Cleared My House Yesterday

[Treo]

First of all this is The Highroad we don't call other members "stupid".

I've had training in clearing a house when I was in the army, you can't go in full auto W/ grenades in downtown Cleavland.

I've also had to clear a 9000 square foot mess hall / rec hall / activity room by my self armed only W/ a Mag Lite & I KNEW there was a bad guy inside (boss refused to call the cops & rushed into the building alone looking for a fight) Yes I was stupid , but I also knew that my boss had MS & wasn't going to be able to handle her "fight" Thus proving my theory that it takes 2 idiots to make a hero (the idiot who got themselves in to trouble & the idiot who does something stupid to get them out of it)

Here's my .02¢

Why were you un-armed( before going in)? what ever the reason correcting it should be first priority

Dogs not a bad idea IF you're willing to sacrifice it.

If you were just "making sure" the house was empty that's one thing, if you seriously suspect that there's a BG the house call the cops.

P.S. in my case (as I suspect is common) the BG ran out the back door as we went in the front.

 

[bruss01]

Thanks all who actually read the posts and offered thoughtful replies.

Yes, I do appreciate all the input and will add the thoughts to how I will handle things next time.

First, we have considered most of the possibilities covered already. In our bedroom we have glo-stix with a key to our front door attached, the wife has one on her side of the bed and I have one on mine. We keep 2 cell phones, as well as two land-line phones, on our respective nightstand tables. Why? So that we can do exactly what has been recommended if we believe someone is in the house, which is, call 911, hole up in the bedroom, throw a glow-stick out the window with a key attached for the responding officer to open the door and clear the house.

WE ARE NOT STUPID, IMPULSIVE OR RECKLESS PEOPLE. I am not a Macho Man with a chip on my shoulder or fearing I have to prove my manhood by confronting an invader.

I am NOT disputing that it is a bad idea to try to clear the house or apprehend someone if you believe an intruder is in your house. On that, friends, we are pretty much all in agreement.

I think the point that is being missed is the difference between BELIEVING that someone is in your house or trying to break in, vs hearing or seeing something odd and WONDERING if someone is in your house or trying to get in. Obviously, if you believe someone is in your house, calling 911 is the priority and engaging the services of those who have training, equipment, backup etc.... If you are wondering (which is the case in this event) then I think that what I did was reasonable under the circumstances. YES we have both had training from police officers on clearing a house (slicing the pie etc) and know it is to be avoided if you believe someone is there, unless there are compelling circumstances to the contrary (kids trapped in back bedroom for instance). I believe I stated pretty plainly above that at the first sign that anything indicated an actual intruder present or break-in occured, my plan was to back off and call 911 (such as break-in marks, things disturbed in the house, noises etc). My wife and I each have 36 hours of training in defensive shooting and tactics, which did include house clearing, so we may be novices but we are not ignorant.

The suggestion of waiting longer is taken as valid advice. We did not roll right up and go charging in, we sat a couple of minutes considering what to do and observing, but we could have waited longer, honked horns, called the house phone or something. I'll remember that in the future.

Sounds like some think I am expecting the dog to act like a trained police dog. That is not what I think. He is just over a year old... 90 lbs of puppy basically. But he does LOOK intimidating and if anything I expected him to act as a distraction/diversion if I needed to back-pedal. I don't know about most of you, but if I were a bad guy I would much prefer going up against a man alone to going up against a man with a large dog... it would maybe make me hesitate a couple of seconds which would have bought the householder precious time to retreat.

Again, I appreciate any thoughtful advice offered by those who have actually read the thread. I will keep in mind the valid thoughts that have been offered here.

 

[sm]

bruss01,
It is not what you did, instead of how you did it.

True.

I was married at the time and I am one that has to be careful, as I am a target for criminals due to work.
She had two dawgs, and we had not been married long.
She was educated and trained in regard to either of us being kidnapped , her being held hostage, so criminals would force me to do things.

Real deal folks, not a gun school, or training facitly, instead our folks did lessons with her on all sorts of ploys criminals use.
I mean Professional ones, not the street punk wanting your wallet.

She came home and parked her car and noticed the panes of glass busted near the front door.
She went into practiced plans.
Get Away!
She started her car, drove down the street to a retired fella we knew that did lawnmower repair and other piddly things.
She called me , then the cops.

She stayed put, with the retired fella, that I knew very well, and he and I discussed some things I had not with the wife.
Sorry, I could not tell the wife everything...
He called directly the local police and had un marked units roll to keep them both safe.

The concern was, me being snagged in route to the house, which is a ploy used, and I have had that type of ploy used numerous times and still do.
Practiced plans, the office went into full bore alert!
Folks on premise, went into action!
I had a buddy drop by, a UC cop on her day off to say hello and she was down the street at resturant.
Restaurant called and she came back to the office.
She and I used her vehicle, totally civilian, and one body guard from the office followed us.

I drove...I see the postal person, a temp while the regular one was on vacation, and I whip over and asked if he had delivered mail to the house.

"Yes, and that dawg scared the crap out of me..."

Both dawgs in the house.
Retriever had a spot in the back she liked.
Lab liked the sofa, which was up against the multi paned large front window, right next to front door.
Mailbox right b/t front door and that paned glass.

Lab was vegged out, as he did, and when he heard the mailbox, got up to see, as he always did, to see the nice mail man.
Handsome black Lab would do his goofy grin and be his handsome self with the regular mail man.

This time he did not know who that person was and he went into full "protect the house" mode.
He knocked out a few panes, he wanted that person off the porch, away from front door and off the property now!

Temporary mail man said he could not get off the porch and away fast enough.
Later I would apologize better and introduce the damn Lab to this mail man and all was fine.

Wife is under protection, I am under protection when I roll up and visit with Police...
I inform them of the mail man and what happened.
Still, we take no chances.
I give them keys, both front and back, and they hit that house in full bore serious house clearing mode.
Now I am being guarded, ( boy was I!) and one officer is down low, unlocks door real easy and shoves it open and I call the dawgs and out they come "daddy's home!".

Out comes the dawgs the Cops ( we had city, county and state show up) hit that house, back yard with privacy fence, under the deck and the total property was "cleared".

It was not 5 minutes later, police radio crackled.

My wife was kept tabs on, not allowed to come home but the dawgs were left with officers they knew to watch my house.

A buddy of mine, same industry, and he a specially trained German Shepard, real expensive security dawg.
Seriously trained.

He was out running errands, his family at home, wife and he had two young kids.
His front door and back door glass broke at the same time by criminals...
His wife with practiced plans, went into hi alert and practiced plans, and they went into a room, specially built.

I was asked to arrive - he was stopped before he could reach his house and his body guard had called police direct and this how we were reached.

I arrive being guarded.

They found fingers on the back porch, and part of a hand and foot on the front.
That German Shepard went into what he was trained for.
He kept 3 criminals from getting inside.
Blood everywhere and not hard to track the 2 criminals hurt, and they sang like canaries about number 3.

His deal was different than mine, still similar.
His wife and kids went to where they were supposed inside.

That dawg, it will have to hear the special words by him, his wife, or his kids, as they take training with those dawgs too.

Nobody else can use those words and be effective with his dawg.


We get his deal sorta out and the radio crackles again!

Teenage daughter of another person in the industry, has her mom's car, and mom has hers getting tires for it.
Dad is going to meet mom.

Daughter comes down the street, hits the garage door opener, and gets into driveway and there is a guy in the garage with a shotgun pointed at her.
She is only 17, still she too had private lessons on all this, she grew up with this.
No gun schools or other training, just private lessons.

She ducks down, hits reverse, and backs out , slamming into a criminals car and she takes off!
She makes beeline for a Fire Station and is speeding, and a cop gives chase.
She arrives, explains what happens.

Tire place called and hi alert again and folks go into action.

Professional Thugs had bypassed alarms, gained entry to the house, and were waiting for someone to come home, to force him to do things.

Officers babysat my house, and the dawgs.
Wife and I spent the night away from each other with body guards and officers.
Same deal with the other two.

WE did not clear our own homes...
We had practiced plans and these were implemented.

My deal was a fluke , the mail man checked out.
The other two were serious.

 

[bruss01]

Treo -

Thanks for your post.

In answer to your question:

Why were you un-armed( before going in)? what ever the reason correcting it should be first priority

From post #2 in this thread:

Things I am NOT glad about:

No CCW for me (restrictive area) - would have felt a lot better having my hand on a concealed piece when coming up to the door and those first few steps inside.

I have a Utah CCW permit. It is not recognized in the state in which I reside. Carrying a pistol in a vehicle unless on your way to the range is prohibited here. That is why I did not have a pistol on me before entering the house. Have been thinking about a long-gun for the vehicle, but someone legally carrying a long gun in their vehicle, returning from the range, was recently treated to a full-felony-stop with 7 squad cars here, so I'm not sure I'm willing to risk it for the occasional odd occurance. (BTW the guy did nothing wrong, but after involving 7 squad cars they felt obliged to find something to charge him with, so they measured his shotgun barrel from the outside - the wrong way - found it 17.75 inches, and charged him with SBS possession. Measured correctly, the barrel is 19 inches).

 

[Treo]

Thanks for the clarification,my bad

 

[Powderman]

a squirrel jumped from the oak tree onto the house at 2am on a saturday night, I'm supposed to take a cop away from rounding up drunk drivers to come patrol my yard and make sure the boogey man isn't trying to get me?

Yes. Most assuredly, yes!

It is NOT an imposition, I assure you. It is our JOB, and one we take very seriously.

You had a dog with you, which was a good thing. But, I must ask--were you paying attention to the dog?

It's senses will pick up stuff way before we can.

Here are a couple of things to think about....

1. When we respond to a call like this, we think about the worst-case scenario. That is usually why we park a bit away--so that a potential BG cannot see that we have arrived. No lights, no siren. Advertising does not pay.

2. Whoever arrives first will WAIT and observe. What for? ANY sign of movement within the home--and for backup. Law Enforcement training, everywhere, teaches us that to clear a house by yourself is something to be done ONLY in a life threatening emergency. And even then, it is a quick ticket to a graveyard.

3. If we have the option, the FIRST thing we do is NOT to enter the house. We do it the easy way.

We call K9.

Trust me, NOTHING will loosen the bowels of your garden variety burglar quicker than the sight of a Schutzhund coming around that corner. No barking, just low, fast and EVIL.

Quick story here:

Recently, we responded to a call of a juvenile gang member, armed, hiding in a house. The family (fine upstanding citizens that they are) swore up and down that he was not in the house. We knew better.

So, how did we get him out of the house?

Our LT called dispatch, and asked for assistance from Tacoma PD. They showed up with K9--a georgous Belgian Turvuren. We told the family to exit the house, and asked again if there were anyone inside. They, of course, replied no. The handler got K9 out of the car. The dog walked with him up to the open door of the house, looked inside, then looked almost straight up and froze, eyes fixed on the top of the visible stairway. The handler gave the standard warning--that he was about to release a police dog. No response.

The handler released the dog, who shot up the stairs like a bullet with the handler close behind. No noise, no barking.

About 10 seconds later, a thoroughly cowed and submissive wannabe gangster came down the stairs in handcuffs. The officer and the dog followed. The officer had a rusty, sawed off 20 gauge shotgun that was still functional. The story I got of what happened upstairs was that the boy heard nothing--and then suddenly the dog was RIGHT IN FRONT OF HIM. It growled once--and he did the smartest thing he ever did in his young life. He froze too, with his hands in the air--and the Schutzhund did exactly what it was trained to do. It stood at alert--if the boy would have moved, even an inch, he would have had to contend with about 80 lb. of fur coated razor blade.

4. When I do enter a house to clear it with my partner, I'm going in wearing body armor and carrying a holstered sidearm. More than likely, I will have a .223 Carbine (LE 6920) with a REALLY strong light on the front. I will also have a radio on an earpiece, and will have a partner similarly equipped. I will also have LOTS of backup available.

5. I am not the tack-t-kewl guru, by any means--but my training on clearing houses includes initial training at the School of Infantry, Ft. Benning, some advanced stuff I picked up along the way, 15 years of reinforcement training, and (so far) 11 years behind the badge doing hands-on practice.

Am I scared when I clear a house? Apprehensive, yes--scared? Not really. I am confident in my abilities and skills, and the lessons that I have learned over the years. Some of those lessons have been at a high cost to the others who have made mistakes, and have paid in blood for them.

The purpose of this post is to help YOU to make a good decision. In other words, it is NOT a waste of our time to be there for you.

 

[DarkSoldier]

First out of the gate, let me assure you that any thought or opinions I pass to you are not intended to be insulting. Not my place to disrespect someone I don't know. That said, a couple of things do worry me.

One: the door was standing wide open (as I recall your original post) not just closed and unlocked. This would have been a big red flag for me, even in the absence of clear signs of forced entry like splintered door jams or broken knobs.

Two: Loaded and unsecured firearms left unattended in the home. I know it's been covered before but it bears repeating. The burglar could have used the guns on you or, in the event he got away before you came home, taken them with him and used them to harm others. Get a good gun safe even if you have to sell a few guns to do it.

I understand why you didn't have a gun with you. Check your local laws and ordinances to see if you could place an unloaded handgun in a locked box (key on your car key ring) in your trunk with the magazines or speed loaders either on your person or in the locked glove box. That is permitted in many jurisdictions and if it's OK in your state/city, should provide you with lawful access to a gun before entering should you absolutely have to deal with a hazardous situation on your own.

We all have different training and skill levels. I have considerable real world experience in house clearing. I've been trained in it, I've done it and I've trained others in it. Last week I was taking a recertification class in tactical building search and room entry from one of the largest Police Departments in our area. As it happened, the instructors were two of my former students who had first gone through that same class when I was teaching it to them as new officers. As the evening wore on and they put me through the grueling practical exercises that are a part of this course, I walked right past two concealed bad guys in two separate scenarios. In the real world, bad things would have happened. Since it was only training, all that I suffered was a bruised ego in front of my former students.

House clearing in the real world is like scuba diving and jumping out of airplanes: you don't usually get second chances when you screw up. Never take a chance you don't absolutely have to take. Nothing in that house, other than family, is worth taking a chance to protect. Let the cops do it. We need the practice.

I'll end by saying that I admire your courage. You have warrior's instincts. Channel them and train them and they will serve you, your family and the rest of us well.

Respectfully,

DarkSoldier

 

[Blackbeard]

I agree that it's a really bad move to clear it yourself, armed or not. You should never do something armed that you would not do unarmed. Call the police and wait outside, preferably down the street.

 

[Treo]

QUOTE:"It is NOT an imposition, I assure you. It is our JOB,"

Gawd you must REALLY be bored

QUOTE: "About 10 seconds later, a thoroughly cowed and submissive wannabe gangster came down the stairs in handcuffs. The officer and the dog followed. The officer had a rusty, sawed off 20 gauge shotgun that was still functional."

I think I saw that on COPS

 

[Powderman]

Naw, our Dept. DID make COPS one night, when we caught some guys PCSD was chasing.

 

[doghunter828]

I would have done the same. It's my house and I have all rights to defend it. Slow and cautious if anybody strange was there I feel like the dog would have alerted you. You done the right thing in my book. A long time ago a very wise man told me that everyday we have to make choices go with your gut some time we don't have the luxury of time to make these choices.

 

[BullfrogKen]

I have spent enough time in and around shoothouses to know clearing a house is not a one man job.


If we were standing next to each other outside your house that night and you told me you were going in, I'd tell you it was a bad idea and encourage you to wait for the police. I'll comment to say that clearing houses on your own is still a bad idea. Sometimes its necessary, but it doesn't sound like this had the qualities of urgent and necessary.


You got lucky. You had unsecured guns in the house. Had someone been in there, you'd have a real problem. And you might not have known it until you were in the thick of it.


I'm glad everything turned out OK.

 

[USMCDK]

1: I agree that clearing a house by yourself is a bad Idea.

2: I have formal training in this, both in the Marine Corps and the Army, and still it's a bad idea. (NOTE: I have done it myself though and still think I was dumb for doing it. I will tell my story at another time.)

3: I highly doubt that your dog is trained in Schutzund, even if it may be aggressive towards a stranger, it's not doing you much good the moment that BG puts 2 rounds in him.
(if you are anything like most dog owners, that dog is a family member and you'd never forgive yourself for putting it in harms way. I promise you wouldn't forgive yourself.)

4: I agree that leaving a loaded pistol in the DRAW, is a very VERY bad idea... WHY??? Answer: Thanx for telling me where to look for your gun when I (perverbial criminal) break in. I'll make sure to give it a nice home and testing grounds (once again this is perverbial I don't actually mean it, but hope that you get the point.)

No CCW for me (restrictive area) - would have felt a lot better having my hand on a concealed piece when coming up to the door and those first few steps inside.

So My question is... What state are you located and why is it restrictive to have a CCW???

Now if you are allowed a CCW why not keep a CCWG in the glove box??? (only answer this question if you are allowed to have CCW in your state!)

on a second note I agree with the above stated that you might be able to leave an unload weapon in the trunk (this would be considered "in Transport") and the loaded mags/bullets in the glove box. If you can perform said action, I HIGHLY SUGGEST YOU DO IT!!! BTW yes I did read the OP and the whole thread at that.

Also I read the reply that you have a CCW for another state, you should check with local LE and see if they will honor your CCW. (I know in FL. they honor my CCW (NH.)

 

[Ohio Gun Guy]

I would have put on my level 2 protection I always carry. My kevlar helmet, produced my M16 from my butt. My wife would have gotten her AK with 5 mags out. Then we would have cleared the house with my ex-navy seal neighbor in the lead. Oh ya, we would have had 2 dogs and a war elephant.


Really, you did great. Everyone thinks they will be prepaired to the maximum. I believe these things happen like in your case. Exactly when you are least prepared. Again, you did great.

 

[Everman]

Better to wait and see if anyone leaves your house rather than going in looking for them, especially when you have unsecured loaded firearms in an easy to find location. Thankfully you can call it a learning experience.

 

[springmom]

3. If we have the option, the FIRST thing we do is NOT to enter the house. We do it the easy way.

We call K9.

Trust me, NOTHING will loosen the bowels of your garden variety burglar quicker than the sight of a Schutzhund coming around that corner. No barking, just low, fast and EVIL.

Very true We lived in Sunnyvale, CA, when we were first married. Right off El Camino Real, for you all that know the area. Our back yard overlooked a parking lot for a strip center, and little did we know when we leased the house that it was the After Hours No Pharmacy Drug Store (the parking lot, not the building). Our bedroom was at the back of the house, and the headboard against the back wall.

We had just retired; lights were even still on. Suddenly we hear racket, someone coming over our fence. We were not allowed a dog, we did not have a gun. Called 911. They told us to stay low, stay put, don't walk around where we could be seen through a window. They came and came fast. We lay there listening to the negotiations. The guy was determined not to come out. Finally we heard the officer yell, "OK! Forget this....just go get the dog."

Half second of silence followed by "NO NO NO!!!! I'll come out! I'll come out!" Cuffed the guy, off he went, the police called us back to say "come on out, it's ok".

We were obviously relieved, and praised the officers for the thought about the K9 unit. He laughed. "We don't HAVE a dog....." (I'm sure they do now.)

As for the issues raised in the OP:

Hso had the best advice. Just wait. Burglars want to be in and out in as little time as possible. If nobody came out in 5 minutes, your likelihood of being burgled is pretty low. I've had this issue happen from time to time although in our house, it's because one of my dogs knows how to force the back door open. (No, I'm not making this up). So if I've left them outside when I run to the store, get home, walk in....I see the back door wide open. Of course, I'll also (usually) see Jackson there proudly greeting me (Look what I did, Mom, I got in again!) If the FRONT door is open, though, I will go across the street (if my neighbor is home) and call 911. Because if the front door is open, the dogs are either gone or dead, and that would only be because someone had gone in that door.

Springmom

 

[TallPine]

One time we came home to find someone had been in our house. In fact, she was still there! But no loss or damage except for some missing soup, a cracked chair, and some mussed up bed covers.

 

[USMCDK]

HAHA funny tallpine, my pourage is to cold, but this ones just right. haha.

Also I read the reply that you have a CCW for another state, you should check with local LE and see if they will honor your CCW. (I know in FL. they honor my CCW (NH.)

As for this statement I am sorry OP I forgot that you said the state you are residing in doesn't recognize your CCW from CO.

Now my question is, why don't you get a CCW from the state you are in. you do RESIDE there don't you??? So if they allow CCW get one and be done with it. I still say that clearing ones own home is a bad idea, but hey if you want to do it go for it I do it too. YET it is still a bad idea, so is smoking and half our nation does it anyway.

 

[gretske]

It has the lowest round capacity of the 14 handguns we own.

I dunno, a dog has 42 teeth. How many rounds does your highest capacity gun have? <grin>

 

[bruss01]

Well, it's been a few days and I have had a chance to reflect a bit and re-read all the replies.

I really had to chuckle about all the posts asking why I don't have a CCW, even after I commented on it in another post and even directly answered (for courtesy's sake) on another occasion, when it had been covered in post #2 of this thread. Some folks only hit the high points and skim the rest, apparently... but those who took time to read and absorb the details of the situation, THANK YOU!

I have a decent gun safe (2 in fact) and a smaller safe in which we keep some handguns. But I do keep a couple loaded handguns accessible at home. If someone breaks into the house, they're not going to wait around and twiddle their thumbs while I go get a pistol out of the safe and then load it. That's like leaving an ambulance with the gas tank empty, thinking you'll fill it up if you ever get a call. Time will matter, and the risk of someone finding it and using it on me is smaller than the risk of someone breaking in and me not having it available when needed. Maybe I do need a gunvault or other easy-access type security storage - would need at least 3 to cover the bases, so I will definitely give it some consideration.

I also understand the cops who encouraged me never to clear my own house. After reflecting I can't fault their intentions, after all if they gave any other advice and things didn't turn out so well, who wants to be responsible for that? I can imagine that if I came home and found something smouldering, that any firemen I asked would have said call 911 from outside the house and stand on the curb and wait - whereas most of us would get the fire extinguisher or the garden hose and do what needed doing at the moment even if it involved a small amount of personal risk. I would rather have a 1st or 2nd degree burn on my hand from making a mistake, than lose everything (or much) from smoke, fire and water damage.

I did learn some things, especially with regard to waiting longer or making noise before entering a building with (maybe, possibly?) someone inside because it has stood unsecured for a few minutes.

To DarkSoldier, who said:

I'll end by saying that I admire your courage. You have warrior's instincts. Channel them and train them and they will serve you, your family and the rest of us well.

Thank you for the kind comments and your well-considered post. IF I have any small trace of "Warrior Spirit" then I probably get it by osmosis from my wife. She is the real warrior - She once foiled an (armed?) robery at the place she works, using nothing but attitude and chutzpah. She just refused to take the guy seriously, slammed down something heavy on the counter, yelled at the guy to take a hike and gave him the boot. Fortunately for her the guy either didn't have a weapon (although he wanted her to think he did), or wasn't prepared to use it, or her response just threw him off so badly he took off. Being debriefed by her boss and the cops later, she said she honestly couldn't think of anything else to do, and besides she was just so *pissed* that someone would walk in and try to rob the place in broad daylight. Again, not the smartest thing from a self preservation viewpoint, but the gal has a lot of courage. I've seen her chewing out neighborhood hoodlums on the street (when we lived in a very rough neighborhood) because they were picking on a retarded kid. She is the type to charge hell with a squirtgun... which is why I made her wait outside when we came home and found the door open. Yes, she has had the same training as I have, but I felt that the odds of anyone ending up ventilated were less if I did it by myself.

The dog, our new boy - we both have a great deal of affection for him. We have nicknames for him and make sure that his every need is tended to and that he has good food and a certain amount of fun. That said, his purpose in life, his reason for being, is foremost as our protector - that is what gives meaning to his existence. If he were ever hurt or killed in a conflict with a bad guy, we would be hurt, furious and greiving - but in that sense, it is what he exists for, and he is, to a certain extent, considered expendable. Much more so than I would consider my wife to be expendable, for sure. That's why it was him backing me up inside, and her outside with the phone - having only one gun we can get to, she would have been going in unarmed, where he can pretty much fend for himself. I feel it was the right decision to take him in with me.

I do hope to train more and learn more. I will always be the kind of guy who takes care of my own situations, within reason. The key to making that work FOR me instead of AGAINST me is to make sure I know what I'm doing, and where the limits are. For right now, I'm comfortable with drawing the line at "first sign of any intrusion". That's where I back off and call in the pros.

Thanks again all the comments folks.

 

[blkbrd666]

QUOTE: "I'm not going to spend my life shivering in a corner in my nightie waiting for the brave policeman to come and tell me that "suspicious noise" I heard was a tree branch brushing against the window in the wind. A man's got to have some self respect, and if I ever get to that point, how can I look myself in the mirror and not cringe?"


I'm just going to give you a "thumbs up". Right or wrong, I too, prefer to handle my own affairs...I sleep good and feel good about myself.

 

[bruss01]

USMCDK asked:

So My question is... What state are you located and why is it restrictive to have a CCW???

and

As for this statement I am sorry OP I forgot that you said the state you are residing in doesn't recognize your CCW from CO (actually UT).

Now my question is, why don't you get a CCW from the state you are in. you do RESIDE there don't you???

State of residence is California. Suggest a move? It's being considered, right now there are compelling reasons (rather not go into) for me to be here. CA is "may issue" which means the sheriff decides who gets thumbs up, who gets thumbs down. The sheriff's thumb seems to like people who contribute thousands to their re-election campaigns, not much of anyone else. My county, the sheriff has openly said, "No CCW, period". So there you have it. And CA does not recognize ANY out of state CCW permit. I have the UT (non-resident) permit for when I travel out of state.

 

[TallPine]

The dog, our new boy - we both have a great deal of affection for him. We have nicknames for him and make sure that his every need is tended to and that he has good food and a certain amount of fun. That said, his purpose in life, his reason for being, is foremost as our protector - that is what gives meaning to his existence. If he were ever hurt or killed in a conflict with a bad guy, we would be hurt, furious and greiving - but in that sense, it is what he exists for, and he is, to a certain extent, considered expendable. Much more so than I would consider my wife to be expendable, for sure. That's why it was him backing me up inside, and her outside with the phone - having only one gun we can get to, she would have been going in unarmed, where he can pretty much fend for himself. I feel it was the right decision to take him in with me.

Good thinking. Not to mention that the dog probably can't use the phone anyway.

 

[moga]

NO CCW for you, Cali resident. Sorry to hear that. Well, at least that clears up why you weren't carrying.

I find it ironical that you chose to quote me of all people and then went on to defend your choice to clear your own home when I am one of the few that didn't criticize your choice for going inside. I just wasn't clear on why your gun was in your drawer and not on your person.

And, by the way, I did read your entire post. I hadn't read the second before I responded cause most people put all their thoughts into one body of writing when sharing the details of a personal HD experience. Now I know better.

 

[bruss01]

Good thinking. Not to mention that the dog probably can't use the phone anyway.

He fat-fingers the keys, and his diction needs a lot of work. Although it is much better than some tech support calls to India I have been on...

Moga, sorry if I made you feel singled out. I do appreciate the support. Yeah, the 2nd post was some of the fill-in details that came to me after the moment. Dunno why I didn't re-edit the first post to include them - probably because I felt they didn't flow with the narrative and belonged in an apendix. Eh, whatever.