Pro's and con's of announcing to an intruder that you're armed

Bang bang bang bang. Stop, or I'll shoot,

Full disclosure, I didn't watch the video, rarely do.

Nope.
Chances are the perp knows you're home. For all you know the perp wants you to give up your location so they can start shooting at you.

If the flash doesn't get his attention, the bang should.

When/if Dindu Nuffin breaks into my house, I feel that suspension of polite convention is warranted, and I'll skip the introductory chitchat that would normally preceed earnest conversation.

ETA: the above should not be taken as excluding positive target ID. The intruder may well become aware of my presence due to a blinding light or verbal interaction, but only as a consequence of my gaining some advantage (like a clear view of his face).

Not me. Part of the "home court" advantage is surprise. Why give it up? No jacking the slide or loudly chambering a round either.

I think it's wise to announce to the intruder that you are armed and that they need to leave immediately. Of course it's a different matter if someone kicks my door in and has a gun and there is no time. To sit in ambush with no warning an intruder in the home is a very bad idea in my opinion.

You see it and hear it on real police videos. Stop or I will Taser you or stop or I will shoot you

Typical you tube video. "It all depends" Well maybe.
I do like the attorney.

I would rather avoid shooting someone. Yell, I am armed get out!, is much easier,

Kleanbore said:

It appears that your objective is to shoot. Mine is not.

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I think the objective is to defend yourself, I don’t believe a home invader worthy of a polite or politically correct approach.

I have camera installations with two way audio.
I can be in two places at once.
Wake her up in the middle of the night and all bets are off.
She grabs a gun and secures the house.
I grab a deck squeegee and garbage bags...

I would rather not have to clean blood and guts from my carpet and walls.

I'd have to weigh that option as a situation unfolds. If I can give a verbal command without giving up a tactical advantage, I'll do it.
Even if it's a bad guy, I dont wanna kill anybody.

Guys, when someone invades your home you and your family are being violated, your safety is at stake and if you do nothing and a family member is hurt or worse, how can you justify later that you were weighing options instead of defending ?
Does any one think the invader cares about the victim ?
I will no longer take a passive approach to protect my family.

shafter said:

I think it's wise to announce to the intruder that you are armed and that they need to leave immediately. Of course it's a different matter if someone kicks my door in and has a gun and there is no time. To sit in ambush with no warning an intruder in the home is a very bad idea in my opinion.

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A friend sat in ambush in his shop to nail a consistent break in. He shot and killed the crook.
He ....managed.... to avoid prison. But not by much.
And the expense was enormous.

I doubt they could hear me over the German Shepherd losing his mind.

Too specific a question. Specifically: no probably not.

Generally: YES. Unless already under direct threat (being actively attacked with lethal force) challenge first. "STOP!" is enough.

As mentioned: laying in ambush is legally very very very hard to defend. You have to make yourself apparent so why not talk instead of vaguely standing there pointing a flashlight at them? You do have a flashlight right? You better be able to prove you had a clear view of the threat, never say "well, it was dark, I thought he had a gun" under questioning.

Do not say "they have violated/attacked me by breaking in" or some such. They have not. That is a significant legal difference. Varies by state, but I am not shooting someone just for trespassing, and probably not even if they have a weapon in hand.

Homeowners can likely get away with the biggest threat being "the police are on the way" etc. Death is actually known from some criminal research to be a rather vague deterrent, but no one likes jail, and they probably do not hate you personally more than they hate prison.

Every negligent "home defense" shooting of a loved one could have been easily prevented by a verbal challenge.

A verbal challenge helps prevent you from pointing death at somebody you care about in a high stress situation in which fatal mistakes can be made.

Some time back, we had a homeowner in one of the South Sound communities shoot and kill an unarmed intruder in his house. The homeowner was indicted and fought a lengthy legal battle; not sure if he avoided doing any state time, but the case dragged out forever.

Then we had a guy shoot a drunk who'd broken into another house on his property in a neighboring county; he was convicted of murder.

There are so many variables in these types of situations that I do have a problem with anyone who states unequivocally that someone who dares come in their house uninvited will leave in a body bag.

It's not always automatically a lethal force situation. I was staying with my mom in her condo near downtown Tucson (ground floor); a locally well-known homeless guy came into her kitchen through the patio sliding glass door (which Mom never locked). I heard voices at 3 a.m., went out to investigate (gun in hand) and Mom was making toast and eggs for the guy (who was clearly somewhat mentally ill and coming down from something). Had I been the one to awaken first, I can't say what would've happened. But I wouldn't have made him breakfast, that's for sure.

Here in my home, obviously my dogs would immediately determine friend or foe and one would go into automatic attack mode. But that would be preceded by my alarm system activating, which is ear-splitting and gets a law enforcement response if the wife or I don't answer the immediate phone call from the alarm company.

I am in the camp of -- time and circumstances permitting -- giving clear verbal directives and/or a warning. (And not, when I worked in SoCal, using what we joked about was the SDPD verbal warning: Bang bang bang bang "Put down the weapon!")

No warning needed with Taser.

Kleanbore said:

It appears that your objective is to shoot. Mine is not.

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So do you lock your doors at night if so why????

South Prairie Jim said:

I think the objective is to defend yourself, I don’t believe a home invader worthy of a polite or politically correct approach.

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You are trying to equate a potential burglary or maybe a really inebriated and lost idiot with a life or death situation to justify shooting someone. One should always attempt to deescalate if possible.