I came home and my front door was open

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Clearing a house by yourself is called "looking for a bullet".

If you were trained in clearing a house you should have been told/remember that you should never try it by yourself unless it is absolutely necessary.

The proper response is to immediately withdraw from the scene and summon the police.

If your wife & child were inside that might be a different story.
I don't know why 'never go into your house if you suspect a burglary' is such a knee-jerk reaction in the gun community, but I know that it stems from Law Enforcement advice.
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It stems from folks who have a lot of experience clearing houses and know the safest way to do it. That way involves more than one person.

It also stems from common sense. Why would a person intentionally walk into a situation where there's a good chance of confronting multiple armed and hostile persons?
I guess I'm pretty confident on being able to handle myself.
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Anyone in the world can easily get into a situation that's over his head.

In order to be confident you would need to know two numbers and the first must be larger than the second.

How many armed men can you guarantee that you can engage successfully (i.e. while remaining uninjured) with your HD gun? When you approached the house, how many armed men did you know were inside?

The fact is you didn't know the second number and I doubt you gave any thought to the first.

In other words, your confidence in this situation was not based on fact but rather on emotion.
 
Interesting thread. It wouldn't have crossed my mind to call the police, simply because a door was open in my house.
 
The dog was on the line because now that it's nice out she's become territorially challenged and I'd gotten fed up with running her down every time the door opened. I'd forgotten that she was on the line and thought that she was probably cruising the neighborhood.

Actually Lesson One was Is there anything thing of value inside, do we need the building intact, can we talk them out, No got a JDAM

Yeah, I understand, but as I said, the thought of not going in never crossed my mind. Learning experience.

The door needs work, I don't use the deadbolt because it's a struggle to get it to latch, from the inside I can just lean on the door, but from outside it's a pain. Guess I got my weekend project
 
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It wouldn't have crossed my mind to call the police, simply because a door was open in my house.
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I can't tell if you're being sarcastic or not.

If you locked the doors before leaving and find one open on returning that is evidence of criminal activity and you have no idea of the criminal/criminals is/are still present. Are you saying that you wouldn't have thought of calling the police after finding evidence of criminal activity when the criminal/criminals might still be present?

Or are you saying that you typically LEAVE the doors open when you take the family for an outing?
 
I got a call last saturday am that my alarm was going off at my office. Front door, two motion sensors. Definitely someone in the building.

Alarm co rolls the PD. I arrived first. Sidearm holstered.

You can cruise the entire perimeter with the road and the alley and I didn't see any cars outside, no one hanging around outside. Did a quick walk around the outside (There is a side that is basically blind from the interior) and found the front door ajar by an inch.

Also noted that the front door sign said OPEN....I thought I'll bet my staff didn't LOCK THE FRONT DOOR.

At which point I retreated back to my car and waited for the PD. Welcomed him and relayed what I saw and what the alarm company told me. Drew up a quick diagram and gave it to the first officer who waited on back up. POINT BEING NO OFFICER WOULD CLEAR A BUILDING ALONE WHY SHOULD I?

Officer 2 arrived and they cleared it out with no issue.

Since there was no forced entry we had a LONG talk with staff about evening procedures. They had neglected to physically check each door and had left it unlocked. A client walked in and set off the alarm..the sign did say OPEN after all.

I apologized profusely to the guy since I am sure he about crapped himself when my alarm went off as it is LOUD!!!!!

Either way...no way in heck I am clearing a building on my own, especially if the PD have been called since they would find me IN IT.
 
One thing NOT to do is to call 911 and then check the house yourself, gun in hand.
 
My house in the boonies. I built it. I know the layout. I know where the vaulables are. That the only advantage I have.

The disadvantage is that I would not know who or how many BG are in the house, if any.

I would wait the 30 minutes for the Sheriff deputies.

I have thought about this....if I saw people loading stuff in their truck that was taken from my basement. I have wondered how it would play out if I asked "Do you live here? Is this house for sale? I am looking for a place to buy." ....that might buy me time to call 911 and holding whoever at gunpoint. I hope I never have to do that.
 
I've had this happen too: Alarm system company calls us and says backdoor is open. I drive home and find back door wide open. I call police and wait for three cops to clear house.

When I finally had a chance to look at the door, it was obviously not forced. The door had just not been shut securely. I felt like an idiot.

This is what most people will say is the right thing to do for your family and by the book.

If you are wondering, I did have my CHL and revolver on me. When the cops first arrived, they took the call seriously. But one of them said "you know this house" better.

I guess, it's your call. The cops were really cool about coming over and friendly. I just know there are too many calls and not enough cops.
 
I've been in this situation before when I was in my teens. Came home from school, door was wide open. I ended up carving a hasty path straight to the gun cabinet and grabbing a pistol and doing what the original poster did.

The culprit turned out to be a 40 year old door frame that had warped and caused the door knob not to match up with the notch in the frame. I ended up recutting the notch to get the door to shut properly. All things being equal, I'm not 17 anymore so I don't think I'm invincible anymore. If it happens again, I'll have the police take care of it.
 
When I detected a burglar, I was scared and also worried about how to handle the burglar if he caught me outside. When the cops finished capturing the BG, I told one of them: If the burglar saw me outside alone, I can't shoot an unarmed person, so I'd run away, hoping the BG wouldn't grab my gun and kill me.

I did not feel any better with my gun on me. Because even if the BG charged at me with my gun out, I would end up in jail or possibly dead by my own gun.
 
"I can't tell if you're being sarcastic or not.

If you locked the doors before leaving and find one open on returning that is evidence of criminal activity and you have no idea of the criminal/criminals is/are still present. Are you saying that you wouldn't have thought of calling the police after finding evidence of criminal activity when the criminal/criminals might still be present?

Or are you saying that you typically LEAVE the doors open when you take the family for an outing?"
__________________

I wasn't being sarcastic at all. My wife and son maintain different schedules than me. They don't always lock the doors. We live in a great neighborhood. My dog can easily open an unlocked door, if he's been left outside and the door is unlocked, so I have come home to an open door.

Top that off with my never having had a violent encounter in the many, many years since being a junior in high school. I've never had an intruder in the house. Neither has any of my family or friends. And I'm big and fit and maybe too confident.

It wouldn't have crossed my mind to call the cops. It's why I thought it was an interesting thread. Gave me something to think about.

But to be honest, I still don't think my first reaction would be to call the cops.


BCC
 
and 3) your wife needs to get real and carry a charged phone with her. Frankly it's more likely to save a life than a gun is, any day of the week.
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+1 on that.

I wouldn't have gone in the house though, either, even though a handgun is always on me, and a shotgun is always in my vehicle.

My.02,
Les
 
Always take care of the Family and let the Cops Clear the House.

Also you wife needs to grow up and learn to take care of a cell phone. My 11 year old has one and she keeps it charged and on her all the time.
 
The phone is out of state and usually the only person is me when we are at walmart and she wants to know where I'm at. So I learned a bit from this, and will change some things, among them the phone, I'm working on the door, and I need to rethink where I keep my HD gun
 
I carry two cell phones with me all the time. Because:

1. I use the second phone for my text alerts and back up phone calls.
2. My TMobile G1 phone is not as reliable as my Verizon (pay as you go phone) and I get better coverage.
3. Since I use my Verizon phone mostly for text messages, I only pay $100/year.
4. Sometimes my battery is dead on my primary phone.

Even if the second phone is not active with a plan, call to 911 can go through.

My Verizon is pay as you go.
 
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Final thought

Look, the gentleman in question entered his home, suspected of having a criminal inside while he was not armed. I agree that a man should be able to enter his own home in this manner if he so chooses. HOWEVER, from a tactical standpoint from a man with extensive military training, he should not have entered the home unarmed. There was no way for him to know that his 'piece' was not located in the same room as the supposed 'armed' invader. If I were in the same situation, my family would be as far away as possible with phone and police in hand and I would only enter the house if armed before I entered it. Finding out the hard way that you couldn't make it to your 'piece' before the enemy is an expensive and eternal mistake.........there's no do-overs for that. That being said, protect your home and your family with the utmost of vigilence, but be sure that you are doing it wisely and safely with your family's safety first!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
yeah, I know why the door was open, saw it the same time I was getting my gun, that damn gray cat was sitting there happy as could be.

the bad thing is I think he's taught the other cat how to do it too.
 
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