I thought I was getting a bit paranoid in my old age, but

doubleh said:

The summer temperatures here range in the upper 90s to well over 100 degrees from the middle of May to the middle of September. If I kept the garage door closed I couldn't stay in the place for five minutes and I spend a lot of time in there doing important things or so I think.

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Bingo.... I'll take my rather extremely slim chances with criminals, then a guaranteed case of heat stroke.

found the story here.... a description of the attackers is given.

I live in one of the best areas in my town since I moved in a cop and his girlfriend was shot multiple times from her ex while taking her kids to school. A dv situation turned into a shooting. And just a few weeks ago there was a drive by from someone who apparently robbed a drug dealer. All of these happened within 3 blocks of my house, and on my street alone lives 3 cops and a fire marshal.

We don't have garages down here on the Border, we have car ports. It's been up around 108 degrees outside for the last month, 140 degrees inside a closed building.
That's hot enough to craze the plastic on your dashboard.
If you're working on a car then there's nothing between you and the street but a fence.

Go armed.

When I bought my house in the middle of nowhere it took a few weeks moving small car loads over to the new place from my apartment an hour away. On the very first trip I brought things like a couple firearms, TVs, and computers. Fragile stuff I didn't want moved in the moving truck. The back door takes a trick to close and lock it properly that I didn't know at first. My next car load was 3 days later and the back door was wide open. My first fear was a break-in. Not a thing was stolen, just my own stupidity at work.

Even with small town, middle of nowhere experiences like that I have no delusions crime does not happen in rural areas. Less than 5 miles away there was a bust for the biggest ICE dealer in the county at a local bar.

I live in one of those "nice" neighborhoods where the crime rate is very low. But, more and more apartments are being built and have us almost completely surrounded. With apartments come a more transient population and crime goes up; this according to patrol officers who were called last year due to stolen yard signs. I frequently work at my reloading bench with the door open to facilitate air flow. Don't usually have a gun handy, but might need to start. Hate not feeling safe in my own home and neighborhood. My heart goes out to those Chicago victims who can't even take a walk in their own neighborhood.

In my house in North Hollywood I was always armed, and especially in the garage, another old lady in the neighborhood got raped while doing laundry one morning in her garage laundry room, mine was also in the (detached) garage and I hated even going out there. In general there was a lot of crime, largely involving the ubiquitous homeless population, almost of all of whom are either mentally ill, on drugs, alcoholic, just out of jail, or some combination of the foregoing. Imagine knowing there is a real possibility a crazy will just dive in through a window at any time. Can't begin to express how happy I am that I got out of there.

I posted earlier in this thread, but wanted to mention that a recent news article had my city rated as number 5 on a list of "safest cities in the US with populations over 100 thousand."

You wouldn't know it living here. It's safe, yes; we don't have many "violent" crimes such as rapes, robberies, or homicides, but drug crimes and car burglaries are extremely prevalent. Residential burglaries are not uncommon, but so-called "home invasions" are.

MedWheeler said:

You wouldn't know it living here. It's safe, yes; we don't have many "violent" crimes such as rapes, robberies, or homicides, but drug crimes and car burglaries are extremely prevalent. Residential burglaries are not uncommon, but so-called "home invasions" are.

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It seems like the opioid and meth problem in this country is inspiring a lot of acts of desperation. It's unbelievable how many people have died. It's really sad some folks are so deep in the grip of these chemicals that they are just self destructing.

I have been lucky, having left the garage wide open several times, with no disastrous results. Once the front door wasn't latched properly and blew open in the night. No problem, except a couple of indoor cats had a big night of fun. I do not live in an especially safe neighborhood or city, so like I said, just dumb luck. I am usually very careful, but in 18 years you make a few mistakes, like parking in the garage and hitting the wrong garage door button on the way into the house. So instead of closing my side of the garage I have opened my wife's side also.

George P said:

You'd be wrong........sorry. And Wichita has one of the worst crime rates in the nation. There are places where they don't even have stop lights, no crime, no traffic, etc.

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Remote places are exactly what meth cookers are looking for. Utopia doesn't exist.

Let's put it this way: my sister and I each carry hearing protection in easy reach within our respective cars.
We've both had attempts made by recent border-crossers to block us in and either rob us or car-jack us.
The looks on their faces switch from jubilation to shock when they see us don our earmuffs, even before the guns come out.

theotherwaldo said:

Let's put it this way: my sister and I each carry hearing protection in easy reach within our respective cars.
We've both had attempts made by recent border-crossers to get us to block us in and either rob us or car-jack us.
The looks on their faces switch from jubilation to shock when they see us don our earmuffs, even before the guns come out.

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I'd don a pair of shooting glasses as well.. lenses colors appreciate for lighting conditions

I live in "the middle of nowhere" -- 3/4s of a mile off the county road. I have a pit bull who knows whenever a car turns off the county road -- and he lets me know.

theotherwaldo said:

Let's put it this way: my sister and I each carry hearing protection in easy reach within our respective cars.
We've both had attempts made by recent border-crossers to get us to block us in and either rob us or car-jack us.
The looks on their faces switch from jubilation to shock when they see us don our earmuffs, even before the guns come out.

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This problem will continue until illegals aren't able to find employment opportunities here. Same is happening in EU where business people pressure governments to encourage bringing in those willing to work for low wages. This is short-sighted lining pockets of few to detriment of citizens of those countries. This will come back to hunt them.

I don't think you're paranoid, I think you're wise. I live in a small town with a fairly low crime rate and in one of the two nicest neighborhoods in town. But, I keep a pistol near to the bed, keep the doors locked when we're home, keep the garage door down unless I'm out there. I check the doors every night and set the alarm before bed time. I always pay attention to who walks or drives by as I know most of them. I lock the doors when I'm outside or in the shop. It pays to be cautious.

RPZ said:

I'd don a pair of shooting glasses as well.. lenses colors appreciate for lighting conditions

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My driving glasses are my shooting glasses. My sister is the same.

I have a portable air conditioner in 3 car attached garage. If I was a little more handy, I'd have a mini-split heat cool unit in there.
https://www.ecomfort.com/cooling/du...tVjWywM0-VAfHBrT2vyx4mVWn3fURBNBoC1xcQAvD_BwE

I pack a gun in and around the house.

We live a mile from a 2 lane state highway off a private dirt / rocky road and only in the last couple of years got 2 neighbors. I was in Iraq at the time, but the 1st year we moved into the house, someone attempted to break in through the glass in the front door. Smashed a hole in the glass. My partner scared them off. For only having 2 maybe 3 County Sheriff's Deputies on duty at night a Deputy was at our house in 15 minutes or less. 1st thing she asked was...

"You got a gun?"

Gotta love Missouri.

George Dickel said:

on the news tonight a man in Nashville was working in his garage when two thugs pistol whipped him demanding money and the keys to his car. They said they would go in his house and hurt his family if he didn't comply. He told them that there was no money in the house and gave them the keys to his car but it was a manual transmission and they couldn't drive it. They then put him in their car and drove him to an ATM where he withdrew the max money it would let him have. They let him go and took off. This was a good neighborhood, not a bad part of town which maybe was the reason the thugs targeted it, better chance of money there.
Whenever I'm in my workshop, a two car garage sized building separate from my house, I have a pistol in my pocket. I live in a good neighborhood, not as nice as the one I mentioned, so I thought I was being a bit paranoid having a gun on me. This incident made me realize a good neighborhood means nothing. I'll keep carrying my gun whenever I'm outside or in the shop.

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I have a firearm within reach 24/7.

For those that say I live in a virtually crime free area with very little crime, I guarantee you live in a rural area, small town or off the grid. Crime is everywhere because criminals are everywhere, you just may not know they are criminals.. They have cars, steal cars or take public transportation. And it's coming to a town near you, it's just a matter of time. Because if you lived in a big, major city, you would not have the same way of doing things compared to somebody that doesn't.

How much do you trust the government, law enforcement, media, and statistics? Anybody that has taken advanced statistical analysis and research methodologies knows that things aren't always as they appear. In addition, what's their motivation for releasing certain statistics and were they thorough and competent in doing the research?

For those places that have little to no crime, everyone should move there to be safe and not worry about crime anymore. But, watch what happens, because now you will have crime because you now have people. Get a bunch of the most nicest people and throw them into a small area and see how long that will last.

Crime is like riding a motorcycle. If you ride motorcycles long enough eventually you will go down hard/crash, either by your own fault or someone else's. If you live long enough, eventually you will be a target of someone looking for trouble. Therefore, always be prepared wherever you are because crime can happen anywhere, at anytime, to anyone..

It's all about being smarter, making good choices, calculating the risks and being more prepared than the criminal no matter where you live.

It's all about being smarter, making good choices, calculating the risks

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Which some of have apparently done and concluded that some folks are more paranoid (probably with good reason) than others.

I'm going to go get my tinfoil hat.

My detached workshop has a rusty but functional shotgun and a matching springfield mil-spec tucked way but close at hand.

Y’all would think I’m crazy. Just standing in the middle of my shop I can count over 20 firearm and there are another 50 or more close at hand, and I still carry in the shop sometimes .
Oh! There are also some large knives laying around.

GunnyUSMC said:

Y’all would think I’m crazy. Just standing in the middle of my shop I can count over 20 firearm and there are another 50 or more close at hand, and I still carry in the shop sometimes .
Oh! There are also some large knives laying around.

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Flamethrower?