Question for Rob Pincus

[GSPBirdDog]

Rob,

This might be a show idea for you!

Me and my engineering group all went out for supper one night after work and i stopped to get my 2 year old son from daycare on the way home. Braydon and i did our usual stuff as we got out of the truck. I picked him up and was walking thru the door with him in one hand and a diaper bag in the other. As soon a we walked in the door i took his coat off and he ran over to turn the christmas tree lights on, like he always loves to do. I went over to help him out, when i heard "running footsteps" in my hallway and thru my kitchen. My gunsafe was right by me but locked, so i picked up my son and unlocked the combination to the safe with one hand as quick as i could, because i had to run thru an area were there might have been a threat. The only gun i had a clip loaded for was my AR15, so i grabed it and walked carefully to the front door and took my son over to my neighbor's house. Sure enough my bedroom was ransacked and i soon came to the conclusion that i had walked in on a home burglery, unarmed with my son in my arms

I called the police and waited in the front yard with my cell phone in one hand and my AR in the other. The police cleared my house and found that while i was walking in the front door, the theives were running out the back door.

My question is this:

1. How can i protect my son as well as myself in a situation like this?

2. I had just gotten off work where i can't carry a concealed carry weapon on me. I did not have a gun in my truck that day and if i did, what do i do, strap it on me everytime i go into my house?

3. Due to having kids, i do not keep firearms easlily accessible. How can i have a weapon readily accessible when walking into my house, under circumstances like i have described to you?

4. How do i handle myself as a citizen, when i have a loaded weapon in my posession while police first arrive to a high intensity situation like that?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated and my wife and i bith enjoy your show!

Thanks,
Ryan W.

[tombogan03884]

A .380 or other small pistol with a "clip grip"  could be locked in your vehicle at work and slipped into your waist band when you got home, then unloaded and/or secured once you get home, that takes care of 1 -3, as for #4 you seem to have handled that OK already.


http://suburbansportinggoods.com/category/4985197581/1/Grips.htm?gclid=CKPM3ojS5JgCFQG7GgodwX8tcw

[Rob10ring]

Scary! If you'd just come in the door and heard that, you probably should have just grabbed your child and ran back out the door, instead of spending time as a target in front of the safe. I guess that you could have run back out to more waiting goblins.

Something like what Tom said is the only way to have a gun with you when you come home to an empty house. Gun left in lock-box in car when at work - concealed on your body once you have gotten back in car - gun secured in home once all in known safe.

I hope no more boogymen get in your house.

[ericire12]

If you got kids, you need something like this:
http://www.gunvault.com/

[Pathfinder]

Scary situation, and thank God nothing happened to you or your son, Ryan. Count your blessings.

Was there anything on the outside that if you had looked, would have given away the fact your shouse was hit?

The others have said part of what I wanted to say. I will add these 2 points:

 - Just because you are home does not mean you are safe - home invasions happen all of the time. If all they want is stuff, they will hit when you are gone. If they want anything else, they will hit while you're home. Carry in the house.

- Suarez in his newsletter yesterday had an article on house fighting. Here is his #3 point that seems to apply here:

3). Traversing Through. Traversing involves traveling through a contested or conflict area where there may be active armed bad guys. The mission is not to engage them, but rather to escape them. But understand, getting shot in the back is no way to escape.  The operator (s) and their protectees move rapidly through and out, free of the threat area, but ready to engage any threats that may appear or impede their exit.
 
Think of the active shooter event where there are multiple shooters but their immediate whereabouts are not certain.  All you know is that the current place is not safe and that remaining there is not a good idea.  You need to escape but running into one or more of them on the way out is a very real possibility.
 
There is no time to clear or search. You move quickly as before, giving cursory attention to danger areas with eyes and muzzles on the approach and egress, but no attempt would be made to "clear them" or search them.  As soon as a danger area is passed, it is abandoned as new danger areas appear. The goal is to escape...but in a strong and controlled manner ready to convert escape into attack if necessary.

[Sponsor]

[cookie62]

If you got kids, you need something like this:
http://www.gunvault.com/

I have a gunvault mounted in my truck, when I am not carrying I keep my pistol in it. When I get home I just take it in with me.

[Rob Pincus]

Scary situation indeed!  You handled it well.

1. How can i protect my son as well as myself in a situation like this?

-keep in mind that you DID protect your son as well as yourself in a situation like that! Don't overlook that fact. Could it have gone differently, of course.... but you DID WELL. We can all fantasize about carrying a gun all the time and never having anything in our strong hands, but unless you are really willing to compromise your life around always being armed and pretending you are "ready", that's not real. You make due with what you have when you HAVE to.
-That said, perhaps a Gunvault quick opening safe, as mentioned above, will give you quicker access to a handgun in the future. Maybe one in each room of your house, if you think that is realistic worth the effort and $$$.... ?

2. I had just gotten off work where i can't carry a concealed carry weapon on me. I did not have a gun in my truck that day and if i did, what do i do, strap it on me everytime i go into my house?

-Some people would say "yes"... I would say "if you want to, it is certainly an option". Of course, there is NO Reason why you would want to choose a gun that you would not ordinarily carry for self defense. The gun that Tom mentioned, for example, is not one that I recommend. I am not one of those instructors who doesn't allow shoulder holsters, Appendix Carry or other non-traditional carry methods in classes because of "I'm not used to it" safety concerns, but I do not allow "grip clip" carry with a round chambered. An unprotected trigger with a round chambered is a recipe for disaster....
-As noted above, there are options for securing a firearm in your vehicle while you are at work, etc.


3. Due to having kids, i do not keep firearms easlily accessible. How can i have a weapon readily accessible when walking into my house, under circumstances like i have described to you?

-Again, the Gunvault is a good quick option. There are others, but this is one that I trust. When your kids are old enough to know better and yet young enough to not have friends over wandering through the house, you might decide that exposed guns kept "ready" are reasonable options.

4. How do i handle myself as a citizen, when i have a loaded weapon in my posession while police first arrive to a high intensity situation like that?

That is a whole ball of wax!  The good new is that we cover that information in an upcoming episode of The Best Defense. Some tips for now:
1. Don't be standing there with a gun in your hand when they show up. When you first see lights, hear siren or have any other indication that LE is on the scene, put the gun on the ground or in a holster (preferably) ASAP unless you KNOW you need it to keep bad guys at bay.
2. In your case, I would have recommended staying at the neighbor's house with your son and called/waited. No reason to go back to the house/yard/zip code where the bad guys are if you don't have to protect other family members.
3. Give the dispatcher as much info as possible, including the fact that you are armed and an accurate description of you and your clothing.
4. Answer the cops questions politely and professionally.

[GSPBirdDog]

Thanks to all that have responded and i appreciate all advice given on this matter. Everything happens so quick and and i am glad i had the opportunity to get my son to safety. A few of you mentioned that i should have walked out as soon as i heard the threat, but i would have done that had the threat not been between myself and the exit. Until i can get a gunvault, i have installed a special coated magnet that i bought at the last gun show and mounted it above the inside of my closet door by my front door. this will provide a handgun readily accesible if i run into that situation again.

FYI.... One thing i clearly remember of that day, is how i followed my gut instinct. I could have second guessed myself and went to see what was going on. I am sure that would not have been a good situation due to the fact the intruder would have been cornered. Instead i followed my instinct and fled to safety. When i grabbed my AR modular carbine, the first thing i pictured was those rounds ripping thru the house. So i highly recomend if you are to use a AR for personal defense, that you use ammunition that will not penetrate throughout your house. One thing i might change, is i have two big gunsafes and one is right inside my big living room, because when we moved into our new house i had a compound fracture of my left leg. So my four big brother-in-laws moved it in my house for me and that was the only place to put it at the time because the other safe i had hidden. I need to get that out of sight so it does not tempt some lowlife sticky fingered bum!

Again... Thanks to all and look forward to chatting with you in days to come!

[Michael Janich]

Again, we are all glad that you and your son made it through the incident safely. That is always the bottom line.

Two other things you might consider:

One trick my Dad taught me when I was a kid was putting a small piece of paper between the door and the door frame after you've closed and locked it. The idea is to make it small enough that only you see it. If someone manages to open the door and get inside, the paper falls out. When you approach the door, if the paper is out, you've got some advanced warning that you may not be alone. This trick is also shown in the classic movie "The Sting" and comes in handy when staying in hotels.

Another form of improvised "alarm" is to leave a small wad of cash, a camera, or other expendable valuables in plain sight near likely avenues of entry. Make it clear to everyone in the family that they should leave that item there. If a thief gets into your house, odds are he'll grab the cash because it's easy and available. If you come in and the cash is gone, you know something's up.

Finally, this is yet another reminder that you can never invest too much in the physical security of your house. The harder you make it to get in, the more warning you'll have if someone tries.

Stay safe,

Mike