I live in a moderately sized, two story house on 3 acres and have never felt unsafe. I don’t know if it’s because I have dog or if I’m just not the nervous type. My home was broken into once (Neither the dog nor I were there at the time) and I’m still not nervous.
The only thing I have for protection, other than the dog, is a baseball bat. But then I realized it was by the back door where the break-in would most likely occur. :smack: I’ve sinced moved it up to my room. I’m not sure I could actually hit anyone with it but it makes me feel better.
I felt unsafe after my first divorce, when I was alone with two children in a little below-ground-level apartment in a sort of…transitional might be a nice word, neighborhood. At the time I had a stalker and had no idea who it was, but I was very aware of how easy it would be to break into my place, as I’d locked myself out a time or so and was able to get in with no trouble or noise at all. Didn’t have a dog at the time, either.
I bought a handgun and kept it bedside, unloaded. Had it for a couple of years and got rid of it when I moved again. My stalker, meanwhile, appeared to go away.
Now I have three big dogs. Someone could still break in, but at least the noise level would make it easy to identify an intruder. And I’m in a safer neighborhood, too.
I don’t have a baseball bat, but I could totally swing one at an intruder, or use any other means at my disposal to protect myself or my kids.
The only time I felt particularly unsafe at home (as opposed to “damn, that floor is wet, I better mop it up before someone slips”) I wasn’t even living alone, it was when we were awakened by a bar being bombed about 20 yards away from our apartment building’s front door - no, it wasn’t “a bad part of town”, it was ETA. There isn’t much that having weaponry at home can do against that.
My house has two floors. When my bedroom was upstairs I sometimes felt unsafe. Then I took a kitchen knife with me. Now that I sleep downstairs I don’t feel like that anymore. (I’m pretty sure there is logic somewhere. I just can’t find it.)
I have a dog but he is friendly, small and sleeps(!) outside so he wouldn’t be any help.
I used to live on 13th Bay St in Norfolk VA, back when it was the white peoples slums. I didn’t have a problem with the bikers across the street even when they were using the transformers as targets for gun practice, I had issues with the idiots trolling for hookers and figuring any female on the street was a hooker… A pair of them followed me back to my duplex when I was walking home the whole block and a half from the beach. They parked in my drive and started banging on my door yelling for me to come out and asking my price. I ended up answering the door with my service revolver and telling them to leave me alone. I was nervous about them coming back for a few weeks after that.
And again, the first time mrAru was gone on a long deployment back in the early 90s there were a bunch of home invasions in the area near the farm. I still sort of get worried about home invasion especially as I am now a gimp and really can’t run away, all I can do is shoot someone who is invading.
I have lived in some badish prats of town. I have my “big stick”. It is an old showel handle that I had wrapped in colored masking tape and turn into a fake lightsaber when I was a kid (I know your jealous).
I am not sure how useful it would be in a bad situation, but it makes me safe safer. Plus, I like to think about what the intruder would be thinking when they break in and someone comes at them with a “lightsaber”.
My parents’ house was robbed when I was 18 (still in high school) and I was scared to stay at home on my own for a long time. After I got a dog it got to be better.
I took karate for a few years and even though I realistically know it’s not going to help defend me against a gun or whatever, it quelled my fears and I was able to move out and live on my own (with my dog).
I don’t feel physically unsafe here at all, even though it’s the same neighborhood where my burgled parents house is. I don’t lock all my doors. If someone wants to come steal all my shit they are welcome to it. My dog’s not here when I’m not here and if someone’s here when I’m not, fine.
Seems like I live at the more active end of the neighborhood than my parents. I feel like there’s always someone hanging around outside their houses here, even in the middle of the night (I hear them!) So it feels like there is never a chance to sneak into my house.
I do have a roommate in the basement, who’s a guy. I probably feel safer with his car being outside all the time (makes it look like we’re home). But I’d rather be alone.
I also need to fix the creaky floor in my hallway…but I don’t, because I like being able to hear when someone - the dog, the roomie, a burglar - is coming down the hall.
My SIL had me come over and install window locks & secure her house because her husband was going to be gone for weeks at a time a while back. This is my wife’s little sister.
I’m a gun guy. Their dad is a gun guy. Their mom is a gun gal. My wife is a gun gal and packs a gun daily. Her two sisters became left-wing, anti-gun pansies as they grew up.
I suggested it may be time to add a firearm to the home defense plan, but she said “No, I have my baseball bat - I’ll be OK.”:smack:
No, you won’t, I’m sorry to say. If a determined man ( or two) makes it in your house and you grab a bat, you may get one swing before he takes you down and hurts you. Then he’s mad. You need to seriously consider other tools for your defense.
Now I certainly realize that not all folks are cut out to get a gun and all that that entails, and I’m OK with that. Well, not really.
Anyway, here are some options for you to consider:
handgun. This is the most effective tool you can get. Responsibility comes with it.
taser. Less than lethal, easy to use, very effective. The C2 goes for 30 seconds, so you can get your bat and go to town for 20 seconds, then run!
Pepper Spray. Won’t work on drugged-up crazies, but all in all, pretty good stuff.
Here’sa story from my county that happened last week.
Basically, a naked-from-the-shower woman encounters a knife-wielding rapist in her bathroom. She fights her way to the bedroom, gets a gun and kills him.
Of course a good security system should go without saying, and a German Shepherd is a great option as well!
Please don’t rely on a baseball bat as your only line of defense. Unless you’re attacked by 7 year-olds, it just won’t work.
I live alone in a three bedroom house in an okay neighbourhood on a busy street. I feel perfectly safe in my home. I am not afraid to strike an intruder.
I think I would hear an intruder before they arrived at my location in the house. Certainly giving me enough time time to call 911, probably enough time to hide too. Lots of cool hiding places in my house, particularly upstairs. My cat would be of no help.
I don’t have a gun (nor am I opposed to them necessarily), but being in Canada the hassle doesn’t seem worth it.
There is a 3 iron by the back door, but not for defense. It was mixed in with my clubs and needs to be returned to the set it came from.
I don’t really have much worth stealing. Unless they want an old tv I inherited from my grandmother and a vcr. I have some great kitchen equipment, but I don’t think a burglar is going to be interested in that.
I always hear this “and then he’s mad!” warning. Like the guy was happy-go-lucky and would have just said “oh hi, lady - why don’t you just head on outside while I rob your place?” otherwise? If an intruder attacks, you’re already not in for a good time.
No alarm system or anything at my place. Hunting rifle tucked somewhere inaccessible, and fuck if I know where the ammo is. That’s OK, giving me a gun would be as good as just handing it straight to the intruder; my husband can use one though. There are knives and swords in the house, and I’m trained in sword and stick-fighting, but whatever - you’d have to be stupid or blind to break into my place looking for stuff to steal. It’s a shitty house in a great neighborhood and we don’t have much of anything in terms of possessions compared to our neighbors, I’m sure.
I had an ex who advertised the fact that he knew where I lived - while on bail for an attempt on my life. I had another ex who told me that he’d been following me, he thought it was ‘cute’.
Both times I ended up moving (not entirely because of the ex in the second case, but it was a factor).
I’ve heard someone on my property, trying the windows and scared them off simply by turning the lights on.
A few months ago, I came home from work and found a guy in my garden. He asked me to get him a drink of water, I politely refused and he left without incident. I gave a good enough description to the police so that he was arrested (illegally on the property) and charged, but I wonder what would have happened if my pre-teen daughter had beaten me home that day.
Growing up as a child of parents of PSTD, I have never felt safe. Feeling unsafe is the norm. The barky dog helps, having another adult around helps, leaving a light on when I’m sleeping in my own helps.
But I never really feel safe anywhere. I don’t think it’s a female thing. I think it’s a me thing.
Huh. I really dislike sleeping alone or generally being alone at home at night. This has always been true - in the city, in the outer suburbs, in almost crime-free Singapore. My solution is to sleep with the kids. They’re currently 9 and 4, but it worked even when the oldest was a baby. My fears about being alone aren’t as concrete as a fear of home invasion. It’s more existential. Having a weapon of any sort around wouldn’t change that.
I answered no because I assume the OP only means due to other people. High winds make me feel unsafe, but it’s not like a dog, a baseball bat, or a husband would help there.
The only time I’ve ever felt unsafe in own residence was when I was a kid (about 8), living in an apartment in Moscow suburbs. Some guy was banging on the door and calling a name of some woman that most certainly did not live there… mom called the police, who showed up within ten minutes, thankfully.
The day later, I learned from other kids that there were a couple of look-outs (?), who stood outside while the guy went to bang on our door. Still not sure what the heck that was all about.
I’ve felt unsafe because when I was a teenager I was stalked, and it was scary. But now that I’m an adult I only feel that way if it’s dark (I live alone) and I let my imagination get the best of me. When I first got divorced I kept a hammer next to my bed for a few weeks, but after thinking about how a perpetrator could use that hammer against me, I put it away. I like having a dog, though–at least if someone breaks in I’ll get a warning.
Just this past weekend I had a moment of scariness and I was in the house with my mother and my two kids. I heard unexplained tapping. My house has lots and lots and lots of windows so as I crept through the dark to peek out I kept imagining seeing myself from the outside in “Criminal Minds murder-vision”.
I slept with the jambalaya/bisque paddle (approx 2.5 ft long paddle, 2 inches thick). It wouldn’t save me, but it was better than nothing. We actually do have guns in the house but I was afraid if I fell asleep with it loaded and accessible that one of my kids would see it and then, before you know it I’m defending myself to Nancy Grace. My kids just haven’t had enough gun safety training for me to be comfortable yet.
PS - I lived through the night.
ETA - I move in a couple weeks and honestly, I’m happy to be living as a couple again. He may not be any better than I in the situation, but damn I it doesn’t help to have another person to throw at an intruder!
I actually feel a bit more unsafe now if just because of our front door. It’s a hollow, wooden piece of crap, and I doubt any robber would have trouble kicking it in. Hopefully we’ll be putting a new one in soon.
I’m not single in the sense of unmarried, but I have been alone due to deployments and whatnot.
I’m usually OK with being alone, but there have been a few times where I’ve gotten an unwelcome and unwanted knock on the door. We don’t live in a bad neighborhood, but we’ve had some vandalism and problems with noisy kids before and after school. There is another group of kids who hang out at a neighbor’s house, and that gets, um, interesting.
If an intruder attacks, you’re already not in for a good time.