Your home is your castle…the place you and your loved ones should be safe and secure. One of the most interesting topics in Personal Defense in today’s crazy world is the discussion on defending your home, yourself, and your loved ones. Many of us are willing to go to great lengths to make sure that our castles remain our safe haven. In this short blog, I am going to give you some basic guidelines on how to handle a situation where you may have an intruder in your home.
Home Defense is a dynamic situation with infinite variables. When we have that many moving parts, our plan of action needs to be dynamic as well but maintain some fundamentals and simply smart decisions. In the high stress and very emotionally engaging situation like an intruder, it is important to think clearly and ensure that we increase our safety. Afterall, it’s 3am and we have woken up to the sound of broken glass and movement thru the house, we may be in a deep fog from our sleep and not wearing our contact lenses and still not sure if the damn dog is in the kitchen again. Once we get ourselves together and are convinced that there is an intruder….what should we do?
PRIORITY OF LIFE:
First thing we need to evaluate is the priority of life, this aspect will influence the rest of your gameplan. In the simplest of terms, here we ask if we MUST travel thru the house to gather other family members such as children, elderly, or people that are in other rooms. For this reason alone, we advise people to consider a safe/lockbox be placed in other rooms with a firearm, flashlight, and phone. If there are other people in the home, we might elect to get over to them as diligently and competently as possible.
FORTIFY:
If there is nobody in the home, the first action is to lock and barricade yourself in your room. The more locked doors, furniture, etc that we can put between an intruder and ourselves the better we will be. Under the circumstance that there is someone else in the home that we need to get to…then we move to their location and fortify there. Do not go to them, and then bring them back to your location as that is a lot of time in open space and you’ve now put someone that you are supposed to protect in the middle of the battlefield.
DO NOT HUNT:
The common language we hear is “I know my home better than they do,” is a poor mindset. If you know your home, then you know how many places someone can hide, ambush and or attack you from. You may know the lay of the land better…but you are on THEIR clock. There is no reason to hunt them out especially if they are there for property only…insurance can reimburse you for that. You cannot replace human life.
COMMUNICATE:
There are 2 aspects to communication. First we communicate with authorities via 9-1-1. Then we communicate to the intruder.
With 9-1-1: Here you give your basic information, tell them you have an intruder in the home and if you are armed or not. Then tell them where in the house you are located and with whom you are with. Also give them a description of your apparel so when the authorities arrive…you aren’t mistaken as the intruder. Keep in mind that when they arrive, EVERYONE is considered to be suspect until they get thru the information.
With the Intruder: Once you have notified the authorities, leave the phone on the line with 9-1-1 and place it in front of you. You need to get loud here and let the intruder know that you are armed, and police is on the way. And if they come near you, that you will need to defend yourself. REPEAT! You WANT this on the 9-1-1 recording because you have now provided reasonable warning that you are willing to take life for self defense. If they continue their scavenger hunt thru the home, they aren’t there for property. If they run out of the house…stay put until the cops arrive.
ENGAGE IF NEEDED:
One of the reasons you get behind doors aside from an obvious barricade is that we force our intruder to come thru the “fatal funnel” if they want to get to us. We can be much more precise with our firearms work if all we have to do is defend the doorway, rather than having to worry about the rest of the floor plan. It also forces multiple attacker to have to turn into a single file line in order to get thru the door.
If the aggressor doesn’t come thru, we do not need to engage!
POLICE:
When the police arrive most often the dispatcher on the phone will tell you that officers are on scene. It is best to stay put and let them come to you and identify themselves. Put the gun down and away from yourself and be prepared for the surrender position. The may rough handle you a bit, keep in mind they are responding to your call asking for help but don’t know anything else. Just comply with their request, and say as little as you possibly can.
In the event that you did have to kill the intruder, keep in mind that until the police investigates….YOU are the “person with a gun,” and propose a threat to the officer. Again, once they arrive and identify themselves….put the gun down and away and simply comply to their commands.
IF THE INTRUDER RUNS OUT OF THE HOME:
Let them go! Do not give chase…especially if all they got away with is some material goods. Try to get a good description of the person (s), vehicle, license plate, direction of escape etc. If they are out of your home, they are not an immediate threat any longer.
Some states have a Castle Doctrine, while others do not. Do some research and get all of the facts about home defense before you do anything else. There are several great attorney’s and online resources that can provide you with information. Read these, and read them often as rule/law can change without notice. And have an attorney that you have discussed this situation with on speed dial at all times.
I truly hope that this short article is helpful, and that you will never need it.
In the meantime,
Be Safe, Be Well…
Nik Farooqui
If you’d like additional information or training for home defense in Illinois, or home defense in Texas, please contact us via email at [email protected]
