Issue last night, am I too paranoid?

Irregardless, your alive and I doubt he will be back. I used to sleep days and worked graveyard for 30 years. My neighbor called me and said someone was going through my truck. It was a very rare time I had left it open. By the time I got out he was out of sight. I crusied the neighbor hood and saw a illegal putting domino pizza flyers on doors down the street. He wasnt a kid, but maybe 25. "I don speeek no the hinglissh so goood". He was wearing a backpack. I no doubt overstepped myself a bit, and went through his backpack. He had nothing of mine so I shook his butt up and let him go. Think about it, putting up flyers is a perfect excuse to look for cars that are unlocked in driveways etc.
 
jimmyj said:
Hi:
In my opinion you made a BIG Mistake! you left the safety and security of your home and went outside where a possible threat was.
Inside your home is just you and you know your way around.
Outside in the dark you have negative idea how many persons are waiting or where they might be hiding.
Stay inside your secure house and telephone neighbors, police, etc.
Being armed and having a on body cell phone at all times is a GREAT IDEA.
Have you considered a barking dog?
Jimmy
Click to expand...

double ditto............
 
ChattanoogaPhil said:
If I am reading your post correctly, you would have run armed out of the back door regardless of who it may have been, whether it was a young man dressed in a Boy Scout uniform or a LEO, right? You just heard a knock at the front door, grabbed your coat (you were already armed because you wear a sidearm all the time in your home) and fled out the back door. Is this right?
Click to expand...

Correct. I walked, I can't run. Gun was on my hip, covered with the coat when I put it on. And I do have two little barking dogs. One of the reasons I couldn't hear what he was saying through the door, and possibly he couldn't hear me was the dogs were barking up a storm and would not shut up. There are on rare occasion people at the door I wish to talk to. My neighbors know my back door routeen I have never seen a Boy or Girl Scout in this area for the 20 yrs. I've lived here. Only time I've seen Leo's close to my place when there was a break in attempt rape on the girl next door about eight years ago.
 
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Just a word of caution about leaving the relative safety of your house after dark. As you step outside your eyes are going to take a few minutes to adjust to the dark. You are alone, if there is a perp outside he might have friends. If you're carrying you may have only an instant to react. If you guess wrong you could shoot the pizza delivery person who is lost. If you hesitate and don't shoot, when you should have, the perp(s) will have you and your gun. Best advice: Stay inside, talk through the door, call the police if you suspect anything's wrong. If they come and find everything's OK they won't mind. That's their job. Play it safe!!
 
JcMack said:
I can't run.
Click to expand...
All the more reason NOT to go outside.

When you put YOURSELF in potential peril, you'd better be on top of your game. If you're going to play to a potential assailant's (or assailants') strengths, you'd better be pretty well assured that you're going to be STRONGER than they are.

It worked out for you this time, but things could have gone downhill VERY quickly.

In your home, you have cover, concealment and an intimate knowledge of the terrain. Outside of your home, you have neither cover NOR concealment, and in your case, not even the ability to run away.

My goal is to minimize my personal exposure to danger. Confronting a potential assailant in the open when there's a viable alternative doesn't achieve that goal.

Do what suits YOU, but a lot of people here and elsewhere have given this stuff a LOT of thought, much of it based on the real life experiences of others.
 
Okay... Just didn't want to make any comment until I got an idea of what was going on.

Living alone... wearing a sidearm in the house at all times... routine of fleeing armed out the back door whenever the front door is knocked.... flashing a sidearm if uncertain of who is walking across your driveway and toward you.

May or may not be signs of paranoia, but it doesn't have a good ring to it, IMO. Perhaps conditions are such in your neighborhood that your actions seem normal. If so, then I would consider relocating.
 
Wall, ya might build your supper fire and then relocate about a half mile above it ta settle in.
Sorry cant help myself, just a little humor here.
 
walter o said:
J.C. living in the same area I think you did the right thing. As you know I have a large barky dog and i do answer the door armed .
Click to expand...

Walter, how is your dog?
I've moved 5 times in 40 years to "stay ahead" of this kind of thing. My new neighbors moved here from the area by Freddies steak house about a year ago. They're telling me some pretty scary stories about that neighborhood. Moving again is out of the question.
Jim
 
OCD1 said:
Triple ditto:)

No you are not paranoid. No one should be "selling" knocking on doors after dark.
Click to expand...

That's what I told the Schwan's driver when he came knocking on the door well after dark (wife was already sleeping). The house was dark and the outside lights were off so I answered the door armed with a Model 60 concealed behind my back. I don't begrudge a guy trying to make a living but cold calling at 9 pm isn't a very sound sales strategy...
 
Jc,
I don't think you're being paranoid. I think your image of
yourself requires the response you had. Especially if you can't
run away. Glad it came out well, TACC1.
P.S., how's that flaxseed working for you?
 
I'm not gonna drag this out any further. I'm old, the older I get the less likely I am to "let things slide". If I make a mistake nobody suffers but me. Screw these bums, they're everywhere now.

ladder13 said:
Jim, we/I like you around here, please be careful. ;)
Click to expand...

Thanks
 
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This is just mirroring what everyone else has said, but no, you're not being paranoid. You handled it perfectly. I like the part about going outsde and coming in from a different angle. I think that allowed you to assess the situation a little better than if you had just opened the door with a handgun at the ready. Well played!
 
Sounds like you did the right thing to me. Better safe than sorry.
By your description, no one sells stuff in the dark wearing gang style cloths, or at least shouldn't be. And with all thats happened in your neighborhood, I would have done the same.
Glad it worked out for you.
 
Sounds to me like a drug dealer looking for new clients. I always used to be curious why on Thursdays there were people at the end of the driveway on their cell phones in the dark. I thought it was coverage issues. Then I saw the bags and cash swapping hands once. I'm mortified there are so many drug abusers out there. Recreational my bleap.
 
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