home invasion scare

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MedGrl

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I live with my brother and sister. My brother is an Army reservist so he has no issues with guns. My sister knows about my guns and has even been to the range with me a few times. But she has been reluctant to buy her own gun or become more than passingly familiar with mine.

Two nights ago while I was at my parent's house recovering from foot surgery, my brother came home from work (he works nights at his civilian job) around 2:30 am and found the basement door kicked in. He retrieved one of my guns from my safe and cleared the house and found my sister still sound asleep.

Thankfully nothing was taken and no one was hurt, but today my brother and I took my sister to the local gun store and after 2 hours of help with a very nice gun store owner she has her first gun. And in a few days we have a home security system (something I brought up a year ago when we moved into this house) being installed.

It is unfortunate that our home had to be violated for this vigilance to be instated, but it is finally happening.
 
Congrats to your sister, and you for making her do that step ! I suggest that she gets the proper training as well.. it's not because you own a Guitar that you know how to play (and sound good) with it..
 
The part about getting a gun from the safe gives me the willies. Coming in on a burglary in progress is a very dangerous situation -- I would back out and call the cops if I were unarmed.
 
I am also in the Army, an MP in the National Guard, and despite the training I have received, I would NOT clear a building by myself and certainly not without a weapon. Is there a reason why your brother does not carry a firearm on his person? I'm glad it all turned out OK, and that no on was hurt and none of your possessions were stolen. But I would have A) called the police on my cell, confirmed the address and situation with the dispatcher, then B) drawn my own firearm and proceeded to move tactically (yes an actual appropriate use of the term) to the sisters room and C) barricaded us in the room until the police arrive.

Clearing an empty building by yourself, even with a rifle and a sidearm, is beyond unwise. I will say that with a family member asleep in the building, I would put aside personal safety and secure them. But continuing to clear the building would be an unneeded and unsafe extra step.

I'm glad your sister decided to take the next step towards personal firearms ownership. But I would advise your brother to get his CCW license ASAP and start carrying. A situation like he just encountered is a bad time to realize your gun is locked in a safe in another room.
 
Very glad to hear that everyone is alright. It's great that your sister has opened her eyes and is taking her defense seriously. A defensive pistol class sounds in order and you should make sure she practices what she learns.
 
Congrats to your sister and for your brother to take the initative. I'm guessing your brother doesn't carry because I think you said they were your guns, so I think he needs to step up and get his own too, no such thing as too many.

As for your situation, clearing a home alone may have been his only option. To clear it before he could get to your sister's room? I'm just speculating here. Of course optimal situation would be to have more than one clear a building. My personal opinion, I would throw my sister a rifle tell her to stay buttoned up locked in her room, barricade the door and call the police. As fool hardy and dumb as it sounds, I would take the time to clear the building alone if thats what the situation was. Dangerous yes, stupid possible. But my personality and personal character would want to ensure that this intruder did not get away where he could rob/damage/injure someone else or thier home.

Besides it's MY home, MY property. If someone is going to intrude and destroy my peace of mind by breaking in I am going to make sure they pay and never have the opportunity to do that me or another again. Like I said, not the smartest course of action, but sometimes I get that rightious anger inside me and take the fool's chance, in situations I need to DO not wait. I guess it's my USMC-gun-ho-get 'em-good attitude. In my eyes the biggest crime is doing nothing and letting the baddies get away with it.
 
If loved ones are involved, we'd put out the fires of hell using a full bladder and a mouthful of spit.

salty
 
If sis slept through it all, how is having a gun going to help her? Is she usually such a sound sleeper?

That's actually a concern of mine -- I can sleep through a nuclear explosion! What does one do to protect oneself if you're not a "twig-snap" kind of sleeper?

Meesh
 
About 2 years ago my wife and I came home from a night out to find the front door wide open and i got this sick feeling because I only had a glass front gun cabinet at the time and my handguns were in the drawer on the bottom. Even though I was pretty sure the door didn't shut right when we left because it was tight as I'd just installed new weatherstripping on my front door, being a windy november night here in Florida and having the window down on the storm door the wind must have blown open the front door. I called the sheriff after contemplating clearing the house with my neighbor. Funny thing was after about 9 cars showed up at the house and the K-9 officer cleared it a few of them checked out what I had in the cabinet and aked if I had anything for sale.
 
That's actually a concern of mine -- I can sleep through a nuclear explosion! What does one do to protect oneself if you're not a "twig-snap" kind of sleeper?

Meesh
Click to expand...


A large or even a small dog is my first choice of a alarm -- BTW , CONGRATS Meesh on getting your other half to agree about the firearm,
 
Meesh, get a dog, or a home security system,or if thats not in the budget pick up some of those window/door alarm, the kind that when you break the connection they beep and whine. Better than nothing.
 
I, too, can sleep through a lot. Once, my wife had a lumber come in and cut out a 50' pine, section it, grind the stump and haul it off and I didn't wake up. I was working nights and was drunk to boot, but still. That was pretty impressive.

I have the dog and the security system. If I am not home, the dog sits in the front window waiting for us and barks at anything she sees in the yard. If I am not home, I get a phone call from the security company on my cell. If home, I have easy access to my carry piece :evil:. When I go to bed, I set the alarm to zero delay. Any door or window opens, the alarm goes off, the dog goes crazy, and that wakes me up rather fast.
 
You guys must have tougher crooks then we do the last one I caught breaking in I held him in a room with him beating on the door untill the cops came. He tried a couple of times then waited. The cop just opened the door and asked who the hell was in there. He plead out at the court case and I got my $14 bucks and went home.
 
they became common

home invasions became a regular thing in my north fort worth neigborhood,even the house directly across from mine was robbed,but in the middle of the day right after the owner came home for lunch then left,then right after that a home owner was home and cought them red handed,but let them go even after one was already in his backdoor!what they did was knock on front door then when noone answered 2 others went around back ,the home owner was asleep so he was slow at getting to door,as he was going to front door he seen 2 on his back porch,so he went and got gun.the 2 around back kicked the door in and started to enter,the homeowner jumped out of bed room with gun and had a good bead on them but just told them to leave,so they did,then he called police.......i dont know about anyone else but i would have to be cleaning up brains and blood if i would have cought them inside like that
 
Getting a gun is good , having the nerve to use it is a completely different aspect of having a gun . My wife had an attempted attack happen to her at our house . She grabbed the Beretta 21 and answered the door . The guy on the outside ask some stupid questions and then proceeded to force the door open . She drew down on him ,but , didnt seal the deal . When the intruder saw the gun he started backing off the porch . Thats when Josephine (pitbull , chow , lab , german shepard ) attacked him . She chewed him up pretty good and the description of her hanging off of his azz while he was running across the front yard still makes me bust out laughing . The next day a single mom that was our neighbor came down and asked us if we saw the news .I replied no and she said this guy that had been coming over to her house for the last week and asking her stupid questions was caught after sexually assaulting a woman at a nearby apt complex . We turned on the evening news and sure enough there was the guy that tried to assault my wife . I am glad my wife was not hurt, but, I know that she feels bad for not stopping the guy from attacking someone else .
 
Amen to the dog! We have two 80 lb labs in the house. The hair gets annoying, but you can bet that if someone was trying to hurt my wife, they would tear their tail up! Or, at least by her time to get to one of the guns. Even a small dog is good to have, not only for security but companionship. Even a small dog will fight with all it has for its owner. Plus, if a bad guy hears a dog, they will most likely seek an easier target!
 
Glad she now has a pistol. Teaching her to "snap shoot" as well as aimed firing is important. The bad guy is not going to stand still while you adopt a three point stance and aim at him.
Clearing a home is a dangerous thing. Have done it a couple of times and do not like it. Any cornered animal will become vicious when there is no way out but through you. wc
 
I understand those of you who question the wisdom of clearing a building alone. However, I also understand the concern of his brother having his sister home alone with a potential intruder in the house. Sometimes one has to choose between a bad choice and a worse one. Glad to hear everyone was ok.
 
Glad to hear all are OK -

Meesh posted:

If sis slept through it all, how is having a gun going to help her? Is she usually such a sound sleeper?
Click to expand...

I think this is a "I'd rather have one and not need it than need one and not have it" situation.
 
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Semantics

In a sense, your home was invaded, but since it was unoccupied at the time I would not really consider it a home invasion.

With visible, obvious signs of a break-in (the kicked in door), I would recommend retreating and calling the police, as others have stated.
 
i feel for you i'm glad no one got hurt & everyone's safe. that's a good idea getting a gun for her. i keep mine loaded before i go to bed my 686-4 i just picked up :D nobody's breaking in my house ;)
 
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