Being prepared never hurt anyone.
So what do you think of when you hear the term “home defense?” Do visions of holding off hordes of starving looters scavenging for your stores of survival food come to mind? Are you thinking of the imminent zombie apocalypse? If so, this is not the article for you.
So let us imagine a slightly different mental picture.
It is around 3am and very dark, no moon tonight. You are in bed as is the rest of the family. You live in a middle class neighborhood. You have two cars, one in the driveway and one in the garage. The street is quiet and there is seldom any problem in the area. Your home is normal for the neighborhood, two story, nice yard, landscaping that needs a little work. The shrubs under the windows are a little tall but you will get to them when the weather gets a little warmer. Something in the night wakes you. You sit up in bed, listen intently, and hear footsteps.
At this point all sorts of thoughts come into play, is it one of the kids? Could you be mistaken? Then you hear a voice whispering to someone else. You know immediately someone is in your house. You look over at your spouse and wake them but put your finger to your mouth to be quiet. They hear the noises too and a look of panic is quickly showing itself on their face. Adrenalin is pumping through your system, your breathing quickens, and your eyes are starting to focus more intently. You don’t even notice the changes that are taking place, they are automatic. You are preparing to defend yourself and your family. You reach for the phone and call 911. In a barely audible voice, you tell the operator your name, your address and that someone is in your home. The operator tells you the police are on the way, to lock the bedroom door and wait for help. You tell her you have kids in the house and you have to protect them. You hang up. The battle is on.
Now the decisions you made some months ago come into play. Are you prepared? Do you have a way to defend your home? Are you practiced? Have you thought about this beforehand? Or, have you just not had time to get around to it? You always thought you should do something but just didn’t find the time. Then, the distinct sound of steps coming up the stairs. What are you going to do?
This scenario plays out more often than we would like. Are you prepared? Have you taken the time to preplan? If you have, you can and will survive. You will defend your home and you will protect your family. More than anything else, it takes commitment to not be a victim. You will not cower and just hope it all turns out ok, because it won’t.
Defending your home.
Most people ask if I am going to defend my home what do I do? What do I use? Can I actually do this? Let us answer the last question first. Yes, you can and in this day and age, you may have to. So how? Well, you could sneak down to the kitchen, grab a steak knife and hope you have inherited some ninja skills to take on your intruders. Of course, you are going to have to surprise them, you will need to overpower them, and you will have to be committed. You will also be hoping and praying to God they are not armed themselves.
OR
You are armed. This can be a pistol, a rifle, or even a shotgun. All have their pros and cons and I want to list a few below.
The Pistol
Pro–Easy to carry. Easy to have at the ready next to the bed or in the nightstand drawer.
Cons- Hard to aim, not much stopping power. Penetration issues through sheetrock and plaster walls (and into your kids room.)
The Rifle
Pro–Easier to aim and keep on target. Large ammunition capacity. Not as much penetration issues as the pistol if you are using the right ammunition for home defense.
Cons–Cost, must practice with the operation and must be able to clear a stoppage (jam) immediately. May be limited as to ammo, mag size and type depending on state laws. Takes practice to maneuver in tight spaces.
The Shotgun (my recommendation)
Pros–Easy to aim, easy to operate. Auditory and visually intimidating. If you have never in your life heard a 12-gauge pump shotgun being chambered, you still know immediately what it is when you hear it. This in fact may end the encounter. Just the sound of the shotgun being readied for action may very well convince the intruder that they have entered the wrong house and decide to flee. (This is an effect, the sound, you will not get with the pistol or the rifle). Little penetration issues. The myth of shooting down the hall and hitting everything there is, is just that, a myth. Shotguns with 00-buck shot actually keep a very tight pattern at the distances you will be encountering defending your home.
Cons–It’s a little bigger than the rifle and a lot bigger than a pistol. Ammunition is limited to 5 or 8 rounds plus whatever you may carry to reload. This can be done with a cartridge carrier on the stock. It is a two-hand weapon so you will have to be practiced in opening doors and such while holding a shotgun. With all the options listed and weighing the pros and cons, a shotgun, in my opinion, that you can readily get to, is the way to go.
Preplanning
The house is dark. The intruder has never been there before so they are in new territory. This is your home. You are walking through it every day. Practice navigating the house in the dark. Blindfold yourself and figure out where things are. You should be able to use this to your advantage. If the intruder is in the house, they don’t know where things, doors, rooms, or halls are. You do and you should use that fact to maneuver quietly and efficiently in the dark.
Practice
Just having a firearm, any firearm, doesn’t make you an expert. You have to practice. It may seem a little silly at first but you need to practice not only shooting the firearm but also maneuvering throughout your home with it. Do it when no one is home so they won’t think either you have lost your marbles or get scared. Work on moving through your home tactically. Pay attention to sight lines and ways to move without being seen. Make sure you know where the exits are and how to get to them from any place you find yourself.
Practice loading. Practice unloading and firing the weapon from either hand. This is also important with a long gun, like a rifle or shotgun. Practice reloading on the move. If you are going to choose the shotgun, learn how to load without looking as you move. If you fire a round, pull one from the holder on the stock and load it so you are always at full capacity.
Commitment
This is probably the most important part of this entire article. You MUST be committed. You are in a life or death situation. You are protecting your family from who knows what. You are all that is standing between the bad guys and your loved ones. Once you have decided to take action, decided to arm yourself, and decided to make your way through the dark but familiar maze, you must take the fight to them. You take action and you never ever stop until the threat, the intruder, is either gone or neutralized. There is no other choice. You do not shoot at a bad guy to scare him away. You shoot to stop him and you keep shooting until you do.
Safety
This is the most important part to keep in the forefront of your mind and never forget. If you are defending your home, you have to be sure who is in the line of fire. You must be sure the intruder is not a child slipping back in after sneaking out. You must be absolutely sure what you are pointing at if you pull the trigger. Once that trigger is pulled there is no pulling the round back. It is going downrange whether it was a tragic mistake or not. If the police show up while you are armed, announce who you are, put the weapon down and step away from it. Put your hands up and do everything they say. The police will sort it out later. Just make sure you don’t become a victim by mistake.
Accessibility
You also have to be mindful of where you keep your firearm. This is a doubled edge sword of sorts. It needs to be readily available but not so ready that the wrong person, your children, their friends, or someone else gets ahold of it. Being in bed upstairs and having your weapon locked up in a safe downstairs does no good at all. In my home, my weapons are always loaded. There is never a mistake thinking they were unloaded because they are ALWAYS loaded. My son also knew this from the beginning and never thought otherwise. He was taught not to touch a weapon unless we were going to the range or something. We never had an issue. But still, others choose to keep their weapons unloaded for safety of their family, but must be sure to know how to take the safety off and load the gun instinctually for time may not be on your side.
There is nothing special about having a weapon in the home. It is simply a tool. It is an inanimate object that can only function if a person gets involved. Firearms do not just go off by themselves. That just doesn’t happen.
End Notes
It will be much better to explain to the police, when they get there, what happened than have the police tell your family they have some very bad news. Hopefully they have not become statistics just like you because you were not ready and couldn’t protect them. Do not wait to get around to it next week. You do not have time. Get ready, plan, practice, prepare, and you will prevail, you will survive, and you will walk back up the stairs and hug your family after it is over.
By the way, yesterday, a prowler was hiding behind those overgrown shrubs you have not trimmed yet and was looking in the window at your family. Better get to that yardwork.
