Post by magnumforce73 on Aug 29, 2014 0:34:49 GMT
I know precisely what you mean. I don't scare easily at all, but HE scares me--what he never learned is that there are some people out there who are prepared for such predators, especially after reading about all his exploits. I'm not convinced he ever selected a house in which he knew a strong, vigilant homeowner as observant as him was present. Blindside blitz attacks? Oh yeah, he's a real tough guy--a real Charles Bronson sort (sarcasm/off). I am convinced he chose his battles carefully. I sometimes feel he's given far more credit than he deserves; I don't believe for one moment he'd attempt his grabass games with someone as watchful as himself--or someone bigger, stronger, and more intelligent. People are quick to forget he's an opportunistic slug. How many times has everyone read about prowlers or suspicious persons/activities and no one ever bothered contacting police? Or how many times were there burglaries and the like, and everyone dismissed them as relatively harmless acts perpetrated by local punk kids or some nameless itinerant? He knew this, and he took advantage of it all the way. Everything he does (for the most part) is calculated, and for a specific reason. He won't fight against someone ready for him. He'll turn tail and slink away into his precious greenbelts and drainage canals--along with the rest of the bottomfeeders.
General W.T. Sherman said it best: "Fear is the beginning of wisdom." It would behoove him to remember that.
mf73
I think that, in the end, having a firearm handy is not the best protection. Where I live, the laws on firearm and ammunition storage are very strict and although they are not enforced much in the rural and woodsy parts of the province, here in the city the cops have no tolerance for careless gun storage. As a result, we have very few incidences of accidental shootings and very few guns stolen in robberies that end up on the street. I have a trigger lock on my Remington at all times and store my ammunition in a locked box. My gun is NEVER loaded unless I am out hunting. If I were to ever shoot an intruder, the laws here are such that I would most likely be the one led out of the house in handcuffs, not the perp. So you may wonder what good it does keeping an unloaded, trigger-locked shotgun at my bedside. This is where I think that a firearm on its own is not good protection against an offender like EAR who will almost always get the drop on you. Having a loaded pistol under your pillow is statistically WAY more dangerous to you and your family than a potential intruder. Think of the EAR victims who did have firearms in the home and even at their bedside, but still became victims. If you are awoken by a man who has a gun to you or your wife's head, even if there is a loaded gun under your pillow, what are the odds of you getting ahold of it, releasing the safety, aiming it at the perp and getting off a kill shot before he can simply pull the trigger of the gun he already has trained on you or your spouse's head and blow your brains out?
For me, the gun at my bedside is there for a situation of last resort if there were an imminent threat to the life of myself or my loved ones that had not been checked by the other steps I take to secure my residence at night: deadbolts on all my doors and a Charlie Bar always put in place on the rear sliding-glass door. All my windows are new, very secure and almost impossible to pry. I have an inexpensive but effective home alarm system with motion sensors placed strategically throughout the home as well as sensors on all the doors. I always sleep with my cell phone fully charged and within reach. Finally, I sleep with my bedroom door locked. This way, there are multiple levels of security that would make it almost impossible for an intruder to get to me without waking me long before he ever got to my bedside. But in the off-chance a person managed to get into my home, the police had not arrived, and I truly felt threatened, the alarm and the lock on my door should buy me enough time to get the trigger lock off my Remington at the very least. If the intruder actually managed to force his way into my bedroom before the police arrived and I'd had a chance to get my ammo box unlocked and the gun loaded, is he really going to gamble that the gun being pointed at him is not loaded? Doubt it. Finally, I have years of Jiu Jitsu training and a very useful baseball bat within reach.
I guess my point is that a firearm did not prevent several EAR victims from being attacked, and unless you are going to take major safety risks to keep a loaded gun in your hand while you sleep, a firearm is probably the very last line of defence a person should consider in keeping their home safe. Good locks on doors and windows, cheap and effective home alarm systems, a cellphone within reach when in bed, but most importantly safe habits and vigilance are, IMO, much better (and safer) ways to keep intruders from attacking you in your home. In the end, the shotgun I keep near my bed is there for psychological comfort more than anything. It's not loaded and always has a trigger lock on it, so it wouldn't be very useful to me if I was suddenly awoken by an intruder in my bedroom. Which is good, because I wouldn't want an intruder in my bedroom to have a loaded shotgun at their disposal. But this scenario is very unlikely because of the other measures I have taken to ensure my house is not a good target for an intruder. What's far more important to me than any gun is having a secure home, safe habits, and a vigilant bearing. If all of these things fail, the gun is a final option in an absolute worst case scenario. But having it nearby doesn't help with the nightmares. Not a bit.
Right now I'm living in a single-family home in the suburbs, but soon I'm moving back to the city. For some reason I always felt safer in apartments, even in the high-crime urban areas I lived in. Something about the anonymity of the suburbs makes me feel more vulnerable to certain kinds of crime.
Excellent post. In particular, I like the way you describe the shotgun as a "psychological comfort." It certainly is that. Like you, I have very tight windows and locks, and I regularly check my screens and locks. If someone was in my house, I'd know about it because I'm paranoid about it--and I've always felt that a bit (emphasizing the word "bit") of paranoia is good for a person--it keeps them sharp.
I'll try to shoot a PM to you tomorrow regarding this topic. Again, awesome post.
mf73
