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Where I live no one has ever entered the area at 2AM. If they did the 2 dogs would let me know, and with no flash light at all I would go see armed with one of my .45's and a 12 Ga.
The next thing that would happen is I would tap on whom ever shoulder and ask if he needed any asistance, with clear hands. Probably suggesting I am very grummpy at 2Am unless there is good cause. If that turned out to be the case and say a car was broken down, I would turn on lights, gather tools, still armed and go fix the car.
If women or children were present I would offer a place of rest and food.
All wackos get turned away and I do call the cops to warn them.
If it turns out to be a bad guy, he has 2 choices, leave and have the cops warned, or get shot.
Lots of times here people wonder about the road into this place. There is a turn out just as you can see buildings. Just 3 days ago tracks in the snow turned there. I assume people see no Keep Out signs because we took them down, and wonder where this road goes.
I have no care if someone enters these woods so long as they are passing thru, or are interested in hunting, fishing, taking rest, or anything that is their own bee's wax. What I don't want is defication in the woods in the wrong way, and or litter.
I wouldn't care a whit if someone in season came and ate my strawberries either. There is plenty to share.
Once here in day light 2 guys drove in with a pick up, and pulled up near me. I walked over since they looked at me. I leaned on the passanger door and asked what assistance I might offer. The driver asked me what I would do if he was a bad guy, and with that I took 2 steps back and produced a .45 as he showed the revolver in his belt. He saw it plain, he was a dead man. I told him I was going to call the cops and expected he would leave. He left, I called the cops.
If you come here armed, don't be askin me stupid questions. Just keep the piece in your belt, and i will do the same. Most anyone who does come here I assume are armed. I sort of don't trust anyone who isn't.
This is a wise and experienced answer. I'm impressed.
For me, with 4 dogs sleeping in 3 different rooms, I don't think they miss anything. The Lab should be on Prozac because he's crazy, but that's another story. Ever since Iraq (5 years ago now), I can't sleep sound anymore. I awake even if a field mouse is chewing something in the attic.
Anyone that's lived a while in 1 home knows the peace of knowing every sound your house makes. Like it's alive and can tell you things. I know every sound it makes and usually WHY.
But weapon-wise at 2am, the closest is a Ruger LCP in the nightstand. 12ga about 10 feet away. Cell phone always on the nightstand also.
TK always kills me LOL. He is into saving the lives of bad guys so the paroll boards can release them. Some sort of catch and release program. A renewable resource as if we don't have enough bad guys as it is.
Me, I will just compost the bad guys when given the chance. The yottes in the woods here need TLC to ya know.
Come to me with a stick, club, tire iron, crow bar, and or a blade, and you just came to a gun fight with the wrong tool. I do carry a spring assisted blade, but that's for after, when I want to decorate the wall with a scalp. Maybe i would use that on a bad guy who err's, and surrenders to the gun, as a life long reminder as to why he is a looser in the first place, and take the scalp, then let him go.
A good scalping doesn't have to kill.
Although I agree in principle, there are situations where use of deadly force is frowned upon. Sure, what happens in the woods stays in the woods, but in a big-city commercial establishment, for example, they tend to get upset when you leave bodies laying around.
WW. yeah these 2 dogs would be all over a bad guy looking for treats. Fed X, UPS, and other drivers all supply treats. Any time they hear any engine at all they go bonkers at the door wanting out.
One is a newfie rotty mix, the other is a rotty 57 mix
Neither one knows what 'bite' means which is fine by me. But i sure do know when someone is around, who isn't typical.
The only engine noises they don't bark and carry on about like 2 fools is my own engines.
The 45 is on pretty much if i have any pants on, but at night or any time really I prefer a 12 Ga pump. I might prefer a semi auto loader, but so far never owned one.
I have 3 pump guns and a side by side, but the side by side is a little old, kinda rare, and a bit too valuable to give to the cops in the event it is used.
For reasons I don't understand the cops seem to like to collect any weapons used in a crime, and they are really funny about giving them back.
A side by side has a few other flaws in terms of SD IMO, while out bustin clays i can be loads faster than any other kind of shotgun. That is a little trick I learned 40 years ago, and takes both hands moving rapidly.
I am a bit out of that practice these days too, which just would complicate things, when my head needs to be straight and level.
A pistol to me just means I have the wrong tool in a gun fight in the first place, but I can't carry a cop, and I am not that interested in the carry of a long gun every place I go, or even doing labor with a long gun strapped down on my back.
But it works at night tipped up in a corner ready for a round to be jacked in the breech.
Some say that sound is all it takes, but i have serious doubts about any sound other than a good solid BOOM.
Real bad guys don't think anyone defending their lives, and their familys lives, will actually pull the trigger. The recent trend is the bad guys are just finding out some will.
Me, I am very active for my age, and so can be flat on my back under a truck or a car, and there the .45 will be on or in my tool box, but i am still armed with a smaller carry piece, even there.
Where I live there is very little call for that, but one can never be to carefull these days.
Often times when I take time for myself and go walking in the woods, I will find other people, some in open carry, and I don't feel bad about a thing at those times. These people are not upset, don't see me as a bad guy, and don't brandish or brag.
In states where open carry is legal I seek out these people for information first, before asking others. I feel I can trust people who are openly armed more than anyone else. Asking someone who carrys that way, has proven he is legal from the get go, and so has no fear of me.
Twice so far in life I have come under threat in the middle of night, and was naked as a j bird then. I can assure you being naked takes the wind right out of a bad guys sails too.
If I feel the sounds are a threat, I might not waste any time getting dressed. That does sort of present a problem of where to have any weapon, but both times i found I didn't need any weapons. Both times these bad guys took me for a father raper and ran like little girls.
The problem there was I was unable to warn the cops since I didn't get a good enough look.
Last: City people seem to have this idea that rural places are safe, or safer. This isn't true, as bad guys take rural places as if it is still the wild west.
Although I agree in principle, there are situations where use of deadly force is frowned upon. Sure, what happens in the woods stays in the woods, but in a big-city commercial establishment, for example, they tend to get upset when you leave bodies laying around.
"The right tool for the right job"
Oh, thats too bad, but in the city, there should be lots of road work, man hole covers, norway rats and pools of liquid cement right
I have a high powered tactical flashlight on the nightstand, and a hammer down below as well as a survival knife in the top drawer. Knife is a very last resort. I think blunt objects such as hammers or even better, a 14 - 18 inch piece of lead pipe works best in closed quarters. Baseball bats are too long, especially if you encouter someone in the threshold of the doorway or in a hallway.
The reason I do not rely on a firearm is several. For one, I have kids and want to know exactly what and who I am shooting at in the middle of the night when I'm rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. Two, blasting a gun in a dark house is deafening. I know the last thing you're worried about is your eardrums during a home invasion, but I prefer to take the silent route and maintain all my senses. Muzzle flash may or may not be an obstacle to your night vision as well.
I don't like using a knife for several reasons. For one thing, if you don't know how to use one you can very easily stab yourself, for another, if you do stab someone they will bleed buckets of blood throughout every room in the house as they attempt to scramble for safety to get away. Your carpet, walls, furniture and maybe even family members will be doused in this person's blood. We're talking some very expensive damage for clean up and replacement, as well as the potential for disease. I know you can't put a price on safety and saving your own life, but I've had intruders before, and for my money, a piece of pipe puts a little more distance between you and your attacker and a sharp blow to the head will stop them in their tracks more effectively than a knife.
If you're using a gun, get familiar with it and know how to use it. That means, range time and target practice and knowing how to clear any malfunctions, jams, etc. Reloading as necessary too.
If I were single living alone, I'd go with a .38 with a four to six inch barrell and some hollow points so the bullets don't penetrate the walls and injure an innocent neighbor. Either that or a 9 mil or .40 cal. Low recoil, not as loud as larger calibers, and they won't pierce your attackers body and travel on to an innocent bystander or through the walls. I live in suburban and urban environments. If I lived in a more rural setting then the sky is the limit, shoot what you feel most comfortable with. Typically a .45 or .357 makes for the ideal self defense handgun caliber, but practice, practice, practice.
At home? It's unconventional, but I have a katana. I don't like/trust firearms for a myriad of reasons, not the least of which is that statistically there's a much higher chance of the burglar somehow getting ahold of it and using it against you than you have of using it against him. If by some miracle a burglar gets to my blade before I do, he still has to know how to do more than simply point and squeeze his finger, and the odds are ridiculously high in that scenario that I will be able to turn the encounter back to my favor.
Furthermore, I don't have to keep my blade locked up in a safe, so I've got fast-access to it, it's completely silent, and it's a better option than a firearm if a non-lethal response is called for (whereas a firearm is taking a double tap to center mass, which typically results in a fatality).
On the road(hotels) or in my car? I have a 3 iron. An intruder/robber is about the only thing I can hit with that damn club anyways seeing as how golf balls are out of the question with it, might as well put it to good use. Stupid low-angle clubs with their stupid advanced playing ability requirements and *grumblegrumble*....
99.942% of the time its either my cats playing, or my wife mumbling in her sleep. If its the cats, I pick up a small pillow and toss it in their general direction. It its my wife, I gently say "Turn over, dear." Both work quite well.
For the other 0.58% of the time, I pick up my trusty 4-cell Maglite and my even more trusty 4-inch Smith & Wesson Model 19. I use my ears much more than my eyes, and I practice patience & vigilant movement just the way my cats taught me.
TK, I am kinda surprised you didn't lend Coolhand any advice on the bat. The bat in a door way still has room, more as a shoving tool than a swinging tool, but still you can really mess up a bad guy with a shoved bat.
I don't own one, but common tools and some sporting goods work ok for the non drugged non crazies sorts of bad guys if you want to play that game.
I am not in for the tussel, I hurt enough with out doing anything close to that, so more or less a gun is my best tool.
Since these are modern times I use modern tools, but just the same I would realy like to see the look on a bad guys face if I were to choose my .62 cal flintlock horse pistol. Getting back to sticks, if I were going to use one I would use this one
It is all one solid hunk of rock maple, not a 2 piece copy, and that is real human hair.
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