Cipher wrote:
I admitted leaving the doors unlocked was a mistake, even though I've never felt inclined to lock them during the day, I will be from now on. I see it being a challenge keeping them locked with kids in the house though.
I'm a strong believer in *always* keeping your doors locked. I know that it's more of an issue when you have children though. We had a thread on here recently about keyless locks, and that may be something you might want to look into. It's, in my opinion, the easiest safest way to keep your house locked all the time and still accessible to the children. Some of them have user-changeable codes, and can lock automatically when the door is closed.
Here's one site that offers residential locks:
http://www.gokeyless.com/residentialhomes.htm
Cipher wrote:
However, good guys aren't the only ones who will stand outside a door and yell "hello, hello" (and there were about 10 other "hello's in there too), and having my door flung open, daylight, unlocked or otherwise is good reason for me to draw and get prepared - I was 10 feet from the door, had it not been friendlies I don't think I would've had time to react if I was still holstered.
As I see it, the door being unlocked was my fault, not knowing we were expecting company wasn't.
This is true, but you've created an environment (at least that's what I've gathered from your first post) where your in-laws feel comfortable walking in the door when they arrive. Why should they feel any differently, just because they hadn't called ahead this time? I gather that you never instructed them to do anything differently if they were going to drop-in, no?
Cipher wrote:
And, just because my door was unlocked doesn't mean I shouldn't react when it opens unexpectedly. It's as though some of you are taking the stance that because my door was unlocked I shouldn't defend the house any longer, or react when it opens.
Again true, but why on *earth* would you put yourself in that position? A locked door is one of the strongest defenses you have between you and potential trouble. The point is not that you *can't* defend yourself against intruders, it's that you shouldn't create a situation where a) intruders can get in without any effort so that you're *forced* to deal with them inside your home, and b) so that you're *forced* to try and discern someone's intentions *after* they're already in your house!
Cipher wrote:
So, let's make a hypothetical situation out of this:
You are in your house, your 8 year old kid just came in from outside (and remembered to close the front door). 10 minutes later you hear knocking, so you get up to see who it is. 10 feet from the away, the door flings open. You're telling me you wouldn't prepare to fight? Since your door was unlocked you would just stand there and let whatever happened happen?
My doors are always locked. If I had children, I would have knobs installed that locked themselves automatically on closing. If that wasn't an option, my children would *know* that when they come in the door, they lock it. No, they're not going to remember all the time, and you are going to have situations where you're vulnerable. In my opinion, that's not an excuse to *not* make it a habit to follow best practices and keep your doors locked as much of the time as possible.
