Back door deterrence

[Daisy Cutter]

I work from home in a "mixed" close-to-downtown neighborhood, and we have had a lot of daytime burglaries in the past couple of years around here. Just after lunch today I heard a very light tapping at my back door (no fence, or gate at driveway). Now I have a nice front door with a nice doorbell that works, so its either one of my neighbors, or someone up to no good. And I have a home alarm sign prominently displayed out front, and another in a back window.

I pulled back the shade a little bit and there is this homeless looking guy (skinny white dude with a gray beard). He's muttering something. I took what was handy (TCP) and held it up against the glass of the door. His eyes got somewhat larger (no, not saucer-effect here, but then it was just a TCP) and his hands went up, and he kept right on talking and walked briskly away. He wasn't a professional burglar but still, he had no business at my back door, tapping lightly.

I suppose I could have just kept quiet and waited to see if he would break in, and then let him have it (inside dwelling) with larger caliber (357 or 12 ga buck) but I'm not ready for a Joe Horn life-trajectory. "Avoid the shoot if possible, no matter how boring your life is."

Did not call police. I figured they might not show for hours and I had appointments. And the dude was not professional.

Lessons learned: a) .380 pea-shooter is effective (at least its appearance is effective).
b) neighborhood is what it is, and unless I get the big fence and the hungry dog, its not going to change.


Cutter

[Purplehood]

TCP02.jpg

I work from home in a "mixed" close-to-downtown neighborhood, and we have had a lot of daytime burglaries in the past couple of years around here. Just after lunch today I heard a very light tapping at my back door (no fence, or gate at driveway). Now I have a nice front door with a nice doorbell that works, so its either one of my neighbors, or someone up to no good. And I have a home alarm sign prominently displayed out front, and another in a back window.

I pulled back the shade a little bit and there is this homeless looking guy (skinny white dude with a gray beard). He's muttering something. I took what was handy (TCP) and held it up against the glass of the door. His eyes got somewhat larger (no, not saucer-effect here, but then it was just a TCP) and his hands went up, and he kept right on talking and walked briskly away. He wasn't a professional burglar but still, he had no business at my back door, tapping lightly.

I suppose I could have just kept quiet and waited to see if he would break in, and then let him have it (inside dwelling) with larger caliber (357 or 12 ga buck) but I'm not ready for a Joe Horn life-trajectory. "Avoid the shoot if possible, no matter how boring your life is."

Did not call police. I figured they might not show for hours and I had appointments. And the dude was not professional.

Lessons learned: a) .380 pea-shooter is effective (at least its appearance is effective).
b) neighborhood is what it is, and unless I get the big fence and the hungry dog, its not going to change.


Cutter

Pretty much what I might have done. I agree, no necessity for shooting the guy. Deterrance is the key. I must admit that I probably would have shown something a bit more dramatic (since I have all my weapons at hand).

[Daisy Cutter]

I'm not hot for an outdoor shoot no matter what. The legal aspects are exponentially more complex outside/in public. But inside my crib, its katy bar the door.

I have more firepower available, including Dan Wesson 357 with 8". Damn thing is so loud that the cops at the donut shop three blocks away would hear it and come running.

[Texas Dan Mosby]

"Avoid the shoot if possible, no matter how boring your life is."

Absolutely.

Did not call police. I figured they might not show for hours and I had appointments. And the dude was not professional.

While your assessment may very well be accurate, I would recommend reporting the incident regardless. I believe you can file a report over the phone without the need to do a face to face with a patrol officer. Your report could later on be used by yourself, or others, as evidence of his trespassing / suspicious activities in future incidents.

[CompVest]

Any time you use your gun to as a show of force, the police should be called in my humble opinion. If the guy was up to no good a report will be on file about him. If he chose to call police and say you were threatening him you would be on record as to what happened instead of having to explain it to the police when they come calling. Either way you are covered.

[PBratton]

Alwyas call the police and report any incident.

If nothing else, it gets your neighborhood on the patrol list...

[ELB]

I am glad it turned out OK.

I do think showing a weapon, racking a shotgun, etc, as a warning is a bad idea. Primarily because altho it might discourage punks, it tells anyone with serious intent that he should shoot you immediately (especially when he comes back with his buddies). Secondly, for the punks it scares away, it gives them the chance to run to the police about the crazy guy/gal brandishing a gun, especially if the punk gets to the cops first.

For me, if the threat is serious enough to show a gun, it is serious enough to shoot. If it is not serious enough to shoot, it is not serious enough to have a gun out. Yeah, one can posit scenarios where brandishing might be an option (e.g. many unarmed-vs-one), but the large majority of cases, like home invasions and muggings, the first indication I have a gun should be accompanied by a loud noise.

And yeah, be the first to call the cops.

[rdcrags]

the cops at the donut shop three blocks away would hear it and come running.

Also, I like the suggestions made by others to call it in anyhow, if for no other reason than to neutralize any reverse accusations.

[Beiruty]

unconventional deterrence, least to say.

[Daisy Cutter]

Thank you all for good comments. Will be more inclined to call 911 next time. I think the fact that he was a mumbling homeless-looking guy let me treat the whole incident with less seriousness than if I had spied a clean-shaven alert daytime prowler through the blinds. He never saw me so I can't imagine that he could plausibly complain to authorities that "someone" threatened him. They would ask for a description etc and he would have to say he was at a stranger's back door and so on. I was in the drive-thru line at a Wendys one time when this street dude started coming towards my open window and I politely but firmly asked him to back off, and he got all offended, and then the Wendys server came out and yelled at him that she was going to call The Law. He shuffled off and then waited for me at the exit and yelled some more. This was before I started carrying and I didn't have so much as a sharp pencil on me. Not that I would display today in that situation. I would close the truck window and wait for him to make the big move, or drive off if he looked serious.

At this point I would imagine that if a guy at the back door looked like a serious invader I would go into another room and call 911 and wait and hope they show up in a timely manner and catch him while he is still on the outside. Definitely showing a weapon is risky in that a perp would know to come back and potentially get it.

Gun-on-glass is not very original. Guy apparently saved himself this way from the (eventual) Zantop killers (q.v.) in New Hampshire 2000. Killers tried to get into a home at night by saying they had a flat tire and the suspicious resident displayed a Glock, and they took off. They had already cut his phone line at that point.

[randomoutburst]

armedeffete1.JPG

I'm not hot for an outdoor shoot no matter what. The legal aspects are exponentially more complex outside/in public. But inside my crib, its katy bar the door.

I have more firepower available, including Dan Wesson 357 with 8". darn thing is so loud that the cops at the donut shop three blocks away would hear it and come running.

That's a beautiful Dan you have there. My hubby has two 15-2 with 6" barrels. They shoot nicely.

I probably would have done the same thing, so as to hopefully prevent an actual break-in from happening. But as others have stated, it may have been prudent to at least report the incident. I chuckled thinking about the guy staring wide-eyed at the gun before departing.

[Carry-a-Kimber]

What 'hood are you in? I live fairly close to downtown, Eastwood, but see more hoods than homeless. Just curious.

[Purplehood]

For me, if the threat is serious enough to show a gun, it is serious enough to shoot. If it is not serious enough to shoot, it is not serious enough to have a gun out. Yeah, one can posit scenarios where brandishing might be an option (e.g. many unarmed-vs-one), but the large majority of cases, like home invasions and muggings, the first indication I have a gun should be accompanied by a loud noise.

I would have to disagree. The threat of deadly force can be an effective deterrent when used to avoid the use of deadly force against yourself. My displaying a weapon does not automatically mean I am compelled to pull the trigger. It should mean that I am ready and willing to do so should the display of force not suffice.

[jamisjockey]

Sorry, but not calling the police was a no-no.
What if 5 minutes later he breaks into someone's house down the street? What if some mom is home and he harms her? Maybe he likes making house-wife-skin-clothes. Just becuase he looked harmless, doesn't mean that he was. You felt threatened enough to show him your gun, afterall.
Aside from that, what if Mr. homeless guy was just lost, and had a legitimate reason? Say, one of your neighbors invited him over for some food. Okay, he doesn't have a legitimate reason to be at your house, but follow me. So, he gets a little lost and is knocking at your door. You (rightly) scare the bejesus out of him. He calls the police. You have no idea what his story to the police might be.
Just food for thought.