Your house whispers to you and it will tell you who is in the house and where they are, provided you listen. This is an important tactic or advantage that, I believe, should carry more weight in threat assessment.
If you listen, you'll recognize that family members each have an individual and identifiable walking style and sound pattern. Your daughter or wife may kick off high heels. My older sons would open the front door and close it without making a serious attempt to do it silently. A second or two after the door closes, I'd hear a key being inserted into the lock (lock keyed on both sides) and the tumblers turning. An intruder would not be locking the door. The normal sequence of sounds would be absent. I could also discern the difference in sound signatures between the front and side door locks even though they were identical and keyed alike. The side door leads to basement stairs and has an echo not present at the front door.
I also got to recognize the sound signature of each of my sons' automobiles as they arrived on the block. Believe it or not, our beloved golden retriever also knew their automobiles and would not go on alert.
My six-feet-two, twin sons would not tiptoe through the house like they were negotiating a minefield. They took long strides and they would take two stairs at a time ascending to their respective bedrooms. I'd hear water run, toilets flush, size 14 shoes or sneakers crashing to the floor, first, one, eventually, the other. The dining room chandelier rattled a bit when one of my sons was in his bedroom, directly above the dining room. The glass and china within the dining room hutch rattled if someone walked in front of it. These were the normal sounds of a home with older teens in residence.
On the contrary, an intruder who enters an occupied home produces sounds that don't correspond to that of any family members. Or, he's not producing the accompanying sounds you normally expect. If the floor is squeaky, he'll walk more slowly, test his steps, trying not to make noise. I squeaky step might momentarily stop him dead in his tracks as he listens to whether or not he has alerted an occupant.
An intruder is already on high alert and he knows he may have a confrontation with you. You, on the other hand, are at a serious disadvantage because you may be asleep and we all need a few seconds to clear the fog and to get both brain halves functioning. Those first few seconds are especially dangerous because of the increased possibility of reacting too soon and possibly confronting a family member. It is for this reason that handguns should be stored a bit out of reach rather than in the nightstand.
In my neighborhood, a report of a nocturnal prowler to 911 will almost certainly put a police helicopter overhead, sometimes with a search beam peering into back yards. While rare, when it happens, I don't go outside to investigate where I would be at a serious tactical and legal disadvantage to a prowler and I also risk being misidentified by the police.
Do you live in Heavenlyville, where nothing bad ever happens, peoples' faces are screwed into perpetual smiles, nobody locks their doors and police handguns are rusted to their holsters? An unlocked door or open window gives an intruder a significant advantage over you. The really brazen ones have been known to make your nightstand their first stop, to help insure you're not armed. Once they're standing over you---game over.
Don't assume that an intruder won't attempt entry through a second story window. They do it all the time. And, if you leave your extension ladder in the yard or driveway, a gentlemanly intruder just might leave a "thank you" note for you. As previously said, if my chandelier were to rattle without the accompanying "son-sounds," I would automatically go into Condition Orange.
We always keep a key hidden on the property, and not under the front doormat. My sons were warned often and frequently to never attempt entry through a window if they didn't have their keys, something they knew could prompt an armed response. This is but one example. It is necessary to educate family members to reduce the possibility of mistaken identity situations or perhaps unwittingly interfering with your response.
Your home security should be layered. If an intruder has gained entry, it means your perimeter security was faulty. Any home can be retrofitted with a wireless security system at about the equivalent cost of one new handgun. My system has battery backup so pulling the electric meter out of the meter pan will not disarm it. Rear sliding doors are rather easily defeated. Our rear door is alarmed and has a removable bar in the door track.
In most areas of the country, you may not use deadly force to prevent a property crime. In suburban areas, thieves often enter garden sheds and back yards, looking for generators, bikes, lawn mowers, etc. In my area, police often respond in under two minutes. I'll always call the police rather than attempt to do their job for them, provided I have that option. I won't be charged with murder to save a bicycle.
Lastly, you must know your house and your safe lanes of fire. You cannot shoot toward occupied rooms. You cannot draw fire toward an occupied room. Handgun bullets will go through sheetrock like it's not there. In high-density suburban areas, your bullet can leave your home and enter your neighbor's home.
We use our sight to navigate through our daily lives. People deprived of sight have a much more highly developed sense of sound as both a navigational and situational tool. It's really just a matter of understanding the interrelationship of sounds. If the door was opened late at night, why didn't you hear it lock?
But, what if you hear a key inserted into the lock but the lock isn't yielding? It could indeed be an intruder but, as happened to my neighbor's daughter, it was her drunken next-door neighbor arriving late at night and who mistook her house for his. Frustrated, he then broke a window to gain entry. Once inside, the lush realized he was in the wrong house and fled, but not before leaving his wallet on the kitchen counter, as was his custom in HIS house.
It was agreed by all parties that there was no willful intent to commit a crime. The now-sober neighbor paid for the damage and apologized. No charges were filed. This neighbor was indeed fortunate that his inability to identify his house in a row of identical houses didn't cost him his life. Food for thought.
If you listen, you'll recognize that family members each have an individual and identifiable walking style and sound pattern. Your daughter or wife may kick off high heels. My older sons would open the front door and close it without making a serious attempt to do it silently. A second or two after the door closes, I'd hear a key being inserted into the lock (lock keyed on both sides) and the tumblers turning. An intruder would not be locking the door. The normal sequence of sounds would be absent. I could also discern the difference in sound signatures between the front and side door locks even though they were identical and keyed alike. The side door leads to basement stairs and has an echo not present at the front door.
I also got to recognize the sound signature of each of my sons' automobiles as they arrived on the block. Believe it or not, our beloved golden retriever also knew their automobiles and would not go on alert.
My six-feet-two, twin sons would not tiptoe through the house like they were negotiating a minefield. They took long strides and they would take two stairs at a time ascending to their respective bedrooms. I'd hear water run, toilets flush, size 14 shoes or sneakers crashing to the floor, first, one, eventually, the other. The dining room chandelier rattled a bit when one of my sons was in his bedroom, directly above the dining room. The glass and china within the dining room hutch rattled if someone walked in front of it. These were the normal sounds of a home with older teens in residence.
On the contrary, an intruder who enters an occupied home produces sounds that don't correspond to that of any family members. Or, he's not producing the accompanying sounds you normally expect. If the floor is squeaky, he'll walk more slowly, test his steps, trying not to make noise. I squeaky step might momentarily stop him dead in his tracks as he listens to whether or not he has alerted an occupant.
An intruder is already on high alert and he knows he may have a confrontation with you. You, on the other hand, are at a serious disadvantage because you may be asleep and we all need a few seconds to clear the fog and to get both brain halves functioning. Those first few seconds are especially dangerous because of the increased possibility of reacting too soon and possibly confronting a family member. It is for this reason that handguns should be stored a bit out of reach rather than in the nightstand.
In my neighborhood, a report of a nocturnal prowler to 911 will almost certainly put a police helicopter overhead, sometimes with a search beam peering into back yards. While rare, when it happens, I don't go outside to investigate where I would be at a serious tactical and legal disadvantage to a prowler and I also risk being misidentified by the police.
Do you live in Heavenlyville, where nothing bad ever happens, peoples' faces are screwed into perpetual smiles, nobody locks their doors and police handguns are rusted to their holsters? An unlocked door or open window gives an intruder a significant advantage over you. The really brazen ones have been known to make your nightstand their first stop, to help insure you're not armed. Once they're standing over you---game over.
Don't assume that an intruder won't attempt entry through a second story window. They do it all the time. And, if you leave your extension ladder in the yard or driveway, a gentlemanly intruder just might leave a "thank you" note for you. As previously said, if my chandelier were to rattle without the accompanying "son-sounds," I would automatically go into Condition Orange.
We always keep a key hidden on the property, and not under the front doormat. My sons were warned often and frequently to never attempt entry through a window if they didn't have their keys, something they knew could prompt an armed response. This is but one example. It is necessary to educate family members to reduce the possibility of mistaken identity situations or perhaps unwittingly interfering with your response.
Your home security should be layered. If an intruder has gained entry, it means your perimeter security was faulty. Any home can be retrofitted with a wireless security system at about the equivalent cost of one new handgun. My system has battery backup so pulling the electric meter out of the meter pan will not disarm it. Rear sliding doors are rather easily defeated. Our rear door is alarmed and has a removable bar in the door track.
In most areas of the country, you may not use deadly force to prevent a property crime. In suburban areas, thieves often enter garden sheds and back yards, looking for generators, bikes, lawn mowers, etc. In my area, police often respond in under two minutes. I'll always call the police rather than attempt to do their job for them, provided I have that option. I won't be charged with murder to save a bicycle.
Lastly, you must know your house and your safe lanes of fire. You cannot shoot toward occupied rooms. You cannot draw fire toward an occupied room. Handgun bullets will go through sheetrock like it's not there. In high-density suburban areas, your bullet can leave your home and enter your neighbor's home.
We use our sight to navigate through our daily lives. People deprived of sight have a much more highly developed sense of sound as both a navigational and situational tool. It's really just a matter of understanding the interrelationship of sounds. If the door was opened late at night, why didn't you hear it lock?
But, what if you hear a key inserted into the lock but the lock isn't yielding? It could indeed be an intruder but, as happened to my neighbor's daughter, it was her drunken next-door neighbor arriving late at night and who mistook her house for his. Frustrated, he then broke a window to gain entry. Once inside, the lush realized he was in the wrong house and fled, but not before leaving his wallet on the kitchen counter, as was his custom in HIS house.
It was agreed by all parties that there was no willful intent to commit a crime. The now-sober neighbor paid for the damage and apologized. No charges were filed. This neighbor was indeed fortunate that his inability to identify his house in a row of identical houses didn't cost him his life. Food for thought.
