Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Hi everyone and thank you for reading my post. I have searched for the last half hour looking for answers on home defense and have mostly found info regarding trespassing. I just moved here, have no desire to hurt anyone, but am trying to find info regarding defending your family and home from intruders or someone attempting to break in ie still outside the door but trying to break it down. Any info is greatly appreciated. Thank you!!
Being a single woman who lives alone, I love my burglar bars. But I live in an older part of town where these are more common and my house is stucco with red tile roof. The bars are decorative so fit in with the old Spanish look. There have been a rash of burglaries in my downtown neighborhood over the last few years and some houses on my block have been burglarized more than once (including a couple of homes where alarms were installed after the first break in). But I have not had a problem in the 20 years that I lived there except when my brand new riastras got snatched from my front porch.
Number one form of home breakins are thru the door; a regular door frame is very weak. Look at yours where the deadbolt and lock holes are drilled through it and you will see only a 1/2 inch or so of wood between a good kick and entry, with the locked dead bolt and lock helping to split the frame upon a kick. But you can buy things to fortify the door and frame, on ALL of your doors.. Don't forget to use extra long screws on the hinge side too screwing into the house..
For when you are home, get a specially made bar at the lumber yard or just cut a 2x4 to lean up under your doorknob at an angle; that will protect some against home invasions while your are home.
Go outside, walk around your house, and think like a criminal; where would you break in and how, what can you hide behind, climb on, and blind areas where no one can see, how will you escape, etc etc.. and secure your home accordingly
If you get an alarm, be sure to protect your phone line. If the line is cut without any protection, only the local sounder will work and no signal will get to the alarm company central station. Either get a cellular backup from your alarm company, or if you are clever and want to save some alarm system cash, have your phone line discreetly run into the alarm panel first, and then just as discreetly, so no one can tell, back outside to the Telco box, from where your home lines will run just as they are now. That way, if someone cuts the line, they might think they disabled the alarm but in reality the alarm will still communicate it's signals, as it is the first thing on the line, not that outdoor grey box on the side of your house.
Don't have your main alarm panel placed where it can been seen from outside, and don't get the "alarm in a box" where the keypad and panel are all in one. If only a keypad is smashed off the wall, usually a keypad tamper alarm is sent, which your company should dispatch on like it was a holdup. But if the main panel is destroyed during the delay period, a signal usually won't be sent in.
Do a little thinking, you will be fine..
Last edited by CountryCarr; 02-03-2014 at 03:52 PM..
Lots of good information, folks. But I took the OP's post to be a much simpler question, i.e., "If I'm home, and there's someone on my front porch, and I think he's attempting to break in, and I don't want to wait to see if he actually DOES break in, am I OK to plug him on the porch?"
A shotgun is a great alarm system. Everyone can hear it, and if the intruders decide they don't care, it has a back up feature called a trigger that can prevent them from harming your family.
When you see someone on the porch, you show them the shotgun. That usually deters people. You can even put up a sign outside showing your record times for shooting discs
As far as "May I use it to kill someone outside my house". Probably not. Inside the house, I don't know the specifics of NM law.
Lots of good information, folks. But I took the OP's post to be a much simpler question, i.e., "If I'm home, and there's someone on my front porch, and I think he's attempting to break in, and I don't want to wait to see if he actually DOES break in, am I OK to plug him on the porch?"
But I could be wrong.
Thats what I got from it. Id shoot the guy so long as I was "afraid for myself and families life".
Lots of good information, folks. But I took the OP's post to be a much simpler question, i.e., "If I'm home, and there's someone on my front porch, and I think he's attempting to break in, and I don't want to wait to see if he actually DOES break in, am I OK to plug him on the porch?"
But I could be wrong.
Yes, you could be wrong... you "think he's attempting to break in"? I use to think that when UPS and Fedex use to throw boxes against my front door. (We notified them I writing where to place the boxes)
----------
Judge Alan M. Malott, a district judge in the Second Judicial District of New Mexico wrote an interesting article on the "Castle Doctrine":
Monday, April 19, 2010
Your home is your castle — within certain boundaries
For the Journal
On Tuesday, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder condemned the laws, saying they “senselessly expand the concept of self-defense.”
Consider the source. I'm glad Texas is one of those with the "Stand Your Ground" and "Castle Doctrine" laws, and it's too bad that NM isn't. I wondered about that when I lived there.
No homeowner anywhere should have to put up with break-ins anywhere on their property, be it home or car. If you catch someone attempting to break in, they should get exactly what they deserve, no questions asked.
Last edited by Cathy4017; 02-04-2014 at 01:04 PM..
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
