Home Invasion in Ayrsley Last Night... (Charlotte, Tryon: live, drywall, mall)

[anifani821]

Originally Posted by coped

A gun won't make you safer. Especially if you don't know how to use it.

Members on this forum have consistently advocated taking a course and practicing at a range in order to safely handle a firearm. In fact, there was recently a thread on concealed carry licensing/course . . .

[eddie1261]

Originally Posted by coped

A gun won't make you safer. Especially if you don't know how to use it.

Um..... LEARN how to use it. Safely and correctly. That reduces the chances of you shooting yourself while cleaning it.

A gun is not a toy. They have to be respected and education is critical.

[groove1]

Originally Posted by anifani821

Members on this forum have consistently advocated taking a course and practicing at a range in order to safely handle a firearm. In fact, there was recently a thread on concealed carry licensing/course . . .

Or you can knowingly move next to a shooting range and then complain about it.

[the 7 oh 4]

I know that Wal-mart just up the street is gangsta. They have security there in the broad daylight. Sad because that is a fairly new Wal-mart. I remember a few years back...that senior lady who worked at that McDonalds was carjacked after work and they found her body down near Lake Wylie.

Ayrsley looks nice though...just don't let your guard down anywhere now..it is 2008!

[Barkingowl]

Originally Posted by Metallisteve

While I 1000% support arming yourself to deter problems, I also 100000% support being an educated firearm owner.

I agree. Otherwise you could wind up injuring yourself &/or your loved ones.

[Metallisteve]

Originally Posted by thegeek74

...Or...shoot a round into a mattress or something and hope that the sound of a shot alone will just scare them off before they ever come in your direction.

I really hope a cop did not offer this advice...especially to a group of townhome owners. Part of that education thing I was talking about is ballistics, which any respectible CCL course would teach some basics of. Remember that most construction around here is wood/timber and drywall. A typical 9mm can easily pentrate drywall and insulation and still have enough energy to do damage in an adjacent room...if not a few rooms. Firing an errant round into a matress will cause nothing but bad:
- ricochet off of the metal bed frame
- go through the floor and shoot your neighbor or family member in the head
- shoot yourself in the foot becuase you're so amp'ed up you don't realize your foot is under the bed
- or worst case, encite a shoot out with you and the intruder

Hollow point bullets are a step in the right direction for in-home protection. They expand rapidly upon impact (either in the body of the target or the material that it hit) making them *generally* damage only one layer of solid material. Most hollow points will lose lethal energy after one interior wall pentration since they'll flatten and cake up with bits of drywall. This is very important for people to remember with in-home gun defense.

The hardest thing for most people to understand is that you fire a gun to kill. Not to maime, scare, deter, warn, or flag down.

And to address the other part of this post...the officer is correct in not chasing down the intruder if they run. Knowing the law is another large slice of the pie with gun ownership. Generally speaking, you're only allowed to shoot if you or someone else's life is in immediate danger. Thanks to some really obscure anti-gun sentiment in our state's laws, it is tough to decipher specifics on this (there's even a document writen by the state's attorney office that says this as it tries to explain our gun laws in lay-terms). For the most part, as I understand it, shoot to kill if your life or someone else's life is in danger. If you shoot a fleeing suspect or someone just simply stealing property, you go down for attempted murder or murder (depending on how good your shot its).

To wrap this generally around everything that's going on here...
A public that is known to be armed is generally less prone to attack or theft. It is proven that most thugs don't want any trouble with their heist. If they know it could exist, they move on to a target that would be easier. If it was well known that the majority of people around here had CCL's or were pro-gun community, I GAURANTEE you crime would dip drastically.

[vindaloo]

Originally Posted by thegeek74

One of the officers made some good points last night about having a gun in such a situation. The most important thing as a homeowner with a gun is to NOT go after the person breaking into your home. It is best to get your gun and your phone, call 911 and sit tight. This way, you'll only shoot if they enter the room you are in. Or...shoot a round into a mattress or something and hope that the sound of a shot alone will just scare them off before they ever come in your direction.

I would suggest shooting the mattress when using a cap pistol, a rifle that shoots cork attached to a string, a water pistol or a BB gun. Otherwise I would suggest backing the mattress up with plywood at least 1" thick.

[vindaloo]

Originally Posted by hooligan

Are you serious?

If Ayrsley at night scares you, you must be absolutely terrified by areas like any of the uptown Wards, NoDa or the University area at night!

Honestly, I've been in the Ayrsley development dozens or more times at night and I've never seen anything that made me feel unsafe, nor question the crime rate for the area.

This sounds pretty random to me, too. I honestly have a hard time believing this is anything to worry about as a long-term trend...

I didn't say I went around Ayrsley, I said I went around the area which included the precarious shopping facilities across the street and down the road. The Ayrsley development seemed O.K. And yes, I'm serious and a hell of a lot more street savy than the average person.

[LAMF]

Originally Posted by Metallisteve

The hardest thing for most people to understand is that you fire a gun to kill. Not to maime, scare, deter, warn, or flag down.

This is debatable. You fire a gun to stop, not necessarily to kill. That is why you should always be aiming for center mass when defending yourself.

If you are ever in a situation where you were forced to defend yourself, and are questioned by the police afterwards, please, please, please do not say you were intending to kill the intruder. You were in fear for your life and used your weapon to stop the intruder from harming you and your loved ones.

At least that is what my brother, who is a police officer in the worst precinct in the Bronx, hammered into my brain when he found out I became a gun owner.

[groove1]

Originally Posted by bandibadji

I didn't say I went around Ayrsley, I said I went around the area which included the precarious shopping facilities across the street and down the road. The Ayrsley development seemed O.K. And yes, I'm serious and a hell of a lot more street savy than the average person.

I know I wouldn't walk north of 485 on S. Tryon after dark...and that is pretty darn close to Ayrsley.