A gun for home protection should be one of the last things on the list.

Please hear me when I say this is not to say a gun is not a part of some people's home protection system. However, a gun is a really bad device for home protection when compared with alternatives.

Bars and wiindow shutters are always active. They create a barrier to entry that a gun cannot do. Even with the threat of a gun on the premises, there is still no physical barrier to entry. Bars and shutters are not fooled by trickery and work on all people trying to get in.

Good locks are another form of home security. These keep the places where a person can enter closed to people who should not be there. They are potentially always active and come in a large variety to allow for convenience and complexity of access

Surveillance cameras and motion sensors allow for the people in the home to know where the intruder is, and also to alert neighbors and police of an invasion. They give the person time to prepare other defenses, and possibly give an advantage to confronting the intruder.

A gun is limited to effecting an area in line of sight of the weirder. It may even encourage break ins for the sake of getting the gun.

There fora gun should be the last device you get to protect your home

 

You forgot security cameras and dogs. I use all that you mentioned except bars. I also have a gun on my nightstand or on my hip. I also keep a shotgun available. The dogs alone will keep burglars away. The gun is just extra insurance.

 

Living on a futon rolled out in an arsenal kept in a concrete bunker. Architectural Digest for Conservatives

 

And the unsubstantiated rhetoric begins.

The OP started out with a valid discussion about how to defend your home without going straight to a firearm and you immediately derail it with this BS statement. Any meaningful conversation needs to be without this crap or it
devolves into the usual petty BS of Left vs Right.

Nice job

 

I don't smoke wacky weed. Let me explain something to you:

In my younger years my mother could only afford housing for us kids in the government assisted housing neighborhood. When you grow up in crime ridden neighborhoods you learn what the best tools are for protection.

There are plenty of courses today to tell people how to defeat deadbolt locks, alarms and cameras. Bars on your doors and windows may cause you to be locked in and, in an emergency, could keep rescue personnel from being able to reach you in time. Cameras can only tell you a person is there and a system that contacts the police doesn't know that when seconds count, the police are minutes away.

EVERY advantage you take to defeat criminals has a downside. It does not mean you should not employ them; it simply means that no one individual step is going to save you.

“The very atmosphere of firearms anywhere restrains evil interference – they deserve a place of honor with all that’s good.” – George Washington

You go on hating guns and if they offend you so much, I promise not to use one to help you defend your life should the need arise.

 

Now to the OP.

Experts will tell you that most criminals are opportunists and deterrent works most of the time. You can fine video that shows criminals walking down a line of cars testing to see if their locked. They fine one that is they move on, they fine one that isn't.......they take all that they want.

There are many things one can do to deter criminals from getting into your home and you mentioned many. One that was forgotten though it landscaping. If you plant bushes or something in front of windows that are not nice to handle, (like holly) it will deter people trying to get to your windows.

 

I prefer shooting intruders center mass as opposed to turning my home into a supermax prison.
Cameras are defeated with a cat toy lazer. Easily.

 

A responsibly owned firearm for defensive use is a good idea in addition to other home protection systems.
If you don't tell people about your firearms then you don't have to worry about encouraging break ins to steal your firearm.

 

Bars are dangerous in terms of fires, and decrease home values. If I see a neighborhood with bars on windows, I will choose another neighborhood to buy a house in. Also, a gun is a lot cheaper than window shutters or bars.

Don't disagree at all with that.

A gun is cheaper, as is a dog.

Not really. It's actually one of the more cost effective (after locks).

 

If you need to put bars on your windows, get a gun.

 

And a pitbull, and a security system.

 

Who has argued that a gun is not the last line of defense?

Bars and window shutters are always passive.
Locks, too.

 

I CCW and think of a gun as personal protection that goes with me and for personal security regardless of where I am and I have layered defense responses starting with using my head and maintaining situational awareness. I have the same for my property and home, some things are obvious deterrents, some are intentionally not obvious, but regardless I virtually am always armed or have a gun within easy reach. But, in regard for the latter, I do not have small children... When I did, I had a different system than I use now, that changed as my girls grew older and as I trained them to be safe and proficient with firearms. One thing we always had was a couple of rather large dogs.

A friend of mine kept geese on his property in addition to dogs. Swore the geese were better sentries than the dogs...said no stranger could approach his place without setting them off.

 

Sure, there are reasonable precautions to take, but I do not live in a bad neighborhood where houses look like fortresses. We could just build full brick shelters with no windows and 3 inch thick iron doors. I think I'll stick with reasonable precautions and always have a gun.

 

My gun is just like my fire extinguisher, there if I need it, hopefully I won't. That's what tools are for, and it seems rather odd that one would discard the idea of a useful tool for no logical reason but fear or whatnot...

 

Don't forget stupidity. It is still the most effective protection that exists.

 

I do not give two craps about HOME DEFENSE, I don't know where that GARBAGE got started anyway, Firearms only for use in the home ???

I need to defend Myself wherever I may happen to be, in the Home, out of the Home, on the Sea, on Dry Land, on the Roads, the Highways and Off Road, I do not partake of that Koolaide of let Me buy a heavy klunky gun to leave it at Home as a "Home Defense" gun, and the rest of the time Swan about wearing a Panty Waist and no gun.

My first line of defense is a GUN ! Everything else is frosting on the cake.

The OP most likely lives in England or some other Rum part of the U.K.

 

Very short sighted.

Can you afford bars and shutters and good locks and surveillance cameras, and to have the security system monitored? Is the homeowner going to monitor the cameras all the time to see those intruders? Is the security system even on all the time, or is it off when the homeowner is in the yard, the kids are in & out of the house all day, bringing in groceries, or the homeowner forgets to arm it? Are you in your house all day and all night?

What are you going to do about the guy who just does not give a damn and forces his way in, or grabs your daughter when she is coming in the door, or attacks you when you get the mail? Even if you call 911 or the security system trips, the police are on average 14 minutes away, even longer in a lot of areas.

A firearm is always with you, its not expensive, its easy to learn. Its definitely not the last item on the list.

Surveillance systems are only useful when they are on and monitored.

 

If you have ONE level of home defense, it should be a firearm.
Everything else is deterrence, hindrance, and/or early warning.

 

Or like my liberal friend that was held up at gunpoint at his own front door. His comment? "They probably needed the money."

 

Changing locks and putting up bars and shutters on windows would get tenants evicted and sued.

Otherwise, have you ever priced having bars put on every window and installing solid doors? And obviously in your opinion people just run fast as they can to and from their vehicles and otherwise never, ever be in their yard. Or do you also advocate 8 foot spiked topped iron fences around all yards too?

 

One downside to all of the above pertains to those that do not own their own homes but rather rent property, thus making them subject to the whims and decisions of the landlord, who may not allow for the installation of such devices for whatever reason. Under such circumstances, the above options are not options at all.

 

A landlord could also prohibit tenants from owning guns.

 

It's good to see someone encouraging responsible choices when it comes to defense of hearth and home rather than the recklessness that is often encouraged on this forum. A lot of people here have been presented with good evidence that gun ownership endangers their lives and the lives of the people who they live with. However, they still insist on owning guns. The facts mean nothing to them.

 

Many states have laws prohibiting that...