I am constantly amazed at the number of people who believe they’re prepared for a home invasion who are clearly, absolutely not. Don’t get me wrong: if someone doesn’t want to contemplate the idea of bad guys entering their home, that’s OK with me. Depending on whether or not you keep an ounce of blow somewhere on the premises, the odds of a home invasion are lower than the odds of injuring or killing yourself by slipping in the bath. But I have real issue with people who say they’ve got a plan and don’t. After having a friendly chat with (i.e. interrogating) dozens of shooters on the subject, I’ve identified several common profound weaknesses. Let’s start with this: they don’t have a gun . . .
Oh they have a gun. Most have several. Know how to shoot them too. But they don’t have immediate access to a gun in their home. Which is the same as not having a gun. They all think they’ll be able to run to their gun at the start of a home invasion. That is one seriously dangerously delusion.
You think the bad guys are going to make an appointment? Knock three times? Wait while you prepare for them? Allow you to secure your kids before you get your gun? I wouldn’t bet my life on it. And neither should you.
Experience has taught bad guys the wisdom of Adam Deciccio’s recipe for personal defense: speed, surprise and violence of action. Even the craziest of them get it. Ironically enough, I can illustrate the problem with a report from wfie.com:
The victim, Tabitha Inge, told deputies she awoke to find Stevens, who also goes by the name Lorie Dunn, standing over her wielding a knife.
The sheriff’s office says the two women did not know each other.
Inge said Stevens forced her to cook a meal for her and load computers, mail and other items into Inge’s van. That’s when deputies say Stevens told Inge she was going to assume the victim’s identity and ordered her to help her die her hair.
Inge broke away, grabbed a rifle and tried to shoot Stevens. The weapon failed to fire, though, and Stevens then ran into a bedroom where Inge’s daughter was asleep. Inge followed and began hitting Stevens with the rifle. Stevens then ran out of the house, leaving in Inge’s van.
Don’t get distracted by the fact that Inge was asleep at the time of the invasion. Yes, she should have secured her doors and windows. A perimeter alarm helps me sleep like a baby (when I do).
Don’t worry about the strategic error of not fighting like hell as soon as possible. Some people can’t summon sufficient mental and physical strength when faced with a deadly threat—especially when they’re caught on the hop. Sometimes strategic concerns (such as children in the house) mean you gotta go with the flow, and wait for your chance to escape or attack.
Focus on the fact that Inge didn’t have a self-defense gun strapped to her body. Or, less MikeB302000 antagonistically, anywhere within easy access.
I highly doubt Inge’s weapon failed to fire. I bet Inge failed to fire the weapon. The rifle was probably unloaded. Or had the safety on. Or something. Again, bad planning almost cost Inge her life.
But even if it had fired, the odds of shooting a home invader with a rifle (or shotgun) are far lower that the odds of shooting the perp with a handgun. Handguns are more accessible. More wieldy. Less obvious. More versatile. Rifles and other long guns are easier to deflect and “confiscate.”
I’m down with that whole “handguns are for fighting to your long gun” concept. In that order. But the best way to think about this is simple enough: if Inge had been home carrying, this story would have had a different arc. As would the tale of horror endured by Dr. Petit.
If you’re going to rely on a gun for part of your home defense plan, observe the first rule of a gunfight: have a gun. And the second: no one expects the Spanish Inquisition.
Remember: that bump-in-the-night I’ll get my gun out of the safe or grab the one by my bed scenario that most people like to prepare? It’s only one possibility of many. Unless you’re home carrying, you are only ready for a very specific set of circumstances.
There are plenty of “common sense” objections to home carry. It’s unsafe for the kids (definitely not true if you keep your gun on you at all times). I’ll look like a nutcase (who’s coming to dinner?). Etc. And there’s one common sense reason to man (or woman) up and carry a gun in your home: if you need it, there it is.
As John Lennon said before he was shot to death, life is what happens when you’re making other plans. Semper fi baby. Semper fi.
“NCG says:
April 3, 2011 at 2:37 AM
Apparently, I have touched a nerve. Which means the nerve was there to be touched. It truly was not my intention.
I’m new to Internet opinionating. Work is slow and I have too much free time. I will never stoop to the sort of juvenile flaming that permeates so many sites, left and right.
Funny thing is, we don’t even disagree about the topic at hand. I totally support your choice of the means to defend yourself.
So clearly there’s some other problem.”
Not sure what to tell you other then a lot of people are very keen to protect their own and it is a very personal thing to them. We banter back and forth all the time amongst each other advising what is better for a safe home and what not. We brain storm and like to give our 2c on how we do it. It is a very personal issue that is very dear to peoples hearts because it is a very important and very real issue for them ( I live in an area currently that has about 100+ armed break ins on a slow month). For me caring for my own starts with them being safe. It is the number one issue, the number one thing I do to do my part as the head of my house hold. Food and water are in the tie place but they are not much good if there is no one able to consume it.
I guess what I am trying to say is that people don’t like to be questioned about things they have put their heart and soul into to get the way they think is best. I guess you could compare it to asking a stranger in a prying matter how they manage their money. Where I am from it will usually get the same response as has been witnessed by yourself on this forum.
I don’t have an issue with you. I just see that there are a lot of people that do and feel the need to point that out. Rarely on here have I seen folks swear like one dude did on you. It isn’t an example of most peoples treatment of ‘new’ folks on here. That kind of response is usually reserved for the resident trolls. So, yes, I would say you have touched a nerve somewhere.
…this is why I have a 122 pound German Shepherd who loves his humans and is a complete asshole to everyone else.
just a thought-found out the hard way that one dog is great, but 2 dogs protect each other! Love the handle you have, by the way!
“Lord, let me be the person my dog believes me to be.” Nothing says more about the boundless love of man’s best friend.
“can’t we just (all) get along”… Seriously, I like the counter statements et al. Some days and nights, like tonight, it helps to distract me from these friggin migraines! I missed out on all the fun yesterday seeing yet another specialist, who turned out to be a recent gun nut convertee. We spoke of his Kimber .45 and the broken barrier from my sinuses to me brain! I don’t see it, but from personal experience, I wanted to add to the log-get collector’s insurance for all your weapons. It’s cheap and I assure you, homeowner’s doesn’t cover weapons! I even cover my knives-especially the custom ones. Just like flood, you hopefully will never need it. I encourage all grown ups to be on this site-and yes, I am one, even with my off color jokes! If I seem crass some days, be assured it is probably because I’m having a bad day. As for the unable to walk to Mcd’s thing-I dead lift 700 and can knock over my wavemaster kick boxing bag from 3″AWAY WITH ONE PUNCH. I try and stay in fighting shape, and even wear safety toe footwear for enhanced kicking ability. I am my girl’s bodyguard, after all!
oops! “Awaiting moderation!” I failed to make my point-I think we all need to not make it so personal, discussion is the key to democracy-not unsavory comments-I hate needless wrath. So now, let’s all hug…
My grandfather was an English teenager apprenticed to a foundry when WWI occurred.
To get there he went through school where you maintained your place by fist fighting with working leather gloves. After being gassed, shot, burned and injured in many other ways in his service as a Royal Combat Engineer Sapper he was rewarded by being sent to Ireland to maintain order where he literally fought his mates to keep his rations because sickness (influenza in this case) and starvation are an unfortunate occurrence of instability.
A savage existence that knows violence is more the norm in this world than the exception even today.
That we have not experienced widespread uniform hunger and violence in the US and Canada is a blip in the worlds history that many ascribe to moral ascendancy. Those who embrace that view are at best naive.
The failure to acknowledge that preparation for violence is one of the surest ways to avoid it is to plan on failing. That a fundamental element of preparation is an essential knowledge of when not to engage in violence is to often conveniently overlooked.
There are people who are dangerously obsessed with weapons but there appears to be many more who are foolishly obsessed with a reality that simply does not exist even in their blessed statistical bubbles of good fortune and denigrate others who do not share their fantasies.
Outstanding social commentary! Your Grandfather must’ve been a hell of a man. My Great grand was a full-blooded Iroquois who fought WWI.
My earlier post was more of a reaction not just to ncg, but also to magoo, who always seems to have that self righteous holier than thou attitude, as if he is one of the “chosen few” who should only be allowed to carry a weapon because he is the end all be all of proper gun knowledge. I’ve been following these blogs for a while now, and he seems not to be able to understand that not all people are like him and wouldn’t want to be like him. Irks me to no end.
In short, I just wanted to reiterate that some people carry 24/7, and no we don’t live in the back of pawn shops–some of us live in nice neighborhoods where anything can still happen at any moment. Of course I have an alarm system, and a dog, and motion sensor flood lights and all of that. But none of those will work if YOU are unprepared. Like most of the others on this blog, we feel the need to be prepared; this is not paranoia, it is NORMAL. I don’t like the insinuation that if you aren’t prepared, you must be normal. We all have our reasons to carry, and we all have the right to do so, no matter what anyone says.
The issue is not just the probability of an event, but the consequences. A low-probability event with high consequences may well be worth preparing for, as compared with a high-probability but low-consequence event. Breaking my glasses is a high probability but low consequence event. I don’t get excited over it. My house burning down is a low-probability event, but with high consequences. Hence I have fire insurance. Enduring a home invasion may be a low probability event, but it’s a very high consequence event. Vide Dr. Petit. Hence I try to be prepared for it.
The one time I suffered a home invasion I awoke to find an intruder at the foot of my bed. Fortunately I had a handgun on the floor beside my bed. When I brought it into play he left in a hurry. I got a dog the next day, and have had either a dog or a burglar alarm in every house I’ve lived in since then. Having a gun handy is important, but so is having some means of being alerted BEFORE the bad guys are at your bedside.
People who ridicule you for preparing for a low-probability event are overlooking the other half of the issue: the consequences of the event. Expected cost of the event is the product of probability of the event and the cost if it occurs. Both are important. The expected cost of even a low-probability event can be very high. Maybe even your life.
I still think everybody is missing NCG’s point. He’s not arguing that you shouldn’t prepare for a low probability event. He’s not arguing about the right to defend youself with a gun. I believe he simply is inquiring about why this particular threat (attack from another person) apparently receives a disproportionate amount of attention from people in the gun culture.
One reason may be that nobody is trying to take away your right to smoke detectors but people are actively trying to take away your right to firearms. Then again, I’m sure smoke detectors are a heavily regulated industry and this could have the effect of pushing out superior smoke detector designs. Is there a “Truth about smoke detectors” site that has heated debates about the government involvement in over-regulation that is stifling innovation? I’m not really joking, I really do get bothered by too much regulation where there is probably no need for it.
You could just put a revolver in your nite-stand and call it a day. You don’t need to read gun sites like this one, take the time to comment, debate ad infinitum on the best calibers, etc. I know for myself, part of it is to be better educated but part of it is entertainment because I find guns interesting. There you go NCG, a real answer. Yes, I want to protect myself. I also spend a lot of energy on this because it’s a hobby and I find it fun. Was that so friggen hard?
NCG, am I kind of getting to your root question? I don’t know why you get responses from people that launch into a diatribe about how much they can squat and how they can kick me in the head. Awesome. Anyhow, I think I’ll read this site since I’m a big fan of Farago but I’ll leave my comments to myself.
Jason
“he simply is inquiring about why this particular threat (attack from another person) apparently receives a disproportionate amount of attention from people in the gun culture.”
Well, that question kind of answers itself. If it were the physical fitness culture, we’d be talking about the joys of whole grains. Besides, the thought of being attacked just gets us pissed off.
I have been thoughtfully reading the exchanges involving NCG. My personal conclusion is that he is a teasing liberal provocateur posing as a true believer in the 2nd Amendment, by hiding under the false cloak of “I-am-just-like-you”.
He claims to hunt, maybe ala John Kerry. He claims to own guns, but yet keeps it someplace else (he has a job, so he can afford an affordable safe if he want to keep safe custody of his gun). Then, he subtly attacks under the false pretext on intellectual curiosity, but substitutes logic and analysis with narrow negative stereotypes and comical characterizations of a very broad and diverse group of gun owners who have different crime/neighborhood situations, varying personal life experiences with crime and violence, and a range of ideas about preparedness.
My turn to characterize him: NCG writes well and uses sarcasm like an under-employed left wing “journalist”, and the news happen to be slow these days. If he is not a journalist or self-proclaimed blogger, he has the self-righteous socialist attitude that we are all expected to behave the same way, think the same way, prepare the same way, despite our individual differences, illnesses, health condition, and unique conditions.
The leftist elitist condescension is not immediately apparent until you read all his messages…all his tracks lead to the same socialist political pathology. He claims not to have advanced education…another one of his “I’m-just-like-you” pretenses (another one of his false notions that we are “under-educated”… I happen to have a double-major undergrad in the sciences and went to one of the top law schools, and there many others here like me. One of my two shooting buddies does not have a college degree, the other is a highly respected physician specialist. We are diverse, and share a common interest).
NCG may have forgotten his American history lessons or chose to rewrite it – the 2nd Amendment is one of the sentinels of the 1st Amendment, and ultimately, the Constitution. Our Constitution empowers the individual to protect and defend himself, his home, his Ccountry and the freedoms that he enjoys in thus country. And one more, I’m not “Bubba White”. I am a naturalized citizen from a third world country whose family came here legally in 1970′s in pursuit of justice, equality and opportunity. My brother served in the US Air Force (but father suggested one if us should serve in our “new” country), and three uncles fought with the U.S. Forces against the Japanese in WW II and the Chinese Communists in Korea. From my family’s and my life experiences, the number one enemy of American freedom and economic prosperity is the socialist ideology.
Am I prickly about NCG’s left-wing provocation and agitation? No. That is expected behavior. I am intellectually disappointed…and disgusted, which is my own expected behavior towards Socialists.
Now that I have exercised my free speech, I wholeheartedly welcome NCG and hsi views in this forum. I may not always agree with him, but I will defend his right to express his views and beliefs.
Hello, NCG! Since this is forum about guns, what guns do you have? My second hobby is making my own leather holsters. What holsters do you use, if any?