Well, the time it happened to me in real life, I attacked him…despite my being stark naked and dripping wet from the shower.
Don’t leave us hanging – what happened?
At what point do you think you would shoot them if they came up the stairs? Is the act of just coming up the stairs enough, or does it have to be a more direct threat? Would they get any warning?
If I was on a jury or responsible for writing the laws I would set the bar very low for proving you were at risk from a burglary or home invasion. You’d basically have to shoot the guy in the back while he was running away for me to want to press any charges. In effect, the onus would be on the burglar to prove that he was beyond any reasonable doubt no risk whatsoever to the occupants.
I don’t own guns, but if I did or had access to other lethal weaponry I don’t think it is fair to make me try second guess the legal implications of my actions. There is every reason for me to believe that a burglary in progress is a dangerous situation and I would expect the burglar to be the one that takes all the risks, both physical and legal.
That said, of course my preference would be that the cops deal with it without bloodshed.
:blink: I thought that was a given.
I’m married, no kids. I would probably try to hold them at gun point until the cops arrived. That would be between 10-30 minutes I suppose. And if it’s winter (50-50) and they don’t have a 4x4 they may be walking, at the very least up my drive.
If they tried to flee, I would probably let them.
I came rocketing out of the bathroom screaming in rage and jumped on him. He was a younger guy and in pretty good shape, but I got the first couple blows in so he he never really managed much of a fight; his entire strategy was to escape my grasp and unass the AO.
As so many fights do, this one went to the floor. My being soaking wet made us both kind of slick_as did his blood and our sweat_so when we rolled out the front door onto the parking lot is when he finally managed to break loose from me. His shoes gave him a distinct advantage there and he fled into the night with me unable to pursue.
Since I have a shotgun, a handgun AND SureFire flashlight (I’d grab the 200 lumen G3), target acquisition is not a problem, the burgular would be at a disadvantage, being both blinded by 200 lumens of light and outgunned (I’d most likely use the 12-gauge), I’d detain him at gunpoint and call the police, advising them that I have the robber detained at gunpoint, and I will stand down and hand over the burgular to the officers when they arrive
Hit the combo on the gun safe under the bed, fill my hand with my HK USP .45 and call the cops. Then I’d use the intercom function on the home phones to let them know that I’ve called the cops, I’m armed and if my premises aren’t vacated immediately or if I even hear a creak on the stair case that things will get *much * worse than being arrested.
- Grab gun.
- Put mattress between me and bedroom door
- Call cops.
- (optional) Holler at intruder that I am armed and have called the cops.
I wouldn’t go after them in my house - I’m in a better position where I am in bed, and can go out the window (would have to break it) if absolutely need be. I don’t want to shoot a burglar, but if he enters the bedroom I will have no compunctions.
You can’t call the police, you don’t have a hand free! You’ll have to blow him away, I’m afraid.
Gun in hand, call cops, shout verbal warning. Any movement the least bit threatening would then involve a call to the rug cleaners.
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Grab my fire radio, and call in to the dispatcher that I have an intruder, and I need law enforcement.
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Tell burglar he has 30 seconds to get his ass out of my house and off my land.
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Fill him/her/them full of as much lead as I can starting at T+31.
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Call back to dispatch that people are down and I need x number of ambulances on scene.
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Break out my trauma bag and start keeping their miserable asses alive.
If it’s legal to own a gun for self defense, chances are the burglar has a gun too. So the last thing I’d want to do is confront him with a gun. Regardless of if I had a gun or not, I’d try to hide and stay out of the way (assuming my wife can do the same). If that seems impractical, go for the “take what you want, just don’t hurt us” approach.
I’m a single female living alone. With my dog (who would alert me but probably be scared shitless). But if the dog weren’t there…well then it’d just be ME hiding in the closet instead of both of us, possibly with the phone had I remembered to take it to bed with me.
The burglars can have anything they want, seriously. I’ve got nothing worth saving.
However, if they decide to take me on, I hope to God that my karate skills don’t completely escape me. I am really really good at “plucking the peach from the tree.”
Actually, that isn’t true. Excluding home invasion-style assaults, the majority of burglars are not carrying.
Hit buttons on alarm panel to start siren & call police (while wondering how burglar got in without setting off alarm). Tell wife to call 911, get gun, relocate to kids room, wait for police to arrive. If burglar chooses to come up the steps at that point, commence firing and continue until the threat is removed. No verbal warnings, no shooting to wound. Center of mass shots until the threat retreats or is disabled.
And this being Massachusetts, if I was required to shoot the burglar, prepare for police by making sure my wife has the lawyer’s phone number and calls him as soon as I’m arrested. Sigh.
Last time, it happened to be in my yard, and I had the gun and a flashlight while I was investigating, but not the phone. Fortunately, my neighbor had heard it too, so I shrieked for him to call the police while holding the intruder at gunpoint and loudly announcing myself. Kept her at gunpoint until the sheriffs came, then put away the gun as they asked me to.
Single female, with kids who happened not to be there that night. Had it been actually inside the house, I would have shot with any forward motion on the intruder’s part.
Ya know, in thinking about this more, this is probably not realistic. I sure wouldn’t go downstairs untill I yelled “Whos down there, I’m armed/got a gun”. I would imagine that would be plenty to get them to flee.
If they didn’t flee, I would stand my ground at the top of the stairs.
Being in Japan, I don’t own a gun, but the burglar doesn’t either. If he wants to hang aound a crazed gaijin foreigner, the more power to him.
Yes, I found this a problem that I hadn’t considered. When the police wanted to talk to me, I had to hand the flashlight to my neighbor. What would I have given up alone? Probably the phone, once it was connected. I could holler at it, but wouldn’t be able to hear them. But I’m sure as hell not setting down the flashlight or the gun, once drawn.
Call police first
Get gun
Get light
Blind burgular and hold at gunpoint until officers arrive
any threatening forward motion on the burgular’s part will cause them to come down with a rather severe case of lead poisoning
they made the voluntary decision to try to steal from me, they have to deal with the results of that decision, don’t want to end up in the slammer or with a case of lead poisoning, then don’t burgle, simple really