The Element of Surprise


boilermaker449

New member
For home defense the last situation you want to be in is someone already in the house or even worse standing over you or being awakened by gunshots fired. You may want to think about improving your home with additional security systems. Many people would think that a home security system would do the trick. That certainly would help but by the time you hear an alarm go off it would probably be too late because someone is already in the home. Image yourself waking up from a deep sleep, getting clothes on possibly, accessing a firearm, and collecting your stuff. You typcially have anywhere from 1-3 seconds to be ready for a bad situation. I am not sure about you but it takes me a lot longer to get ready in the morning for work. Think about ways to gain the element of surprise. I have a 4 point IR detection system around the home starting with the driveway 500' away. As each zone is violated I get distingushing beeps so basically I know by sounds where any individual is around my home. This definitely gives me an advantage. Couple this with video survellance and interior protection and you will have a sound place to stay at night. It may seem like a little overkill but this is 80% of the challenge. Also never use your firearm at night without an accompaning light. You need to know who you are engaging if necessary. I prefer one mounted on the firearm but you can use an external light with proper techniques. Spend some time securing your home so you and your family can sleep better at night. It's a one in a thousand chance but worth the investment.
 

Valentines Prowler

loving your mindset and setup. On this last valentines day my girlfriend snuck into my room at night to decorate it with all manner of Valentine goodies in hopes i would wake up suprised. It was 3:30 in the morning and i woke up to someone prowling in my bedroom. luckily she knows i carry and knows where i keep it and was in between me and my gun when i leapt out of bed to confront my prowler. As i look back on the incident the thing that amazed me most is the time it took me from when i knew there was someone sneaking around in my room to the time that i was mentally alert enough to feel anything other than alarm and actually compose a plan to take this prowler down. it really was an awakening experience and when i own a home i will definately consider the measures you have taken. Especially if i have daughters.
 
LOL - had an encounter with a perimeter system once

The wife and I were driving one evening in a rural area and uh, had an impulse to pull down a side road for a quick discussion. :cool: We turned into a driveway/road and drove about 100 yards into a thick stand of trees thinking it was fairly secluded. Unbeknownst to us, since the road only led to within a couple of hundred yards or so of the Canadian border, the Border Patrol had thoughtfully provided the owner with a perimeter warning system. :eek: As we left about 20 minutes later, the owner was in his driveway. We stopped to say we had just looked down that road (there were 4 platted lots for sale down there) and, after looking us over, he told us that he had called the Border Patrol and confirmed that a car had driven down the road. They were on their way but he said we didn't need to wait. We had vounteered ID willingly and even came back a couple of days later to assure him we were not smugglers or terrorists. Only over-zealous romantics. ;)

Oh, we also discovered they had listening devices planted out there too......
 
My rule of thumb is that I only increase the distance between the gun and I depending on the levels/elements of security between me and the outside world. If I in a house with bolted and deadbolted steel doors, double pane windows, bars over windows not exposed to the outside world, and my room door, then having a gun in the nightstand is not a problem in my mind. My worry is hotel rooms or other places where you are not the only one with a key. In those places, I always have enough by the door to wake me up or enough obstacles deemed needed for a BG to get through till I am up an going. As far as getting dressed before encountering a prowler. I'd rather have the gun first and leave everything else as an addition to the element of surprise :)
 
Good set up

Being aware of the location of everyone and the normal sounds in your house at night goes a long way towards reacting correctly. On one occasion I heard a unusual noise from the front of the house that woke me, and of course the first thing I did was reach over to verify that my wife was in bed. I thought I felt her next to me and was in the process of picking up my weapon when I thought to check one more time - turned out that I had verified her pillow not her! As I heard her coming back down the hall I quickly put the weapon back and "went back to sleep"..... Always be sure.
 
I've got a couple of big dogs... they're a little more proactive about suggesting to unwanted visitors they should leave, than electronic surveillance. Buy me some time, at least, if it's requires more serious response.

Besides that, they are there to respond even when I'm not home... an alarm is just background noise to a quick smash & grabber.

Aside from that, strong doors, frames, dead-bolts and windows will slow most down.
 

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