"IT" Happened

When we moved out in the boonies in Missouri, I had no doubts about my wife being able to utilize her .357 if it came down to it. After all she grew up with a dad that shot competitively in the army for 20yrs. I was gone a lot with work, so I got the great pyrenees to watch after her and the little guy. I like the dog, cause he will deter all but the most serious. For the ones he doesn't deter, he gives you plenty of time to be prepared. I don't want to use the gun, but I like having the option. My family matters more to me than the guy crawling through my window at 3 in the morning.

I like the double Rottweiler system.

Ours have full access to our 15 fenced acres, and one or the other can often be seen sitting silently on the ridge watching the road. Most of the day one is outside hanging out with the livestock and the old Momma's boy is in the house keeping me in sight.

One of the best things about the double Rottweiler system is that they look alike. Folks know they hear or see more than one, but have no way of being sure just how many there are or where they might be.

Anyone who wants to approach our house from behind or the side has to go through electric fence and hike wooded areas not knowing where the dogs are. If they approach from the front, they have to pass my sightline if I'm working at the computer and they can be easily seen by indoor or outdoor dogs from numerous locations.

It is also always very hard to tell whether we are home or not. We usually are, or on the land nearby, but the cars are out of sight and in the garage. Someone staking out the house would think that we are almost always home, and would have a hard time telling if we were out unless they actually saw us leave - at which time they ~could~ come over and break in to play with the Rotties, but nobody seems to be in much of a hurry to do that.

For us, we've decided that we're going to always keep two identical looking watch dogs here.

Lynda

Must cost you a fortune in dogfood!

What great responses! What we have done so far:
Changed the locks to keyed deadbolts. I've had one gun safety class and actually fired the gun and hit the target. It sure makes a big sound and was hard for me to squeeze the trigger. We'll have to get a smaller gun for me. The trainer gave me several tips to protect myself in the event of an intruder. 1st he said to close and lock the bedroom door. Barricade myself behind the bed like a fort with the gun trained on the door. While calling 911, yell out that I have a gun and will use it. 9 times out of 10, the police trainer said, the intruder will leave. All the while, 911 can hear what I am doing. However, the second he touches the door or gets close, that is when I start firing and keep firing. That way the 911 dispatcher knows what is going on and I have a witness that the crazy person in the house was warned. It saves a lot of headache later when questioning starts. I plan to call on my cell phone in case the phone line doesn't work. I keep it on my hip all the time now. He also advised always keeping the gun loaded. That's tricky with grandchildren, but can be done if we keep the area locked to the kids. I still don't plan to have one loaded with them in the house, but will have a quick loader of some sort handy after this incident.

We also really like the idea of the driveway alert. We still aren't sure what to do about the dog because of severe allergies. The dog would have to live outside and I would hate that, but may be a possibility.

We've also signed up for the concealed weapons class and are in process with buying a small gun for me. dh's shotgun is so long and gives such a kick, I'm not sure how well I would do with it, but I have learned to pump it to give that effective sound for the future.

One thing is certain. We all need a plan and we need to practice the plan. I had no idea how important that was. I learned to do that for hurricanes after Alicia and Fran, but really didn't implement the plan as I should have. We are getting older and I hope a lot wiser!!

If you keep the gun on your OTHER hip it's much easier to keep the children's fingers out of it.


Many gun ranges will rent guns. Good way to find one you like. Start small - shooting too much too soon is a good way to learn bad habits. Like flinching.

A .22 is the best place to start. And don't discount its effectiveness for defensive use. A hit with a .22 is much more effective than a miss with a .357 magnum.

"I wouldn't shoot someone for taking my possessions."

I'll shoot them for coming on the property....I am not going to wait around to see why.

Next time they try to break in fill'em full of buckshot!! Here in WV we don't have many theifs.

I'm sure your cousin Smith and your cousin Wesson would be more than happy to come a visitin'.

Don't forget the sign on the door..."F@#$ the dog beware of the owner"

and yelling loudly "Its hog boilin' time!" :1pig:

Of coarse yelling instructions to 'get the gun' to "someone" is good, but I'd embelish it a bit with, "Daddy get the shovel! We got ourselves a tresspaser!"

Getting the "dog" to help by yelling "Cletus, sick 'em! Bring me his finger!"


Disclaimer:
"I am from purebred country pride stock and these sayings were in no way meant to be offensive"

First off, I am a liberal, and regretably, am living in a red state. I also have a loaded semi-automatic .22 under my bed and have decided long ago that I will use it if I feel I need to. I believe there are few absolutes in life, but of those few is the fact that I will defend myself and my family. If someone manages to break into my home in spite of a very vocal, territorial Chessie and me yelling warnings, I will shoot, and stop, the intruder. And I don't care if said intruder happens to be the teenager from down the road.

Now, I can sit here typing away with all the self-righteous bravado in the world, since I've yet to be in that situation. However, as tragic as killing another person would be, I feel it would be much more tragic to loose my own life, or even to be attacked and survive, had I second-guessed myself even though I felt threatened.

I agree with what most everyone is saying, if you are unsure or uncomfortable about using a gun, it's best to avoid it. There is absolutely nothing wrong or "wimpy" about it, and there are many other options for safety and self defence. The earlier comment about more homeowners being killed by their own guns is, in my opinion, most likely a result of the gun owner not knowing how to use the gun, being afraid of it, or hesitating to use it although they are being threatened. Keep in mind, an intruder's gotta be pretty close to grab a handgun and turn it on its owner!

Again, I'm a liberal raised by liberals. And both me and my bleeding heart family agree that true gun control is simply being educated and responsible around firearms...be it the Daisy or a cannon. I'm all for the waiting period, but anything beyond that only seems to create difficulty for honest people trying purchase guns legally. I was raised with guns in our home, and from a very young age, my sister and I were taught that they were unconditionally off limits without Dad's supervision. It wasn't so much a rule in our house as it was a law of nature. It was probably the only rule in the house that was not disobeyed at some point by my sister or me! The "arsenal" was not taboo by any stretch of the imagination, just very respected.

But anyway, that was my "utter stupidity of restrictive gun control for the sake of restrictive gun control" soapbox rant. Not too popular in my "demographic"...lol! But then, red or blue, mindless recitation of party lines is just dumb!

Quint, I was also wondering about using a rifle or any other long-barreled firearm in the house, or even outdoors in heavily wooded, brushy areas. (learned that part while trying to sight in the raccoon that had been feasting on the chickens...luckily, the little @#$% was so fat, it was an easy shot!) It just seems that it would be a lot "clunkier" to use than a smaller handgun. Not to mention the fact that even the little .22 would get in the way if I were to take it out with me while doing chores. And if someone is in the house, I would have to imagine that they are well within range for a handgun wielded by reasonably trained shooter with a full magazine.

Oh yeah...Amostthere, you are the best!! "It's hog boilin' time!" LOL!! Hell, if the buckshot didn't do me in, I'd die laughing!! One way or the other, the job gets done!

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April

Gardener Chick, Poultry Wrangler, and Goat Mama!

Once you get outside the barrel issue is less of a problem. Most of the "utility" rifles I have here on the farm that I carry on the 4 wheeler and in the truck are 16 inch barreled and usually equipped with folding or collapsible stocks. Pretty handy firearms in all but the most brushy conditions.

The problem is that there are some very effective weapons that would be perfect for home defense but the bafflingly ignorant and invasive federal gun laws prevent people from having them. (well they can but the federal licensing process is all but impossible and the resulting regs make the weapons astronomically expensive)

Handguns are somewhat difficult to shoot accurately. If one could take a handgun sized weapon and put a butt stock on it so that it could be wielded as a rifle you would have an excellent weapon for indoors. They have made these for police and military for years in the form of the wildly popular HK MP5 and others of their class. The feds however say that once a buttstock is fitted to a handgun sized weapon it becomes a rifle. Rifle has to have a 16 inch barrel. The 16 inch barrel makes the weapon too unwieldy in a dwelling. A rifle with a short barrel under 16 inches would make for a good inside the house weapon too but adding a stock to a barrel under 16 inches is verboten. Makes it an illegal short barreled rifle. Take the stock off and it is a legal pistol however. Shooting accurately is bad in federal bureaucrat eyes I guess. Go figure. (well, I actually have a theory) Same song and dance with with shotguns. Silly federal laws regulating barrel length, overall length and the like make things difficult for the homeowner to defend his home. There is a reason you do not see SWAT teams enter and clear buildings with handguns. They are difficult to shoot with precision - something that gets even more difficult under stress. You don't see them entering and clearing a building with long guns. Long guns are unwieldy and awkward inside a building. They use pistols with buttstocks (MP-5s), short barreled rifles(AR-15/M-16s with barrels under 16 inches) and short shotguns (with barrels under 18 inches).

It is the same screwed up federal logic that requires folks to damage their hearing and annoy the countryside by having restrictive laws against the suppression of muzzle blast.

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Respect The Cactus!