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Critical Home Defense


Home defense should not be an afterthought. It should be planned and prepared for, especially if you live in an area that has a high crime rate or chances of someone conducting a home invasion on your home. A home invasion can be something that could begin as a break-in to rob your house and they do not know you are home. They are armed and you confront the thieves and then the gun fight begins. If you are not prepared and ready that could end disastrous for you and your family. Another way is what we are seeing a lot of these days of a person coming to your front door and either acting like a UPS driver or asking for directions and then when you open the door you get bummed rush by several other guys with guns to rob you and your house or worse. There have been cases of individuals being followed back home from a bank or from shopping and then getting ambushed at the last minute as they were opening their front door.


                First and foremost, you should be carrying a firearm as part of your EDC. Practice with it at a range and become efficient with it, then prepare a plan to defend yourself and house in different scenarios. There are several things you can do to protect yourself actively and passively at home. You should have adequate outdoor lighting especially near your points of entry, areas that may give criminals a place to conceal themselves on the sides of your home. Adding motion activated security cameras that also work at night will greatly enhance your early warning of something happening. An alarm system that covers your entry ways, glass break sensors, motion sensors are good choices for a complete security system.


                If you own some acreage, you should fence in the entire property and add a solar powered entrance gate. Place some signage at the gate showing your house is monitored by an alarm service, even if it is not. You can put a beware of dog sign at your gate also, especially if you don’t own a dog. But I personally don’t do that since I own a couple of GSD and don’t want the bad guys to think about that and be surprised. You may consider getting any size or breed of dog just for their keen ability to hear better than us and alerting you to something while you are sleeping. When it comes to your points of entry of the house, you need to reinforce the doors by changing out the screws that hold your door to the framing, use 3-inch wood screws. That includes the strike plate for the lock and locking mechanism also. For your windows you can put some 3M window film that is used in many hurricane prone areas to help keep the windows from shattering. This will make it harder for criminals to break your window to get to the lock.


                If you have family members, you need to make an emergency contact list that they all have in your cell phones contacts and somewhere near any house phone. This should include 911, Emergency services, close neighbors, or family. You can also set up a group chat on any of the social media platforms, Instagram, Snapchat, WhatsApp, Signal, iMessage, Messenger, etc. so you can send one message out and everyone will get it. Inside your house you need to establish a “safe room” where everyone will retreat to for protection and accountability. This location needs to be able to access an egress point out of the house if possible. Or have a plan to egress once you have the tactical advantage and can create space for them to get out. Most states have the castle doctrine that does not require you to retreat and avoid the threat. If you properly prepare, you will be able to defend your home and survive a home invasion. But if you have to egress out of the house, you need to establish a rally point or link up location. That can be a friendly house down the street or a local park a couple of blocks away. A place where you all can link up, call the police, take accountability, and get assistance.


                Some other things to consider and think about for home defense; most engagements will happen at night and probably while you are sleeping. So, the house will be dark and threat identification will be difficult if not almost impossible. So having a weapon mounted light on your firearm is ideal and crucial for home defense.  If you have a pistol which most people will have at least for home defense, get a decent light mounted to its rail so you have one hand operation for the light and firearm if you need your non-firing hand to call 911 and family members. The same goes for a shotgun or semi-auto rifle. If you do have firearms in your house, then ensure you have them stored properly and safely. The wife uses a Vaultek pistol safe on her nightstand to store her Sig P320 X-Compact. I am not a fan of having one large gun safe where all my guns are stored. I like the idea of decentralized storage, where I have my firearms stored in different areas of the house (bedroom, office, etc). They are in a locked metal container but also easily accessed with combo, key, or biometrics. Certain firearms will be unloaded but also at each location I will have loaded firearms. There are always extra loaded magazines at these locations. You can't predict which room of the house you will be in when a home invasion happens.


“Funny Story: When I lived alone before I met my wife, she finally moved in and she realized I had a firearm in almost every room of the house, lol. I had a Mossberg 930 in the closet by the front door, I had a browning hi-power in the junk drawer in the kitchen, I had a compact 9mm in a drawer next to the toilet in the bathroom and I had my AR next to my bed. Overtime, I have modified that with more secure storage and different staging of my firearms.”


Ideally you need to learn some of the basic TTPs of room clearing. This will teach you what is cover and what is concealment, how to pie off your corners and understand what is beyond your target in the other rooms, and how to use those TTPs in your house to obtain the tactical advantage of an intruder. You already know the layout of your house and they more than likely will not.  Ballistic protection can take many forms, from having a vest for everyone in your family, bullet proof drywall panels or bullet proof blankets. Most people will not have that level of ballistic protection but using large bookshelves with books along your bedroom wall, solid wood dressers or chest of drawers will help minimize the penetration of incoming rounds.


The type of firearms you select for home defense is up to you and what you are proficient with and can manage any malfunctions that may occur. Malfunctions will happen and you need to train with that firearm to get proficient. Most people will have a pistol and a 9mm with 115 or 124 grain HP bullets are excellent for home defense, you can manage the recoil and it does not have too much over penetration. If you have a shotgun, either a pump or semi-auto will work fine. I use #4 buck (not #4 shot) there is a big difference. It has 21 to 28 (.24 inch / 20.7 grain) pellets vs 00 buck with 8-9 (.33 inch / 53.8 grain) pellets. I also have 00 buck and 1-ounce slugs. I have the loads in a shotgun card that holds 6 rounds. They Velcro to the left side of my receiver for quick change out. If you have an AR in 5.56mm I would use non-green tip HP rounds. The green tip rounds have a tungsten core to aid the round in penetration through light metals like car doors, etc. So, they do pose an over penetration risk inside of a house. An AR pistol in 5.56mm with a light is a great choice for home defense for to its maneuverability due to its length and of course the magazine capacity of a standard magazine (30 rounds). Ensure everyone in your family knows how to sue the firearms in your house. You may not be home if something happens.


In the end, you need to have a layered system for home defense. You need some kind of early warning through neighbors, friendly contacts around your community that will communicate anything they see as a threat. For your outer perimeter I would have a good fence with locked gates and then, if possible, an inner fenced area closer around your house with outdoor lighting and motion sensors for your driveway. Your house should have outdoor lighting, cameras, and an alarm system. Inside your house is you and your firearms and a solid plan.

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