How to Survive a Home Invasion
They Key to Protecting Your Home and Family is Preparedness
Crime rates have been going up for the past few years. Robberies and breaking and entering incidents have been increasing. These invasions often lead to worse crimes such as kidnapping, rape and murder.
This article is intended to help yourself prepare before the robbers get to your home, and how to deal with them if they do get to you.
Take These Five Precautions First
1. Establishing a “safe room” should be your first priority while planning precautions for an invasion. The point of the room is that your family can take shelter in case of an emergency. The door should be fitted with a dead bolt lock, so it can be locked easily upon entry.
2. Having a telephone in your safe room is mandatory so that you can call the police. One thing to keep in mind is that phone service providers provide telephone services along with television services, and they operate off dish services. This means that the wires to these can be severed, rendering your phone useless. The solution to this is to keep a secondary phone, or use a cell phone to keep in the safe room.
3. A safe room must have a safe or a lockbox inside with a loaded handgun, which is easily accessible. Keep practice drills for running to the room, unlocking the lockbox, and getting ready to shoot. A spare key to the lockbox is also a must-have inside the safe room.
Your safe room should also include a safe for your weapons.
4. Do not hesitate to use a pump-action shotgun as your first preference for a gun. Firing a couple of rounds out your back window can instill fear in the intruders. Please also read gun licensing laws before you purchase any firearm.
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5. It is absolutely necessary for you and your family to stay in the safe room until help arrives. The invaders might not know that you are in your safe room, unless they already have heard gunshots or they know that you are inside the house, which gives you an advantage over them.
Always Be Prepared for a Gun Fight
If anyone finds out about your safe room during the invasion, they will try to break into the room. In such a situation, you should have already placed a few heavy pieces of furniture, which can be easily slid in front of the door, and lumber which can be used to leverage the furniture against the opposite wall, preventing the furniture from sliding back.
Use a Bullhorn to Scare Intruders Away
Bullhorns can be used either at the beginning of an invasion or during the invasion. In the beginning, it can be used as an alert to your family that an invasion is taking place, or you can use the siren feature that most bullhorns have, which might fool your intruders into thinking that they might have tripped off a home security system, causing them to flee thinking that the police might be on their way.
Always Have a Backup Plan
As soon as you realize that a home invasion is taking place, shout out the emergency code word which signals your family members to run to and take shelter in the safe room. Lock the door once you are inside. You can also have a window which has easy access to the ground. You should listen quietly and stay silent in the room as there is always a chance that the invaders might be trained at moving silently through the house, which greatly increases the dangers you are faced with.
Scan your property through the window, making sure that none of the burglars or the invaders are outside, and then you can take your chance at making your escape. If you have a wife and kids, let your wife go out first and hold the kids to her, making it easier for all of you to get to safety. Always have a planned escape route in mind if you want to use the back window strategy to escape a home invasion.
Home Invaders Might Not Be After Your Belongings After All…
In some situations, home invaders might not be burglars. They might be kidnappers or murderers who are after you. There is a chance that they might have been watching you for a long period, and are after something valuable. The trick is to put as much distance between yourself and the burglars if you find out that they are after your life.
Decoys Can Reduce the Chances of Home Invasion
A former CIA guy suggested using decoys to ward off home invaders. These tips probably work best on invaders who are new to the business.
One effective decoy is to put a dog bowl outside your front door, a leash and a sign saying something like “My Best Friend is a Rottweiler.” Many invaders will choose a house that is not home to a large dog.
The trick to this tip is to make your house look more and more like there is a canine living in the house, even if you don't actually have one. This will definitely decrease your chances of being invaded and increase your security.
Of course, the only thing better than using a canine decoy is having an actual canine in the house. Having a trained guard dog outside is surely going to scare off any invaders planning to break into your house.
Click here to learn more about how your dog can help you in a survival situation.
You can only hope for the best and prepare for the worst. Do you think we missed anything in our home invasion defense tips? Let us know in the comments section below!
It's impossible to defend your home and family without a good, reliable weapon. God forbid the situation should ever arise, but if it does you want to know you're in good hands with a survival weapon you can depend on. Click here to learn about the world's best home defense shotgun, courtesy of our friends at Gun Carrier.
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Editor’s Note – This post was originally published on April 1, 2017 and has been updated for quality and relevancy.
