How would you handle a home invasion? Do you carry your everyday carry (EDC) gun in your home? Are you ready if someone breaks in? Many people are not.
According to the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting statistics from 2019, the latest year available, there is a burglary with forcible or attempted forcible entry, on average, every 56 seconds in the United States. If you add unlawful entry to that calculation, that brings the burglary rate to an average of one every 35 seconds.1 Burglaries not only lead to monetary loss but also take an emotional toll on the homeowners.
Just ask Mike Maloney, who survived a strange home invasion in Ohio.
Preventing Home Break-Ins
Fred Mastison, president of Force Options Tactical Training Solutions and internationally recognized as one of the top firearms and combatives instructors in the world, says the No. 1 mistake a lot of homeowners make is not getting enough proper training in how to use a firearm in self-defense.
“They buy a gun, and they have the salesperson show them how to load it, but they don’t really know how to use it,” Mastison indicated.
He explained that defending yourself with a handgun becomes extremely challenging when the terror and subsequent adrenaline rush triggered by someone breaking into your home are added to the situation.
Unfortunately, even with the massive increase in gun owners, Mastison isn’t seeing a correlation in the number of students taking his classes.
“They are buying guns,” he stated, “but they are not getting properly, thoroughly trained.”
USCCA Certified Firearms Instructor Sam Platia fears homeowners are becoming complacent.
“They think they are safe in their homes, that nothing is going to happen to them, but that’s not the case,” he stated. “They don’t take precautions to secure their homes properly.”
Recognizing the lack of precautions is the first step in exploring strategies that encompass various aspects of protection against home invasion.
Lights
From top to bottom, homeowners should be concerned with lighting both inside and outside of their homes. Mastison suggests not only mounting a light onto your firearm but also stashing flashlights around your house so you can quickly grab one to illuminate a hallway or room and scan for threats.
A flashlight with about 750 to 1,000 lumens will work best for home defense and self-defense. As for on-gun illumination, a Streamlight product is ideal because its controls are situated far outside of the trigger guard. You don’t want a device with the light operation inside the trigger guard, as you could unintentionally press the trigger when you go to switch on the light. When it comes to external lights, some homeowners make the mistake of shutting off all of their outdoor lighting at night.
“Outdoor lighting around porches, doors and windows is a great deterrent to help stop a burglar before it even becomes an issue,” Mastison stated. “Criminals do not like to work in bright light. They prefer to have the cover of darkness. Lights on all night long, around the perimeter of your house, are great tools to have.”
Another option is to install motion-sensor lights around your home and garage, especially if you live in a remote area. Once activated, they can startle an intruder (similar to an alarm). For that reason, they work as a fantastic deterrent.
Fortify the Exterior
Each entryway in your house, be it a door or a window, is a potential gateway for an invader. Mastison suggests fortifying door frames with steel door jamb reinforcement plates. Available online and at most home-improvement centers, these plates make it more difficult for an intruder to break into your home.
“A traditional deadbolt and lock are OK in a certain sense, but if someone really wants to break in, they’re going to cut through that like a hot knife through butter,” Mastison noted.
A firm kick can bring a door down. Instead of only wood between you and a home intruder, a door jamb reinforcement plate adds a layer of steel that makes the door studier and harder to breach. Such a device consists of a steel frame placed around the point where the deadbolt and the door latch enter the door frame itself. Even better, this reinforcement is rather inexpensive.
Besides improperly secured front doors, first-floor windows can also be problematic for homeowners. Platia advises installing metal bars in the tracks of windows to provide an additional level of security. You could also cut a wooden dowel to size to put in the window track.
It is also important to trim any plants that are close to your home. Walk around your residence to identify any tall bushes, shrubs or other greenery in front of or around first-floor windows. If they provide enough room to conceal an adult, it’s best to trim them down.
“You want to make sure there’s nothing [an invader] can hide behind,” advised Platia. “[Invaders] can hide behind the bush while they’re trying to open your first-floor window, giving them perfect cover so no one sees them.
Security Systems
Wireless security cameras are common and inexpensive, yet SafeWise found that only one in four Americans uses a security system.2
“You can have them positioned on any entry of your house,” Platia stated. “It’s all Wi-Fi driven, remote and powered by lithium batteries, so they don’t go bad for years. You will know when someone’s trying to enter your house by being notified on your smartphone or iPad. You can see who it is or have a conversation with the person at your front door.”
Several popular wireless security camera companies include ADT, Alder, Arlo, Blink, Cove, Ring, SimpliSafe and Vivint. And if you’re a do-it-yourselfer, the best home-security systems for 2022 (according to a recent article on CNET.com) are Comcast Xfinity, Ring Alarm Pro, SimpliSafe Home Security, Vivint Smart Home and Wyze Home Monitoring.3
When to Fight Off a Home Invader vs. Hide
We all have worked hard for our possessions. But no matter what personal property you have in your home, it is not worth risking your life should someone break into your home despite the above precautions. If you are home alone and someone forcibly enters, your best option may be to find a secure place to hide or to flee the residence entirely and then call law enforcement.
Think now about your home-defense plan and where you would hide. Do you have what you need staged there? What if your family is home but you are not together? If an intruder with the intent to harm enters and is positioned between you and loved ones, you will have a difficult decision to make. Will you hide and hope your family does as well, or will you work to retrieve family members during a home invasion, knowing you will likely come face-to-face with the intruder?
Thinking through such scenarios in advance helps to quicken your response in the event such a situation arises.
Concealment and Cover
In a situation where you need to move through your home to either get out or relocate near a loved one, you must consider concealment and cover.
Concealment simply means you are hidden from view. Interior walls and furniture may make for great concealment, but they almost never pass for cover. Cover is an object that can stop a bullet.
What in your house would offer cover? To be honest, not many things pass the test. Walls made out of drywall certainly will not. In most cases, a concrete or cinder block wall would stop a round, but not always. What about your appliances? Most metal appliances, such as your refrigerator, washer and dryer, are stamped out of thin sheet metal that would not stop most rounds. As you walk around your home creating your plan, consider what you would use for cover and concealment as well as what an intruder might use.
Round penetration is a frequent topic of conversation, and many have done experiments through temporary walls constructed using the same materials and techniques used in home construction.2 Let me jump to the bottom line: Handgun rounds such as .22 LR, 9mm, .357 Magnum, .40 S&W and .45 ACP — as well as long gun rounds such as .223 and 20- and 12-gauge birdshot, buckshot and slugs — will penetrate walls in a normal home. So how do you accommodate for this?
First, consider that wall penetration affects not only a round you fire but also one fired by an intruder. Second, consider ways to arrange your home so that objects may provide some cover and reduce the velocity of a fired round.
For example, you may have a room containing bookcases that can be located on a wall that abuts a hallway. This may provide some cover depending on the rounds fired and how many books are stacked on the bookcases.
Shot Placement
Knowing that wall penetration is not preventable in most homes, what should you do when you need to engage an intruder? The answer begins with shot placement, which comes from training and practice.
Training from a qualified instructor who can observe, correct and coach you goes a long way toward ensuring your shots end up on target. Practicing those skills over and over again lock in what so many people call “muscle memory” so that you can recall those skills in a critical moment. It is also important to consider the layout of your home and how you might position yourself to engage an intruder if your life or a loved one’s life is in imminent danger.
Master your shot placement with Marksmanship Simplified
If you’re using a high-penetrating platform, such as a shotgun loaded with slugs, should you drop to a knee to give yourself an upward angle and thus avoid possibly penetrating the wall behind the intruder? If this is a possible shot that you may take, then how many times have you quickly dropped to your knee at the range and taken a shot at the target? When you’re at the top of a staircase looking down, is there the possibility that someone is on the floor below the intruder? Proper target selection and shot placement will outweigh the concern for wall penetration. And reliably proper shot placement only comes from training and practice.
Crucial Gear
The first piece of gear is your gun. For some of you, this will simply be your carry gun, and that’s great. You’re familiar with that firearm, and hopefully you have spent time training and practicing with it. Others may want to use something different.
If you are staging guns around your home, do all of your family members know where they are and how to use them? Are they secured from unauthorized access? Can you retrieve them quickly? For some, it may make sense to personally carry at home, while others may be able to strategically stage weapons in key locations.
Other gear you should consider keeping at the ready includes a cellphone and medical kit. A cellphone can, of course, be used to call for law enforcement and medical help. And if you have firearms in your home, a proper medical kit is a must.
Since this is not a normal first-aid kit, consider training on how to appropriately use these items. If you do injure an invader, and if you feel compelled to render medical aid to him or her, absolutely do not do so unless someone can provide you with lethal-force cover. Injured attackers have a nasty habit of continuing to attack.
After the Home Invasion
After a home invasion, the immediate response from law enforcement is crucial for both justice and the well-being of the victims. It is important to promptly contact emergency services with accurate and detailed information. The information provided at this stage significantly influences the effectiveness of law enforcement’s response.
<script src="https://fast.wistia.net/assets/external/E-v1.js" async></script>
Cooperation is essential when an officer arrives at the scene of a home break-in. Effective and clear communication not only assists law enforcement in identifying and apprehending intruders but also contributes to a smoother and more coordinated response. Stay calm and provide precise descriptions of any home intruders when you call 911.
As a lawful firearms owner, you must be capable of instantly communicating to responding officers that you are not a threat. Recognize actions that may appear threatening and work toward eliminating them from your responses through training. In a critical incident, understand that your perception may be tunneled in, and you may not be aware of what is happening around you. The police will not immediately recognize who is the attacker and who is the defender, so avoid presenting yourself as a threat and make sure to follow their commands. Assist the police in avoiding making a wrong decision that you certainly do not want to happen.
Prevent, Then Defend
The significance of preventive measures cannot be overstated. From fortifying entry points and installing lights to using security systems and considering concealment and cover within the home, a multifaceted approach is essential to deter and respond effectively to home invasions. Staying vigilant, well-prepared and informed is the key to surviving a home invasion and protecting both life and property.
This article is a compilation of previous blog posts authored by Brad Lewis, Schuyler P. Robertson, Kevin Michalowski and Marueen P. Sangiorgio.
Endnotes
(1) “Table 19: Rate: Number of Crimes per 100,000 Inhabitants,” FBI.gov, 2019, UCR.FBI.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2019/crime-in-the-u.s.-2019/topic-pages/tables/table-19.
[2] Rebecca Edwards, “Home Safety and Security Stats and Facts,” SafeWise, March 17, 2022, https://www.SafeWise.com/resources/security-stats-facts/.
[3] David Priest and Ry Crist, “Best Home Security Systems for 2022,” CNET, June 13, 2022, CNET.com/home/security/best-home-security-system/.
