I have to ask this question (answering your door armed)

[Frizzman]

My two large dogs like to help me answer the door. I can view whoever it is and decide if I want to open or not. I live a neighborhood with mostly military people, many are SEAL operators, so home invasion is a good way to get killed around here. Never been one of those in the fifteen years we have lived here. Burglaries are also very uncommon. If I looked out there and the people looked suspicious and refused to leave, its time to call PD.

 

[American1776]

I'm always armed, so whenever I answer the door I'm armed.

The default position is in its holster. It's probably a good idea not to open the door to strangers.

 

[PALADIN85020]

I don't mind opening the door, because it's fronted with a locked steel security door that I can talk through with no probable danger of a "home invasion"-type scenario unless someone has an RPG. ...and I'm within a few seconds of reaching a very intimidating firearm.

(That is if we both can hear each other with my pit bull growling, barking, snarling and jumping at the door.... He doesn't like strangers much, if at all.)

John

 

[The Real Hawkeye]

Since we're showing dogs.

 

[Texas40]

2 of our 3 to add. They like greeting peeps at the door.

 

[The Real Hawkeye]

2 of our 3 to add. They like greeting peeps at the door.
View attachment 148850

You don't have much to worry about.

 

[Protected One]

If you ignore the sign that says

Absolutely NO TRESPASSING
I don't want to buy anything or upgrade my cable.
I don't want to hear about your political party, candidate or sign your petition.
I am not interested in your religion, my salvation or your God.
If you do not have a Warrant you are TRESPASSING and will be dealt with accordingly.
Failure to read, speak and understand English may affect your ability to get treatment at the Emergency Room.

Then there are the security cameras. 6 of them. 4 I can see from my easy chair. 2 I can see from my shop in the garage.

When I wake up, I gun up, and I stay that way until I undress for bed. It never used to be this way, but we had a criminal enterprise move in to the last house on our little street about a year and a half ago. I have photos of them shooting up right in front of my home. 3 of 5 houses on our street have been burglarized. All of them have been vandalized. The police from another town raided the house last August and arrested 3 of the 10 people that go in or out of there each day. Two were charged with 17 and 21 counts of burglary. One with 4 counts. It didn't even slow them down. 6 to 10 cars a night drive in, don't even turn off the engine and then 5 minutes later, drive out. We find needles on the street. I've supplied the police with photos of them dealing, license plate numbers, surveillance video and even offered them my garage to set up surveillance. Maybe they are building a case against them, but so far, we live every day in fear that when we get home from work, out house will again be broken into.

Yeah, you knock on my door, and I don't know who you are, I will answer it with a gun in my hand. Not holstered and not out of sight. If that makes you pee your pants, wear an adult diaper if you are going to go door to door on my street. We gave up on the Neighborhood Watch nonsense and formed a Neighborhood Militia.

All I can say is.... WOW!!!
Well, do what you have to do man. And be safe.

 

[shouldazagged]

All I can say is.... WOW!!!
Well, do what you have to do man. And be safe.

"WOW!!!", indeed. I don't think I could live that way, but to each his own.

 

[agwoodard]

Well I own my home. The idiots at the end of the street moved in a year and half ago. I'm not selling and I'm not moving.

This was shot at 7 am on July 3rd last year, right in front of our home from my upstairs window. The police were given the plate number, the video tape that showed her coming out of the home, walking to the car and getting in. I also gave them the photo. No action was taken on their part. So you do what you have to do to protect your family, your property and your peace of mind.

 

[vito]

Why not contact local media, i.e., TV stations and/or newspapers? They might show more interest than the police. Or contact the District Attorney's office and tell them that if they won't do something, you WILL go to the media as well as supporting the next opponent they face in an election. Don't give up so easily.

 

[hmbiohazard]

i carry, all the time, everywhere i go (withing the bounds of the law)

if i dont recognize the person at the door i use caution. although my firearm may not be in my hand. my hand is by where it is holstered and ready to draw need be.

 

[Rastoff]

So you do what you have to do to protect your family, your property and your peace of mind.

I agree that you should do this. However, it does bring us back to the OP's original question, and this is a perfect example, if you have to have a gun in your hand when you open the door, why open it at all?

 

[sac-gunslinger]

For some reason, we get door-to-door panhandlers in our out-of-the-way neighborhood. One day it was even a lady with two kids in a stroller. We are two miles from a main thoroughfare. I do not understand how they get here, they are not welcomed. We had a neighboring house that was used as a drug lab for six weeks then turned into a hazmat site.

I have a heavy metal screen door set in a metal frame. It stays locked. My kids know not to open the door and talk to anyone knocking. I don't mind being rude and closing the door in people's face. My wife likes to say "you've got to give them a reason!" No, I don't, they were not invited. (I hang up on people on the phone all the time as well).

My plan is to block problems from entering the house. If someone overcomes the active blocks I have in place it will be evidence of their intent to do evil.

I will check who is at the door, however, because we have members of our congregation who come by for church business regularly. The gun in my hand quickly goes in my pants pocket as I unlock the door to let them in. They never notice and, thus, are never insulted by my carrying.

 

[agwoodard]

I can give you one good reason to answer the door, at least where I live. If you don't, you are setting yourself up for a burglary that will turn into a home invasion.

Here's how it works, and as a Police Officer, I am sure you know this.

They knock on your door. Usually it is during the day. If someone answers they come up with something lame. Like asking for directions or if you need work done around your home.

If no one answers, they slip around back, try the back door, try the windows, and if they find something open, your home gets burglarized.

Now, if you ARE home and don't answer the door, and the bad guy comes in, you have a highly volatile situation on your hands.

It's better, at least in my mind, to let them know in no uncertain terms that the anti gun neighbor is a much better target for them than my home is ever going to be.

 

[cemeteryman]

If I didn't invite you over, or if you're not a known friend/neighbor, or the UPS/FEDEX/etc guy, then I'm not even going to bother answering the door. Solves the "do you answer the door with your piece" conundrum really well, I think.

 

[Rastoff]

I can give you one good reason to answer the door, at least where I live. If you don't, you are setting yourself up for a burglary that will turn into a home invasion.

This is indeed a proven technique to discover if someone is home. It happens at night as well as during the day.

In Utah this happened and ended up in the death of a teenager. Two teens went to a neighbors house and knocked on the door around midnight. The owner didn't turn on any lights when he went to check the door. By the time he got their, the kids were gone.

I guess the kids left thinking no one was home. They returned about two hours later and tried to break in the back door. This time the owner was already up and shot at the kids. One of them made it around the house and to the middle of the street before he died. I don't remember what happened to the other.

Anyway, had the owner turned on a light or been able to get to the door quicker, this all would have been avoided. Of course the kids probably would have just tried to rob someone else that same night.

 

[Doug M.]

I view that as an evolutionary positive. The one thing that would have prevented that shooting was the criminals not trying to commit the crime. The only thing that was changed by the homeowner not being perceived as being home is that someone else, maybe less prepared, was not victimized. Pigs will fly before I think such a shooting was a bad thing. American LE and private citizens do not shoot nearly as many offenders as they should.

 

[Badquaker]

They returned about two hours later and tried to break in the back door. This time the owner was already up and shot at the kids. One of them made it around the house and to the middle of the street before he died. I don't remember what happened to the other.

I have no problem with this out come, but both criminals DRT would have been better.

 

[hangnoose]

SHOOTING UP PIC

I'M sure the chic was a diabetic, or was about to get some Rhino tranquilizer.

 

[Smoke]

I can give you one good reason to answer the door, at least where I live. If you don't, you are setting yourself up for a burglary that will turn into a home invasion.

Been covered, you can answer the door without opening the door