Stopping a burglar with a gun, what now?

In My Humble Opinion
1

This may have a factual answer, but I’m counting on lots of speculative responses. So I’m putting this in IMHO, instead of GQ.

I own a couple handguns, but don’t keep them handy for household protection. I don’t posess the training to properly handle an adrenaline-soaked confrontation with an intruder. So I don’t try to shoulder that responsibility. My guns are locked in their cases, and there usually isn’t any ammo in the house (because i fire it all of at the range and don’t buy more till I go again).

But last night, I found myself wondering what I would do if I intended to use it for protection, and if I ever did resort to using it. Not using it with deadly force, but instead, using it to threaten/frighten the would-be robber/murderer into submission. With the dealy force option, it’s easy to figure out what would happen…with the other scenario, it seems a little trickier.

I envisioned a scenario in which the sound of breaking glass rouses me from bed. I grab my trusty .45 and slowly head towards the living room, where the scary confrontation ensues. In this ideal situation, I present my “piece” and the (presumably less armed than myself) attacker’s hands go up in surrender.

I realize that’s not how it’s bound to happen, but it’s a possibility. But the question is…what then? Obviously I find a way to contact the police. But do I tell the I’ve got an intruder at gunpoint? Whether I tell them or not, do I indeed keep the intruder at gunpoint?

Do I try to restrain him? I can’t see it being very plausible to try to hogtie/zip-tie the assailant by myself. But can I really expect him to lay there with his hands behind his head for 10 minutes while we wait on the cops?

So, once again. I’ve got him… what do I do with him?

2

You’re going to wind up dead. No one is going to break into your home un-armed, especially if you’re there. If someone breaks into my house I’m expecting them to be armed already. I’d approach the situation with that in mind.

It’s better to be tried by 12 then carried by 6.

3

Absolutely 100% false.

In my old neighborhood, I stopped someone from breaking into my house on five occasions with the display (not use, not pointing it at them, merely a display) of a firearm.

As I’ve posted here previously, on one occasion a guy was persistent in trying to get through my door, despite knowing that I was there, despite seeing me with a large knife in my hand, despite hearing and seeing me call 911. It wasn’t until I retrieved my .357 magnum that he took a hike.
My advice to the OP is to hold them at gunpoint until the police arrive. Or get a good description of them in your mind as you watch them flee. Don’t dream of shooting them as they run away though, or you’ll end up in jail.

Don’t get too close to them in the process. Don’t let them walk past you into the other room or some such nonsense. You don’t want to end up in a life and death struggle for your own gun. Tell them to lie down, face down, on the floor and keep their hands where you can see them. Then stay away from them.

4

Well, the laws vary from state to state.

In Texas, it’s easily possible to just shoot the intruder, and no one will ask any questions… as long as you don’t shoot your spouse, or your kids, or your cousin Jimbo who thought he could crash on your couch after tying one on…

In California, even if the guy is there to rob your house, if you shoot him, you damn well better have some physical evidence to prove your very life was in imminent danger, or else you open yourself to criminal charges and wrongful death lawsuits.

My friend’s uncle, who moved to Amarillo Texas from California loves to tell the story of how he saw an intruder skulking around his rural property in Texas. He called the sheriff and reported it. When the deputies didn’t show up fast enough, and the person was gone, the Uncle called back disappointed that there was no response. The dispatcher told him “next time, shoot him, then call us.”

5

“Face down on the floor, arms and legs spread. Move ONE muscle and I’ll blow your freakin’ head off!” If he moves at any point in the ten to thirty minute period before the police get there, DO IT!

Please, don’t cause yourself a bunch of grief and problems by shooting him in the leg or somewhere like that. Shoot to kill or don’t bring the gun out.

There’ll be time for explaining later.

That’s, of course, my opinion. You did ask.

6

That’s your first mistake. Once you have your gun, stay in your bedroom and call the police. Lock the door and get behind the most bullet-stoppingest thing there. If you have no cover, cover stops bullets, then get concealment, which won’t stop bullets but will make you harder to see.

Hunting for the intruder will put you in a situation where you’re walking in low visibility with an unknown number of wrong-doers who can ambush you.

If you hear them outside the door, announce loudly that you have a loaded gun and that you have called the cops. (I would have the safety off at this point, since kicking in your door and crossing the room could be done very quickly.)

If you have the person at gun-point, shout clear and simple commands. Order that person to lay face down on the floor, with his arms outstretched to the sides, and turned so that his palms face up. You want getting up to take time if he tries it. Stay well away from him. Don’t attempt to restrain him, or administer first aid. Do not believe any claim to injury or discomfort he makes.

A person with a knife can cross twenty feet and stab you faster than you can pick up your gun and shoot him. When the capitol police shot that bum w/ a knife a few years ago, the news reported that the police consider a knife to be as dangerous as a gun as 21 feet, and that they could fire at that range. You will want to check on the laws and standards in your state for guidance on that. You will also need to know if your state has a castle doctrine, or something like that.

If the person is close, do not hold the gun out in front of you. Hold it in one hand close to your body, but still pointing at the intruder. Put the other hand out in front of you to create a barrier between him and the gun. Practice shooting from one or two yards holding the gun this way.

Know how to clear a jam or stovepipe in the combat appropriate way, i.e. gross motor movements & simple actions. If your pistol has a button where you put in the magazine, then press the button and the slide comes forward to chamber the round, don’t use it. Ever. Train yourself to put in the magazine and then pull on the slide because under pressure you are less likely to fuck that up.

Stay on the line with the police, and inform them that you have a gun. The dispatcher will be able to communicate with the responding officer via radio. This way you can coordinate so that you can protect yourself and not get shot. Do what they tell you to do.

If you have to shoot the intruder, be advised that the police are there to enforce the law, not to protect you. You will want to find out what you should do in your state. If you insist on saying nothing until you get a lawyer, that may be a good idea. You don’t want to end up in prison because your adrenaline charged mind has you saying something inaccurate. Either way, there is a good possibility that you’ll spend the night in jail while they sort things out.

Taking an NRA sponsored course designed for self-defense/home protection is a great idea. Even if you live in the sticks where you can’t find a locked door for miles, the courses are interesting and informative, and a good chance to see how dumb people are. You will hear some amazing questions from the other students.

This is stuff that, depending on your lifestyle, you will probably never need, but is interesting anyway and, if you like to shoot, fun to learn.

7

js_africanus, thatnks for such a detailed and informative response. Sounds like you’ve got some training/experience in this area. And I realize that runnign out looking for trouble is the wrong thing to do in that situation…but that sounds like something my male instincts would tell me to do (aren’t we supposed to investigate strange noises?). I’ll have to remember to override that urge.

I also noticed that as of now, you have 1911 posts. Kind of approriate given the question.

And thanks to everyone else for their insights. This idea makes me want to take that aforementioned NRA course. I’ve taken the class to get my CCP, but that’s really only about gun safety. Not situational use.

8

The woman who lived next door to us was woken by the sound of someone in the house (her husband was away). Unknown to me, she kept an unloaded .303 rifle under her bed. She pulled it out, called out, “I’ve got a gun,” and loudly worked the bolt. When the burglar fled she came next door. She regretted that her phone was in the loungeroom and later moved it to her bedside table.

9

Just to follow on to what js_africanus posted, make sure that you keep the line open to the police operator - they will record everything that is heard on that line. After you have given the vital statistics (name, address, sitrep) to the police operator, loudly announce to the intruder that you are armed, you will use deadly force if necessary, and that the police are on the way. Everything that is heard on that recording will probably be used in a hearing, if one is convened - make sure you do it the right way (“Stop!” “Don’t come any closer!” “Drop that knife / gun / baseball bat!”), and you will have developed a “justified shooting.”

While the suggestion to become proficient in the operation of a pistol is good advice, I would recommend that you either have a revolver for your “house protection gun” or a pistol that has a magazine disconnector feature. Take the attitude of, “in times of stress, things that can go wrong, will go wrong.”

10

That stuff was all from the CCP course that I took, so you may want to check what you take before you end up re-doing the stuff you already know. The course I took did range time & safety, but they also had an attorney who explained the laws and a retired cop to give his end of the bit.

I haven’t gotten a permit. The attorney & cop said that if you have a permit, then the police can pretty much search you at will, without any probable cause, under some Supreme Court decision that I can’t recall. I’m too sure if I am comfortable with that.

11

I would definitely not threaten anyone with an unloaded gun. The intruder may figure it’s a toy or you are squeamish about pulling the trigger. If it’s not loaded, he’s right. If he rushes you and your gun goes “click”, what then?

12
      • I cannot agree more-- it is absolutely totally completely idiotic to keep a gun on hand, and not have any ammo. If you ever end up needing to use the gun in a self-defense, you will feel stupid for the rest of your life–and in the worst possible scenario that may not be too long a time. Others may get injured or killed, you may get injured or killed, and it would have been avoidable just for the cost of one box of ammo.
  • I was always told by police that the best thing to do is escape by some other safe means. If that’s not possible, then just to tell them to leave, fire a warning shot near their feet if they don’t immediately start to leave (so that they can SEE that the gun is real and puts holes in things), wait a couple seconds, and then if they don’t move, let em have it. Don’t fumble with a damn phone and try to call police if you have drawn a weapon on someone–you are much safer staying off the phone, letting them get away, and calling the police afterwards. -And that’s the whole point of self-defense, with a gun or any other way. Not catching or putting holes in bad guys, but avoiding your own injury as much as possible.
    ~
13

I’ve read that one of the most effective deterrents to burglars is the sound of a pump-action 12 gauge shotgun being cycled.

Unfortunately, these weapons aren’t ideally suited for close-quarters encounters with burglars in a small house or apartment.

14

If this is truly the case, then don’t use it at all. The first thing my father taught me when I learned to shoot (which was the first thing the Air Force taught him when he learned to shoot) was “if you ever have to point a weapon at another human being you had better be ready to take that person’s life.”

Kinda heartless, yes, but it’s pretty obvious when someone’s holding a weapon they have no intention of using. “Shooting to wound” can backfire, giving you an opponent who is pumped so full of adrenaline that the pain doesn’t matter as much as getting to you and doing damage.

My dad’s a perfect example of this - when he was in the USAF as a Security Police airman, one of the other airmen on watch was juuuuust a little bit stoned and started firing his M-1 Garand in random directions. On the flightline. Among the fully fueled and armed B-36 Peacemaker bombers on ready-alert. Armed with hydrogen bombs. So, Dad had to take the gun away from Airman Happy and got hit five times in the process with .30 caliber slugs. Adrenaline got the job done - those five bullets missed most of Dad’s major organs (he lost one lung and a hip joint, but other than that…) but he ran a good 30 yards with his perforations and disarmed the other airman (and gave him a taste of his own rifle butt) before collapsing.

Now, this is what mere adrenaline can do - imagine what a drug user who isn’t feeling much to begin with can accomplish. A gun is a deadly weapon. Unfortunately, it’s nearly useless in a self-defense situation unless it’s used as such. Use it to intimidate, and a burglar with an attitude will make you “prove it”. Use it to wound, and you might just make an intruder angry.

15

Keep in mind, folks, that I made it a point to say the OP situation was unrealistic. I know enough to know that if I draw a weapon, I had better damned well be prepared to use it. My point in the sentence quoted immediately above was considering the possibility that the presentation of the gun might be enough to stop the conflict. I didn’t say I was drawing with no intention to shoot…just that I might not have to.

The next sentence in my OP also said that I knew what the answer would be if I had to pull the trigger. Those ramifications are easier to figure out, if not easier to deal with.

My question was more of “If I don’t end up killing the guy, what do I do?”

So some of you are making very valid points…but remember that these points are nothing that I’m not already aware of.

16

I would take one of those over anything else.

17

I’d say make sure, absolutely sure, its not Uncle Bob three sheets to the wind coming in to crash on your couch, done easily enough by calling out, “who’s there? I have a gun” and moving swiftly away from where ever you just shouted from. Wait for some response, but not too long, then, if your pretty darn sure its no one you know, shoot at leg level, or hip level.
No one can attack you if their legs are gone.
I would call the police beforehand, and tell them I had a firearm, if I had time, and leave them on the line. That way they don’t shoot YOU when they show up.
The cops told me YEARS ago, if someone breaks in your house, if they even stick a FINGER in your window, it belongs to you. They were some tough guys. My heros. :slight_smile:

18

Most bedrooms are big enough, I’d imagine. If you stay behind your bed or dresser or whatever, it seems like you’d have enough room.

19

Trouble with barracading yourself in your room is that your kids may be in a different room and not as well-armed. There is a portion of the house I’d have to prevent access to. And I wouldn’t be able to do that from behind my dresser kneeling in a puddle of urine. Sometimes you gotta hunt, but I’d agree that attempting to clear the entire house on one’s own is a bad idea.

Also, since you have no way of knowing what or if the intruder is packing, nor how well-trained he may be, you are safer putting a few slugs in his chest before giving him the opportunity to draw or duck. Last thing you want (as Joe Average) is a Mexican stand-off with someone who has everything to lose if the cops come to visit. It’s heartless, yes, but the next thing someone should see after they see your gun is a black dot with an orange ring around it–else why not just use harsh language?

20

:mad: :mad:

If you don’t kill they dude after a shot or two, might just wanna stand him up & finish him off. Can’t testify if he’s dead. >: ) But I don’t think too many jurisdictions allow you to drag him back inside to do this part.