Home Protection

[biggin215]

Fireing a gun one handed while runing around house with kids????? keep watching movies ...

Uh huh... So I guess training strong and support hand shooting is a waste of time? Can you really not see an instance where you'd need to be able to fire one handed in your home? I'll stop watching movies when you realize that every defensive shooting isn't you standing in your perfect isoceles or weaver stance with a perfect two handed grip shooting at a perfectly squared off target at 15.5 feet with no fire being returned and exactly 4.2 shots to stop the threat

 

[satoups]

I good light attachment would prove beneficial. Good tactics along with the most important, mental preparedness/focus is paramount. Exam your home layout and look at your options relative to angels, barriers, obstacles and where each family member is located and understand the law. Have a family response plan and always identify your target before destroying it. I find WAY to many people put WAY to much behind caliber, weapon choice etc without giving any thought to mental preparedness, weapon proficiency and training. Your Glock will take care of your needs as long as you take care of your responsibility....train, understand the law and exam your options. As stated above, look at the different rounds they offer for your solution. Again this is only my opinion and findings....I can see you are headed in the right direction because you are asking questions!

 

[SpeedRacer]

I prefer a handgun. Weapon retention issues are something that should definitely be considered. Swinging around an 18-20" long shotgun barrel in the confines of a home presents some issues that should be taken into account, lest your gun be grabbed and used against you. A shotgun is a great option, but training is absolutely necessary IMO.

Hard to beat a light-equipped handgun. Much easier to manuever, much harder to take away, and can be used one-handed, freeing up your other hand for calling the popo's, grabbing a kid, etc.

 

[Gus McCrae]

My thoughts on HD guns:

You want something that will penetrate a bad guy enough to stop the threat. This means the bullets need to pass through heavy clothing, skin and possibly bone to get to the blood bearing organs. If a round won't go through interior drywall, I don't think it will go through enough badguy to be reliable.

A shotgun is a great HD weapon when you know where the bad guy is and can maneuver to apply the required force. Most often, the best place is to be behind your bed with a shotgun on the door. This is probably not the best weapon to snake down the hallway to get your kids to safety. As mentioned earlier, you have to train a bit to avoid the short stroke of a pump. BTW, in no way do I think birdshot is adequate for HD purposes.


A carbine in 5.56 may be a great option as the recoil is mild, it's short, lots of available accessories, can be had with a dot sight, lots of capacity.... etc. Due to the nature of the 5.56, it will penetrate enough bad guy and since it fragments and tumbles may not penetrate walls as well. IMO, this is probably the only round that does this, but it doesn't mean it "won't" penetrate interior walls reliably.

Pistols penetrate walls too.

 

[Gus McCrae]

Oh, another thing. You need to look at the layout of your home and figure the best ways to defend it and your family. Got to think of how the house will be entered and what your shooting options are. Don't forget to look beyond the walls of your home. You don't want someone else getting hurt!

 

[returningliberty]

A shotgun in the palm of your hand. What's not to like? I have one on the nightstand. With HD "disc" rounds. Plus, my experience, the barrel is rifled so the spread pattern is pretty darn good close up with regular shot shells. Again, that's what I've observed, YMMV.

My biggest problem with they kick, hard. Too hard for my girlfriend. And, 00 buck Will go through a badguy and into a kid's room if he's not shot dead center of mass. I love my Mossberg M590a1, but I wouldn't use it in home defense if I had kids.

On AR volume: yes AR's loud. 14.5" barrels inside are orders of magnitude louder. That's probably a good thing for intimidation and of course it's really bad for the ears. But the kids in the next room shouldn't suffer too bad. You'll be going "WHAT?!" when the cops arrive though.

There's always suppressors! That would probably be even MORE intimidating. Can you imagine being a BG when you see a little red dot on your buddy's chest, then "crack crack!" and he goes down? I'd be shitting my pants, personally.
Inside, the suppressor is still pretty loud (comparatively) but the one time I saw a guy shooting a suppressed AR, while I could definitely hear it, (actually with no ear protection it was still loud enough to wince) if I wasn't looking right at him it Seemed like the sound was coming from everywhere at once. Can anyone who has a suppressor shed light on this? Was it just my tired ears or is this a real phenomenon with suppressed ARs inside a building?

 

[kcinnick]

I just keep my ccw of the day within arms reach and keep an ak and loaded mags in the bedroom. I use to load up my xdm every night, but I didn't want to forget it one day with a 4 year old in the house.

 

[SpeedRacer]

I just keep my ccw of the day within arms reach and keep an ak and loaded mags in the bedroom. I use to load up my xdm every night, but I didn't want to forget it one day with a 4 year old in the house.

Same situation with a 3yr old, I keep my G17 (with TLR-1) loaded in the night stand, locked in a GunVault micro. At night when I hit the sack, I simply open the safe and leave the drawer open for immediate access. In the morning I simply slap it closed and close the drawer.

Also, as much as I am a fan of the AK, it's far from an ideal HD weapon. Loud as hell and penetrates like a mofo.

 

[Hitman]

My biggest problem with they kick, hard. Too hard for my girlfriend

Which is why I suggest a Semi-Auto.

 

[kcinnick]

Also, as much as I am a fan of the AK, it's far from an ideal HD weapon. Loud as hell and penetrates like a mofo.

.

It's the easiest to operate most reliable semi auto rifle I own. I hope to never need my handgun, much less the AK.

 

[rob52]

I used to believe a shotgun was the best defenseive weapon in the house until I did a little research. Obvio usly you don't have to be the best shot in the world but when you consider that an intruder is likely to be there when you least expect it it seems that a shot gun may take a little too long to grab, position and point in the general direction. Additionally it's not the best thing to tote from one room to the next. I have come to the conclusion that keeping my XD-45 seems to be the best choice for 2 reasons. One is I carry in my home while awake and at night the gun is on the end table next to my head. Since the gun does not have a thumb safety, it is ready to shoot simply by picking it up. Of course, all the kids are grown and out of the house and there are too many walls to penetrate before a bullet could leave my house so I don't have to worry too much about missing the target on the first few rounds. And it gives me 13 shots befrore I have to worry about the next move. If I do miss then I always have the hope that my wife would be a better shot with hers than I am with mine.

 

[tigers2011]

An actual intelligent response outside of "HURRR, SHOTGUN YOU DON'T HAVE TO AIM AND BIRDSHOT IS GREAT"

There might be hope for this board after all... I was going to suggest this but I didn't because of the kids. 1) ARs are loud as hell. Yes, most people in defensive shootings experience auditory exclusion, but there will still be much more hearing damage. I think a lighter 9mm round would be good. Corbon DPX is an awesome load, so is the critical defense by hornady. Once again, I love an AR for home defense. That is what I have setup each night when I hit the sack. I just lean toward the pistol for those with children so you can have one hand free if you need. Mount a TLR-1 or 3 on it or a surefire x300 and you have everything you need for home defense.

I agree, my home defense gun is a glock 21 with a tlr-1s. Love the light and with the right ammo its all you really need. I used to have my shotgun as a bedside gun untill I did alot of dry runs "clearing my house". The problem with my house is that there are alot of turns and corners. I found it alot easier to make sharp corners with my pistol than my shotgun. Just my personal opinion

 

[kcinnick]

I plan to hole up and wait for an intruder to be stupid enough to come to where I am armed, that is of course after I get my son safe.

I have really considered putting a pass through in the closets to go between rooms. The closets connect so a small removable panel would allow me to get to him without going through the halls.

 

[biggin215]

I plan to hole up and wait for an intruder to be stupid enough to come to where I am armed, that is of course after I get my son safe.

I have really considered putting a pass through in the closets to go between rooms. The closets connect so a small removable panel would allow me to get to him without going through the halls.

Of course, no one should be clearing rooms in the house. The ONLY reason one should ever even consider this is to get to an endangered loved one. That's it. A home invasion is not the time to play tactical Tommy. Get a light and gun, get behind cover, and call the popo (notice how that is last on the list?). If you have a loved one that you have to get to, practice that and know your house like the back of your hand (which you might already ).

For me personally, I won't be leaving my bedroom if someone breaks in. I have nothing in the other room that I would need to get to. I'm grabbing the AR and setting up in my bathroom with a clear line of sight to the only door leading into the bedroom.

 

[Isaac-1]

Each house is different and each person is different, for me my grab it gun is a .357 revolver in a holster with a speed loader clipped to the bed rail. My reasoning is speed and ability to operate it by feel in the night (it helps that I have fired thousands of rounds through this model family over the years). My secondary grab it guns are an assortment of guns (shotguns, and handguns, oh and I guess the AK with several full clips in its case count too, but it would not be the first thing I grab) placed in strategic locations around the house, after all a bed side gun does you no good if the break in happens while your in the living room watching tv. Of course I don't have to deal with small children in the house, my son is old enough now to buy his own guns.

Ike

 

[deafdave3]

I am wanting to get a new gun for home protection. I currently have a Glock 9mm and an old 32cal that was my grandfathers. I love the glock and the
32 is more of a sentimental gun than anything. With the layout of my house I am worried about a bullet traveling into one my kids rooms if someone were to come in through my front door. A friend
suggested the Judge and shooting the4/10 out of it. Am I making too much of this. I dont want to freeze if I ever have to use my gun because I am worried about this..

Be careful. You cannot shoot an intruder unless he actually poses a danger or threat to you and your family.

 

[kcinnick]

Be careful. You cannot shoot an intruder unless he actually poses a danger or threat to you and your family.

If you break into my home, you pose a threat to me and my family.

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[kcinnick]

§19. Use of force or violence in defense

A. The use of force or violence upon the person of another is justifiable when committed for the purpose of preventing a forcible offense against the person or a forcible offense or trespass against property in a person's lawful possession, provided that the force or violence used must be reasonable and apparently necessary to prevent such offense, and that this Section shall not apply where the force or violence results in a homicide.

B. For the purposes of this Section, there shall be a presumption that a person lawfully inside a dwelling, place of business, or motor vehicle held a reasonable belief that the use of force or violence was necessary to prevent unlawful entry thereto, or to compel an unlawful intruder to leave the premises or motor vehicle, if both of the following occur:

(1) The person against whom the force or violence was used was in the process of unlawfully and forcibly entering or had unlawfully and forcibly entered the dwelling, place of business, or motor vehicle.

(2) The person who used force or violence knew or had reason to believe that an unlawful and forcible entry was occurring or had occurred.

C. A person who is not engaged in unlawful activity and who is in a place where he or she has a right to be shall have no duty to retreat before using force or violence as provided for in this Section and may stand his or her ground and meet force with force.

D. No finder of fact shall be permitted to consider the possibility of retreat as a factor in determining whether or not the person who used force or violence in defense of his person or property had a reasonable belief that force or violence was reasonable and apparently necessary to prevent a forcible offense or to prevent the unlawful entry.

Acts 2006, No. 141, §1.

 

[SpeedRacer]

If you break into my home, you pose a threat to me and my family.

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Exactly. If someone breaks into your home, it's legally a safe/reasonable assumption that they are there to cause you harm. Doesn't mean I would shoot every time, but I sure as **** wouldn't hesitate to either.

 

[Guate_shooter]

MIght want to also put LRS 14:20,

since 19A says "this Section shall not apply where the force or violence results in a homicide"

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