TAM is exactly correct - If the defender stays inside the defended space he has all the advantages (the military gives it a 10:1 in favor of the defender), and the attacker has all the disadvantages.The Annoyed Man wrote:We've had this topic come up a number of times over the years. It's like 9mm vs .45 and Boxers vs Briefs debates. The one consistent thing in these threads has been that those members who are actually security consultants pretty much all tell you to stay in the house. It is the more tactically sound suggestion. You yourself raised one of the problems with going outside..... although you didn't mean to...... and that is that you DON'T know how many bad guys there are, or where they are if there are more than one.....poppo wrote:I don't think it's that simple. A car is parked down the driveway. You have no way of knowing how many occupants it has. For all you know they could be getting ready to surround the house and who knows what comes next. And calling 911 is a crap shoot. Someone could be there in 10 minutes or 60 (where I live). I personally would prefer to go and check it out myself. I know my property better than a trespasser. Of course every situation might be different, but sitting in the house waiting for a LEO to show up may not be the best option. Heck, I have my own fire pump/hoses because I know my house would be smoldering embers long before the FD ever showed up.The Annoyed Man wrote: Heck, if I lived far enough out in the sticks, I might have left the house with a shotgun to go check on the barn. That said, once it became apparent that the source of the dog's ruckus was a car down at the end of the driveway, then yes, he should have stayed at the house and called 911.
Let's say you step out to investigate, and take a walk around the outside of the house to make sure everything is clear. When you come back to your door to reenter, can you say with absolute certainty that an unknown bad guy didn't sneak into your house while you were outside around the other side of the building? Truthfully, you cannot. So now, you might be in the untenable position of having to fight your way back into the protected location you should have never left, and the bad guy now has all the tactical advantage........especially if he has an accomplice following you into the structure. And let's not mention the possibility that the first guy into your house is now holding your wife and kids hostage.
Short of burning you out, bad guys cannot touch you as long as you hold the inside of the home. You have the tactical advantage. You have cover, not just concealment. A solid brick wall with a drywall interior is going to stop nearly any handgun bullet, all shotgun projectiles, and quite a few smaller caliber rifle bullets. They, on the other hand, have to approach your home while exposed crossing a kill-box (if you've done your homework right). At best (for them), they have concealment like bushes, etc., but no cover. You, on the hand, get to shoot out windows from behind hard cover.
Even if help was a long ways away, you'd still be better off staying inside. You have food and water. The bad guys do not. Even the climate works against them........ If it is freezing cold outside, they are cold and you are toasty warm. If it is brutally hot and humid outside, you are cool and comfortable inside while they swelter and sweat in the heat. If you've mounted motion sensitive lights outside, you can turn off the inside lights and see them while they cannot see you.
There are caveats. If you have positively identified the intruder as a predatory varmint of the 4-legged kind, then go out and do what you have to do. It is fairly safe to assume that no big cat is going to linger with a half-dozen men wandering around outside, so if there's a mountain lion outside checking out your goat pen, there is likely not going to be bad guys around.
There are other options. You can mount remote cameras and two-way mic/speakers at your gate. If people are congregated down there, you can speak to them remotely and find out what they want. You can set up lights to bath that area in flood lights while turning off all the lights around the house, thereby isolating them and hiding you. Etc., etc., etc.
The thing is, if it is your property, you have the right to defend it any way you can, as long as it is within the law. (Firing off Claymore mines at your driveway entrance will likely not get you no-billed.....) And certainly it is galling to feel like you're "doing nothing". But sometimes, "nothing" is exactly the smart and right thing to do, if the alternative is to dive in headfirst where angels fear to tread. And defending your castle from the inside isn't exactly "doing nothing".
Now, if there were more adult men in the home besides me (my 24 year old sharpshooter son, for instance) and someone could stay behind inside while 2 or 3 went outside and tried to flank the trespassers, that would be another thing entirely. But if it is just you, and maybe your wife and child, then you are best served by remaining in the house.
If the defender exits the defended space the attacker becomes the defender in his space if he simply stays still behind cover or concealment until the hapless former defender comes into his field of fire.
Unless the attacker does something stupid like moving around or making noise, there is a very low likelihood the former defender will detect him in time to avoid becoming food.
In the case described in the OP, if the OP and his companions had ill intent, Farmer Bob would most likely have been in a world of hurt.
If there is more than one attacker (as is often the case in rural crimes) things go further downhill from there.