Don't open your door to see who is there!

"Nice" neighborhoods are where the hood rats go to steal. That's where the good stuff is.

Fishslayer said:

"Nice" neighborhoods are where the hood rats go to steal. That's where the good stuff is.

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The reality is that "nice" neighborhoods don't offer any more protection than anywhere else. Rural communities may be safer, but not necessarily. Poor rural communities in the US have lots of drug problems, especially Meth. More affluent rural communities (where agriculture and/or manufacturing provide a steady economic base) tend to be more secure I think. However, there are some really run down, rough rural communities that I wouldn't go near. Lufkin, TX comes to mind.

BemidjiDweller said:

X-JaVeN-X,
Answering the door with a gun doesn't mean drawing down as soon as you open the door. Me personally, my gun is in the holster on my hip where it lives while I'm awake. Of course I don't open the door unless it's a friend, the mail/UPS/FedEx worker or an occasional chinese food delivery guy.

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See...I don't wear a gun at home...it's too bloody hot here most of the year...If I'm at home, I'm usually in bathing suit and a white t-shirt (or no shirt). I'm not going to get up and go grab a gun to answer my door unless there is something unusual to the situation that would merit such a response. If you walk around your house in jeans with a heavy belt and a holster on your hip, then bless your heart...I prefer being comfortable when I'm at home...the less clothes the better lol.

More affluent rural communities (where agriculture and/or manufacturing provide a steady economic base) tend to be more secure I think.

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That pretty much describes where I live...small towns with typically 10-15 miles of farmland in between them. There is usually a mill of some sort in these town and then much of the rest of the commerce is small mom and pop businesses. Going to the "city" for me involves a 20 minute drive where the only source of entertainment is an old movie theatre and really the only place to do any shopping is a lone walmart. The nearest "shopping mall" is over an hour away from me. The town I mention near me does have a poorer area that is kinda iffy...but again...that's about 25 minutes away from me and all the crime that seems to happen, happens in that small dense 10-15 block area. Even then...it's quite rare to hear about much of anything happening.

X-JaVeN-X said:

See...I don't wear a gun at home...it's too bloody hot here most of the year...If I'm at home, I'm usually in bathing suit and a white t-shirt (or no shirt). I'm not going to get up and go grab a gun to answer my door unless there is something unusual to the situation that would merit such a response. If you walk around your house in jeans with a heavy belt and a holster on your hip, then bless your heart...I prefer being comfortable when I'm at home...the less clothes the better lol.

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Thats fine, you carry how you want, I wasn't trying to tell you how to live your life, sorry if it came off that way.

I wear shorts and a belt if I am carrying anything more than my LCP. I have a nifty little IWB holster for the LCP that is just a clip and the holster. It doesn't come out with the gun while drawing, even in athletic pants.

I answer the door with a gun. I cook on the grill with a gun. I do yardwork with a gun.

Sadly, it is not a guarantee of safety just to be at home.

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What he said.

GBExpat said:

What he said.

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Same here I an never more than 3 steps from one in the house . I got and installed a fish eye extra large peephole in my from door pulse we have a heavy glass security storm door with deadbolts. We are Blessed with Attack CATS, my mom's cat answers the door before they ring the door bell and she either meows which is it is ok or she puffs out her fur and hisses like some critter from a Steven King movie.

X-JaVen-X, the country you're describing sounds like where my mom grew up out towards Mount Olive way. My grandma still tells the story of the time she answered the door with her rifle because she didn't recognize the car in the driveway and it turned out to be the sheriff in his personal car. Of course, he didn't hold it against her since she was there by herself, my grandad being a traveling salesman at the time.
Personally, I wear long pants all the time anyway. I did before I started carrying and I continue to do so. Somehow Durangos just don't look right with shorts. Comfort is a matter of conditioning, it's not a given. I have a pair of pants set up to wear to work and a pair set up for wearing around the house. The house pair has a nice pancake holster for my Service Six and when I go to work I just use an IWB holster with the same. One way or the other, if I can carry legally then I am carrying. At home, abroad, anywhere. I doubt I'll ever need it, and I hope I never do, but if the time comes that I did need it then I'll be glad I had gotten comfortable wearing it instead of not wearing it because I didn't think it would be comfortable. To each their own though. Perhaps having lived in the bottoms for two years (the bottoms is the ghetto area of where I live) just made me paranoid, though I like to think it simply made me aware of the potential for things to turn sideways fast. Either way, I'm just glad I managed to move back out of there.

Anyone who rings my doorbell has already been approved by my dogs or he would not get to the door. They start barking as soon as a car turns off the highway and heads down the drive. UPS and Fedex know they can just say "hush" and then walk to the door with three dogs trying to get attention but the dogs bark like crazy until the guys get out of the truck. New drivers blow the horn and I go out and meet them.
After I let my dogs in, around 10:30 PM, I really don't expect to get any visitors so anyone at the door is a threat. I can't imagine myself actually opening the door late at night but I have had a few stranded motorists over the years that needed help.

i have a glass door in front of my main door, both always remain locked (mainly because we never use them, we always leave through the garage)

in the event someone does come to the door, i can identify the person through the locked glass door before i open it.

About 20 years ago we realized that the majority of times someone knocked on the door, they were trying to sell something, wanting something, or at the wrong house.

We simply quit answering the door and trained friends to call before they dropped by.

Guess the saying "The Lord Watches over Children and Fools" is true. I am very happy that everything worked out due to the fact I "DID THAT". Around midnight someone bangs on the door, my son lives next door, I expected it to be him. WRONG, before I got my hand off the door knob this SOB was in my house. I never never open my door now without a firearm of some type, or at least have my dog by my side.

I do NOT answer my door with a gun. I live in the middle of nowhere

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That actually makes you the best target for a push in robbery that there could be. Dogs that bark would certainly give you an advantage. But in my county there have been a bunch of push in robberies lately and it's always way out in the country away from other houses.

I have a great watch dog. It doesn't bite (yet) but it sure barks up a storm, it won't take food from strangers, it moves like chained lightning - no way a bad guy can catch it, and he even recognizes a gun when he sees one. Yeah I know that's weird but he certainly knows what every gun I have looks like. He's scared of them but no so scared he wouldn't bark at someone who had one that came to the house.

Add that to numerous windows I can through to check out any visitors all with blinds on them. It would take 10 bad guys to watch all my windows. I keep guns where I need them which is generally close to me wherever I'm at in the house. I have a fire zone where I have a well defensible position to take cover. I can hide behind a refrigerator and freezer and water heater and from the side where I would rarely get fired at I have a washing machine with a dryer on top of it. There's a corner that is protected by all that stuff and the corner had 2 block walls that are underground. My kill zone would be right in front of the door to that utility room where a bathroom is behind it. I have safe rooms for my family to hide if something happens too so I know where I can shoot and where I can't.

A workable plan is the best defense. I have a slot between the appliances where I can fire toward my fire zone.

I had some coon hunters show up at my house in the middle of the night once and I had feel asleep in the chair by the front door with the drapes open. That was bad. I had a gun but it's hard to think straight when you first wake up like that. I could easily gone off on those guys but I didn't. I know what coon hunters look like. I did a lot of it myself. Their dogs had treed close to my house and they had to go through my yard to get them so they told me what was going on. It's probably good that they did too.

Not all people who knock on your door late at night are bad guys. I've had several people who had accidents come to my door. I went to a few doors late at night myself like when I got stuck down the back side of a mountain when the road froze into glazed glass before I knew what happened. No way I was driving back up that road for days. I had to call and get a ride back to town and first I had to wake someone up. It was about 3 in the morning. We had been off roading in the area and found we couldn't get back out. So just be cautious who you shoot at.

That actually makes you the best target for a push in robbery that there could be. Dogs that bark would certainly give you an advantage.

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Yep. I live out in the sticks too and there have been 3-4 break ins within a couple miles of us over the last few months. Always at night and with people home. An elderly couple awoke to strangers in their bedroom and a gun in their face.

The dog advice is a great idea. We've got a little American Eskimo Spitz and while it its barking every time someone steps onto the porch is annoying, I'm sure glad it does it. I toss her a treat every time. That alone could cause someone to rethink breaking in, just knowing the occupants are now awake.

I live in a town home. I have a balcony above the front door. If I'm not expecting someone, I don't make the trip down to the first floor. Instead I answer the door by going out to the balcony.

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Clever idea. Never heard it before, but I like it.

We've had three attempts in the past year or so (people trying doors or windows). Look at the timestamp on this post - I keep unpredictable hours. I don't drink, I'm always sober and armed... and know what? It's the DOGS that keep people away.

They aren't big, or mean... they're just loud, and very excitable. Usual MO if the dogs go off is to let them out the back door. I never have to open the front, and it lets whoever's out front know that a) someone's up, and b) the dogs are loose. Granted, it also gives someone out front a head start, but the dobie mix nearly caught the last one. He made it over the fence and face first into the drainage ditch.

Love my dogs. They ALMOST make the gun feel unnecessary. ALMOST.

before I got my hand off the door knob this SOB was in my house

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Can you tell us what happened next?

Yeah this is a good point. Check out this video from Mas Ayoob:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YD3zIA6vJkQ

What a guy that Mas. It really makes you think, all the crazy things people are willing to do. You can never be too prepared.

I disconnected our doorbell---I don't answer the door for anyone.
I have kids & grandkids in & out all day(they have keys) So I have to be careful with the guns.
UPS/FED_X they leave stuff on porch--they never knock on door
We are getting new neighbors in this area---I am sure the future will be less boring.
I just hope it does not turn into another Detroit.
Stay safe

Recent local homicides include druggies killing people in their homes for pain meds.

I have a wheelchair ramp on the front porch. I added a peephole to the front door.

I have a keyed screen door (with decorative wrought iron) on both the front and back door.

That said I still do not open the doors if the door bell rings, as the inside dog goes wild, and those that know better call first.

A person going door to door rang our bell one Sunday afternoon. I opened the door, we talked and i ended up working on the campaign. Another time a neighbor i had not met knocked on the door to inform me i left the water hose on and there was small river running into the street from my back door. If somebody knocks on my door i look who it is, if i don't feel they pose a threat i open the door. We live in communities and i don't believe in trying to close one's self off from that. The statistical chance of a random home invasion is incredibly small and the simple precaution of looking out the peephole can help drop that number even further. I also have a good pair of dogs that offer significant deterrence. Yeah, i'm vigilant but fear of crime and extremely rare events will not reduce my quality of life.

A person going door to door rang our bell one Sunday afternoon. I opened the door, we talked and i ended up working on the campaign. Another time a neighbor i had not met knocked on the door to inform me i left the water hose on and there was small river running into the street from my back door. If somebody knocks on my door i look who it is, if i don't feel they pose a threat i open the door.

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Yep. That's what peepholes are for.
If they don't leave when the mutt starts barking, they prolly are okay to be there.
I do peek through the hole first though.

vito said:

Most readers of this forum know better, but an older couple who live fairly close to me, in a very safe and seemingly crime free neighborhood, were robbed and the husband shot today. Police reported that two young black males knocked at the home of the older couple, and the man opened the door to ask what they wanted. A struggle ensued, the man was shot, his wife battered, and the house ransacked before they fled. Why would any sane person open his door to two strangers? I rarely have anyone come to my front door, but when my door bell rings I am pretty cautious about even coming to the door. If its after dark and I'm not expecting anyone, I am armed as I approach the door (which is largely glass so I can see who is there, and there is no close in place for someone to hide). Hope the police catch the two thugs quickly. I'm thinking of installing close circuit TV so I can see if anyone is outside my garage door now. What a great world we live in.

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I saw the story about this in the paper. Sad. Seem like nice people who try to help others, even if that help is misguided much of the time. I am an advocate for not opening your door if you are not expecting company and/or cannot ID the person(s) at your door first.

I'm thinking of installing close circuit TV so I can see if anyone is outside my garage door now. What a great world we live in.

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I hear you, Vito, and I pretty much handle things as you do. As such, I am also looking into CC TV, especially for the garage and surrounding property. Soon as I sell the first place, it will be installed poste-haste. Security lights, nosy neighbors, dogs, good locks, and personal tactics hopefully, will suffice for now.