Google "Home Invasion Robberies’ sometime, you will see how totally wrong this is.
They break in, then threaten or torture you until you tell them where the money, etc is.
Gets too stuffy and hot in there during the winter. In summer, we can open the window. Also, the cat comes and goes: don’t get me started.
I voted the last option, though it’s not precise. I already own guns, but not merely for home defense.
Is there any significant number of a "stranger’ carrying a holstered gun- then turning out to be a robber or the like?
Bad guys dont carry their guns openly in holsters when they are about to commit a crime. Either the gun is concealed or they have it open in their hands.
Now yes, I’d call the police if i saw a dude carrying a gun ready for use openly in his hand. But holstered? Naw.
That’s absolutely false. Some people break in with the intent to rape, kill, or kidnap.
Well you are letting the person(s) know the following:
1: you are aware that they are there
2: there are more than 1 of you
3: police are on the way
That may be sufficient for the invaders to search for less awake prey.
Before i was 35, I nevrr needed an insulin shot, or morphine, or the services of an attorney. It was not safe to assume I’d never need those.
If that break in resulted in a rape of your spouse or child in front of you might. Might not.
This scenario comes up a lot in gun threads and I think it demonstrates how someone could put too much reliance on depending on the gun for protection. Because someone has a gun, they take time to get it and then treat it as offering a protective shield. However, there are many ways for the intruder to still take you out.
If you didn’t have a gun, you might think of other ways to handle the situation which result in you being safer. Rather than hunkering down, flee the house all together. In the vast majority of cases, the intruder is just looking for quick cash and isn’t going to chase you around the neighborhood trying to kill you. If you aren’t in the house, he won’t harm you.
In addition, using a gun for defense depends on you having the gun in your possession and being able to operate it. If you’re asleep, a gun won’t do you any good. If the intruder overpowers you when you open the front door, the gun in the bedroom won’t do you any good.
If you don’t have a gun, you may think of ways which provide active and passive protection even if you’re not there, such as dogs, alarms, motion lights, etc. And if you’re worried about intruders, you can instead install panic buttons throughout the house which activate loud alarms the moment they are pressed.
In most of the situations where someone used a gun as protection, another method would have probably worked just as well or better. There are situations where a gun is the best choice–such as a crazed killer hell-bent on killing you–but that is an extremely rare case. So for most people, there are better home defense solutions that have fewer downsides than getting a gun.
I would be interested in hearing about these two cases if you are willing to share.
Do bad guys learn this in bad guy training, or do they just instinctively know that this is a bad guy rule?
IMHO if you have a gun and you point it at someone you better be willing to kill them. I thought the whole idea behind guns as a home defense strategy was that if someone is in your house, you are expecting to be killed so kill them first.
There was a very sad story in my area very recently about a 14-year-old boy who left for school one morning, then unexpectedly returned home coming in the back door. His father shot and killed him thinking he was an intruder. He didn’t wait for anything more.
My answer is that I do not own a gun and would have to feel that the threat level is much higher than what it currently is to want to own one for home defense. A gun grossly magnifies the impact of a mistake.
Why not? If that is the way most of the good guys carry their guns, it would be the perfect way to blend in. Better to call it in and let the cops sort it out.
Because they are not allowed to own a gun, being a convicted criminal. And cops know "the usual suspects’ and will arrest them if they see it.
Man that takes a lot of things for granted that are not in evidence, such as first offenses and criminals from other jurisdictions.
The only thing on my Bucket List is to acquire a pump shotgun and become proficient in its use. Even more so now that I’ve discovered Demolition Ranch. 
I bought a revolver for bear and mountain lion protection. Now I don’t go up hiking and fishing in remote areas so it stays home. The gun is loaded but it is not easily accessible but I voted I already have one. I don’t think I’d ever buy a gun for home protection I’d buy guns for other reasons that might get used for home protection.
Try going to a open carry state, and dressing up in gang colors, etc. See how fast you get stopped with a gun on your hip.
As San Bernardino County (Calif.) Sheriff’s Sargent, Dave Phelps said, “Gang members aren’t known to open carry.”
Do you have any evidence that perps commonly rob places after open carry? In fact, violent crime is lower is states that have open carry. (this does not mean that open carry necessarily causes lower crime rates), and armed robbery is quite a bit lower.
I come down more on the anti-gun than pro-gun side, but I wouldn’t mind if I and everybody else had a shotgun in the attic in case of temporary social collapse (Hurricane Katrina for example). No poser-ass pistol grips though.
Thank you for those. I think 30-40% likelihood is high enough that it’s better to assume they would be armed. I recommend you reassess. Though I also continue to think your having a gun isn’t going to solve anything.
How rude. I asked for stats, I got them. Why would I ignore them?
I still think underestimating criminals is taking too big a risk. But I also think America’s gun culture is fucking up your objectivity.
These two statements seem to contradict each other somewhat.
Not in the slightest.