# What (legal) weapon is best to defend your home against a band of determined looters?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-legal-weapon-is-best-to-defend-your-home-against-a-band-of-determined-looters/264047>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [September 11, 2004, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-legal-weapon-is-best-to-defend-your-home-against-a-band-of-determined-looters/264047 "2004-09-11T16:14:32Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 4

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**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\
**Post date:** [October 14, 2004, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-legal-weapon-is-best-to-defend-your-home-against-a-band-of-determined-looters/264047/61 "2004-10-14T17:34:00Z")

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Most any modern, repeating firearm will be adequate for running off the opportunistic pissbags who loot following a disaster. Pillagers are a bit different. In addition to your material goods, they may be planning on enjoying you. Since I have a little girl to protect, pillagers will be killed w/o benefit of any warning shots or other foolishness. I have a Bushmaster carbine w/ a 16" fluted barrel that would work beautifully for the purpose, especially with a 30 round magazine. The red dot sight I have mounted on the carry-handle makes it that much quicker to use against multiple opponents.  
Depending on the situation, I might opt instead to use my PTR-91. It is a domestically produced version of the HK-91 that fires the 7.62x51mm cartridge. It is sufficiently penetrative that said pillagers would be able to find very little in the way of effective cover anywhere around my place.

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**Author:** ![Padeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)\
**Post date:** [October 14, 2004, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-legal-weapon-is-best-to-defend-your-home-against-a-band-of-determined-looters/264047/62 "2004-10-14T17:42:20Z")

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**Scumpup** , drop me an email if you could. [morgrandall@yahoo.com](mailto:morgrandall@yahoo.com) I’ve been considering a PTR-91 but have a few questions.

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