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So you know how you always wonder how you would respond in an emergency? How fast is your response time if needed?

Well, this morning, around 4:45, my wife shook me because she heard something outside. I woke up immediately, and also heard it. I was instantly alert, and within seconds grabbed the loaded Ruger SR9 from the bed-stand and proceeded to investigate. The sound was a loud rattling from our side yard, but very close to the house. It was near our outside AC unit. I determined that it was likely a large animal and not a human, and proceeded to bang on the wall of the house, at which time the sound ended.

I then proceeded to do a visual check of the front drive and back yard to confirm there were no humans or vehicles present. Going back to the bedroom window, I saw two very large raccoons in the neighbor’s yard. I smiled, put the gun away and crawled back in bed… for 6 minutes until it was time to get up for work.

My wife later commented about how fast I got the gun out and was alert. It was literally seconds. I pray raccoons are the only nighttime visitors we ever have.

That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.



BLC

a couple of years ago my home alarm system went off at about 3 am .
i was surprised how quickly i shot out of bed like a spring and was alert enough to open a gun safe to retrieve my 12 gauge .
it turned out to be a false alarm , but i was so pumped up , it took a good hour or more to get back to sleep .

i'm kinda glad it happened .
now i know if the real thing happens , i'm confident that i will be able to react accordingly .

Racoons sure do make a lot of racket don't they!!!

As long as I don't hear glass breaking, or a door being jimmied or kicked open...I'm back to zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz pretty quick...

If the dog starts to growl, I know we have a problem...

Thats why I laugh when those Brinks Ads come on...Something breaks in, the folks scream and run away, but the phone rings and they stop to answer the phone...

I bet if we put a poll on this thread, what would be the response of our membership here???

- stop to answer the phone?

- grab the nearest firearm and politely ask the intruder (in three languages) to stop

- grab the nearest shotgun and cycle a round...(that is the international language of _____________________) ~violates forum decorum

stevie_d_64 wrote:Racoons sure do make a lot of racket don't they!!!

As long as I don't hear glass breaking, or a door being jimmied or kicked open...I'm back to zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz pretty quick...

If the dog starts to growl, I know we have a problem...

Thats why I laugh when those Brinks Ads come on...Something breaks in, the folks scream and run away, but the phone rings and they stop to answer the phone...

I bet if we put a poll on this thread, what would be the response of our membership here???

- stop to answer the phone?

- grab the nearest firearm and politely ask the intruder (in three languages) to stop

- grab the nearest shotgun and cycle a round...(that is the international language of _____________________) ~violates forum decorum

Cycling a round or talking gives away your position. I choose D. Shoot first!

stevie_d_64 wrote: Thats why I laugh when those Brinks Ads come on...Something breaks in, the folks scream and run away, but the phone rings and they stop to answer the phone...

i love how the phone instantly rings on the commercial .

when my alarm goes off , it takes several minutes for them to get around to calling .
then they quiz you with "can you verify your name" and "whats your password"

The next time, stay in the house. I understand why you investigated, and I've done so myself in the past, but it is a major tactical error to leave the safety of the inside of your home. If you stay inside the house, you have the tactical advantage. For instance....

A) What if, while your back was turned, the BG's accomplice enters your home? Now your wife has a BG between her and you.

B) What if the BG's accomplice takes you from behind while you're occupied with the first guy in front of you?

That's just two possible scenarios.

The Annoyed Man wrote:
What if, while your back was turned,

not a problem

It must be something in the air last night.

My dawg lit up like a Christmas tree just after bed time. She was running from the front of the house to the back barking like I had hidden her favotire toy (again )

I checked all around (carrying the XD-9), nothing! I guess it was a critter so I gave the mouth mutt a treat for doing her job and went back to stacking some Z's

No harm, no foul. (side bar...the alarm didn't go off so it didn't get no stinking treat!)

ps. I had no worry about leaving the missus behind, she had her choice of weapons at her side, of course she was picking one that went with her outfit, but there you go! . We didn't even have to shout our 'safe' word as she was wide awake.

The Annoyed Man wrote:The next time, stay in the house. I understand why you investigated, and I've done so myself in the past, but it is a major tactical error to leave the safety of the inside of your home. If you stay inside the house, you have the tactical advantage. For instance....

A) What if, while your back was turned, the BG's accomplice enters your home? Now your wife has a BG between her and you.

B) What if the BG's accomplice takes you from behind while you're occupied with the first guy in front of you?

That's just two possible scenarios.

TAM - I'm sorry,when I wrote that I 'checked' the yards, I was rather unclear. Our house is situated such that I can see most of the yards from various windows, and I never left the house. I've paid attention to the outstanding advice on this forum!

Thanks for your help. I've appreciated reading your posts.

-BLC

USA1 wrote:

The Annoyed Man wrote:
What if, while your back was turned,

not a problem

I'm sorry. I want eye brows (bushy ones) and no mascara!

You'll have to wear sunglass or you won't be stealthy.

I must agree with Annoyed Man. My Rambo days are long past me. I'll hunker down, call 911, and pick them off as opportunity arises. Not going around looking for trouble has kept me alive a time or two in the past, and I expect it to remain the same for the foreseeable future.

I got into a discussion with a friend about warning an intruder or potential intruder. He said he kept his gun loaded, but with the chamber empty thinking that racking the slide would be enough of a warning to scare the BG away. I told him that if the locked door or barking dogs weren't a good enough warning the only other warning he would get would be the sound of the bullet leaving the barrel.