The topic of this forum is strategies and mindset for staying safe. I think my family is devoid of both and I fear one day they are going to get themselves killed through stupidity.
I've recently moved back into my parents' home temporarily until I move out of state in about a year. I used to see a pattern when I lived with them years ago whenever the alarm went off, and now it's just as bad if not worse.
My father owns a gun, but it stays in a safe. He has never pulled it out for anything except once to show it to me. He's owned it for 20 years. He's afraid of it from what I can tell.
The house is very big. It's a two story house on the water. So you can't just take a look outside the door to see if the coast is clear, or listen.
When the alarm goes off in the house, if turned off via secret code, the alarm company calls, they ask for an additional secret code and if it's an emergency of false alarm.
Now - here's what I'm here to vent about. For as long as I can remember, the procedure with my family has been, when the alarm goes off, don't check - just turn it off, let the alarm company call, and say it's a false alarm. Nobody attempts to arm themselves, or check, or anything.
Tonight it was even worse. The alarm went off, I was ready with my ccw gun at my side just in case in my old room at the door frame (where I was when the alarm went off). My father turns it off, comes over, criticizes me for having my gun at my side..... then when the alarm company calls, I said, "Nobody knows yet if it's a false alarm." He says, "I don't want the police coming. Tell them it's a false alarm." Then he walks downstairs in his underwear, unarmed in the dark, to see if it's safe - against my recommendations. Comes back up, says, "I don't see anything." and goes back to sleep.
My recommendation was to wait about 30 minutes staying where everybody was, if nobody heard anything, I'd try to sweep the house with everybody upstairs to avoid any possibility of an accident in the dark. In the meantime, I saw nothing wrong with the cops coming (I just wouldn't want them to confuse me for an intruder). When living on my own, this is what I did.
Is my father not thinking, or am I paranoid? We live in an urban area, so this is not a place where the chance of crime is slim. More than one murder has taken place in this neighborhood alone. His method could have easily gotten him shot. What's the point of having an alarm with his reaction, not to mention the point of having a gun? What is he planning to do, go downstairs, see somebody, say, "OH! Sorry Mr. Robber..... give me a minute to go run upstairs to dial in the combination to my safe and get my gun, then load it, and then come downstairs again so we can work this out." ??
I've recently moved back into my parents' home temporarily until I move out of state in about a year. I used to see a pattern when I lived with them years ago whenever the alarm went off, and now it's just as bad if not worse.
My father owns a gun, but it stays in a safe. He has never pulled it out for anything except once to show it to me. He's owned it for 20 years. He's afraid of it from what I can tell.
The house is very big. It's a two story house on the water. So you can't just take a look outside the door to see if the coast is clear, or listen.
When the alarm goes off in the house, if turned off via secret code, the alarm company calls, they ask for an additional secret code and if it's an emergency of false alarm.
Now - here's what I'm here to vent about. For as long as I can remember, the procedure with my family has been, when the alarm goes off, don't check - just turn it off, let the alarm company call, and say it's a false alarm. Nobody attempts to arm themselves, or check, or anything.
Tonight it was even worse. The alarm went off, I was ready with my ccw gun at my side just in case in my old room at the door frame (where I was when the alarm went off). My father turns it off, comes over, criticizes me for having my gun at my side..... then when the alarm company calls, I said, "Nobody knows yet if it's a false alarm." He says, "I don't want the police coming. Tell them it's a false alarm." Then he walks downstairs in his underwear, unarmed in the dark, to see if it's safe - against my recommendations. Comes back up, says, "I don't see anything." and goes back to sleep.
My recommendation was to wait about 30 minutes staying where everybody was, if nobody heard anything, I'd try to sweep the house with everybody upstairs to avoid any possibility of an accident in the dark. In the meantime, I saw nothing wrong with the cops coming (I just wouldn't want them to confuse me for an intruder). When living on my own, this is what I did.
Is my father not thinking, or am I paranoid? We live in an urban area, so this is not a place where the chance of crime is slim. More than one murder has taken place in this neighborhood alone. His method could have easily gotten him shot. What's the point of having an alarm with his reaction, not to mention the point of having a gun? What is he planning to do, go downstairs, see somebody, say, "OH! Sorry Mr. Robber..... give me a minute to go run upstairs to dial in the combination to my safe and get my gun, then load it, and then come downstairs again so we can work this out." ??
