Self-defense

[zakity]

For novices, I highly recommend a .357 revolver loaded with .38 specials. If you shop around and insist on it, you can even find one that has a rail to attach a weapon light. The one example that comes to mind is the Smith & Wesson Shield Gun. Highly recommended. On the cheap, Ruger's .38 special revolver is also very good.

I am going to add to make sure they are hollowpoints. Hollowpoints will (in theory) stop at whatever they hit. There is less chance of missing the intended target and the round hitting a wall and continuing through and hurting someone else. Hollowpoints will hit the wall and stop.

[Broken Arrow]

Originally Posted by zakity

I am going to add to make sure they are hollowpoints. Hollowpoints will (in theory) stop at whatever they hit. There is less chance of missing the intended target and the round hitting a wall and continuing through and hurting someone else. Hollowpoints will hit the wall and stop.

Yes I agree, although for revolvers, they typically come as semi-wadcutters, which basically works the same way as hollow points: Higher chance to mushroom, lower chance to over-penetrate. Thanks for pointing this out.

[zakity]

Sorry. I am not familiar with revolvers. I thought they all had hollowpoints. DH is the weapons specialist in the house. I am sort of dragged into it because I am married to him.

You know, it is amazing what you learn by osmosis.

[PrincessPerky]

While I personally have no real interest in a gun..too much work. I do like when others who are willing to put the work into a gun...I follow Heinlines theory..if more folk were worried about meeting deadly force, less would try to walk all over the average person.

[maat55]

Originally Posted by LivingAlmostLarge

We had a 100+ lb dobie that would like anyone who was in the house and LOVED to sit on people's lap. Thought she was a lap dog. But put someone outside the door and she'd be growling and ready to attack. Once when another dog lunged at me, she grabbed it and threw the thing (probably like 20-30 lb dog) up in the air. By the way my Dobie was leashed the other dog came charging.

So sure some dogs are good in the house, but they can bite. Any dog with teeth can bite, including my bichon frise (the younger has bitten someone).

As for guns, any gun can kill. It just depends on who owns it and how the use it.

I have to say maat, if you are for guns, why aren't you for credit cards? It's not the credit cards that create debt, it's people. And CC are just tools. Some people can obviously responsibly manage them, but others cannot.

So if you believe in yourself then shouldn't credit cards not be to blame but the person's themselves?

I'm afraid I will shoot myself in the foot with a CC, but not a gun.

I do have two CC's, one for my wife to buy only gas and one I use for my business that is only for gas.

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

I was getting the analogy scrambled and read that as though you have a gun for your wife to buy gas with. By the time I got to the second half of the sentence, I got straightened out and realized you were not using a gun to get gas for your business, too,

[F16]

Originally Posted by maat55

It's always been my belief, that your home is your safe place and is not to be trespassed. I reserve the right to kill anyone who crosses that line. A home is sacred.

Hello maat55!
What about a situation, when somebody accidentially opens your unlocked door and enters the house?
Being in Austria, I was involved in a situation, when I was late in my hotel,
it was dark and I opened the next door, thinking it's mine.

So maybe, it is right to ask the person what does he want in your house?

Just to be on the safe side.

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by F16

Hello maat55!
Being in Austria, I was involved in a situation, when I was late in my hotel,
it was dark and I opened the next door, thinking it's mine.

So maybe, it is right to ask the person what does he want in your house?

I wouldn't stay in a hotel that didn't have locking doors. That's bizarre. Why would I want to stay somewhere if other guests could accidentally enter my room?

As for my home, the doors are always locked. If someone enters without permission, they have to get passed a locked door to do so.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

I gotta add if shotguns are so easy to use and fire in one direction, I wonder how Chainey's friend got hit by his shotgun fire???? Hmmm..makes one wonder, don't piss Chainey off!

[Scanner]

Hello maat55!
What about a situation, when somebody accidentially opens your unlocked door and enters the house?

You know, this happened to me once too. I was staying with a friend of my mothers up in N. Jersey for 1 week while I took a board review course.

She lived in a neighborhood where builders often would build 2 or 3 models of home altogether and they looked almost exactly alike.

I came home one night after a long day at the seminar and I just walked into the wrong house (the friend just told me to walk in). I stood there confused as I saw strange people at the dinner table.

One person got up and said, "May I help you?" in this awkward moment.

Luckily, I realized my mistake really quick and I apologized and was really embarrassed.

It's a good thing I didn't walk into a Conservative's House like Broken Arrow or else I would have had some lead for dinner.

[maat55]

Originally Posted by F16

Hello maat55!
What about a situation, when somebody accidentially opens your unlocked door and enters the house?
Being in Austria, I was involved in a situation, when I was late in my hotel,
it was dark and I opened the next door, thinking it's mine.

So maybe, it is right to ask the person what does he want in your house?

Just to be on the safe side.

Hotels are not the same as your home and besides, I don't travel with a gun. Walking in my house at night, unlocked, is not likely and usually the person will be saying hello. But I will still greet them with a gun.

My mindset to shoot and ask questions later, is based on sounds of forced intrusion. If you ring my door in the middle of the night, I will answer it with a gun, If I don't know you, you will be told to leave, without me openning the door. If the door gets jiggled after being told to leave, you might get shot through the door.

I have no desire to hurt anyone, but I leave very little chance for someone to hurt me or my family.

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by Scanner

I came home one night after a long day at the seminar and I just walked into the wrong house

I'm surprised that there are people in north Jersey who leave their doors unlocked.

I'm in south Jersey and just last week I harassed my mom because she stopped by to visit and when she was leaving, I saw that she had left her sunroof open and windows down in her car. It only takes seconds to steal a car when it is all locked up. Why make it even easier? You might as well just leave the keys in the ignition and put a "steal me" sign on the window.

[Broken Arrow]

Originally Posted by Scanner

It's a good thing I didn't walk into a Conservative's House like Broken Arrow or else I would have had some lead for dinner.

Ouch, you wound me. I'm not that trigger-happy, I promise. Plus... my doors wouldn't be unlocked to begin with.

[F16]

Originally Posted by disneysteve

I wouldn't stay in a hotel that didn't have locking doors. That's bizarre. Why would I want to stay somewhere if other guests could accidentally enter my room?

The doors have locks, but that guy forgot to lock up, so when I opened the door and entered the room, he was very surprised to see some stranger, looking at his wife in the bed.

Originally Posted by disneysteve

I wouldn't stay in a hotel that didn't have
As for my home, the doors are always locked. If someone enters without permission, they have to get passed a locked door to do so.

When someone tries to break a locked door, that is 100 % a robbery, and it's okey to fire without any further questions.

[F16]

Originally Posted by Scanner

It's a good thing I didn't walk into a Conservative's House like Broken Arrow or else I would have had some lead for dinner.

Some lead for dinner, that sounds good

[F16]

Originally Posted by maat55

My mindset to shoot and ask questions later, is based on sounds of forced intrusion. If you ring my door in the middle of the night, I will answer it with a gun, If I don't know you, you will be told to leave, without me openning the door. If the door gets jiggled after being told to leave, you might get shot through the door.
I have no desire to hurt anyone, but I leave very little chance for someone to hurt me or my family.

Thats quite okey, I just wanted to say that using shotguns is quite dangerous, someone might be just a little bit drunk, to come up to the wrong house, or a car, that is exactly as his model and colour, and try to open the door and so on, in this case, the man isn't necessarily a robber and so on...

[AmbitiousSaver]

That reminds me of a situation where a drunk guy came over to a friends house thinking it was his... got into the sunporch and was CONVINCED the house was his. He never got in the main house but my friends called the cops and took the guy away, but not before the guy threw up all over their sun porch.

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by F16

The doors have locks, but that guy forgot to lock up

Every hotel I've ever stayed in has a door that locks when you close it. There are extra locks you can turn from inside, but the door is locked when it is closed and you need a key/card to enter. That's what I was thinking of.

[zakity]

Hotels are not the same as your home and besides, I don't travel with a gun. Walking in my house at night, unlocked, is not likely and usually the person will be saying hello. But I will still greet them with a gun.

My mindset to shoot and ask questions later, is based on sounds of forced intrusion. If you ring my door in the middle of the night, I will answer it with a gun, If I don't know you, you will be told to leave, without me openning the door. If the door gets jiggled after being told to leave, you might get shot through the door.

I have no desire to hurt anyone, but I leave very little chance for someone to hurt me or my family.

^^^ Yeah that....

Someone who is mistaken has a different demeanor than someone who is breaking in. They are as shocked as you. They are also embarrassed. The person breaking in won't react the same way.

As for a drunk person, they are drunk. Drunk people are never quiet. A person breaking in would be quiet.

You just have to access each situation as it happens. This is where knowing the laws for your state and what you can and can not do is so important.

[zooracer]

To the OP,
I also recommend getting a firearm. Of course, taking some basic handgun and then some combat handgun courses is a very good idea.

I went to Gunsite for my training, way back in the day...when I was competing at combat handgun events.

It is not rocket science..nor is proper mindset or home security.

I agree that there is a chance of serious economic problems ahead, shortage of gas, shortage of food, and even the possiblity of blackouts for weeks or perhaps months on end.

This will result in serious crime issues.

Of course, it may not happen. That is what we all hope for.
But, it would be foolish not to prepare for the possiblity...right?