First break in experience

So some drunk kid tried to break into our house tonight. We were hanging out working on homework (last week of the semester) and we hear some loud banging. At first I thought it was our downstairs neighbor but then I realized it was coming from our closed in porch. I peeked into the porch to see a drunk kid on his back in a pile of recycling that I keep forgetting to take out on Tuesdays... I picked up the phone to call the cops as he leaves, only to show up at the back door, noisily banging and yelling to get in. I open the blinds and make an ill advised choice to try and reason to get the guy to leave, which didn't work. He then went back to the front porch, back to the back door and back to the front porch before the cops showed up.

I live in a small college town so this stuff isn't unusual for them. He was pretty belligerent so they cuffed him and put him in the backseat. However, I doubt he'll spend more than a night in the drunk tank... or they'll just figure out where he lives and take him home.

Oddly enough, after this my wife is still against the idea of having a gun in the house...

Joshua wrote: Oddly enough, after this my wife is still against the idea of having a gun in the house...

she's read too many kellerman studies......

FWIW, that would have scared me.

I live in Detroit, the city, not SE Michigan suburbs. To protect myself in the rare event(the hazards really are overplayed) of crackhead invasion, riots, or 300lb man on PCP I sleep next to the following,

A foot from the bed, 1 12 gauge H&R Hawk Industries(I.E. NORINCO) "Pardner Protector" pump action 12 gauge 18" barrel riot shotgun. Its a Remington 870 clone with a 1 round longer magazine, built in a Chinese military arms factory, in many ways its actually nicer and tougher than a base 870 and on par with the police spec guns. These routinely go on sale for $200 at various sporting goods stores. 5 rounds of #4 buck in the magazine, empty chamber, decocked(slide released), safety off, so I can just pick it up, pump it, and take care of business(I'm bad with taking off safeties).

About 4 feet away, a freshly sharpened and tuned up McCulloch Mac 110 10" Chainsaw(this is mostly for show).

In the closet, one Mosin Nagant M91/30 battle rifle and nearly enough ammo to reenact Pavlov's House. This is really just a toy and has no real defensive value, though the production date puts it in the correct time frame to have been used in the battle of Stalingrad, making it all the more authentic to reenact Pavlov's house.

Thanks to the inverse of Murphy's law(if it can't go wrong, it won't go wrong), by having all this stuff, I'll never need to use any of it, knock on wood.

Break ins are no fun, even poorly attempted ones.

It happened to me a little over 10 years ago, when I was in my early twenties, single, quite large and thought myself indestructible. I was a second shift diesel mechanic and I had been home for maybe 1.5 hours, taken a shower and was lounging around in my fudgies getting ready for bed. I heard a rattle at the back door so I went to investigate. The door knob was being turned and jostled by someone who I assume was hoping to break the lock. I grabbed a 3 or 4 D cell flashlight out of the drawer under the microwave cart, waited for a lull in the rattling then slowly and quietly unlocked the door. I raised the flashlight above my head and yanked the door open, ready to club the idiot who was trying to break in to my house.

He was gone in a flash. Without a first thought, let alone a second, I ran out the door and pursued him down the street while clad in nothing more than an old pair of tighty-whiteys. He quickly out paced me since I've always been a lifter but not much of a runner, then ducked down an alley and disappeared into the night. I'm sure being chased by 220+ pounds of nearly naked, hairy muscle-head lent him quite a bit of speed.

It would go a bit differently these days. I have a wife and children who it is my job to provide for and protect. Someone never has good intentions when they break in and with a family I have to assume the worst and react accordingly. Luckily we live in a nice little neighborhood with good neighbors.

I would recommend a home defense weapon since reasoning with the intruder did little or nothing to deter him. He may even return and try again.

I have never had that happen while at home although I did have a front door kicked in while I was at work and some stuff stolen. I've mentioned before I keep a bolt action Mauser around just in case.

My best defense is my nosy retired neighbors; there is always someone around. That lowers the break in chances dramatically.

Wasn't a break in, was a drunk college kid demanding to be let in. That is substantially different. Bringing a gun into the equation would only have made it worse.

foxtrapper wrote: Wasn't a break in, was a drunk college kid demanding to be let in. That is substantially different. Bringing a gun into the equation would only have made it worse.

< sarcasm >
...because drunk people are never violent, armed, or willing to use weapons.
http://www.myfoxphoenix.com/story/23342167/2013/09/04/asu-frat-fight-victim-remains-hospitalized-1-arrest
http://www.myfoxphoenix.com/story/22113117/2013/04/29/police-try-to-combat-fraternity-related-crime
http://www.businessinsider.com/oklahoma-student-felonies-threatening-fraternity-pledges-loaded-gun-2013-10
< /sarcasm>

A home invasion is an invasion. An attempt is an attempt. Joshua never said THIS was a dangerous situation....but it clearly made him aware that things could easily have been worse.

It wasn't a break-in attempt, it was a drunk person confused as to which house he was trying to enter. I'm not condoning that person's actions but I am very curious how a gun would have improved this situation.

To the OP: Can you get some good bright front and back door lights installed? Those plus the "door armor kits" are the first things I'm doing at the house I move into in a couple weeks. Maybe an alarm system after that, I'm still debating it. But in your case I think some strong light and a door that's hard to kick in would be a good way to keep people like the drunk fellow in your instance out of the house.

foxtrapper wrote: Wasn't a break in, was a drunk college kid demanding to be let in. That is substantially different. Bringing a gun into the equation would only have made it worse.

I don't know his intentions once he gets in. If someone I don't know is trying to get into my house, I'll have a firearm handy. It may never leave the holster, but better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it.

JoeyM wrote:

foxtrapper wrote: Wasn't a break in, was a drunk college kid demanding to be let in. That is substantially different. Bringing a gun into the equation would only have made it worse.

< sarcasm > ...because drunk people are never violent, armed, or willing to use weapons. http://www.myfoxphoenix.com/story/23342167/2013/09/04/asu-frat-fight-victim-remains-hospitalized-1-arrest http://www.myfoxphoenix.com/story/22113117/2013/04/29/police-try-to-combat-fraternity-related-crime http://www.businessinsider.com/oklahoma-student-felonies-threatening-fraternity-pledges-loaded-gun-2013-10 < /sarcasm> A home invasion is an invasion. An attempt is an attempt. Joshua never said *THIS* was a dangerous situation....but it clearly made him aware that things could easily have been worse.

Both of you are correct. I never thought this situation was particularly dangerous but it did make me aware that it could have been worse. In this situation a gun would have been a very bad idea but the next time...

Yeah, I've had both real bad guys and drunk college kids, both about 3-4 am.

Drunk kid was pretty obvious, making lots of noise, knocking, yelling, and such. Turned out he was actually my roommate's friend who was crashing on the couch after they stayed out way later than me. He had got up to take a whiz and mistook the back door for the bathroom door and got himself locked out on a 30 degree night in just his boxers. Made quite a scene trying to get back in and damn near broke my window trying to wake us up. Didn't remember a damn bit of it in the morning.

The real break in was nothing like that. I woke up to what I thought was the door bell. Didn't think anything of it since we live in an area with a good number of bars and figured someone was just messing around on their way home. Hear the bell again 2 min later and look out my window to check; no one there. A couple min later I hear footsteps in the hall way and think someone rang it again and my roommate is finally getting up to check it out. Instead my bedroom door starts to open very quietly. I yell "hey" and just went into auto pilot out of bed in just my boxers and after the guy who responds with "E36 M3" and bolts down the hall. He had already opened the back door and went straight out into the alley and where I stopped about ten steps after realizing I was running barefoot on gravel. Come back inside and nothing had been taken but he had somehow slipped something through to unlock a back window from the outside and pry it open to climb in. Never heard a thing from the front of the house. Cops were about useless, showed up, said since there was a light rain they couldn't get any prints, and left.

Still living in the same apartment but now each window has these push in metal pins that'll keep anyone from opening them from the outside.

foxtrapper wrote: Wasn't a break in, was a drunk college kid demanding to be let in. That is substantially different. Bringing a gun into the equation would only have made it worse.

I don't think anybody here is advocating shooting a drunk kid that breaks a window, though when it comes to things like this, they usually aren't nearly as good intentioned. Just as easily could have been some college age kid on bath salts or something and violent.

There was one of these in a college town local to me a few years back.......and the drunkard was killed by cops.

Tell me what would have been your response if you weren't home, your wife was and she got raped by the drunk.

My wife has her CCW and her own weapons.

A firearm doesn't mean the offender gets shot, it means you are no longer the victim.

...

JoeyM wrote: < sarcasm > ...because drunk people are never violent, armed, or willing to use weapons.

Never said any such thing. No indication from the story that this particular drunk was any of those.

JoeyM wrote: A home invasion is an invasion.

Which this was not. A very important distinction.

Really, but what if hypothetical situation occurred and you did hypothetical action? How would you feel after hypothetical result occurred? What if it was actually not hypothetical person, but other hypothetical person?

Seriously though, scary stuff. You handled it well. I can understand why you would want a gun. Also understand why the wife doesn't.

In reply to bastomatic:

Remember I was a cop, this is not hypothetical but an actual and common occurrence

Joshua wrote: I never thought this situation was particularly dangerous but it did make me aware that it could have been worse. In this situation a gun would have been a very bad idea but the next time...

Misunderstand me not. Having a gun available to you for the proverbial next time, or if this situation had suddenly turned ugly could be a very good thing.

A drunk on the door banging to be let in, that isn't a time for using a gun. You call the cops and let them take the drunk away, and you keep an eye on the drunk until they do.

There are some very woman friendly gun ranges (usually indoor) that might help your wife be more comfortable with firearms, presuming she is not. Seriously, there are some that have women only nights and such. It's really cool! Might not be a bad thing to look around for, and maybe make a date-night out of it.

someone broke into my project house late last week and stole the big wire from the panel to the stove outlet and snipped 2' of romex out of my leg to the upstairs... kicked in a brand new door. i hate criminals, and it would have been best if they were too dumb to turn off the breaker, and we found a fried criminal in the basement with wire cutters in hand.

then I had thoughts of sleeping up there for a week with my protection, but is some wire and a door jamb worth taking a life over? i thought not.

over the summer someone stole my 2 year old's iphone (my old one that he watches pbs kids videos on) out of my truck. and a month or so ago a drunk kid wrecked his neon into our yard and attempted to steal my wife's buick when i spooked him turning the lights on the porch on. he ran off and stole the guy up the road's truck that had the keys in it.

In reply to aussiesmg:

Remember I was an English major, I know a hypothetical premise when I see one.

I don't think anyone is advocating blasting away at some drunk guy through a closed door here. This time nothing was needed other than a call to the cops, best outcome possible achieved here. There might never be a next time for him or a first time for myself or someone here but if I have to ability to stack the deck in my favor in the thankfully rare event that someone, sober or otherwise, tries to break into my home I will defend myself and my family however I have to to end the threat present.

Like has been said, better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.

foxtrapper wrote:

JoeyM wrote: < sarcasm > ...because drunk people are never violent, armed, or willing to use weapons.

Never said any such thing. No indication from the story that this particular drunk was any of those.

JoeyM wrote: A home invasion is an invasion.

Which this was not. A very important distinction.

but you don't know that when someone is beating on your door

wbjones wrote: but you don't know that when someone is beating on your door

Why would a home invader be beating on your door? Wouldn't they be trying to not attract attention to themselves?

wbjones wrote:

foxtrapper wrote:

JoeyM wrote: A home invasion is an invasion.

Which this was not. A very important distinction.

but you don't know that when someone is beating on your door

When it's the drunk that's already been found laying on his back in some rubbish on the back porch, now banging on the front door demanding to be let in, it's quite clear it's not a home invasion.