# Do you routinely lock your front door and car **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 15, 2015, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-routinely-lock-your-front-door-and-car/715049 "2015-03-15T15:14:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-routinely-lock-your-front-door-and-car/715049/61 "2015-03-17T17:01:13Z")
I live in a small town in a rural area, where property crime is rare and violent crime even rarer (unless you’re involved in the meth trade, which I am not). I’ve locked up my house when I’ve been away for a few days, but other than that, the doors are always wide open. Same for my car - in fact, the keys are in the ignition right now. ---
**Author:** ![Philliam](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/philliam/32/3011_2.png) [@Philliam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philliam)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-routinely-lock-your-front-door-and-car/715049/62 "2015-03-17T17:17:09Z")
We’re pretty woodsy and rural here so we don’t lock the car or house as a general rule. I’m sure we have house keys hanging on the rack, but I wouldn’t recognize them. We will lock the car when we travel to ‘America’ for shopping or visiting though - can’t trust those Mainlanders. I think **Johnny LA** can guess where we live from the above comment. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Hopeful\_Crow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/da6949/32.png) [@Hopeful\_Crow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hopeful_Crow)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-routinely-lock-your-front-door-and-car/715049/63 "2015-03-17T19:40:34Z")
I’ve lived in the Big City too long. Home and car (if I had one) doors locked at all times. A friend of mine had her purse stolen off her kitchen table while she was elsewhere in the house. The crook entered through the unlocked front door. ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-routinely-lock-your-front-door-and-car/715049/64 "2015-03-17T20:41:58Z")
Regarding the arrow thing…Me too! Only I used a boomerang that a friend brought back from Australia and I flung it at one of the thieves and it went around him and he said "Nice throw, DiMaggio, but then it swooped around and came back and it hit the thief on the head and knocked him out and hit hard enough that when he woke up he had amnesia, and then we went on a life altering adventure to find buried pirate treasure. His partner, though…I only had the one boomerang, so when he ran out my front door, I grabbed my shotgun and sprinted out the back, taking a shortcut through the block and then I shot the burglar in my pajamas. How the thief got into my pajamas, I’ll never know! I lock both door and car, needless to say. ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-routinely-lock-your-front-door-and-car/715049/65 "2015-03-17T22:55:26Z")
> [@Fenris](#): > > Regarding the arrow thing…Me too! Only I used a boomerang that a friend brought back from Australia and I flung it at one of the thieves and it went around him and he said "Nice throw, DiMaggio, but then it swooped around and came back and it hit the thief on the head and knocked him out and hit hard enough that when he woke up he had amnesia, and then we went on a life altering adventure to find buried pirate treasure. > > His partner, though…I only had the one boomerang, so when he ran out my front door, I grabbed my shotgun and sprinted out the back, taking a shortcut through the block and then I shot the burglar in my pajamas. How the thief got into my pajamas, I’ll never know! **Fenris** , bubby! Now, come on, buddyboy. Are you going to sit there (you are sitting, aren’t you, Amigo?) and maintain that this _“”story””_ of yours is 100% true and accurate?? _Huh?_ Because, I gotta tell ya, pal, it’s not entirely ringing true for me. How about you and me have a little _“come to Jesus”_ confession here, eh, Champ? I mean, chief, I buy the _boomerang_, and the _swooping back_, and the _knocking out_, and the _amnesia_, and the _shotgun_, and the _life altering adventure_, and the _buried treasure_, and the _pajamas_, and all that. After all, those things are all obviously; even to a brain damaged kindergartner, logical and consistent with non-fictional reality. In fact, although I’m not at liberty to discuss it in minute detail, by penalty of being tried, convicted and executed for espionage and treason,… but, the _exact_ same situation happened to me, back in my double-naught spy days (though my situation was a little more involved, including my discovery of room temperature cold fusion material—_peanut butter!, who woulda thunk??_). But! (and this is a big Butt, Ace): I find your recollection of the thief’s usage of the phrase, _“nice throw, DiMaggio”_, to be a wee bit disingenuous and, no doubt, fabricated…in order to, how shall I say this delicately;… [del]bullshit[/del] lend artistic verisimilitude to an otherwise bald and unconvincing narrative. It’s uber-common knowledge that the _Yankee Clipper_ was renowned as a hitter, **not** a thrower. So, fess up, hombre, the thief really said, _“nice throw, Sandy Koufax”_, didn’t he? Well, didn’t he, punk??? ---
**Author:** ![Whatever4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@Whatever4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whatever4)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2015, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-routinely-lock-your-front-door-and-car/715049/66 "2015-03-18T03:55:16Z")
I stopped locking the doors of my previous car because it was a hatchback and the hatchback lock was frozen. I lock my house door when I leave, except when I’m going to walk my dog. I’m nothing if not inconsistent. ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2015, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-routinely-lock-your-front-door-and-car/715049/67 "2015-03-18T12:51:29Z")
> [@Tibby or Not Tibby](#): > > But! (and this is a big Butt, Ace): I find your recollection of the thief’s usage of the phrase, _“nice throw, DiMaggio”_, to be a wee bit disingenuous and, no doubt, fabricated…in order to, how shall I say this delicately;… [del]bullshit[/del] lend artistic verisimilitude to an otherwise bald and unconvincing narrative. > > It’s uber-common knowledge that the _Yankee Clipper_ was renowned as a hitter, **not** a thrower. So, fess up, hombre, the thief really said, “nice throw, Sandy Koufax”, didn’t he? Well, didn’t he, punk??? Since there’s no way the mods will allow me to post a picture of an amnesiac third party even if I was willing to do that (and I’m not) there’s no way to prove it anyhow. On the other hand, lots of people HAVE had made errors about baseball players so I fail to see why the story strikes you as so completely impossible. It did happen, he does/did have the amnesia, and your disbelief does not make it less real. So there. ---
**Author:** ![AllShookDown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d9b06d/32.png) [@AllShookDown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AllShookDown)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2015, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-routinely-lock-your-front-door-and-car/715049/68 "2015-03-18T14:13:50Z")
A friend of mine had a stranger walk into her house out of the blue so I lock my house when I’m there, and most of the time when I’m not there. I lock my car if I’m in a random parking lot somewhere. That is, I don’t lock it in the parking ramp at work or in my garage at home but I do at the grocery store. ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2015, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-routinely-lock-your-front-door-and-car/715049/69 "2015-03-18T16:19:35Z")
> [@Fenris](#): > > It did happen, he does/did have the amnesia, and your disbelief does not make it less real. > > So there. I stand humbly, unequivocally and indubitably corrected, sir. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2015, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-routinely-lock-your-front-door-and-car/715049/70 "2015-03-18T20:11:22Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > Always lock both. > > Although a lock won’t _stop_ a determined thief it will slow him down. Case in point: about 15 years ago some asshat tried to jimmy open the door of our truck. My spouse heard him, went outside, and when threatened with physical harm by said thief would up shooting him with our crossbow. The thief took off, running down Cleveland Street with a bright red arrow sticking out of him. > > Well, we decided to call the police, to get our version of the story in first in case the thief went to a hospital for his newly acquired body piercing. When we called them, the first question was “Where’s the body?”, with absolutely no sign of surprise from the operator. Which tells me we aren’t the first people in this area to crossbow someone, and other such archers were using considerably more impressive ammo. > > If the truck had been unlocked I expect it would be gone. On the other hand, if the spouse hadn’t heard the guy before he drove off and gone to investigate he probably wouldn’t have been threatened with harm. > > There you go, **Tibby or Not Tibby** , there’s an anecdote for you. Where the hell do you live, Sherwood Forest? Jesus Christ. ---
**Author:** ![RetroVertigo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b38774/32.png) [@RetroVertigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RetroVertigo)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2015, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-routinely-lock-your-front-door-and-car/715049/71 "2015-03-18T21:13:26Z")
I don’t lock either. As far as my car goes…I don’t really keep anything if value in my car, and live under the assumption if they want in they’ll get in. So I’d rather they not break my window in the process. ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2015, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-routinely-lock-your-front-door-and-car/715049/72 "2015-03-19T02:39:44Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Where the hell do you live, Sherwood Forest? Jesus Christ. I, uh, don’t think I grok your point. Are you insinuating that crossbows are not appropriate accouterments to possess in modern suburban America? Because, if that is what you’re insinuating, I feel a need to poke you hard in the chest with my index finger and say, _oh, yes they are!_ Everyone in my neighborhood has a crossbow and knows how to use it. We’ve got a lot of Jehovah’s Witnesses and Kirby Vacuum cleaner door-to-door salesmen around here that need to be…uh…neutralized. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2015, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-routinely-lock-your-front-door-and-car/715049/73 "2015-03-19T10:52:20Z")
I know this is weird, but I keep my car key in the ignition at home and at work. Been doing it for decades. I drive old beaters, and figure no one would ever steal it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-routinely-lock-your-front-door-and-car/715049.md?page=3)