You defend your home and yourself

I have kids and pets. I live in a weird structure. The garage is on the ground floor. one stairway up to the living room is a natural choke point. I'm on the first floor.
If they get past me, stairway up to the third floor is another good choke point. At the other end are my kids' bedrooms and they have ballistic shields and rifles and pistols that share mags.

Who in their right mind would have their home set-up for a fair fight let alone plan A being to flee?

Alarm system, cameras, fatal funnels, firing position(s) with cover, firearm and ammo selection for your situation (e.g. Mossberg 590 loaded with slugs as you never know when the circus will be rolling through town), empty jar of Vaseline already sitting on my dining room table, perpetually being buck naked to insure they're sent to their maker with the last image burned into their brain being my wiener flopping around from the recoil, etc.

TBH, kinda hard to take the instructors advice seriously so my response morphed into portions of ASG’s Chack-Chack Speech...

This message has been edited. Last edited by: tatortodd,

You forgot, kitchen sink with two Wastekangs!!!

I live an an 86 year old 1 foot thick solid rock wall home, with very few closer than 1/4 mile in one direction and a mountain and several miles in 3 other directions.

All alone except for the cat, and I know what to say to get him to go to ground and hide in a safe spot.

I have no concern using a .308 or 00 magnum shotgun, and I paid for it long ago, so I don't need to worry about being frugal.

No one wants what I got.

Except the cat, he wants snacks...

Dumbest advice I ever heard.

How many people have a way to get out of their top floor bedrooms in the event of a fire? A single story ranch is one thing, a two story home on stilts is another.

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:
How many people have a way to get out of their top floor bedrooms in the event of a fire? A single story ranch is one thing, a two story home on stilts is another.

Mrs. Mikes dad gave her a roll up emergency ladder when she went to college in Cullowhee because she was on the second floor. We still have the thing, because we had a 2 story once.

But the FIL is/was an engineer and doesn’t think like regular people.

quote:

Originally posted by tatortodd:
... empty jar ...

RE: topic of the thread, as nearly universally stated earlier, retreat is not good advice.

My advice?

1) know the laws of your state on the topic of home defense,

then

2) prepare to put those laws into practice actually defending your home and loved ones as best you can, starting from the assumption you won't have notice beforehand and can't be sure where you might be if the need arises.

Then, like an plan to exit the house in case of fire, hope you'll never need to put that plan to use.

Somewhat akin to the advice the rep/installer from a well-known home security company given to me when briefing me on the home system: in essence, let the police respond and we do not recommend defending yourself with a firearm. At the time my HD arm was a S&W model 19, which I could hear giggling in my bedroom.

Current plan; get to the bedroom, hit the alarm after locking the door and defend myself with whatever is there by Cold Steel and Mossberg.

NO !

It really depends on the details of the situation.

quote:

Originally posted by tatortodd:
empty jar of Vaseline

quote:

Originally posted by sigmonkey:
You forgot, kitchen sink with two Wastekangs!!!

2 Kangs? Takes care of them, and the Yak they came in on.

IM opinion, a firearms instructor presenting fleeing as the "safest" or "best" option is irresponsible. Presenting it as an option with in-class discussion of other options is far more reasonable. If one feels that defense is preferable to active avoidence, this comes with some responsibilities including selection of tools, anticipating responses, training, and many other factors. As far as I'm concerned, reducing the number of unknowns in any situation is preferable to acting from a position of uncertainty.

The way my house is laid out the only place to run to is out the front door so not an option. I have a Glock 20 and a 1911 in my nightstand and my wife has a smith model 36 and a ruger sp-101 in hers. Their purpose is to delay an intruder long enough to get to the Ithaca Model 51's with 00 under the bed.

The advice mentioned in the OP reminds me of the government-approved directive in the event of an airliner hijacking, Pre-9/11:
"Don't resist, comply. Let them have the plane."

Jeff Cooper said FIGHT!

History proved Cooper right.

Not happening here. Giving up the greatest advantage, knowing who and what is where in the house, is not a good decision.

For years they have preached about having fire training in the home. Close interior doors, know where extinguishers are located, have a mustering location, don't go back in, etc. I feel you have to have the same conversation about a home invasion scenario.

Knowing where your resources are (firearm(s), lights, cell phones), annual discussion with the family about "What Ifs", preventative measures (light it up, lock it up).

In the event of a break in no well trained cop is going to clear a structure alone. Neither am I. I'll hunker down in a strategic location and wait for the calvary.

A home invasion at my house would be like shooting fish in a barrel and I wouldn’t be the fish or the barrel.

quote:

Originally posted by rizzle:
….
Best to avoid and get out if possible, if not, have some serious firepower.

Who here doesn’t have serious firepower in their bedroom or home?

We all know our home’s layout better than anyone who would be foolish to enter. By defending your home from the inside you will never have a legal issue as your home is your castle ( maybe not in Cali..) If you exit and get into a confrontation there may be legal issues to deal with but inside that won’t be the case.

A missed point in this for those that live in Castle Doctrine states (like Arizona) is the protections you get remaining inside of your house as opposed to running outside.

Could easily be the difference in a justifiable homicide ruling versus a murder charge.

That alone is why it highlights the instructors as low skill/low experience.

quote:

Originally posted by smlsig:

quote:

Originally posted by rizzle:
….
Best to avoid and get out if possible, if not, have some serious firepower.

Who here doesn’t have serious firepower in their bedroom or home?

We all know our home’s layout better than anyone who would be foolish to enter. By defending your home from the inside you will never have a legal issue as your home is your castle ( maybe not in Cali..) If you exit and get into a confrontation there may be legal issues to deal with but inside that won’t be the case.

I think of, nowadays, 4 stoned out super high, big dudes wearing vests. Use whatever firepower you are comfortable with.