Aswad
Posts: 9374
Joined: 4/4/2007
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Home defense is a fairly important and serious matter, whether done with firearms or not.
Around where I live, gun control laws make it impossible to legally defend your home with a firearm.
That has led to some pondering as to legal and ideally nonlethal approaches, as I prefer to avoid the risk of jail time as a consequence of being prepared. While I am of the opinion that a genuinely unwelcome guest has forfeited certain concerns on entering my home, I am also aware of the possibility of injuring or killing someone that had an acceptable reason for entering (e.g. searching for a phone in an emergency, responding to a fire in the house and so forth). Thus, it is a bonus if nonlethal is an option, or at least if the crucial extra seconds for making a decision can be made available by such measures. I've considered making a business out of it, but the shipping costs from up here are atrocitous due to a mail monopoly situation, and people up here aren't generally interested in defending their homes. As for lethal measures, unarmed on armed combat is something I train, along with how to use the polearm by the bed (sized for close quarters).
In case someone does have an interest in nonlethal measures, here are a couple of simple ones to consider:
- Xenon strobe. Takes up a few feet on a wall, like a fluorescent lamp would. When active, a movement causes it to discharge. That bleaches the pigment in the eye, causing immediate (but temporary) blindness. Vision starts to return slowly after anywhere from a few minutes to half an hour, depending on the strength of the pulse and the level of lighting available. It also disorients equal to the visual half of the effect of a flashbang grenade. (To replicate the other half of the effect, put a shotgun blank in a directional acoustic horn.)
- Irritants and markers. With a legal charge to disperse them, substances such as mace, capsaicin and the like are quite effective at incapacitating most people. Crystal violet and fluorescein makes for a great dye, both incredibly visible and completely recognizeable. It's prone to glowing in the dark around fluorescent lighting and HID headlights on cars. The dye is permanent, and will not go away until the affected body surfaces have been shed, whether that's skin, nails or hair. If the concentration is 0.25% or less, it will not cause eye damage. All concentrations are irritants. The color remains in the cornea for a very long time. Since eye damage pushes buttons, it is advisable to aim low. The irritants, however, are preferrable to aim high.
- Dogs. While a dedicated attacker is not deterred, a dog will deter a casual burglar. It's simply that much easier and less threatening to rob a house that doesn't have one. If you're allergic, set up a dog house, and record some dogs playing tug-o-war and put that on an audio alarm (tip from another poster). The prospect of encountering a dog of unknown size and temperament is discouraging. Not every burglar is able to hit a small, fast moving, aggressive target while completing a forced entry, and those who are, display a willingness to acquire skills that makes them more likely to earn more money on something other than robbing houses, and more likely to be smart enough to pick the safer bet down the street.
- Camera. Very visible, at least once you're inside. Motion tracking. These don't cost so much anymore. And whether you successfully defend your home or not, nobody likes being caught on film with both hands and one foot in the cookie jar. Anyone intending to do real harm will have to consider the prospect of being identified and all which that entails. It's particularly nice as a supplement to the other options.
Most of the time, we're more fortunate than this woman was, and can dissuade people (which is safer than a direct confrontation, as well).
Of course, these people were apparently planning on doing some serious harm, likely premeditated, so no go.
I'm happy things worked out for her, and I was also happy things worked out for Orion.
My responsibility is always to the people in my own household, first and foremost. The relatives, friends and other loved ones of a burglar are distant concerns on an entirely intellectual level in this regard. In theory, with my cultivatedly childlike, loving, forgiving and nice frame of mind, those people and their loss are still concerns somewhere far down the list. In practice, however, instincts take over in such a situation, and mine are to put the attacker down. Right away. Doesn't really matter all that much what I might think about it. Because thinking comes when the other party is no longer a potential threat.
That's one of the things about breaking and entering.
You've always put your life in the ante.
Sometimes, you lose it.
Health,
al-Aswad.
_____________________________
"If God saw what any of us did that night, he didn't seem to mind.
From then on I knew: God doesn't make the world this way.
We do." -- Rorschack, Watchmen.
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RE: Blanchard woman shoots and kills intruder - 
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