Invasion and Armed Robbery in Suburban Home

[kgpcr]

I dont worry about being invaded. I have a few guns around the house i can get to in short order. If they want to mess with an old Marine with trigger time so be it. I am not going to spend my time worrying about it. If it happens i will deal with it. I am not going to spend my time worrying about something that may happen. I am far more likely to die in a car accident than a home invasion. I dont worry about driving i just buckle up and go. I refuse to live my live with a fortress mentality always worried someone may attack me.

 

[scaatylobo]

I answer the door after dark ARMED in hand.

I do not open the door till I know who and what is on the otherside - in daylight.

Is that paranoid - I DONT CARE.

My wife and my home are sacred to me and no one has the right to violate them.

Just for a moment think how any loved one would respond FOR THE REST OF THEIR LIFE after an invasion.

I do not want to be responsible for that,and I take cautions to avoid it.

Does not cost me a thing and brings peace of mind.

I was born and raised [ for my first 25 years ] in New York City,hope that splains some of my caution.

Then became an LEO for 26 years,and yes made a few "friends" that might want to visit me someday.

 

[lebowski]

No.
A gun, whether it be a sidearm worn "pants on/pants off" or one(s) stashed about a home or business is A tool, not the only tool.

Perusing the article over and over again, I "read" numerous other tools that could have been employed in the prevention perhaps.

-Perhaps having good doors with lock instead of sliding doors might have deterred.

-Not advertising, be it keeping things "out of sight-out of mind" to keeping mouths shut.

-Alarm system with the "day mode" set.

-Dawg. I don't recall reading in the article the folks had a dawg.

Granted I "fired" family too long ago. I understand some folks have "good kin" but I gotta wonder how many crimes and other problems might be alleviated if folks just fired family.

+1

Funny how we all interpret things differently, when I read stories like this I don't think of the need to stash guns around my house, I think I'm glad I have high quality doors and locks and I keep them locked (and have two large dogs).

I do carry quite a bit inside my house. I have an LCP in my pocket now as I watch TV. But I don't always carry inside the house, and when I'm not usually the closest gun is the M4 in my bedroom. I don't worry too much because my doors are always locked whether I'm home or not. Pretty much the only exception is if I'm in the back yard or in the pool, and I'm usually carrying when I'm out there (no, not in the pool).

One other thing I've done and this wasn't entirely for home security, but I have a fenced in back yard and my dogs would run a track in the grass just along the sides of the house. So I put river rock down on both sides and some up against the back fence (the back yard is still mostly grass). To get to my back yard, one has to walk on the river rock which makes quite a racket and it's a VERY distinctive sound of footsteps. If someone is heading to the back yard I or the dogs will hear them.

 

[SSN Vet]

very troubling....

These guys should be flogged and then sent to a gulag for 20 years of hard labor.

Why do the neigbors know they keep money in the house? Loose lips sink ships!

Personally, I don't want anybody working on my property that I don't personally know, or who has come via. a personal recommendation. No yellow pages contractors. No Home Depot parking lot day laboros. Heck, I won't even pay for trash collection, as I don't want anybody coming up to our house that I don't know. I'm fortunate that I even know the UPS guy who has our route.... so even parcels are not delivered by a stranger.

I'm fortunate to live on a fairly good sized lot, mostly surounded by woods, at the end of a 700' private road. But that means I won't benefit from any neighbors calling the police on my behalf.

So I keep a pistol in condition 1, stored in a touch pad GunVault on each floor of the house and keep the doors locked.

Home invasion is my worst fear....

I never used to keep the doors locked while we are home, untill the CT home invasion happened.

There's no reason for anybody to be coming up my drive.... so I don't respond casually to unexpected visitors.

Threads like this are good to keep me re-evaluating my situation, however.

I really do need to get an alarm system, so no one can come in through the basement windows and surprise me at night.

I also need to reconsider carrying while working outside, as I could be caught off gaurd by a couple guys in a car, while I'm puttering about working on the house or yard. I would almost always have some kind of construction or yard tool handy as a weapon of opportunity. But that's not much good against a firearm.

 

[Owen Sparks]

My little 13 pound Rat Terrier barks at the slightest odd noise. There is no way that strangers could approach my home without me knowing about it. My doors are always locked and a loaded firearms is only seconds away.

 

[ChCx2744]

the victims "kept money and other valuables there

^ This. The fact that OTHER people knew this is a no no. The only things of value that other people know I own is a car and a cheap laptop. Is my car or laptop worth taking the longest nap ever? I hope not.

 

[heeler]

While it is very true that having others know you have money or other valuables at your home is a no no here is another scenario out of Houstons home invasions history.
A lot of the home invasions happen to immigrant business owners homes and often times by gangs of their own ethnicity.
Here is one scenario.
An Asian business man owns a Chinese restaruant or perhaps a cleaners.
For whatever reasons of lack of trust in banks,tax evasion purposes,or just foolishness they will take home the cash proceeds from the work day.
Members of ethnic gang knows he owns place of business and carefully follows him home and then the plan is hatched and later the the deed is done.
Happens quite often here.

 

[WTBguns10kOK]

It's comforting to know that my aging parents have absolutely nothing of value in their house. And that my mom would berate them until they left.

 

[comus3]

I spent a few years living in Cape Town South Africa in the late 1990's. Crime was (and is) an incredible problem. Doors, alarms, fences, dogs were the key to living without going completely nuts. A gun was really the last resort. Even with all the crime I still went out to the beach, out to dinner, walked the dog, etc. Living in the US in a neighborhood within driving distance of the ghetto I don't see the need to carry all the time within my home. To each his own for comfort.

 

[Loosedhorse]

It occurred in a good neighborhood

If I were part of an invasion robbery team, I would target expensive houses with expensive contents. That will likely be in a "good neighborhood." And I would go in the daytime, as too many people put their alarms on at night...but fewer do if they're home during the day.

I live in a good neighborhood. The type where folks leave their car doors unlocked...so that every week the local paper lists what was stolen out of people's cars this week. :banghead:

Good neighborhoods have lower violent crime rates, but that is not an absence of crime or of violent crime.

 

[rmantoo]

If I were part of an invasion robbery team, I would target expensive houses with expensive contents. That will likely be in a "good neighborhood." And I would go in the daytime, as too many people put their alarms on at night...but fewer do if they're home during the day.

I live in a good neighborhood. The type where folks leave their car doors unlocked...so that every week the local paper lists what was stolen out of people's cars this week.

Good neighborhoods have lower violent crime rates, but that is not an absence of crime or of violent crime.

Here in San Angelo, we have a population of about 100k people. We have a state university, and an Air Force base. Generally, it's a very safe town, with little crime... but as happens in your neighborhood, Loosedhorse, most of our vehicular burglaries are in the better neighborhoods, to trusting people.

Heck, this summer, a guy had returned from shooting, put some of his guns in his gunsafe in the garage, and left it open (with the garage door open) for a minute to help his wife slide the couch back so she could vaccuum under it... when he walked back out to the garage, 2 guys were running down the driveway w/an armful of his guns to a waiting car... He yelled "stop or I'll shoot" (he didn't even have a gun in his hands) they dropped all the guns, ran to their car, and drove off. And THAT was in THE nicest neighborhood in town.

However, at least once a year or so, there's an actual home invasion, about 1/2 the time in 'the ghetto', and the other 1/2 in one of the 5 or 6 middle-to-almost-upper class neighborhoods. First home invasion ever in this town was about 10 years ago. In every case so far, the perp was known to the home owners, and vice versa.

No actual shootings or fatalities, so far, but it's only a matter of time. Personally, I don't intend to be on the wrong end of the sight picture if it should ever happen in MY home, but my goals involve living in a manner that hopefully won't ever attract that type of attention.