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This story is sad on so many levels, but is also scary on one key point... 4 invaders.

I sleep with a Glock 32 (with an attached WX150 tac light) and a spare magazine on my nightstand. I'm feeling under gunned as I've read several home invasion stories lately and they've all had 3+ invaders. 1 or 2 invade, and I feel I'm decently armed with 14 rounds, but 3 or 4 invaders?! I guess your best hope is that when someone fights back, they flee.

Has me wondering if I should start just putting the AR next to my bed. I don't own a tactical shotgun, but that would be a good option too. (I don't think a hunting shotgun is enough either)

Scott in Houston wrote:http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?secti ... id=8292717


This story is sad on so many levels, but is also scary on one key point... 4 invaders.

I sleep with a Glock 32 (with an attached WX150 tac light) and a spare magazine on my nightstand. I'm feeling under gunned as I've read several home invasion stories lately and they've all had 3+ invaders. 1 or 2 invade, and I feel I'm decently armed with 14 rounds, but 3 or 4 invaders?! I guess your best hope is that when someone fights back, they flee.

Has me wondering if I should start just putting the AR next to my bed. I don't own a tactical shotgun, but that would be a good option too. (I don't think a hunting shotgun is enough either)

Get a Saiga-12 Converted and it should do the trick, 12 rds to start with, with quick Mag reloads.

My .45 with 21 rounds next to the bed or wherever I am in the house gets me to my AR and spare mags. Just saying....

I guess your best hope is that when someone fights back, they flee.

It would be the exception, and not the norm, for a group of criminals to stay and fight rather than flee once they are taken under fire. The vast majority of criminals want easy targets and rely on intimidation and threat to achieve their goals, once they realize the firefight will be a TWO way event, and not just a one way event, their thoughts will turn to survival and egress, instead of your "stuff".

Has me wondering if I should start just putting the AR next to my bed.

Long guns are much easier to maintain defensive accuracy with, and an AR affords enough ammo for all but the most dire situations, especially if the targets are channelized via doorways, stairs, or halls. While some folks worry about about "over penetration", IMO, this can be averted by AIMING at what you shoot at, shooting at what you AIM at, and coming up with a defensive plan that incorporates pre-planned firing positions prior to any "invasion". If you look at your house, you can identify firing positions that afford the best fields of fire reducing the risk of injury to friends/family, and positions that will best isolate areas of your home. A doorway or hallway locked down with a determined individual with an AR is NOT going to be easily breached, and you could safely hunker down far longer than it would take for LEO's to arrive on scene.

Handguns are nice to have when you don't have a long gun, but they can never REPLACE a long gun, so if you have one, use it.

Texas Dan Mosby wrote: While some folks worry about about "over penetration", IMO, this can be averted by AIMING at what you shoot at, shooting at what you AIM at, and coming up with a defensive plan that incorporates pre-planned firing positions prior to any "invasion".

, but would add one caveat to your list: a quality hollowpoint ammunition. The use of a hollowpoint round pretty much negates most of the over penetration concern to me, especially from an AR. Even a pistol will penetrate drywall, so that is something you should be thinking about no matter what.....but a hollowpoint rifle round should keep from punching holes in your neighbors house.

My panther sleeps by my side with 31 rounds of HP's ready to go with flip a switch. I pitty the fool that kicks in my door @ 3 am.
My CHEWS(canine home early warning system) always gives me a heads up, even when a knat farts.

I would agree with all posted above. Thanks for the feedback.
One thing I have read is that a handgun, hollow point round will actually penetrate through more dry wall than a .223 round (hp or not). The handgun round fills up the hp with dry wall and effectively becomes a FMJ and doesn't expand. It's heavier and carries through more walls. Where a .223, HP or not, will begin to break apart and fragment, going through less walls.

I have also understood that hp, softpoint, and FMJ in an AR all perform very similarly. The effects of a HP round vs a FMJ in an AR are very similar. Having HP's doesn't hurt, that's for sure, buy they don't offer much more effectiveness in terms of tissue damage and as for dry wall or over penetration issues, they're essentially the same.

Regardless, this DDM4 is my new "first grab" weapon.

<deleted the image because this forum cannot take large images without cutting them in half and I'm too short of time to resize it for now>

I think a dog is a great idea if you can afford/deal with one in the house. I have always let me dog sleep in the house, and she has a doggy door that always stays un-locked, Since my property is fenced completely she can run round at night with no issues. As for defensive guns, I have always slept with a pistol and a rifle ( lately it's a Glock 21 and a AK). The posts about ammo type are very applicable, as over penetration is always an issue. I live in the center of 8 acres that is pretty densely wooded, so I don't worry about over penetration too much. The other think thay you might consider is some kind of motion sensor set-up. I had a friend once who had on of those frogs that ribbet when people would walk down his entry way sidewalk. He always had his front window cracked and would hear it go off about 5 seconds before his door was knocked on. I thought that was pretty slick, and it only cost him $30.00 or so if I remember right.

We've got a dog. She's a tiny little wuss. She isn't worth much for warning or defense.

We live in a nice area of Houston, but I'm not letting that give me too much comfort to the point of being in a false sense of security. We do have a nice, monitored alarm. If a door is breached or a window open or broken, I'll hear a loud noise in my bedroom.
Our plan, and we've had to use it on a false alarm once, is

1) hear alarm going off, she grabs phone, I grab the Glock. (now AR)

2) we bolt towards my daughter's room.

2.5) because we must go by the front door on the way, I'm leading the way. Anyone who is in my view and older than 8 years old, gets a few rounds of .357 SIG (now 5.56).
Given our home setup, intrusions are much more likely to come in the back door though.

3) get to daughter's room and wait for police with my wife on the phone and me ready to shoot anyone who comes in the room.

I don't care about my insured "stuff". It's all about my girls.

These stories are more and more about multiple intruders who end up raping, killing, or seriously wounding people.

Scott in Houston wrote:We've got a dog. She's a tiny little wuss. She isn't worth much for warning or defense.

We live in a nice area of Houston, .

This translate into you live in a nice free shopping center for criminals. I live in a "Nice area" also and my house has been targeted 3-4 times now luckily I am anal about keeping things covered and locked so never any penetration only evidence of attempts. Now my neighbor found their nice American made truck on blocks and the criminals just walked past my Benz to unscrew my outside light so they could work on my neighbors truck in the dark. One thing I like about my house is the bedrooms are all down one hall my bedroom being the first so very defensible if my CHEWS ever fails.

I have a dog that barks anytime someone pulls into the drive, it's helpful when the wife gets home and I was supposed to have unloaded the dishwasher . If a bg tried to break in my dog would give them a loud welcome waking us up and and possibly scaring them away, if they actually got in the house they would have found my dog was saying hello hi hi hello hi, but that's all the time I need to be awake armed and ready to stop anything that don't belong.

German Shepherd Dog beside the bed, S&W 642-1 with +P under the pillow and a Rem 870 Marine Mag with 00 buck under the mattress!

I do not feel under gunned.

Texas Dan Mosby wrote:

I guess your best hope is that when someone fights back, they flee.

It would be the exception, and not the norm, for a group of criminals to stay and fight rather than flee once they are taken under fire. The vast majority of criminals want easy targets and rely on intimidation and threat to achieve their goals, once they realize the firefight will be a TWO way event, and not just a one way event, their thoughts will turn to survival and egress, instead of your "stuff".

Has me wondering if I should start just putting the AR next to my bed.

Long guns are much easier to maintain defensive accuracy with, and an AR affords enough ammo for all but the most dire situations, especially if the targets are channelized via doorways, stairs, or halls. While some folks worry about about "over penetration", IMO, this can be averted by AIMING at what you shoot at, shooting at what you AIM at, and coming up with a defensive plan that incorporates pre-planned firing positions prior to any "invasion". If you look at your house, you can identify firing positions that afford the best fields of fire reducing the risk of injury to friends/family, and positions that will best isolate areas of your home. A doorway or hallway locked down with a determined individual with an AR is NOT going to be easily breached, and you could safely hunker down far longer than it would take for LEO's to arrive on scene.

Handguns are nice to have when you don't have a long gun, but they can never REPLACE a long gun, so if you have one, use it.

... I've taught my boys to go low...even a 15 degree upwards angle will be enough to radically cut overpenetration dangers to those in other rooms or outside the home...and the shotgun or rifle will stop a lot more effectively than a handgun...multiple invaders ARE more common... a couple to hold the family...one to escort a family member to the ATM...plan, prepare, and pray to execute better than they do...it's coming to our living rooms all across America...please don't think it couldn't happen to you...

...we're remodeling the master bedroom...I told her to get two locking knobsets...one for the door...one for the bathroom door to give her a bit more security and time should someone come in the house...she told me "I haven't needed it in all these years...I won't need it now."... I told her, good, then cancel the insurance on the house..we'll save a lot of money...next day, she came home with two locking knobsets...point made...

1) Three dogs with great ears, one with a bad temper.

2) XDm .40 on the night stand.

3) This standing up next to the night stand:

suthdj wrote:

Scott in Houston wrote:We've got a dog. She's a tiny little wuss. She isn't worth much for warning or defense.

We live in a nice area of Houston, .

This translate into you live in a nice free shopping center for criminals. I live in a "Nice area" also and my house has been targeted 3-4 times now luckily I am anal about keeping things covered and locked so never any penetration only evidence of attempts. Now my neighbor found their nice American made truck on blocks and the criminals just walked past my Benz to unscrew my outside light so they could work on my neighbors truck in the dark. One thing I like about my house is the bedrooms are all down one hall my bedroom being the first so very defensible if my CHEWS ever fails.

Which is why the very next statement was...

"but I'm not letting that give me too much comfort to the point of being in a false sense of security."

Whenever bad news happens, it's always the neighbors standing around saying things like, "But this is such a nice neighborhood. I never thought it would happen hear."