boxoftruth". Google it and it should come up. I forget if it a .com or.net or whatever.

He does some specific stuff with shotguns and is one of those folks who prefers an ar15 for home defense.

If you have a shotgun have you patterned it? And that means running all types of ammo you use through it so you know how they spread if it is a shotshell or how various slugs group if it is a slug.

At most distances experienced in a house the spread willnot be all that much. Maybe if you have a long single wide you have a long hallway and a living room and at the end of the hallway another room. I owned one at one time and it is the longest straight distance ina home I ever ran into.

So at close distances you still need to aim the shotgun since the pellet spread won't be that much, and if we are talking distances where pellets have spread out how many are going to be on a man sized target?

Don't get me wrong, I have shotguns and yeah I have one sitting out loaded with 00 buck and there is even a flashlight on the shotgun itself. For close distances in the house it needs aimed and that 00 buck is going to be a pretty small grouping. The shotgun is more for varmints in the night, I know 00 buck is overkill for varmints and what not but I rather like my shotgun with 00 buck and know how this exact brand in it hits.

As far as penetration, need to know your ammo. Lots of folks like surplus ammo or this or that and some penetrates really well.

Do you know what the walls of your house are made of? I grew up in a brick home and it was the real clay bricks so several inches of brick and 2x4 studs and insulation and a layer of drywall on the inside. Those bricks will stop a lot, the windows would not stop much at all. The doors were soso, not great but not as bad as some of today's junk.

That mobile home I mentioned earlier, aluminum siding outside, drywall inside, some insulation, and no 2x4s but something smaller. A quality pellet gun might have penetrated the whole thing.

The box of truth website has some videos or at least articles on shooting "walls" he made. It is just a section of wall he made and not a whole wall of course. But it shows what happens with common ammo and some drywall and what not.

For those worried about noise, auditory exclusion is the name I could not think of above in my other post. Your ears shut down.

The house I rent now has some old siding on it and some of the walls are the old wire mesh and mortar or whatever on em, not much drywall. Some rooms have the actual wood panels that are decently thick pieces of wood, but still not gonna stop a bullet really well.

Once again windows are not going to stop much of anything.

One thing box of truth did was throw out some common myths and prove some common myths. Some folks worried about 223 ammo zipping through walls and neihbors houses and what not. Some folks figured a shotgun fired at 20ft from target would not really need aimed, just kind of directed that direction.

Do some reading and watching and see what your personal stuff actually does.

 

[Dozdoats]

So at close distances you still need to aim the shotgun since the pellet spread won't be that much

And how.

People persist in thinking that a shotgun pattern emerges from the muzzle at about 20" in diameter and spreads out from there . Never ceases to amaze me.

I'm one of those who still prefers a shotgun. As Clint Smith says, it will remove meat and bone in a way that nothing else short of artillery will do. But it isn't magic - you still have to hit what you shoot at with it.

Far as I'm concerned, hitting is the shooter's job. The 870 beside my bed will reliably throw 4" patterns of full velocity 00 buck at 25 yards. Yes, 75 feet. At 40 yards it's about an 8" pattern. And copper plated buckshot at that range will penetrate more than adequately to do the job. Beyond that we go to slugs.

 

[Safetydude]

Get the 3M window film that resists breakage (different grades available) put on all ground floor windows and patio doors, secure doors against kick-in's with reinforcing plates at the locksets (those wrap-around steel plates that help the door from splitting at the lock--a real weak point) and long screws into framing and door for the hinges. All those buy additional alert time to set up your HD situation. Have a neighborhood mutual "protection" pact where you contact your neighbor to help with an external threat - you cover their 6 and vice-versa. Use portable handie-talkies for when the SHTF events to communicate.

From the flammable liquid attack perspective, get some loaded stream extinguishers or forest fire backpack pump and use something like "Coldfire" additive - very effective on flammable liquids...in addition to dry chem. extinguishers. I like being my own mini fire dept. because when it gets really ugly you can't count on any emergency agency for response. Kind of like the old adage, why carry a gun? 'cause a cop's to heavy! I have extinguishers 'cause a fire truck doesn't fit in the garage!

 

[Doc1]

Dennis and others have expressed well-founded concerns about projectiles penetrating residential walls and wounding or killing innocents. But this rather misses the point. Kinetic energy weapons have to penetrate to do their job and US residential wall construction is incredibly weak and thin. Even the humble .22 Long Rifle round will easily zip right through drywall and 2x4 walls, even - generally - if it hits a 2x4 stud. The equation of over-penetration and the possibility of hitting innocents is one of those intractable problems which can't be avoided; it must be dealt with practically.

First, it must be understood and accepted that any armed encounter represents combat and combat is a very dangerous business. The moment you find yourself countering an armed threat with your own arms, you have just become a gunfighter and a warrior. This is a very difficult concept to get across to the average suburbanite tentatively (and fearfully) picking up his sporting shotgun to investigate a strange noise downstairs. "Friendly fire," that is the possibility of wounding or killing your own people, is a gunfighter's occupational hazard. In warfare it happens in professional militaries with depressing frequency and the official statistics usually lie about it.

The only way to mitigate this is through training, equipment and knowing your AO very well. In order of importance, these things are:
a.) Training: You must get good, professional gunfighting training and you should do this before you buy your first firearm much less attempt to use it in a defensive capacity. Do not mistake gunfighting training with basic safe firearms handling training. The latter must precede the former.
b.) Knowing your area of operations: I listed this as second in importance when it pertains to defending your household. In this case you have an invaluable advantage over most attackers, as they will not have the understanding of your residence's layout and construction that you can. You must think about your fields of fire, where occupied bedrooms are and both construction and household appliances which might provide cover and concealment. As an example, I have a large cast iron stove in my living room which could provide good cover against most pistol rounds.
c.) Technology includes both your weapons and ancilliary equipment which can help in defeating an enemy. Examples of ancilliary equipment would include things such as alarm systems and night vision equipment. You might broadly include guard dogs in this category and it behooves readers to both train their animals and be very aware of how they attempt to transmit information to you. Dogs have different barking pattern and body language which is understandable if you spend the time to learn it. Do not defeat your dog's assets by constantly telling it to be quiet and punishing it for barking.

Lastly, I will observe that while you cannot practically find an efficient defensive firearm or cartridge that will be effective while not penetrating walls, you can find effective firearms and cartridge combinations that will minimize over-penetration. Here are a few examples. A typical 30-06 sporting rifle will certainly be effective against an intruder, but it will also dramatically over penetrate not only walls, but will very likely also penetrate adjacent houses! A .45 ACP pistol or carbine, while not nearly as powerful as a 30-06, is a proven fight-stopper and does not have nearly the over-penetration potential of most rifle cartridges. Similarly, the venerable 12 guage shotgun loaded with one or another of the several types of buckshot will be virtually as effective as the 30-06 at close ranges, but does not present nearly the 06's penetration dangers. Would you like another example? The .45 ACP is a much safer choice than the .44 Magnum for household defense. Though the .44 Magnum is much more powerful than the .45 it is not generally an especially more efficient fight-stopper. The .44 Magnum is well-known for completely penetrating the human body and dumping much of its energy downrange through walls and possibly into innocent victims. The .45 ACP can certainly completely penetrate a human body, though by the time it does most of its kinetic energy has been expended. There are many similar examples and householders should investigate these effects as they choose a home defence weapon.

I can offer no perfect solutions to the over-penetration danger. It comes with the gunfighter's territory, but it can be greatly reduced through training and choice of weapon.

Best regards
Doc

 

[Floratrek]

I was home alone one night. (husband on night shift and heard the glass break on my front door!) I woke up My oldest child and asked where the Shotgun was. He brought it to me and the intruder was at the baby gate upstairs. there was no telephone up there., So I told him to scream "Help" out the bedroom window until someone answered. The fire dept. had bingo that night, so the neighbor couldn't get any county help so the neighbor alerted the firemen .They all came to my house with riffles and shot guns a and took him in to jail
Has killled the day he got out of jail!

 

[Dennis Olson]

You didn't know where a firearm was in your house? I'm surprised you're still alive.


Seriously...

 

[FarmerJohn]

Rather simple,
Lay in wait, in your bedroom, 12 Ga 00Buck, they come thru the door, just scatter them, real simple, no aim, no worry!
Even the majority of the courts cannot challenge that defense.
sonny

Better be damn sure it's not your son of daughter sneaking in late because it's after curfew.