Bad guy at my door. Not hypothetical.

[Kleanbore]

Posted by gym: When a stranger is at my door, I don't open it until I know who they are and what they want.

That is precisely what I think has widely come to be regarded here as "the school solution."

If I do open it for more information, my hand is in my pocket, on a PM9. If something goes wrong, I can stop it right there.

A hand in a pocket on a semiautomatic pistol is probably not very good protection against a violent criminal actor within arms length.

 

[Trunk Monkey]

No.

I rethought that question and realized it made no sense so I edited myself.

Thanks

 

[Arkansas Paul]

When a stranger is at my door, I don't open it until I know who they are and what they want.

This is my approach as well.
I don't simply refuse to open the door for a stranger but they will tell me who they are and what they need before I open the door. I'll make a judgment call from there.
Problem is, most of the time in the daylight hours, if I'm home, I'm outside. There is no screening visitors through the door in that instance. However, if I am in the yard or in the man cave or at the BBQ grill, there is a holstered firearm on my side. Some think that is being paranoid on my own property, but we live in the sticks and there's more to worry about than just criminals. There have been more than one dog attacks close to my home, one was only two doors down. So I'm armed in that instance.

There was a situation recently when I refused to open the door. I was awakened by my wife who told me someone was at the door. I glance at the clock and it is 3:00 a.m. Fearing that someone is in trouble or there is an emergency, I run to the door. I call out, asking who it is. It is a female claiming that she is broken down and wants to come inside and use my phone.
Now at the time there had been several home invasions (4 IIRC) within a mile and in the past few months, and the residents were home at the time. So obviously I'm skeptical, thinking this would be a good story to get into someone's home.

I inform her than she may not come in and that I'm not opening the door for a stranger in the middle of the night, but would call someone for her if she had an emergency. Of course she wasn't interested in that and left, making me feel that my suspicions were justified.

 

[Trunk Monkey]

Which makes we wonder about society. Have we gotten to the point that we can't be bothered to answer the door? No wonder people live in a place for years and don't know their neighbors.

I didn't say answer I said open

I do know my neighbors at least well enough to say hello to. I never said I wouldn’t open the door to them, I said I’m not going to open the door to hear you pitch meat, the paper, vacuum cleaners, girl scout cookies or the Watch Tower to me and I don’t see how society is diminished by that.

You knock on my door I’m going to ask what you want, if you tell me you’re selling something I’m going to tell you no and we’re done. Why did I need to open the door for that?

 

[Kleanbore]

Posted by Arkansas Paul: I don't simply refuse to open the door for a stranger but they will tell me who they are and what they need before I open the door.

How do you verify that what they tell you is true? How do you know that there aren't two others out there?

Consider CCTV and an intercom.

 

[JRH6856]

I've never answered a door to a stranger and had it turn out good.

I have. I never know the guy delivering pizza.

(But I do have TV and an intercom)

 

[Arkansas Paul]

How do you verify that what they tell you is true? How do you know that there aren't two others out there?

There is no way to verify or know with 100% certainty.

There comes a time when you make a judgment call as whether or not to open the door or say sorry. Like the scenario that happened to me that I mentioned above, I didn't feel right, and considering the time of night it was, I declined to open the door.
If I feel good about it, I'll open it.

Could this possibly burn me one day? Well I guess anything is possible, but I'm not going to barricade myself in my house and refuse to open the door to anyone I don't know.

 

[WNTFW]

In my case if you are knocking on my front door you probably don't know me.

Now that could mean you want kill me for a reason or just because I inhabit the house you picked. It could also mean you know me, I am expecting you and I forget to tell you to come to the side door. It could mean you are at the wrong address for whatever reason. It could also be you are inquiring about one of my rental properties. I have also had process servers beat on my door at early hours as is their MO. A lot of the time is for someone that has never lived here or not in the past 30 years anyway. Some of them obviously use an address of an apt.

I just have to make the right decision.

The one thing that I find disturbing is when people think if you approach their front door they somehow have a right to threaten you. Ditto on if you turn in their driveway.

We are also door lockers. No doubt bad stuff can happen. It is good to be diligent.

 

[WestKentucky]

So here is my list of points made that I disagree with.

Leaving the door unlocked is common practice during "awake" hours and I do live in a good neighborhood. Obviously this situation was an exception to the norm but I will not change my ways to fit a world made what ours has become where everybody is scared of everybody else.

To the same point I don't give a rats patoot about who sees me with any of my possessions, especially a weapon. That's what the safe is for and insurance covers the rest. I have, and will continue to open carry at home, clean guns and reload in my wide open French doors and generally not care what others think or say because I am within my rights to do so. I have had Jehovah's witnesses trying to talk to me while I cleaned a deer in my truck bed in my front yard. They weren't very helpful. So to end this section of the rant, if someone happens to see a weapon that is being safely handled then it is not brandishing or anything other than bad timing. It was seen so I didn't try to hide it. So to those of you who pocket carry to answer the door good luck drawing in a close up confrontation when badguy bob shoves your hand further down and making you shoot yourself in thecrotch or leg.

My second post here was the info gathered the next day...really useful at the time of event. I bet if Custer knew he was going to get the whole unit obliterated he might have brought his Gatlin guns. Same deal here, had I known that info I would have shut the door and called my friends to wait a bit but guess what, nobody is a prophet.

Carry inside the home gets more people hurt or killed each year than I'm willing to accept so at home my weapon stays where I can get to it if I need it. And if I can't then I'm a big-ol-bastard and can hold my own.

Last but not least WE should not be criticizing others as some of these posts have been. To point out issues politely is one thing, but to be an ass is not acceptable. That bs gets us turned around on our common goal. Yes I made a mistake based on my recent neighbors domestic dispute and assumed the commotion was just another round of husband vs wife fussing. I admitted that in post#1 but some of you all act like its a mistake to detail clean a gun while your doing "hurry up and wait" tasks. Leaving the door open for friends to feel invited...I'll be polite and say pound sand if you think that's a mistake. They live 2 minutes away and called to say they were on their way and asked if they needed to pick anything up.

And to whoever spoke to the scared shirtless meme of this modern world, thank you. A lot of people act like they are afraid of their families which means that they are so edgy they will have a bad or accidental shoot or they are "putting on" and either way they need a reality check. I have a very close friend who took a 40sw through right buttcheek, into left leg exiting at the ankle. Ask him how confident he was in April of 2012 and then ask about may of 2012. He got his reality check. Now he does what most do. Carry with retention outside of the house, and put the gun on the counter when he gets home.

I understand that this is an Internet forum where you can say and do whatever, but I'm here to tell you all today that your not infallible, the world is not out to get you, and your more likely to get yourself if you have that mindset. Even if you think your in good shape you need to seriously ask yourself some questions and find answers your okay with...especially if you carry a gun. It should be last ditch effort and you had better be prepared to pull the trigger. Carry one at home and consider where it's pointed. Wife, kids, pets, your own "sensitive bits" are all in the line of fire and your probably carrying a gun with no safety and a round in the chamber.

My soapbox is might near worn out so I digress.

 

[Hometeached1]

This might be slightly off topic, but on the subject of carring at home putting you at risk. My thought is when I get ready to leave in the morning I put my handgun(s) on and keep them on until I go to bed, since the time that most people shoot themselves or have a ND is when they are holstering/unholstering, so I'm just trying to minimize the risk while still being able to defend myself and family. YMMV.

 

[WestKentucky]

Hometeached, your absolutely right, most are during holster ing (as was my buddies) but a nd can also happen when the gun is snagged. Be careful of your carry method. If you accept that snag risk is minimal then your good.

 

[Deltaboy1984]

What I gathered from this is to keep your Door Locked. Reload your gun ASAP after you clean it. And it good to have good neighbor's.

 

[Fred Fuller]

Many states have a 'secure storage' law these days. Does yours?

 

[JRH6856]

What I get from this is, what you do in your own home is pretty much your own affair. but if you put it on the internet, some people will assume it is their affair too.

 

[WestKentucky]

Kentucky has no safe storage law, and it takes a lot for a brandishing charge to stick. One of the good things about the bluegrass is that this state embodies the 2A.

 

[Kleanbore]

Posted by WestKentucky: Leaving the door unlocked is common practice during "awake" hours and I do live in a good neighborhood.

Ours too is a "good" neighborhood, and we too left our doors unlocked during the day. In the old days.

But robbers are mobile, and why would we ever expect them to look for booty in a "bad" neighborhood?

So to end this section of the rant, if someone happens to see a weapon that is being safely handled then it is not brandishing or anything other than bad timing.

True. But walking to the door to meet someone with gun in hand and "happens to see" are likely to be interpreted very differently. Brandishing, menacing, assault, and aggravated assault are not trivial charges. indeed. And there is always the risk of being shot.

So to those of you who pocket carry to answer the door good luck drawing in a close up confrontation when badguy bob shoves your hand further down and making you shoot yourself in thecrotch or leg.

Good point. For pocket carry, should you choose that approach, wear a jacket, and have your hand on the firearm. But however you carry, when you answer the door, do not open it for "badguy bob".

Carry inside the home gets more people hurt or killed each year than I'm willing to accept so at home my weapon stays where I can get to it if I need it.

Do you have any objective basis for that assertion? Why would carrying inside the home present more risk than carrying outdoors?

Last but not least WE should not be criticizing others as some of these posts have been.

Some, and maybe many of us, have left our doors unlocked. some, and maybe many of us, have left firearms where they might well have been accessed by intruders. Some, and probably most of us, have opened the door to strangers who turned out later to have been possibly dangerous. The important thing is to learn from our own actions and from those of others and to not make those mistakes again.

 

[Arkansas Paul]

Carry inside the home gets more people hurt or killed each year than I'm willing to accept so at home my weapon stays where I can get to it if I need it.

Do you have any evidence you can link us to for that?
I'd be interested in reading it.
It seems as though if you carry at home the same method you carry anywhere else, the risk would be the same. But I'm just a half smart country boy, what do I know?

 

[JSH1]

Ours too is a "good" neighborhood, and we too left our doors unlocked during the day. In the old days.

How long ago were the "old days"

 

[JRH6856]

Quote:
Carry inside the home gets more people hurt or killed each year than I'm willing to accept so at home my weapon stays where I can get to it if I need it.

Do you have any evidence you can link us to for that?

If he is unwilling to accept even 1 incident, it only takes 1 per year to meet his level of unacceptability. Anybody ready to claim that it never occurs?

 

[Kleanbore]

Posted by JSH1: How long ago were the "old days" [(referring to "we too left our doors unlocked during the day. In the old days.")]

We left our doors unlocked during the day for decades, and so did our parents and grandparents before us. We stopped doing that around five years ago.
This incident was the catalyst.

Coincidentally, we had become aware of the fact that home invasions, though rare, were occurring in surrounding "good neighborhoods", and that when they occurred, they occurred not infrequently during the daytime. Also, police recommendations to keep the doors locked during the day started appearing in the news every spring.

 

[Arkansas Paul]

If he is unwilling to accept even 1 incident, it only takes 1 per year to meet his level of unacceptability. Anybody ready to claim that it never occurs?

If someone uses that logic and has that mindset, I'd be surprised if they even owned a firearm.

 

[Trunk Monkey]

Leaving the door unlocked is common practice during "awake" hours and I do live in a good neighborhood. Obviously this situation was an exception to the norm but I will not change my ways to fit a world made what ours has become where everybody is scared of everybody else.

If this is a convoluted way of saying you're going to continue to leave your door unlocked, let me reply very simply that sooner or later it will bite you square in the ass.

 

[Trunk Monkey]

It occured to me after I posted the above^^^^^ that had the OP simply locked his front door to begin with we would not be reading this thread.

If I take nothing else from this thread I am taking that .

 

[Kleanbore]

Posted by Trunk Monkey: If this is a convoluted way of saying you're going to continue to leave your door unlocked, let me reply very simply that sooner or later it will ....

Not necessarily. It's a simple matter of risk. I got by with it for six decades, but I am not willing to risk the potential consequences any more.

It occured to me after I posted the above^^^^^ that had the OP simply locked his front door to begin with we would not be reading this thread.

Pure conjecture. Would the OP have ignored the text message to "lock and load"? Only he knows.

Might the "visitor" have come around back? There is no way to know, but that's another risk that is probably worth contemplating.

 

[Potatohead]

Why do some here think you should keep your gun hidden? Maybe Im missing something but it seems like a pretty good deterrent to me.