Home invasions

[Gold]

What's the deal with the violent crime lately?  And what are you supposed to do if one of these thugs comes in your place?

[TeeDub]

And what are you supposed to do if one of these thugs comes in your place?

You shoot them.   Until they stop moving.

Enough of that and violent crime will go down.

[Gold]

I thought about shooting, but if your guns are locked up, what then?

[Gaspar]

Quite a few of these folks are getting shot lately too.  Good thing we don't live in Chicago or New York where it's illegal to defend yourself.

I've noticed that several of the latest invasions are happening in South Tulsa.

The police have it fairly easy in catching these guys.  They just drive over to the Sand Dollar and look for the get-away car. 

Sounds like it's time for another sweep of the Sand Dollar.

[buckeye]

I thought about shooting, but if your guns are locked up, what then?

Well, at risk of sounding like a wise-donkey, why would you buy a gun for self defense and make it inaccessible to yourself?  It doesn't have to be that way.

[TURobY]

Well, at risk of sounding like a wise-donkey, why would you buy a gun for self defense and make it inaccessible to yourself?  It doesn't have to be that way.

Some people have children or only use their weapons for hunting, and some people also want to make sure that someone doesn't break into their house during the day and steal their guns, so many people store their gun in a locked safe.

[cynical]

Ignoring the fact that it is not illegal to defend yourself in either Chicago or New York, the problem is that both NYC and Chicago have a lower murder rate per capita than Tulsa. New York's was far lower.  According to the preliminary published data for 2009 from the FBI's Uniform Crime Report, Tulsa, with a population of 384,851 had 68 murders, for a rate of 17 murders per 100,000.  NYC, with a population of 8,400,907, had 471, or 5.6 murders per 100,000.  So NYC in 2009 was roughly three times safer than Tulsa.  Chicago, with a population of 2,848,431, had 458 murders last year, for a rate of 16 murders per 100,000.  That was very close to Tulsa's rate, but still a bit short.  

For a interesting contrast, El Paso, TX, which is majority Hispanic and has a population of 618,812, had only 12 murders last year in spite of the horrendous drug war across the river in Ciudad Juarez.  That is a rate of 2 murders per 100,000, or 8.5 times safer than Tulsa.  The low murder rate in El Paso is not an anomoly.  They traditionally have very few murders and other types of violent crime.  Property crimes are another matter.  Perhaps we don't have enough Hispanics here.

Tulsa has a raging gang war that is out of control and no clue about how to get a handle on it.  City officials apparently believe it is more productive to argue about busting the FOP.

Quite a few of these folks are getting shot lately too.  Good thing we don't live in Chicago or New York where it's illegal to defend yourself.

[tulsa_fan]

I'm begining to think I need to wear a gun around at all times.  I hate that I actually look towards my front door at night and plan how I will get from the couch to the bedroom to get the gun if someone comes in.  This is a real threat right now, I hope it gets under control soon.

[Gold]

Gun safety is a big deal.  

After reading some of these home invasion stories, it just seems like even if you had a weapon out, there is minimal reaction time.  My home is small and if someone really wanted in, there just isn't much I could do. Heck, even the story about Rodolf made the point that a guy with a bunch of weapons couldn't do a whole lot if they drew first.  

So, again, the question is, if this happens to you, is there a preferred course of conduct?

[Gaspar]

Door locked at all times.
Alert neighbors.
Large dog.
.357 loaded with 38+Ps.
Wife and self know how to shoot.
Kids know better than to answer the door.
Alarm system with panic button next to the door.

What else can you do?

If someone pounds on your door or busts through, be ready to shoot.

[nathanm]

Reinforce your doors and you won't have to worry about it.

If some idiot decides to break a window, it'll take 'em a while to crawl in, thus leaving you with the advantage.

[custosnox]

In my case, I grabbed the gun at the first sign of something going wrong.  I still play that day through my head a lot.  In fact my gun is sitting on the table next to me right now.  While I'm still having anxiety from the invasion, that isn't why I have it next to me, that is just where I layed it down when I came home just a bit ago.  That is how I keep it safe when I'm not home, I take it with me.  As far as when the kids are here, they have been taught about gun safety, and I keep it in a quick access safe next to the bed when it's not on my person.

Since I can't always have my gun at hand, I have gone through the trouble of placing a few ballbats around the house at strategic locations.  The only place that I don't have one at close reach is in the kitchen/dining room, and I figue the really big knives there might do the trick.  However, if anyone else does this, I would advise really getting familiar with using a ballbat as a weapon since it really sucks when someone takes it from you and uses it themsleves. 

Oh, and as far as reinforcing your doors, they are only as strong as the frame that holds them, and that generally isn't very strong.  When doors are kicked in, you will see that it is the frame that breaks.  Unless you are barricading the door in some way (like the door club, or my grandmother has a bar with a ring on it that allows her to wetch it under the doorknob), it won't really matter unless you have a really strong frame.  Of course, too many of us have the nice, glass sliding doors that make for an easy entrance.

[nathanm]

Oh, and as far as reinforcing your doors, they are only as strong as the frame that holds them, and that generally isn't very strong.  When doors are kicked in, you will see that it is the frame that breaks.  Unless you are barricading the door in some way (like the door club, or my grandmother has a bar with a ring on it that allows her to wetch it under the doorknob), it won't really matter unless you have a really strong frame.  Of course, too many of us have the nice, glass sliding doors that make for an easy entrance.

In my experience, it's the door that breaks, at least when they use a crowbar. Mine split around the deadbolt mechanism. It was a steel clad foam core door. In any event, for under $200 you can get a kit to reinforce the door and frame. Obviously, you have to take the door and trim off to do it, but it's not particularly difficult. Could be a little ugly if you've got a wooden door, though.

Edited to add: Of course, then you get into the fact that your lock can probably be opened in under five seconds with a bump key, so you spend another couple hundred on a new lock set... And then you fix the window problem by going to Lexan or laminated tempered glass... And then if your house isn't brick, you have to consider that they can cut through your wall pretty darn easy with a sawzall...

It's easy to get into utter paranoia if you worry too much...

[Conan71]

I consider my neighborhood to be pretty innocuous when it comes to being a crime target, but like any other square mile in the city, it's not immune from burglary, home invasions, auto theft, and the rare but occasional murder. 

There's three rooms in my house I occupy most frequently.  If posted warnings for my security system are not enough of a deterrent, I've got a firearm within easy reach in any of the three rooms I usually occupy in my house.  They are not located in an obvious place that someone could spot them easily if they did a quick plundering of my house. 

I have no children at home, my 5 lb Yorkie doesn't care for guns, and my GF has her SDA so any shootings in my house won't be accidental, just a rude awakening for unwanted intruders.  I'm not paranoid, I simply see no reason to be a victim.  I keep my front door closed and locked when I'm home.  I don't even leave it un-locked when I mow as the current crop of invaders seems pretty damn brazen.

[Conan71]

In my experience, it's the door that breaks, at least when they use a crowbar. Mine split around the deadbolt mechanism. It was a steel clad foam core door. In any event, for under $200 you can get a kit to reinforce the door and frame. Obviously, you have to take the door and trim off to do it, but it's not particularly difficult. Could be a little ugly if you've got a wooden door, though.

Edited to add: Of course, then you get into the fact that your lock can probably be opened in under five seconds with a bump key, so you spend another couple hundred on a new lock set... And then you fix the window problem by going to Lexan or laminated tempered glass... And then if your house isn't brick, you have to consider that they can cut through your wall pretty darn easy with a sawzall...

It's easy to get into utter paranoia if you worry too much...

Meh, buy a gun and an MFD.