Home Invasion Alerts?

I have a few questions about being alerted (from sound asleep) to ready for action. What causes you to be asleep and then ready to be awake and able to defend at moments notice. I do not have a burglary system, dog (to expensive in college), roommates moving around, etc. I was wondering if there was something to make it easy to distinguish between all other potential alarms and what to listen for?

Also I have multiple firearms that have trigger locks and cases but do not have cash for an actual gun safe due to student financial circumstanes. What else can I do?

I usually have a glock .45 and a 12 gauge with 00 buck as my bedside weapons so I am equip to handle situations that would arise but I do not know that I would be woken up by someone bumping a key and may mistake roommates walking around for bad people and vice versa.

Any suggestions/ideas appreciated. We just had some THUG new neighbors move in that have been eyeing us down a lot. Somehow they can fit 12 people into 2 bedroom student housing. They with 90% stole our bikes out of our back yards and Im confident an invasion isnt too far off looking at the quality of their character..

 

You can put some noise makers on your door handles. Anything from Christmas bell type things to cheapy home depot type alarms where they make a loud squeeling when they seperate. If the noise doesn't scare them off it will wake you. It's a very distinct sound so you will know it's not roommates walking around it's like your up and ready.

Good luck bro I've been there done that. I lived in a luxury apartment complex where rent was about 1200 a month for a 1 bedroom but they squeezed like 5 guys in to that one apt below me. I had to watch them like a hawk. My wife is very attractive so I had to send out a big don't mess with me vibe - you'll be ok. Just stay alert.

 

Went through something similar when I was in college. My place was burglarized. I had four rommates. I bought a gun. They didn't like the idea so I moved out, got my own place. I never had any problems in my new place. I didn't have much to steal. I carried all the time back then even before I had a permit. I figured if I came home to a problem I would be armed and if someone came in while I was there I would be ready.

Nowadays I'm a little less apprehensive. I don't carry all the time. I have children so I can't leave loaded guns around. I do keep an unlocked 410 with a few shells hidden in a very secret place. I keep my doors locked but my neighborhood is pretty safe. I know most of my neighbors and I don't think they want to start a gun battle. I have hardwood floors throught my house so if someone walks anywhere I hear it. I occasionally hear a bump in the night but I have never heard any footsteps. Most of the time it just a toy or something falling off the shelf.

About a week ago an ice storm knocked out my power and I was asleep in my office. I didn't hear the power go out but when I came back on I woke up and was ready for action. My fax machine had come out of sleep mode after the power came back on. Wonder what it would look like after a shotgun blast.

 

#2
Ledgehammer
Member


Join Date: June 2, 2010
Posts: 166
You can put some noise makers on your door handles. Anything from Christmas bell type things to cheapy home depot type alarms where they make a loud squeling when they seperate. If the noise doesn't scare them off it will wake you. It's a very distinct sound so you will know it's not roommates walking around it's like your up and ready



How can I do something so that my own two roommates will not constantly set off false alarms.

 

Put them on your bedroom door dude. Other than that you have to be psychic. If your roommates let people walkin and out of your house constantly how can you think it's possible to have a viable alarm system?

You have to be realistic.

 

Put some rules for everyone to be safe. Then play with the options you have, noise makers, electric lock (do not need a key), even security alarm stickers only are good deterrents. In the event of an attack defend your life and show no fear.
Cheers,
E.

 

Well in that situation you simply cannot be as well prepared as you may like.
There is no way around it.


You say college, so I assume you have short term roommates, so it is new people you have to learn all about every so many months, learn their new behaviors, go through new unexpected things etc
So you cannot even over time come to various understandings that typically require experiences, because you will just have a new roommate.
Even rules established are likely to get broken, at least by some initially and with a high rate of new people it makes expectations based on those rules worthless.
It is also likely to be people that invite other people you do not know over, so you have strangers that come and go.
Young people fresh on their own often also are for the first time free to have parties, barely known guests over, drink alcohol, or otherwise do things they couldn't with parents and so a large percentage often do so to excess before learning limits and boundaries.
Being roommates with such people means you are prone to random roommates or guests doing unexpected things, waking you up, opening your room's door on accident or to say something etc It also makes you ripe for theft because a lot of people you barely know will know the inside of your home, what is there of value, as will people none of you know that they talk to.

Even just your past, current, and future past, roommates knowing about your guns makes them more likely to be stolen as their friends and guests hear about them. Especially since they are easy to access and someone could be in and out with them. Don't forget guns are themselves valuables.


The situation also makes your shotgun nearly worthless, because if you investigate suspicious things visibly armed with a long gun you are going to freak people out, whether roommates or their friends, and probably wouldn't even know if a total stranger was there as a roommate's guest or not and so not even know they were a burglar.
Not many people are going to want to be around the guy that scares them with a loaded gun, roommates or their friends, some may move or kick you out and some may even get the police involved.




The best solution is to make your room more resistant to theft, safe, locks on various things etc Lock on the door, maybe reinforce the door, and make the room more separate from the rest of the place.
It primarily increases the time theft takes and reduces your risk from casual opportunists.
But in the end there is major limitations to the situation.
You cannot be ready at a moment's notice and cannot react until a threat makes itself known as a threat, which takes a lot longer in that living situation.


You simply must come to realize the limitations and accept them until you have your own place, or even long term roommates beyond college.

 

Set up an electro-optical switch across your doorway.
They are real easy to build. All you need is an infrared emitter and receiver, a CMOS switch, and a few other components that escape me at the moment. You bias the transistor such that current flows to the drain, until the beam is crossed, then the CMOS reverses bias sending current whatever your little heart desires.

My favorite would be the 120db siren, or you could get fancy and activate a focused ultrasonic emitter at a frequency that causes the goblin's ears to burst.

Here's a cheap kit.

http://mstmicro.com/proj/pyrokit.html

 

http://www.asseenontv.com/prod-pages/first_alert_alarm_system.html

There ya go.

I know you said it's not an option, but my cow dog is a good first line. And second, I guess.

 

I put one of these Harbor Frieght Driveway alerts, near my front door, Now I know if someone is near
http://www.harborfreight.com/media/...ab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/i/m/image_2583.jpg $17.99
Just have to put it so cats and dogs don't set it off. I hid mine, so that people don't even know it is there.

Then you can get a $70-80 Q-See QSVOSB Security Observation System Monitor & 2 Cameras (Black & White) to just watch your stuff walk off. I like having a separate monitor, because it is always on. You can just buy a camera and hook it to your TV. I do have a separate 4 camera DVR system that is completely remote.

This could be you?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/18/utah-video-police-kill-man-drug-raid_n_810420.html

 

Welcome to The High Road Sublimelaxer!

Have to figure out the best solution given your circumstances.

Simplest solution may be to get a futon and sleep in front of your door.

 

Reinforce your bedroom door. Prop something like a pogo stick up under the door handle. Takes some serious force to get through it. String a bell on the pogo stick/door knob.

 

My friend found window alarms for real cheap at the dollar store. When the contact breaks it makes a load scretching noise. Then I saw on t.v. [can't remember what show or what it's called] a door stop type alarm. You put it at the bottom of your door and when it's opened it makes a load noise. Good luck.

 

The natural solution...a dog!

 

That is a surprisingly practical solution.

 

You NEED a gun safe.

 

At the very least a lockable gun cabinet that can be bolted to the wall. Cabela's has one (8 gun I think) for $99 right now.

 

My home alarm is set up for all three door entries and windows. I just press #### and everything is armed. I no longer have a contract with ADT, but this doesn't mean I still can't use the system as an audible alarm for myself.

If the alarm is somehow bypassed, I still have a guard dog as second level of defense. After this is the last level of defense (me) and it's at this point the second level of defense is rather appealing in comparison. Dog teeth have to be better than a bunch of zinging hollowpoints.

 

Your living quarters situation is untenable the way you described it. If you can’t afford a secured gun safe (one that can’t be carried off without great effort) then your only real option is to move to a location that you can afford to make tenable. There's no sense worrying about waking up when your guns have been stolen.

You might be able to sneak your Glock into class, but I know that you are not bringing your 12 gauge there, so how do you secure it when you are not in your apartment?

 

As for that fax machine...after a shotgun blast? It will look like TRASH! sorry...couldn't help that...

Mark

 

dogs....not dog,dogs....plural.

 

If you've ever been in a situation of forced entry from the outside, you'd realize

that breaking into a home usually makes a fair racket, on the INSIDE of the house.

You can probably figure out a simple system for weapons concealment UNLESS

you have small children about.(They have a mysteriously magical talent for finding loaded firearms!)

 

Other than the options listed above or moving that's about it. Unfortunately there are no secret ninja moves for sleeping with one eye open or being able to tell the difference between your roommate and burglar.

 

I would concentrate my efforts on protecting your room when nobody is home. I think the "Thugs" will more likely try to figure out when nobody is home and get what they want without any resistance from you or your roommates. I would certainly find a way to secure your firearms when your not there.

 

OK, first, you couldn't possibly live in a worse neighborhood than I do. It didn't start out this way; but, that's how it's ended up. So, you're getting this reply from someone who actually does sleep with a gun under his pillow and all the blinds and curtains drawn every night.

Frankly, I think you're a little bit too well prepared. A 45 and a 12 gauge are overkill. If you, also, have, 'multiple UNSECURED firearms' then you've got too many guns in the house! I've had to do some long hard thinking about home invasion scenarios. (One of which actually occurred to us back in 1990.) I've concluded that, the vast majority of the time, you don't need an arsenal to fend one off.

ONE gun and, about, a dozen rounds should be more than adequate for anything except an entire platoon. Keeping more firearms around is an invitation to getting them stolen - Especially under the conditions in which you're presently storing them. I'm wondering: Do you have some sort of, 'deep cover' hiding place for your gun - Someplace you can keep it safe and undetected when you're not at home?

Many (many) years ago, I used to have to sleep in potentially dangerous circumstances. Part of the solution was to always sleep on my back with a weapon tucked under my thigh. Be aware that there is a certain risk associated with this behavior. In the, 'fog of waking up' some people are just as inclined to shoot themselves as they are anyone else. It's happened!

The internet is full of tripwire alarm devices that you could use in front of windows or doors in order to give you a few moments' warning. Something else I like is an innocuous trapper's wire loop snare. (Won't accidentally go off and injure one of your roommates.) Place the loop in a thief's most likely line of travel; and fasten the other end to something in the room like a heavy piece of furniture and/or a tripwire alarm.

Use your imagination. Inside, or out, these simple precautions CAN help to keep you safe. In your situation the first thing I'd do is remove the extra firearms from the premises. If you've got a G-21 you don't really need to keep a 12 gauge, too; and, whatever else you've got shouldn't be left around the house. There are few things worse than having to come home to face one of your own guns.

As for your roommates? Tell them to pay attention. It's their personal safety, too. Besides, if your roommates are anything like several of my college roommates, they'll be among the very first to steal from you. You've got too many guns. Suggest you keep only what you actually need.