How Do You Protect Your Family With Your New Gun?

Handgun Self Defense Home Invasion
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U.S.A. –-(Ammoland.com)- Millions of new gun owners brought their gun home. That gun in its box in the bedroom closet won’t keep you safe until it is part of your security plan. Becoming a gunfighter takes months of practice and makes you seconds faster. In contrast, having a security plan takes only a few hours and gives you minutes of advantage. Spend your time where it does the most good. This is what you should do first.

Violent crime happens suddenly so you won’t have time to tease out a plan during the event. Please plan and practice now because, during an emergency, you’ll only have the options you rehearsed. Physically walking through a safety drill makes all the difference in the world! Your mind falls back on your habits when you’re half asleep and stressed.

Another reason to build and practice your security plan is to change the world around you. If your doors are locked, then criminals often move on to try someplace else that is easier to enter. Lock your windows too. Now you can call the police and tell them that someone is moving through the neighborhood trying the doors. If you have a few dollars saved up, then add motion-activated porch lights and a video doorbell. Those simple steps have made your family much safer.

There is another safety item that you can put in place for free. Talk with your family about what to do in an emergency. You want to retreat to a safe-room and lock the safe-room door while the bad guys are trying to kick their way into your home. Once your family is in that safe room, then you call the police. That safe room is where you stage an extra phone, a flashlight, and your keys. Press the car alarm on your key ring. Locked doors bought you that minute to react.

Do not search your house looking for the bad guy. I’ve studied about a thousand examples of armed defense. You want to protect your family from a locked room and let the police be the ones who confront the robber.

Some people gather their loved ones in the master bedroom, and some couples move to their children’s room to protect them there. Do what works best for you. Walkthrough your plan several times and adjust it. First, pretend you are starting from bed in the middle of the night. Also, conduct a walk-through as if you and your family were in their favorite spots during the day or at mealtime. Look to see where your family is at risk as you slowly step through your safety plan. Test it a few times, and then rehearse with your entire family. Maybe you need another flashlight and phone in your child’s room?

Our guns have to be secure from both children, from criminals, and from crazy people. You also need your defensive gun to be available quickly. How will you do that so responsible adults can defend your family in seconds? Many of us use a small quick-access gun box when we’re not carrying our gun in a holster.

We win by staying safe until the police come and arrest the bad guy. We want to avoid a gunfight where the bad guy gets to shoot at us and the people we love. If there is a bad guy in your home, then shout that you’re armed and that you called the police. The goal is to keep our family safe, and if words will stop people from attacking them, then use words.

Unfortunately, what other people do is not up to us. Guns are not magic objects that control people’s minds; they are projectile dispensers, and nothing more. We use a gun when locked doors and harsh words don’t work. Whether the confrontation comes to that point is up to the criminal and the strength of our door locks.

Study the problems of armed defense. We want to recognize the uncountable situations when we should not use lethal force. Maybe you should have some pepper spray with you too. Identify the rare cases when we have to use a firearm. Shooting someone probably won’t kill them, but that is up to the doctors since almost every gunshot is eventually lethal. Recognizing what to do will save us seconds of indecision. Don’t shoot at people who are outside your home.

Take a firearms class so you are both safe and accurate with your firearm.

Don’t chase the bad guy. Stay on the phone with 911. Tell the dispatcher what you look like and what you’re wearing. You probably want to put the gun down before the police arrive.

Do what the police tell you. If you get conflicting orders, then don’t move. Do you have a family member who can handle the phone while someone else handles a firearm?

Your security plan includes what to say to the police. Tell them you’re the person who called. You defended yourself when you faced a lethal threat. You want to press charges against your attacker. Point to any obvious evidence like broken windows and doors. Say that you’ll give a full and complete report and cooperate with the investigation after you’ve spoken to your attorney.

Now be quiet and call your lawyer. In that moment, you are suffering a chemical brain injury from adrenaline. Talking is more likely to hurt your situation than to improve it. You might be handcuffed and arrested. You might be taken to jail. What matters is that your family is safe.

Have a plan so you can get legal representation if you’re in jail. Buy a legal plan if you don’t have 50 thousand dollars in cash to spend on your legal defense.

Plan so your family is safe. Plan so you act within the law. That is how you protect your family.
~_~_

I gave you a thousand words for new gun owners. What would you add, and more importantly, what would you take away? ~ RM

 


About Rob MorseSlow Facts

The original article is here. Rob Morse writes about gun rights at Ammoland, at Clash Daily, and on his SlowFacts blog. He hosts the Self Defense Gun Stories Podcast and co-hosts the Polite Society Podcast. Rob was an NRA pistol instructor and combat handgun competitor.

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Sisu

Read the “owner’s manual”.
Research “self defense” statutes in your state, city …
Read and watch video reviews of the firearm model you just purchased.
Read about firearms in general – how they work, etc.
Take a basic safety course.

Memorize “Safety Rules” …

Sisu

To continue, I missed – “Are you ready to meet the ‘threat'” ? If one does not “know” their own capacity to take a “life threatening” action in response, probably best to leave the new purchased locked and stored away in the box it came in – that’ll enhance its resale value.

Autsin Miller III

Good words Rob. In my opinion a person can learn enough to be safe if they work at it, on their own but to be dangerous (intentionally) takes real training. I hope the new owners are as humble as they are prudent. We all need to be aware that we don’t know what we don’t know. The right teacher will open up a whole new world.

Deplorable Bill

Skills come through practice over time and skills are perishable. If you want to be even modestly competent, you NEED to practice. 500 rounds per weekend is a good start. I am NOT talking about plinking at cans or paper zombie targets. Try going to a idpa match. There you will learn the truths of marksmanship under stress. These things are timed events. Most people are surprised as to just how fast things can go sideways. They use differing grades of marksmanship so you will not be competing against world class shooters but you will likely see some. With enough… Read more »

Pastor Roy

Sorry, but I’ve been shooting all my life, from my boyhood Daisy BB gun to the AR-15 I now own. Shotguns, hunting rifles, pistols and revolvers. I currently alternate my EDC between 3 different guns. The idea of expending 500 rounds per weekend is ridiculous and for someone living on a retirement income, outrageously expensive. I go to the range a couple of times a month and go through 25 +/- rounds in each of my three handguns. That gives me all the practice and competence I need.

Pa John

YouTube can still prove useful even with all of their bias against firearms, firearm owners, and the U.S. Constitution itself. Look for channels like “Active Self Protection” (or “A.S.P.”) and if you are not too easily emotionally disturbed, WATCH a whole bunch of the countless security camera, police dash cam and police body cam and etc. videos of real world shootings. Harsh. Brutal. Real. Unless you are a combat veteran (and even if you are) this will likely give you a much better idea of what to expect, if and when you ever have to actually shoot somebody, especially with… Read more »

Ej harbet

Spent almost a night watching asp! Very enlightening and teaches you to look at handgun rounds like potato chips,one just wont do it much of the time.shoot to stop

American Patriot

HEADLINE: How Do You Protect Your Family With Your New Gun?
ME: Just like I did with the old one……But more enthusiastic to shoot the new one, did I hear mag dump?

Big Sarge

Good job. I would add a security alarm system with cameras. Also, a safe room better be fortified somehow so the bad guys can’t kick or shoot their way in. If they do, you and your family are trapped. Your security plan will depend on the layout of your home. 2 floors? 3? All one floor? Also, where you and/or your family happens to be when they kick in your door. A handgun is something that you use to fight your way to a long gun. Equip both with a laser and a light. An AR 15 or a 12… Read more »

Ej harbet

If i see clearly a armed intruder in my home i will not issue him targeting info by warning him! He likely wont even hear the round that stops him. Dont invade my home.

Pastor Roy

This “may” be good advice for a new gun owner with no experience in fire arms. But as for me, a 68 year old man who has handled guns all my life? Not so much. I’m not going to cower in a bedroom while an intruder ransacks my house. He will be dealt with swiftly and without warning. And only then will the police be called.

Get Out

IMOA, If you come across a new shooter offer to help them to understand their new gun if you can. I watched a guy on the range trying to load a magazine from the top, but the ammo wouldn’t fit into the mags mouth. I struck up a conversation and asked him if he needed help. I showed him how to press down on the follower and slide the round in and repeat until filled. We also looked at the pistols function prior to loading the magazine or attempting to fire it. I also talked him into signing up for… Read more »