“‘One time I know I scared them off is when I closed the bolt on my AR. It’s a very distinctive sound,’ the homeowner said. Now, he sits on his couch each night, waiting for an intruder who is bold enough to step inside. ‘The police told me, unless they actually get through that door, I cannot use deadly force.'”
Those are the words of a resident of the Raleigh section of Memphis, one of the highest crime rate cities in the nation. Burglars have repeatedly tried to break into the man’s home.
As he states in the video, he’s been staying up at night, parked on his couch, rifle in hand, wearing a plate carrier.
From WREG:
The body armor weighs 25 pounds. While some may call it extreme, he says “it measures that I am willing to protect my family.”
Senator Chris Murphy has not been available to comment.
Nobody needs an AR-15 to hunt.
Nobody needs a semi-automatic rifle to defend their home.
But mass shooters NEED these weapons in order to murder as many people as efficiently as possible.
And so nobody will miss them when they are illegal – except for the killers.
— Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) March 16, 2019
THAT, is exactly why I continue to use my Grandad’s Winchester Model 12. The sound of all that metal sliding against metal is a distinctive deterrent!
How many times have you actually deterred anyone? Criminals are f**king stupid so I wouldn’t count on sounds deterring them
As dumb as criminals can be, they listen. I once asked an experienced trooper why they still carry the 870 and not some semi. He said the sound makes them stop in their tracks.
And make sure the gun is loaded!
When I was 14, I was home alone when a group of individuals attempted to break into the house. I grabbed my brother’s 20-gauge shotgun, loaded three shells into it and walked upstairs. I could see at least three people outside the mostly glass French doors. I got close to the doors and racked the shotgun, chambering a round. They all ran for it. The sound IS a deterrent.
You will spend far less money if you don’t have to shoot someone. The sound of racking a round, may work. But don’t ever fire a warning shot. Shot to stop the threat.
The sound of a pump action shotgun is rumored to be quite distinctive and effective too. I personally would lean that way over an AR, call me biased.
The sound of a shotgun being racked can be very, very unnerving if you’re not expecting it.
that is because a pump action shotgun has a very distinctive and DELIBERATE sound to it. it is not a sound that could in any way be mistaken for something accidental. That is why they scare the left so much.
Pump Shotguns have a sound most people know. It is reconized by many. Most of my friends carry shotguns.
Do they use inside-waistband or outside-waistband holsters? Or maybe mexican carry?
In any case, must be awkward trying not to print.
Is that a Mossberg in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?
If the environment is that hostile, I would keep the bolt closed with a round chambered and safety on. At that point, upon reaching the interior of the home, the first sound that a home-invader would hear would be BANG!!! It would also probably be the last sound that the home-invader hears.
Note: this assumes that the home owner hears the home-invader before he actually breaches the home and is able to switch from “safe” to “fire” amidst the noise of the home-invader breaking in.
Beat me to it. I suspect the boom of an AR fired indoors is a “distinctive sound”
WHAT? I CAN’T HEAR YOU OVER THE RINGING.
“GOT A RINGING IN YOUR EARS? Why dontcha answer it”? (My audiologist likes to live dangerously).
Maybe, maybe not. Boolits( most) travel faster then sound, a headshooted might not hear a thing. . . I have had an officer rack a shootgunm in my face, the sound got my attention for sure, but the hole in the end of the barrel was big enuff to crawl in
Yeah, if I was breaking into a house and I heard someone close the bolt on an AR I’d be making my way down the ol’ dusty trail.
On a side note: The House in Kansas has now voted 83-41 to lower the age for CCW to 18.
Meanwhile in Idaho a bill allowing people 18 and older (lowering the age limit from 21) to carry firearms openly or concealed within city limits (currently they can do so outside city limits apparently) passed the House earlier this month and has now cleared the Idaho Senate.
If the Leftists are fine with 16 year-olds voting in elections, then 16 year-olds should have the right to carry.
After all, it’s just as large a responsibility to chose who runs the country that it is the right to defend oneself…
Probably larger.
Let’s be real. The reason Leftists want to lower the voting age is because for all the complaining they do about the South a Leftist LOVES lowered ages of consent.
Now they can fuck kids twice. In a hotel room so no significant others find out and once in public at the polls. In the process they take over the country.
Hat trick.
For all the noise the Leftists make about ‘getting out the youth vote’ in every election, the kids still manage not to actually show up and vote on election day.
We got that going for us…
“the kids still manage not to actually show up and vote on election day.”
I can just imagine how the teachers union will promote voting by 16YO’s
* “Field trip” to the polling station on election day
* Teacher day off on election day
* “extra credit” on your grades with proof of voting
Extra credit, only if you vote for the candidate with the D after their name!
I don’t know if that CCW -18 thing is such a good idea. Yes I know right to carry, defend oneself, bad guysFTL, and all that. I’ve run a bunch of scenarios through my head, when I was 18, and law be damned. I carried a pistul. That was then this is now, the young adults were more mature back then.I MO. The young adults I’ve seen here recently as a majority are not quite there yet. However if I was voting, I’d have passed it, to many variables not to.
I guess whatever works but that strategy is also letting the burglars know there is a firearm in the house and they can be patient and wait until they know one is home to try and steal the firearm.
I read recently that, according to FBI stats, most burglaries happen during the day. (I’m not sure why that is so, but I assume it’s because burglars sleep at night.) This is in line with what you say, as they could case the joint to see if the place is empty of people.
A responsible gun owner would do what he can to ensure any guns in the place are secured. The average burglar isn’t prepared to break into a “gun safe.”
I’ve always believed that simply hiding a gun isn’t effective; most burglars have been (or still are) ‘yutes’ and know most of these hiding places.
So, yes, most burglars are patient enough to pick a place to burgle that isn’t occupied. Whether most are patient enough to actually stake out a place they have reason to believe has guns or not is, IMO, yet to be proven,especially given the fact that a lot of people I know who make no secret of the fact that they have guns have yet to be burglarized (including myself since I’ve owned guns).
Yeah I agree with taking efforts to secure firearms. However I do have a personal safe under bed for quick access and they could walk out with it and worry about getting into it later. Being retired I am home vast majority of the time so I don’t worry about it too much and we live in very low crime area with neighbors that look out for each other. I have motion detector flood lights around house too. Going to put some cameras up soon now that there are battery operated wifi ones that work off motion detection too. Amazon sells Blink XT models.
I think most burglaries happen in the daytime maybe because they target people they know are at work. Supposedly lots of times they try to appear like delivery people.
Guess we’ll have to place that in the pantheon along with shucking the slide of a pump shotgun and thumbing the hammer back on a revolver. Too bad for the Glock boys that trigger dingus is so quiet.
“Too bad for the Glock boys that trigger dingus is so quiet.”
It seems to me this is more of a problem for the homebreaker than the Glock owner.
Good point.
In fairness it’s hard to win more style points than holding your Glock up above your head and sideways pointing down at the burglar.
I guess striker fired pistol owners could leave the slide locked and then release the slide to have a similar effect to an AR-15 bolt closing if they are looking for a sound effect deterrent.
I think I’ll stick to thumbing the hammer back on my 6-1/2″ .44 magnum SAA. If that don’t scare the shit out of a burglar he just don’t know his weaponry.
Grumpster, I keep an AR that way…
Not because I want to make noise, but because it’s one extra negligible step that provides a level of “safety” while the rifle is sitting. It’s very easy to grab the rifle, smack the bolt release, and flip the safety all at once.
I don’t know if it’s a good habit or a bad habit… i just know that every now and again I pull out the magazine, put the rifle back where it was, and then I practice grabbing/smacking/flipping a few times.
I keep everything except my revolvers in condition 3. No kids around the house but still, better safe than sorry.
Racking the slide is likely effective, but not loud enough for anyone to hear. Personal experience, G19.
Chris Murphy: “…mass shooters NEED these weapons in order to murder as many people as efficiently as possible.”
And police carry the SAME weapons in their squad cars…why? Unless they’re also planning to murder as many people as efficiently as possible, they shouldn’t miss them.
Take AR-15s away from the police, and then I’ll consider giving up mine (maybe…probably not).
Wonder the Memphis man’s comments generated a ” red flag”?
Wonder what the standing requirements for a ‘red flag’ complaint are.
If it’s any citizen, it occurs to me that criminals might (ab)use it to ensure they won’t get shot.
I wonder why “Burglars have repeatedly tried to break into the man’s home.”?
There are many dumb criminals. They are easier to catch. And easier to kill.
I prefer the next noise they hear, would be their last…No “warning” sounds here, the next sound you hear, will be your demise, the last sound you hear, will be you drawing your last breath…
Someone breaks into my house. The first sound they’ll hear is the sound of Peter slamming the pearly gates in their face. Their soul may belong to God. Their ass belongs to S&W,Bushmaster,Ruger,DPMS,Remington,Iver Johnson,Marlin,Benelli. Just to name a few. Which one depends on what one I have handy.
Careful there. You run the risk of someone breaking in and you not being able to decide which gun to shoot him with.
If somebody even comes through our gate the sound of 400lbs of ridgebacks sends em packing. And the dogs are mellow compared to the old grumps that feed em.
Or 400 one pound Chihuahua’s, and the dogs are half as nutty as the owner. ;>}
I slam the action home on my PTR 91 and they’ll shit a brick.
I know I know a semi auto .308 is an inappropriate choice for home defense. I’ll go def dum and blind and whipe out half the zip code. But in a hypothetical contest of “intimidation factor” I think the battle rifle class owns the trophy.
Gadsden,
If we are talking urban miscreants, I honestly believe that the sound of wracking a shotgun is more intimidating than the sound of cycling the action on a semi-auto rifle.
Remember, the overwhelming majority of urban miscreants cannot afford semi-auto rifles which means that they have never seen/heard one and therefore have no idea what they sound like. However, most urban miscreants have indeed heard pump-action shotguns (being much cheaper and all) and know their distinctive sound.
” But mass shooters NEED these weapons in order to murder as many people as efficiently as possible. ”
I really doubt this. Step into the mind of the mass shooter–
I don’t think it’s likely that the shooter starts out with a body count in mind. I can’t believe that any one of them said “I’m going to take out 25 people today”, and if they don’t make that goal they’ll feel unfilled. As soon as the mass shooter takes out his first victim, I’m sure he feels satisfied– everything after that, to him, is just icing on the cake.
The idea that a mass shooter needs an AR to do his deeds is disingenuous. I’m sure he would get the same level of satisfaction using a single-shot rifle. His goal is not reach a predetermined number. His goal is to keep on going for as long as he can with whatever he has until he is stopped. The type of firearm is completely irrelevant.
And if he can’t use a firearm, he’ll use a machete or a samurai sword.
If the anti-gun mafia would take their heads out of their asses, maybe they wouldn’t have shit for brains.
Can I use your last paragraph?
Vegas was an outlier due to the range involved. Most mass shooters work at distances across a room or less. More than half of mass shooters used something other than a rifle. The choice of weapon has not shown to affect casualty/death rates in mass shootings. Most of the worst ones were perpetrated with handguns.
The only thing that affects the efficiency of a mass killer is the timeliness of armed response.
There’s no need for all that macho AR15 action twaddle. Step out on the porch. Fire two blasts. Get a shotgun! Get a shotgun!
When I was the ripe old age of thirteen Bucky and I delivered a dozen eggs to Clyde Foley’s house on the last evening of October. Clyde was the kind of guy who didn’t care much for anyone, including neighbors, so he was expecting us. He had a 12 side by side, but he had mercy on us (or more likely a limited selection of shells) and was shooting seven shot. I caught the first shell, Bucky got the second. Given that he was six years older Bucky was proud of me for not yelping. Two years later a man decided to shoot a large crow that had landed in a backyard bush. He didn’t see me walking down the gravel road on the other side of that bush. Again I was grateful someone was shooting bird shot. My dad’s employee had worked as a nurse and she did the extraction work (both times). My fondest memory is of the use of turpentine as an antiseptic. Two out of three shootings result in a dead dude. I keep that in mind as when things go bump in the night.
Just as often, having an empty chamber indicates to an assailant a lack of seriousness.
A 55gr fmj or a load of #4 buck in the face is a much more reliable attention getter.
Once you’re in my home, that’s more than likely an unrecoverable error, not unlike an inverted flat spin in a P-39.
Hm, my weapon is suppressed, with subsonic ammunition. We’re not losing OUR hearing because some numbskull decides to threaten our lives.
Now, I’d just prefer to leave it to everyone’s imagination whether they’ll hear a round being chambered or not.
Consider upgrading to supersonic ammo. The terminal ballistics are MUCH better and the sound of the bullet cracking the sound barrier won’t be any louder than the gun itself going off indoors (assuming you’re using a semi-auto).
I think I currently have subsonics in my suppressed home AR, but they will be cycled out eventually.
Yep…suppressors only attenuate energy dispersal at the muzzle. They do nothing to soften the noise of the weapon itself, nor the supersonic crack.
That said, that 5.56 supersonic crack is pretty loud…it’ll ring your bell.
Sorry guy’s…no warning sounds from ME. Surprise surprise 😄😊😏
Most people just don’t know how fast these things happen. I looked up and saw a woman squatting on the sill of my back room window. It took her about a second to slide back the window and perch on the frame. I yelled “NO”, she yelled back, “I thought this place was empty”. That took about another three seconds. She dropped back into the back yard and took off running. This happened a little before 11 AM on a Thursday, about a week ago. I had a loaded pistol within arms reach. It all went so fast I never had time to reach for it. I didn’t try to chase her. I would become the aggressor and if she wanted to she would be within her rights to defend herself from me. I never bothered to call the police. It’s true, when seconds count, the police are only minutes away. I didn’t have to shoot anybody. There would have been all of three or four seconds when it would have been a legal shoot. Time in jail, yup. Time in front of a Grand Jury, yup. Several thousand dollars in legal fees, yup. Looking over my shoulder for the rest of my life, yup. Having to live with the knowledge that I’d taken another human life, yup. I live in a free state, Castle Doctrine and Stand Your Ground, yup. I did exactly what I’ve been trained to do and nothing more. De-escalate the situation and end the confrontation as quickly as possible. Monday mornings quarterbacks make my bones tired. If you haven’t been there, your comments will not be appreciated. -30-
First off try locking your windows. Second with castle doctrine and stand your ground laws in your jurisdiction the odds of you going b4 a grand jury are about as likely as getting hit by a car in the court house parking lot. PS if you don’t want others commenting on your post then stfu on a public forum.
Ad Astra, where we’re your drops? Have you ever told anyone to “stfu”, face to face? Tell all of us how that worked out for you? -30-
I don’t understand people like that guy. Always resort to a FU or whatever to show how tough they are.
Anyway, I agree. These things happen in SECONDS. I was getting in the shower one day and on my way to the shower I saw a dude in my backyard looking in the window at me. After both of us froze for a few seconds I grabbed the nightstand gun and went to the back to see if he was breaking in or what. He hopped the fence and bugged out. People don’t realize when this type of shot actually happens to you, you’re rarely in the position to immediately ‘lock and load’ and strut your stuff. You’re going to be doing something else, with something else in your hands or mind occupied with other things.
The second time someone was in my yard I was a bit quicker on the draw, but still. It’s never a situation of drawing quick and showing your gun, but a situation of ‘wtf is happening’ followed very closely by ‘is this a threat to my life?’ I’ve read far too many armchair operators who seem to think it’s the wild west and if it happened on their watch, they’d be looking at a dead robber. It’s way more complicated than that and only when it’s happened to you do you realize that it seems.
Too much TV and video gaming, perhaps?
Racking the slide or slamming the bolt are for movies and TV shows. The purpose of a defensive firearm is to shoot the threat enough to stop it. Not to play sound effects or test theories. Such as: “If I make a sound of racking my pump gun will the burglar instantly start spraying bullets at my sound or just run away?”
I hope he’s hardening his perimeter in addition to standing (sitting?) guard. Better door locks and jambs, security film on windows, some cameras, etc would all go a long way towards making his home more of a castle; if he’s going to stand watch on the walls, as it were, they might as well be good ones.
But I am glad this story is being run.
It’s pretty stupid running a hot burglary. You’re apt to get your head blown off. That’s why most burglaries are in the day when no one is home. Anyone coming in at night, especially to a house with a resident with known intentions and abilities, just defies common sense.
Good points. So most residential break ins are during the day and right after the resident leaves for work/school. Some burglers hit the wrong house drug house. Some robbers need the home occupants to be present so that they can use coersion to locate the valuables. There are many scenarios to consider. It’s a matter of figuring out and prioritizing what works for your situation and environment (check your ‘hood stats on crimemapping.com). In general, a layered, multifacited plan of defense will CYA (I.e. a dog, home security system, cameras, moti9n detection lights, home carry weapon, hidden guns with flashlights hidden throughout the house, hardened home entry points, your neighbors watching out for each other, practice OPSEC, setting your’s and family member’s mindsets for SA when transitioning in and out of the house).
And if he’d have had a silencer on it , what then? Uh huh,
Rodney King was standing and fighting with police after having been tazered(TAZED?) four times. Do you believe a person in that condition would be frozen by racking a shotgun or any other metal on metal sound? We have to stop confining our thinking (and home defense planning) to what would work on us.
Huh.
Sitting on my couch with an AR & plates ain’t crazy until *after* I been burgled.
Got it.
Sorry, but “it” happens to those who insist that they’re immune often enough.
ShiroSake, sounds like you’ve “seen the elephant”. Even if you don’t shoot, you will never look at things the way you used to. It’s not a bad thing. The last sentence of your post says it all. If it hasn’t happened to you, there is no way you can know. -30-
never give away your position by “racking” anything!
When engaged in combat, the vanquishing of thine enemy can be the warrior’s only concern. Suppress all human emotion and compassion. Kill whoever stands in thy way, even if that be Lord God or Buddha himself. This truth lies at the heart of the art of combat…
If you have to shoot… make it a KILL.. You will be arrested and initially charged(possibly).
DO NOT SPEAK TO THE COPS! NO STATEMENT, NOTTA.. WAIT FOR YOUR LAWYER OR HAVE ONE APPOINTED FOR YOU!
It’s ridiculous to deliberately rack an AR or similar weapon and to fumble around for the safety..
Here’s the ticket. Fully loaded magazine in the weapon…bolt locked back and out of battery…weapon NOT ON SAFE (it’s safe enough provided there are no children in the house, like mine).
Just bounce it once on the ground and the bolt will go home with a live round in the chamber are you’re ready to rock. Takes less than a second and it’s right every time.