🔐 A Starter Guide to Home Defense
Author(s): Christian Scott
🏆 The Ultimate Goal: Make breaking into your home an absolute pain-in-the-ass for every criminal. And, if they do break into your house, minimize the potential bodily, monetary and legal impact that can occur to you and your family.
👉 The Bottom Line: The more difficult your home is to break into the more likely a criminal will choose another target that is easier to break into or just simply move on.
🧠 (1) Be Proactive
- 🏡 Have A Well Thought Out Exterior Plan:
- Lighting. Passive lights on the house at night as well as motion triggered flood lights.
- Fences & Plants. If you are lucky enough to live in a house with a lawn or acreage, make use of it. Planting a lot of trees and shrubs around your home is not just good for property values; it is also effective at concealing your privacy.
- Reinforced Doors (locks with at least security pins, strike plates, door jams, internal door hinges). https://www.armorconcepts.com/shop/category/door-security-solutions-18
- Locked Garage Door (with open sensor to know when it is pried open)
- Windows (locks, security film, jam rods) - https://www.amazon.com/s?k=window+security+film&
- Avoid overtly flamboyant and exuberant features on your house with a “Protected by XYZ Security Company” sign on your front lawn. It shouts, “We have lots of expensive stuff in here and feel free to bypass our shitty security system”.
- Cameras & Security System
- Consider coverage zones, connectivity outages, power outages, resolution, recording retention and event notifications.
- Motion sensors, door sensors and glass break sensors.
- Be sure to ALWAYS TEST at least twice a year, you will not believe how bad your security system can be at working.
- 📞 Communications:
- Talk To Your Neighbors And Have Their Contact Information. Let Them Know When You Will Be Away For An Extend Period Of Time.
- Do Not Advertise You Are Gone Via Social Media. Post Pictures And Content After You Get Back From Vacation.
- Have A Ready To Go Emergency Contact List. Ensure The Kids Know How To Call 911 And Family.
- Have A Designated Safe Room That Everyone In The Family Knows About
- 💍 Hiding Valuables:
- Hiding places fall into two major categories: the strong and the concealed. Concealment can be as simple as the purloined letter method. This is hiding something valuable, among others similar-looking but more common. For example, like putting your diamonds in a bowl of obvious costume jewelry. This is zero “strong” method than relies purely on social engineering intruders.
- An in-floor safe, secured by iron rods set in concrete and covered by a section of flooring is great if you have the sort of home where this is practical.
- In-wall safes are sometimes more practical, but a bit less secure. A good, low budget alternative is to say to heck with secrecy and get yourself one of those massive old fashioned office safes. If the safe is less than 250LBS then likely it can be just carried out of the house to be cut open later; really small safes are almost useless.
🥊(2) Respond
If you have to respond to the situation, then you have to. An intruder breaks in, and you are close by. You have to respond to the situation.
However, you do not have to respond to the intruder. In fact, you shouldn’t at all, because it may personalize the experience and make them assume violent responses are the immediate solution to their situation.
📱(3) Communicate With Authorities
Have a cell phone and be sure it’s always charged. If you hear a home intruder, grab it immediately and call 911, do not hesitate… Even if it is a mistake the police will understand and it is always better safe than sorry.
In the event that you enter a safe room or barricade yourself into a specific room in your home, you need a way to call for help. While it may take the authorities some time to get there, as long as the invader can’t get to you, you should be okay.
🏡 (4) Barricade
If you don’t have a safe room with a locking door, use what you can to barricade yourself in a room that is not easily accessible. For instance, a second story bedroom with one door and one window. This gives you an escape route, but also cuts off an entry point to any intruders that intend to harm you.
Most of the time, intruders are there for goods, but if anyone is home and makes a scene, they may resort to violence. Barricading yourself into a room is one of your best lines of defense as long as you can escape, or if you can contact authorities from within the room.
⚔️ (5) Arm
You should be armed in the event that you must resort to protecting yourself. However, local laws and restrictions should always be considered.
Self-defense is defined differently in different states, usually only varying by small details, but sometimes it’s those small details that come into play when you’re facing a home intrusion situation.
⚡️ Stun Guns
- Small and Concealed - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BP3UNQC
- Small and Disguised - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B071HGK846
- Basic, Cheap and Reliable - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01EI7GSGU
😭 Pepper Spray
- Small and Concealed - https://www.amazon.com/POLICE-MAGNUM-Strength-Security-2oz/dp/B09851FPPL
- Pepper Spray Gun - https://www.amazon.com/Mace-Defense-Police-Strength-Pepper/dp/B006VK6Y5I
- Long Range Bear Spray (if you want to see a grown man really cry, haha) - https://www.amazon.com/POLICE-MAGNUM-Strength-Security-2oz/dp/B09851FPPL
🤷♂️ Amazon Doesn’t Ship? Try something like https://www.thehomesecuritysuperstore.com/ with a Privacy.com virtual debit card.
🔫 Guns
General Safety Note: This guide is not intended for gun experts but more for lay people. Furthermore, this guide isn’t about the politics so, if guns are an option that is available to you that your interested in it then that’s your choice. If you are interested in such an option, it is the utmost importance that every beginner becomes familiar with the basic terminology and operational functionality of what a gun is before actually purchasing a gun and using it. There are many NRA certified instructors that can provide a lot of insight and guidance. Important topics to discuss with an instructor would include: storage, proper handling, legality of certain attachments & magazine sizes, child safety, power, range and more. I’m not near qualified on this topic so this is the best guidance I can provide.
🚨IMPORTANT: Never approach the intruder. Stay armed if you are in danger, but do not go looking for the invader with your weapon. This is critical for your own safety, but also for the safety of your family, and to remain out of legal trouble.
🏃♂️ (6) Evade
Completely avoid intruders at all costs. Everywhere you look, listen, or read, you’re going to find this bit of advice. Even if you’re confident, do not approach intruders. Evade and escape above all else. Many states do not have “stand your ground” laws and even when you are threatened, never escalate the situation with deadly force unless you are facing an obviously deadly situation; otherwise you are going to be in court facing litigation with a self-defense case. After the intrusion, be sure to contact your homeowners or renters insurance company to file a claim for any stolen or damaged property.