(poll) Do you answer the door with a gun?

[Cannonball888]

I look through the peephole first. If it's someone I don't know I'll grab the pistol on top of the TV and conceal it SOB or IWB.

 

[Kharn]

I always have a handgun behind the door when I open it.
Gives me a chance to quote Doc Holiday "Forgive me if I don't shake hands"

Kharn

 

[Shovelhead]

My front door can be viewed though the living room bay window.

It's amazing that everytime I look at the person knocking, they NEVER glance sideways to see me.
They're always staring straight ahead at the door.

What I see determines if the door gets opened, and then if the gun is in the holster, or held behind my back.

 

[cyclist]

Your poll needs another option, either:
Depends
or
I won't publically say, maybe, maybe not.

"um, ya I guess, sometimes...WHY?!"

You do realize just how much information you gave him right then and there, right? And why exactly did you keep your wondering about who said what to yourself? That would have been my first questions to him, "exactly which neighbor said that and what exactly did they say?". I would have then gone on to ask him to identify himself and show me his solicitors permit. You still don't know if he was legitimate or not. You also don't know if he next went to other neighbors and used your name as a confidence tool on them.

 

[Steve H]

I live in the mountains where we VERY SELDOM have anybody come by/knock on the door. I can seen from the inside of the house who is at the doors from other rooms. If and when we do get a stranger at the door there is always a gun with me and my wife has hers very close by. One good thing about where we live if someone drives up we can hear them in the driveway before they get out of the can. The dog also makes a good early warning system.

 

[The Unknown User]

"Not paranoid, just used to occasionally meeting up with folks that I've arrested."

sacp, does this mean people you've arrested show up at your door for revenge? Or have I misunderstood? (I hope I misunderstood; that's a scary thought.)

 

[fletcher]

If I don't hear the special knock from our neighbors (unplanned, they just knock a certain way that I can identify), I'll at least put a gun in my pocket before I answer.

 

[Walkalong]

ALL unexpected knocks after dark are answered by an armed person

Ditto. Occasionally in the daytime if they look suspiscious.

 

[Zundfolge]

ALL unexpected knocks after dark are answered by an armed person

I still don't understand why so many people feel so compelled to answer the door AT ALL?

If I don't recognize you then you're either there to annoy me (sales person) or worse, so I just ignore the doorbell.

 

[eyebrows]

My yard is fenced, at night I chain both the walkthru gate and the drive thru gate. My friends know where the doorbell is hidden by the street.
As for the entry doors I always keep the storm door locked. This gives me the ability to open the main door and talk to someone without giving them a chance to rush me. Anytime I answer the door, day or night, I have either a 9mm or a .38 on my person. My neighborhood borders the getto and there are sometimes some unsavory people out in the street, and it's getting worse. Hell I'm armed when I mow my grass anymore.

 

[David904]

I'm always armed.

Always.

Just the other day, I caught a 16-17 year old kid coming out of a friend of mine's carport. He took off when I called out to him. My friends looked and nothing was stolen - fortunately. It made me take further notice of the fact that even though I live in a pretty safe neighborhood, bad things can and do happen in your own home. So, just in case someone tries to do a home invasion on me, I do carry even while at home.

There is no reason to stop being careful about the safety of your family just because you are home. Just look at what happened to that doctor and his family in Cheshire, CT just a little while back.

 

[Colin Doyle]

I don't think we've ever had anyone uninvited knock on the door - the driveway is about 1/4 mile long and weaves through several farm buildings before climbing a hill to the house.

 

[Rokyudai]

I don't answer the door, unless I am expecting someone or after peering from a safe locale and determine the threat level (sounds worse than it is...I'm a pretty laid back fellow).I will be armed. The lovely Mrs. does not answer the door under similar circumstances. We are in a relatively new development where we have daily visitors....which makes nightly visitors more suspect.

 

[foghornl]

When I go to the door, the "GI-45" is in hand...or at least in hip pocket.

 

[doc2rn]

I carry 24/7 also so yes

 

[41mag]

Reminds me of a time when I,um,scared the neighbor lady.

It was about 11 o'clock at night & I had been in bed for a few hours.The dogs woke me up to the sound of something(someone?) banging against my back door.I grabbed the Mossberg,rolled out of bed,& headed for the door.Peeking through the windows I didn't see anything so I flipped the switch for the outdoor floods & opened the door to have a look.

Nothing there,'cept the wind was banging my backyard gate around.I don't know why I did it but I turned my inside light on about then & looked up.The old lady next door was looking at me,thru her kitchen window,all kinda curious & then she started giggling.Apparently a fat bald guy in his underwear(carrying a big,mean,black shotgun) looks kinda funny.Ooops.

She told me the next day that it was "our little secret".

 

[Cannonball888]

 

[sacp81170a]

sacp, does this mean people you've arrested show up at your door for revenge?

Not so far, but I've run across people I've arrested while shopping at the grocery store down the street about a half mile. The bad thing is when it happens while you're accompanied by your wife. Happens to almost every cop if you spend long enough on the job. My wife's not real happy about it, but she's gotten used to it. It's not like I'm real worried about it, but these are people you wouldn't invite over for dinner.

 

[phoglund]

I seldom get people I don't know at the door as I live out of town a bit. If a stranger drives up the drive I'm armed by the time they get out of their car. I've also begun carrying while at home quite a bit so am likely to be armed anyway. Besides, I've spent so much on carry firearms, holsters, and accessories it doesn't make much sense not to use the stuff!

 

[TallPine]

I still don't understand why so many people feel so compelled to answer the door AT ALL?

We have on a few occasions had people show up genuinely in need of assistance, since our house is one of the few in this area at least somewhat visible from the county road. One time a guy stopped by to report a fire, though on that occasion I was outside working in the yard. So he got to meet me bare-chested and with my sidearm readily visible. He was probably even more surprised when I grabbed my fire gear and radio to go check it out.

If I'm wearing my jeans, I'm wearing my sidearm. So yes, I always "answer" the door with a gun. Though as I have posted here several times previously, if I don't know who you are, rather than opening the door I will usually come out a door on the opposite side of the house and come around the corner to see who you are. If it's dark or I just feel more suspicious than usual, I might have a rifle in my hands as well as my sidearm.

We probably don't have more than 1 or 2 unknown visitors per year. Almost always I am either expecting someone or I recognize their vehicle when they come in the drive. Last summer somebody drove in without even alerting the dogs. We had a knock on the patio door and all I could see was his shoes under the blinds. So I did the come from around the house routine and it turned out to be a neighbor from down the crick a few miles. He totally understood my caution.

 

[RioShooter]

My snubby is always in my front pocket. Therefore, when I go to the door (and anywhere else) I am armed.

 

[Carl N. Brown]

Recently we had a case where an elderly woman answered her door and was attacked with a knife by a man against whom she had been scheduled to testify. She defended herself effectively with a cane, and the man was jailed (with additional charges). The man intended to kill her to keep her from showing up at trial. So yes, I think it is wise to answer the door to strangers armed as a precaution.

-------------------------
edited to add: By the way, my hometown has had eight murders in the past three years: at least five of the eight were home invasions for drugs (or money to buy drugs). In one, a couple allowed themsleves to be tied up and the home invader proceeded to beat them to death with a baseball bat.

 

[rantingredneck]

I typically wear my carry weapon until I go to bed. So yes, I'm usually armed when I answer the door. We don't get a lot of late night visitors and we usually know in advance when people are coming over. If I'm unarmed and there's an unexpected knock on the door, I arm myself.

 

[Papaster]

As far as opening the door at all, I live in a Townhouse community with all varieties of people milling about at various times of the day. Some in need of a jump start (that's happened twice since I've lived here). Some are new maintenance people. Some are pesky sales. Some are police looking for the former tenants. I check the peep hole, always armed, and crack the door (it swings in to the left) and block it at about 6 inches wide with my left foot. I keep my gun in my hand behind my right leg. This seems to be the easiest deployment position, without alarming anyone. If I'm expecting someone though, I might not be armed. Just depends on the time of day. I'll still check the peep hole though. I often carry a gun holstered around the house, but not always.

 

[Papaster]

Oh yeah, and my better half pretty much never answers unexpected door knocks if I'm not home (and I do the answering when I am). I've talked to her about taking a gun the few times she does open the door, but so far she hasn't felt the need.