Tactical Question about home defense...

[pt145ss]

A few days ago my wife and I were at the store. While she was shopping I went to the magazines and picked up a copy of combat handguns (I do not recall what issue). I read the “It happened to me� section. In that section there was a story written by a guy who claims to be a firearm and self defense instructor. The story is summarized as follows: In the middle of the night the house alarm goes off. The home owner grabs his pistol and makes his way to the top of the stairs. The alarm company calls and talks to his wife who is in the bedroom with their child. The alarm company tells them that a kitchen window (which I presume is down stairs) was opened. Because they live in a rural area in a small town he did not expect the authorities arrive for quite some time (10 or 15 minutes). The home owner then makes the decision to head down stairs and clear the rooms. He does so but finds nothing and at that moment he began to question himself about missing something. He hastily clears all the down stairs rooms again. Still, after finding nothing the second time, he became fearful that a bad guy could have slipped past him and went upstairs where his wife and child were waiting. He went back upstairs. All worked out and it appears that the would-be bad guy was scared off by the alarm. In the lessons learned portion of the article he mentioned that next time he would stay put at the top of the stairs and control the choke point until authorities arrive.

Now to my question…In his situation he has a natural choke point to control and I would assume that from a tactical standpoint, controlling the choke point is a good thing. Family members are up stairs already and it makes sense to do so. My situation is slightly different. We have a two story house, but the master suite is down stairs while all other bedrooms are upstairs (two teenagers occupy the upstairs). Given a similar scenario with the house alarm going off in the middle of the night I do not have a natural choke point that I can think of.

Walking out from the master, to the left is the living room and dining room…open floor plan and I can see the back door. To the right is the office, stair case, foyer, and the front door. So I can see both doors from the master bedroom door way.

So, from a tactical stand point, what is the best thing to do? Do I get the wife up and out of the bedroom and proceed up stairs and protect from the top of the stairs. Do I clear the down stairs first…then go upstairs? My wife does have her own gun on night stand duty…do I leave her to fend for herself as I go upstairs to protect the kids?

Tactically speaking…how would you defend?

[Paladin]

It's difficult to give one 'correct' answer to home defense.

The saferoom plan, where you just lock the door to the bedroom and call for help seems to be the standard advice. I won't say it's wrong, it can be very effective, but it's only part of the answer.

I like multiple plans, depending on the circumstances.

Evacuation is another plan that is entirely appropriate in certain circumstances... (you have no weapons, home is on fire).

I like the plan of having 'early warning' and meeting the threat as they make entry into your home. That simplifies your problem, as you have information dominance and the defensive edge. Early warning might take the form of a watchdog or audio alarm tied to an external motion sensor/cameras.

Sounds like the doorway to your masterbed is a decent spot for covering the primary entry points. The top of the stairs is an awesome defensive location. In my force-on-force class we tried charging the stairs and defending the stairs. I'll say that charging the stairs against a trained shooter is about the same as suicide.

Doing some room clearing training is worth the money IMHO. If you do clear your home, a good flashlight and making sure you ID your target is key.

[dukalmighty]

I personally if i know they haven't made it upstairs,I would take up a defensive position where i could cover the stairs,and wait for police,even if you know your house you don't know where BG might be hiding,so you let him come to you.

[Ranger+P+]

In Executive Protection we have something called the "HOME" Principle, which simply states, staying put if you have the Principal in tow (or in your case your family members) with a solid defensive position with solid cover and good lanes of fire, most often, this includes the control of one or multiple choke points along routes of egress. There are certain criteria which can dictate otherwise, these have to be examined based upon the specific floorplan of the residence.

I can tell you from experience when I have been on details guarding an entire family, the family is kept together in a general vicinity (for instance in a 2-3 story home, the family is kept on the 2nd floor or in a Hotel, they are not spread out).

Of course it must be understood, that you as a civilian, unlike me in Private Security, can call 911--If it was me, I would organize my Action Plan around this, it is both tactically and legally the safest route. The key to this plan is getting everybody in a "safe" location (based on the above criteria) and then hunkering down. The only way to accomplish this is good communication with family member's and drill on it ALOT.

Stay Safe.

[dukalmighty]

In Executive Protection we have something called the "HOME" Principle, which simply states, staying put if you have the Principal in tow (or in your case your family members) with a solid defensive position with solid cover and good lanes of fire, most often, this includes the control of one or multiple choke points along routes of egress. There are certain criteria which can dictate otherwise, these have to be examined based upon the specific floorplan of the residence.

I can tell you from experience when I have been on details guarding an entire family, the family is kept together in a general vicinity (for instance in a 2-3 story home, the family is kept on the 2nd floor or in a Hotel, they are not spread out).

Of course it must be understood, that you as a civilian, unlike me in Private Security, can call 911--If it was me, I would organize my Action Plan around this, it is both tactically and legally the safest route. The key to this plan is getting everybody in a "safe" location (based on the above criteria) and then hunkering down. The only way to accomplish this is good communication with family member's and drill on it ALOT.

Stay Safe.

I agee the best offense is a good defense,also might look into creating a safe room in their closet,where once in the closet they can bar the door from being opened

[Greybeard]

Unless there is a compelling need to do so, as others have said, often unwise to go looking for a BG, even in your own home.

Emotion can often overcome logic. Several years ago, one of my CHL students got lucky after coming home and catching a burglar inside his house. Fortunately, the BG went out the same (rear patio) door he had kicked in. But, BG had located one of the homeowner's pool ques and broken it in half, evidently planning to use the thick half, if needed, as a club ...

[pt145ss]

I think my big issue is if a BG gets up the stairs (towards the kids' rooms) before I have chance to intervene.

I have a multi-layered security system, without going into a lot of detail (for obvious reasons), my security starts with neighbors, then the dogs, the monitored alarm (which is also layered within itself), and finally self/home defense pistols...I need to add a plan of action to this layered system. I will say that I do have an alarm control box in the master bedroom, so if it does sound…then I will know immediately which zone the breach occurred in assuming the alarm was tripped (upstairs is covered by the alarm as well). If the breach occurs down stairs, and I react quickly enough, I think I would have things fairly well covered as a BG would not be able to go upstairs without going past me. If the breach occurs upstairs…tactically...things will be much different and I think I would be compelled to move upstairs to protect the kids.

All that being said, I might have another advantage. The dogs, mostly my German Shepherd, will not let anyone in the house without me formally introducing him to the visitor. He will corner the visitor to the wall until I give him a verbal and hand signal command at which time he will back down. After backing down he will continue to keep a watchful eye until he is comfortable with the situation. This goes for any visitor, even those who have been at the house a hundred times. I think my pup will alert me to the location of any BG in the house. That being said, I do not want to rely on that assumption as a BG could possibly take him out somehow, therefore I need a plan to fall back on.

[macktruckturner]

In Executive Protection we have something called the "HOME" Principle, which simply states, staying put if you have the Principal in tow (or in your case your family members) with a solid defensive position with solid cover and good lanes of fire, most often, this includes the control of one or multiple choke points along routes of egress. There are certain criteria which can dictate otherwise, these have to be examined based upon the specific floorplan of the residence.

I can tell you from experience when I have been on details guarding an entire family, the family is kept together in a general vicinity (for instance in a 2-3 story home, the family is kept on the 2nd floor or in a Hotel, they are not spread out).

Of course it must be understood, that you as a civilian, unlike me in Private Security, can call 911--If it was me, I would organize my Action Plan around this, it is both tactically and legally the safest route. The key to this plan is getting everybody in a "safe" location (based on the above criteria) and then hunkering down. The only way to accomplish this is good communication with family member's and drill on it ALOT.

Stay Safe.

QFT, well said.