One of my favorite gun gurus [not Michael Bane above, although he’s a good ‘un] once said, “If someone’s in my house who shouldn’t be I’m shooting them.” It was the only statement he ever made with which I disagreed. But hey, he’s a combat vet: a man who knows a thing or two about playing the odds. Odds are if someone’s in your house who shouldn’t be—especially at ‘o dark hundred—they pose a credible, imminent threat to life and limb. But not always. I keep bringing up the possibility of a child providing early morning unauthorized access (or egress) to a member of the opposite sex. True story. Here’s another cautionary tale rip/torn from norwalk.patch.com . . .
A city man looking for his car Sunday night kicked in the door of an apartment, but the person he was looking for lived in a different unit in the building, police said.
Police spokeswoman Sgt. Lisa Cotto said officers were dispatched to 5 Eclipse Ave. at 11:07 p.m. on a report of a man having kicked in the door of an apartment demanding to know where his car was.
“Where’s my (expletive) car?,” officers reported he asked the people in the apartment. The apartment’s occupants had no idea who he was, Cotto said, so a woman there called 911.
The man left . . .
There are lots of way to look at this, aside from “thank God some innocent homeowner didn’t get charged with manslaughter and lose his or her gun rights forever.”
First up, everyone who has a gun for self-defense in the home should have an alarm system for their windows and doors (renters can buy a portable system). Next, home carry. (No one expects the Spanish Inquisition). Also, develop a home invasion response plan for yourself and your family and do at least one dry run per year.
More to the point . . .
Always give yourself the option of NOT shooting. Keep as much distance as possible between yourself and the [suspected] bad guy, allow for the possibility that they will turn tail and run or mistaken identity (know your target and what’s beyond it). Practice NOT shooting at the range (bringing your gun on target with your finger off the trigger).
Ain’t nothin’ wrong with a defensive gun use. Unless there is. As always, good luck with that.
Cotto said the officers learned Papadopoulos had been out drinking with a friend, and that person told Papadopoulos he was too drunk to drive and took away Papadopoulos’ car keys.
Later, knowing his friend lived at 5 Eclipse Ave., Papadopoulos went there, but kicked in the door of the wrong apartment, Cotto said.