Thinking about Firearms for Home Defense

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Why would a burglar be interested in a chef's knife? The guns I can understand but there are easier (and faster) guns to steal than the ones hidden in the house.
Far and away most break ins are smash and grab. Dopers looking for anything they can grab and go with. First place they head is to what looks like the Master Bedroom. It's super easy to hide a few guns in places dopers will not get around to looking. They are looking for anything of value in the "normal" places. Not to mention alarm systems have gotten so cheap and so damn easy now anyone can have one. Once they know they set the alarm off they are in a bigger hurry to grab and hit the road.
 
I must disagree. Toolset does not come last or first. It comes together with other important considerations about home defense. My point of view is supported by POST 2 in the thread the OP referenced.

https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/home-defense-toolset-comes-last.870825/

Written by a LEO with 26 years of experience we read an informed point of view based upon experience. I happen to agree with everything he wrote even though my experience in clearing rooms, etc was limited to two weeks in Hue City. I slung the M16 across my back because I the M1911 I carried to be better suited to extreme close quarter gunfighting. Others will disagree with my choice.

Getting back to my point no matter how much defensive preplanning you do, and it is important to do it, weapon capability and suitability are just as important neither is first or last. They go together. Consider this analogy. You want to build a small cabin but never have built much of anything. How do you plan to build the cabin if you do not know what specific tools are needed and whether you are capable of using them effectively not theoretically.

There is a reason I carry my LCP2 on my person in the house all day and night long until I retire when my bedside gun becomes my primary. The reason is simple. Referring to the LEO’s Post mentioned above you just do not know where the danger will come and when. My choice of a carry pistol all the time means no matter when or where an attack comes from Imam prepare. The only way I can duplicate that with a long gun is to carry the long bun all the time. Really, I do not want a rifle next to me when I cook, dine, watch TV, etc. I am not going to stash guns all around the house because going to retrieve a gun under sudden attack is not a efficient as having a gun on your person.

I have a home SD plan. You can see my preparations in post 10 at this link:

https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/unfortunate-armed-burglary.870203/#post-11539285

The longest shot I would have to make is 25 feet from my loft to my doors. A pistol, even my LCP2 more than suffices. And unencumbered by a long gun I could retreat to my loft much faster and agile than with one.

So for me the process of selecting a home SD gun was based upon suitability for CQ gunfighting along with an understanding that my choice would be sufficient. That is why I thing it is all one step not two.
 
My choice of a carry pistol all the time means no matter when or where an attack comes from Imam prepare. The only way I can duplicate that with a long gun is to carry the long bun all the time. Really, I do not want a rifle next to me when I cook, dine, watch TV, etc. I am not going to stash guns all around the house because going to retrieve a gun under sudden attack is not a efficient as having a gun on your person.
Yep.

Last or part of the whole--it's matter of semantics.
 
The guns I have "stashed" around my house merely means they are not in plain sight. I know where they are and are within arm's reach when I am in those two rooms. In my bedroom, they are just out of arm's reach and that is for a reason. If I should be awakened during the night, I can roll out of bed and be standing directly in front of the gun rack on the wall. On that rack are a 12 ga. SxS with double triggers, a .357 with two additional Speedloaders on its belt, AND an AK with a 40 rd magazine. I don't expect to need more than the shottie and the revolver, but - JIC - the AK is there too.
 
If shootIng Is a part of your home defense plan, I suggest regular training, competition and practice should be a key part of your strategy. Especially as we age. And I don’t mean stationary shooting at a paper target at a gun range.
 
As far as recoil issues, my girlfriend is small in stature (5' even) and recoil averse. She will shoot a .22 rifle all day long, but won't even look at any pistols, shotguns or centerfire rifles. She did, however, shoot my Ruger PC Carbine (9mm) happily and accurately. Just something to consider.
 
Over the years, I forget who it was, tested women and found that smaller stature women do well using a combination of a carbine and good single stack pistol like a Bersa .380 or Walther .380 for their defensive needs. If you can get a woman to practice with like a Ruger PC-9, PC-4 or M-1 carbine they can learn to become really good shots with them. The smaller single stack pistols, like .380's, will better fit the hands of women who are smaller in size. A second pistol option was a decent revolver with a 4 inch barrel shooting a medium size cartridge (about a .38 special round) like an old time police revolver. I believe that the original author suggested that the revolver have fixed sights on it to help eliminate problems with an adjustable sight being knocked off or out of alignment.

The concept behind what the original poster was trying to make known was that with a lightweight carbine and decent, lightweight pistol smaller stature women could learn to develop their own form of effective layered defense system. With a good layered defense system in place, this would make any home a safe environment for any smaller stature woman living there. This is just something to consider when planning ahead in a home defense idea if you have a smaller stature woman present in the mix.
 
Great thread.

Sitting here in quarantine I've been letting youtube run as background noise. Caught a video by Travis Haley touching on home security and his sentiments echo my beliefs: If your home security posture has allowed things to get to the point where you're having to defend yourself with a firearm from within your home, you've already messed up.

Same video also sold me on 3M security film for glass doors/windows. Here's the video, for anyone interested. More of an overview of concepts, but still good info:

 
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