We have some presumptions to get to the point where a homeowner needs to rack his weapon and load it because there is an intruder.
First, the scenario always goes to a solution involving lethal force, when the reality is a complete failure to harden the house to prevent it. How and why did that person choose to invade that home, and just how was it so easily done? The homeowner who does nothing is the culprit there. Typical American stick frame construction and having windows next to doors, handing out house keys to service providers left and right, showcasing possessions that can be profitably sold off or used by the thug(s), the list goes on and on. Somebody concentrated on using lethal force as their last and only defense when in fact the intruder should have never got in.
Most of that is non gun forum stuff, but I have had some pretty good laughs reading the improbable scenarios where the innocent homeowner somehow "wakes up to a knife at their throat." I will speculate it takes leaving the door unlocked, showing off their guns to a "friend of a friend" the previous week, and in many other ways inadvertently but actively assisting said intruder with how to get in easily and how profitable it would be.
Now we have someone treading around in a dark house - who decided to enter even tho all the cars are parked out front, no animals are barking, the doorlocks were melted butter, and they have an idea They Can Prevail Regardless. Yet the homeowner keeps his firearm empty, has to load it, and it's usually put away somewhere out of reach.
All to defend their turf when they could just as easily slip out the window and run for the back fence, calling 911 on they way. It may not be a state regulation, but leaving the home is a GOOD tactical idea when it's available as it does a lot of things gunfight instructors teach - it creates distance, it puts obstacles in their way, and you can live to fight another day.
Why stay and become part of the lethal situation when, if you leave, you disable it and prevent somebody getting killed. Where is it written that we absolutely must interpose our will and act? I will suggest it comes from people who think the average person would appear as a coward - because they think they would be. Sorry, nobody gets to decide that for you or me.
They don't have to live with the results of their cheerleading, won't have their name in the paper, won't have the cops walking thru their house for many hours, won't have their guns confiscated as evidence, won't have bloodstains on their carpet.
Just all fine and dandy for you, tho.
They sleep peacefully in their bed with no nightmares, reoccurring stress and prone to overreaction due to similar situations when something goes bump in the night again.
And we are talking the good shoots. Woe be to anyone if it was actually an innocent.
But, we blithely ignore that and any attempt to fortify the house and operate it with a sense of security so we can drag out lethal force and blaze away justified we are doing the right thing. I see it as planning a killing by negligence in securing your house and attracting an intruder.
How about you leave the shotgun where you keep it - loaded and ready - and do more about repelling the intruders instead of allowing them in? It's very similar to situations where refugees have been welcomed with open arms by some European governments only to suffer from terrorist acts.
Don't let them get in in the first place. As for it being your home, go out the back and dial 911. You don't really want to be in the middle of a gunfight with high penetration ammo from all sides making your bedroom swiss cheese. Worse yet you put your family as the backstop behind you - cause that's the direction an intruder is going to shoot.
Your first line of defense? Yeah, a "racking the shotgun" effort - alarm goes off, lights come on, dog barking, etc. Someone casing the house will see higher risk, and move on. It's what they do - look for the easy jobs because they won't get hurt. Let them go down the block and hit the guy with no alarm, lights, no dog, and who plans to wake up in time - just ask him - so he can leap out of bed and rack his shotgun.
Nope, by then your Home Defense is a fail. They are already in and nothing has been done to stop them. I'm going to ask, with that type of forward planning, do you have a forensics house cleaner picked out? Do they guarantee they can get blood out of your carpet?
Ask your wife if that's a contact number in her cell phone and see what kind of look you get.
Practice getting out the back window if possible. Egress is a better solution than holing up and hoping the cops come soon enough and don't shoot you themselves.
First, the scenario always goes to a solution involving lethal force, when the reality is a complete failure to harden the house to prevent it. How and why did that person choose to invade that home, and just how was it so easily done? The homeowner who does nothing is the culprit there. Typical American stick frame construction and having windows next to doors, handing out house keys to service providers left and right, showcasing possessions that can be profitably sold off or used by the thug(s), the list goes on and on. Somebody concentrated on using lethal force as their last and only defense when in fact the intruder should have never got in.
Most of that is non gun forum stuff, but I have had some pretty good laughs reading the improbable scenarios where the innocent homeowner somehow "wakes up to a knife at their throat." I will speculate it takes leaving the door unlocked, showing off their guns to a "friend of a friend" the previous week, and in many other ways inadvertently but actively assisting said intruder with how to get in easily and how profitable it would be.
Now we have someone treading around in a dark house - who decided to enter even tho all the cars are parked out front, no animals are barking, the doorlocks were melted butter, and they have an idea They Can Prevail Regardless. Yet the homeowner keeps his firearm empty, has to load it, and it's usually put away somewhere out of reach.
All to defend their turf when they could just as easily slip out the window and run for the back fence, calling 911 on they way. It may not be a state regulation, but leaving the home is a GOOD tactical idea when it's available as it does a lot of things gunfight instructors teach - it creates distance, it puts obstacles in their way, and you can live to fight another day.
Why stay and become part of the lethal situation when, if you leave, you disable it and prevent somebody getting killed. Where is it written that we absolutely must interpose our will and act? I will suggest it comes from people who think the average person would appear as a coward - because they think they would be. Sorry, nobody gets to decide that for you or me.
They don't have to live with the results of their cheerleading, won't have their name in the paper, won't have the cops walking thru their house for many hours, won't have their guns confiscated as evidence, won't have bloodstains on their carpet.
Just all fine and dandy for you, tho.
They sleep peacefully in their bed with no nightmares, reoccurring stress and prone to overreaction due to similar situations when something goes bump in the night again.
And we are talking the good shoots. Woe be to anyone if it was actually an innocent.
But, we blithely ignore that and any attempt to fortify the house and operate it with a sense of security so we can drag out lethal force and blaze away justified we are doing the right thing. I see it as planning a killing by negligence in securing your house and attracting an intruder.
How about you leave the shotgun where you keep it - loaded and ready - and do more about repelling the intruders instead of allowing them in? It's very similar to situations where refugees have been welcomed with open arms by some European governments only to suffer from terrorist acts.
Don't let them get in in the first place. As for it being your home, go out the back and dial 911. You don't really want to be in the middle of a gunfight with high penetration ammo from all sides making your bedroom swiss cheese. Worse yet you put your family as the backstop behind you - cause that's the direction an intruder is going to shoot.
Your first line of defense? Yeah, a "racking the shotgun" effort - alarm goes off, lights come on, dog barking, etc. Someone casing the house will see higher risk, and move on. It's what they do - look for the easy jobs because they won't get hurt. Let them go down the block and hit the guy with no alarm, lights, no dog, and who plans to wake up in time - just ask him - so he can leap out of bed and rack his shotgun.
Nope, by then your Home Defense is a fail. They are already in and nothing has been done to stop them. I'm going to ask, with that type of forward planning, do you have a forensics house cleaner picked out? Do they guarantee they can get blood out of your carpet?
Ask your wife if that's a contact number in her cell phone and see what kind of look you get.
Practice getting out the back window if possible. Egress is a better solution than holing up and hoping the cops come soon enough and don't shoot you themselves.
