Well, burglars are welcome to anything in my house, but if they come into our bedroom, all bets are off. After reading this thread, I think the best place for my rifle is in the walk-in closet. That gives us a place to retreat to, and a killing zone if they try to come through the master bath to get to it. I've had someone break into our house in Japan, and I'd be fine with killing someone to protect my wife - but then we'd have to move out of the house. I think we're in a good situation - gated subdivision, but our house is on the entrance street. My dogs are more watchdogs than guard dogs, but they make a nice racket.
No one here is talking about possessions. what we are here talking about is advice for home defense with a GUN. You think gun is not the best way to go. OK, we get it. Go kick fake guns out of peoples hands when your Sensei tells you.
The_Conquistador takes no prisoners. Step 1: Sign on all exterior doors that reads: Trespassers will be shot. Survivors will be shot again. Step 2: All doors leading out of my house are equipped with man traps. My bedroom door also has one. I have two false walls in my house that enable me to access a hallway to a snipers nest at the top of my main stairwell, providing a kill zone as the intruder makes his way up the stairs. Of course I keep my master bedroom closet filled with ammo, a charged cell phone, night vision goggle, assault weapons, 6 days of food/water, and a ghillie suit.
See, I have a couple of problems with this post. First of all, I'd like to think that confronting a burglar is the last resort for the great majority of people, whether they be gun owners or not. Common sense tells me that you own a gun to have it as a deterrent and last resort in case you fear for your life. I realize that there are some crackpot exceptions in the south and in Texas that get off on gun ownership and would relish in confrontation and chasing down burglars to make use of their gun. However, in gun conversations it always seems like those opposed to gun ownership speak about these exceptions as if they were the rule. Second, I think learning martial arts is good advice, in general. But I'm not sure I would ever advocate trying to use it on a burglar. The last thing I'd want to do would be to get into a 5-foot radius around the burglar because you never know the situation. If he has a gun or knife, you're pretty much screwed. If he is able to knock you unconscious, or choke you out, who knows what is going to happen to you. I'm trying to play scenarios through in my head, and it seems to me that hand-to-hand combat would be nearly last on my list of viable options. And even if it came down to that, would formal martial arts training help me that much? I figure if you are in your house, it is close-quarters, so you really don't have much room to maneuver. In those cases, am I wrong in thinking it would be best to just try to grapple/subdue them and/or go for the vulnerable spots (eyes, balls, upward strike to the nose, etc)? In the effort of full disclosure: I don't own a gun, but I'm obviously not fundamentally opposed to owning one for self-defense. I guess I'm just of the mindset that if it came down to it, I'd rather fight for my life than have my life be at the mercy of someone else. I can only assume that this mindset would be magnified if I was actually fighting for my wife and childrens' lives too.
You've totally missed my point. I've never said don't use a gun or kick guns out of people's hands. I've said you shouldn't seek to confront a home invader and the best thing to do for safety is to get out of your house.
Sorry if that wasn't clear but I'm not advocating seeking to confront a burglar / home invasion even if you know martial arts. As you say any confrontation is a last resort. The safest thing for you and your family is to get out. Any confrontation is going to be inherently risky since there are so many things that cannot be predicted such as how many people there are breaking in, whether they are armed themselves and etc...
Going outside, with or without, a gun is bad news. Probably there is a lookout who will instantly see you. You are not as familar with outside as you are your own house, and there are many more places for people to be where you cannot hear them or see them. Also the people INSIDE will come out at some point. The best thing to do is secure your family and stay put.
Not true. If you are sitting in a sniper's nest with an assault weapon and wearing a ghillie suit, there are very few risks posed to you.
That is a good point and short of a panic room there is really no guarenteed protection from a home invasion. I think a lot of that depends on where you live and how well you know your neighbors. If you live somewhere where you don't have neighbors whose houses are close or visible getting out of your house is going to be more risky than where you neighbors are close. Barring that situation though everything I have heard is that getting out is still safer as a close quarter combat with an intruder, whether with guns or not, is still going to be a lot more dangerous to yourself and your family than just getting out and fleeing.
