I Can't Believe this!

[bpet]

I used to go to the door EVERY time the door bell rang. 99.9% of the time it was a salesman (or something representing itself as a salesman).

This presented several issues. I have half length glass in my front door and sidelites that allows the person at the door to see me approaching with about 10 seconds of opportunity. This has always bothered me and even more so with the increase of "shot answering the door" scenarios lately.

I have since fixed the problem.

I installed a $20 security camera that watches the front entry and allows me to monitor who is there simply by pushing a button on my TV remote. To illuminate the area after dark, I installed a $9 automatic motion detector to turn on the porch light. Very convenient, much more secure, and well worth the investment.

I now, don't go to the door unless it's someone I know or am expecting.

Try it, you might just like it.

[locknload]

Great idea, bpet!! I'll be doing that, after the confrontation at my front door with the salesman, who put his foot in my door and by the time I slammed it, his head was so far in that it hit his head. Boy! Was he mad! A detail that I forgot, when I posted this before is that, as I put my shoulder against the door to lock it, he was putting his against the door to push it open. Thankfully, I won the race, or I'm certain that I would have been toast!

nedmoore, you're a great American! Thanks for helping out your neighbor. We old ladies need more young men like you. Sadly, they are few and far between. You did good!

I've gotten crotchety to salesmen in my old age, so I don't think I'd have been as nice to the jerk as you were, after he asked such an impertinent question. I'd probably have threatened to call the Police to investigate him. But, sadly, in our area, the City Council has voted to allow solicitors to have their way with its citizens, so the Police won't even come out anymore. So, it would have been a vacant threat, but it might have worked, if he didn't know any better. They just treat our calls like they don't want to hear from us.

I'm concerned about that, because of City Council's irresponsible behavior, someone is going to get killed by a salesman or the salesman is going to get killed, before this is all over. I remember one instance, where a salesman complained that a homeowner pulled a gun on him. I've shown them a side view of my gun through the window of the door, when they refused to leave after multiple times of telling them to leave. They are really aggressive here.

[G.C.Montgomery]

NedMoore, it's not a dig at you personally and it's not meant to be harsh...But not everyone on this board has young eyes. As such, many will find it difficult to read large chunks of text with no linebreaks as mentioned by Skippr and TXI. They want to offer you any help they can and there is no malice in their posts.

From what I read, it seems you were rightly concerned about the stranger. I've never seen an alarm sales guy in a neighborhood on a Sunday morning, going door to door. That activity was indeed suspicious. A call to the local constable, police or sheriff might have been appropriate. To be fair, it may be that your immediate intervention necessary and there was no time to call the police.

Assuming immediate intervention was justified, the suspect didn't need to know you had a firearm. You could/should have kept the firearm concealed. While it sounds like you successfully helped yourself and your neighbor get deselected it also appears that you violated the law once you left your property. I also have to ask what, if any, contingency plans you had if thing went wrong. It is my hope that you and others realize just how big a can of worms/snakes you were peaking into when you got directly involved in this incident.

Some ideas for the next time around...
At the very least, alerting local law enforcement to the suspicious activity lets them know this person warrants further investigation. Or it might even lead the arrest of a suspect in other crimes.

Alerting your wife and possibly having her grab a digital, film or video camera to record the suspect and or this incident from your home would be useful. The images from a camera may help police identify a suspect wanted in other crimes. Had this become a violent encounter, a video camera would go a long way toward providing an accurate account of your actions and justifying the use of force or deadly force.

Next time have a plan that doesn't involve the unnecessary display of a firearm. It’s bad form, often illegal and generally unnecessary. No one should become aware of that firearm until it has been deployed in the lawful use of force or deadly force to protect you or someone else. There is no benefit to giving away the element of surprise. With that in mind, open carry is not nearly as cool as some people think it is. Even when it's legal, it's not necessarily a smart plan.

[WildBill]

I installed a $20 security camera that watches the front entry and allows me to monitor who is there simply by pushing a button on my TV remote. To illuminate the area after dark, I installed a $9 automatic motion detector to turn on the porch light. Very convenient, much more secure, and well worth the investment.

bpet - This sounds like an excellent idea. Any particular brand you would recommend?

[frankie_the_yankee]

Frankie,.....u lookin forward to Sunday for some reason?

Ooops! Time Warp. My flux capacitor accidently discharged.

Better that than my Para 6.45, right?

[frankie_the_yankee]

We don't get many visitors out here in the country. I have a huge German Shepard who, as a consequence, regards all strangers with a great deal of suspicion and a lot of outright hostility.

When someone rings my doorbell, the first thing they see is 100 lbs. of mean-looking dog barking at them. If he stands up against the front door, he is taller than I am.

If it's somebody that the dog doesn't know, I usually put him out in the back yard before letting the person in (if I decide to let them in of course).

There's no such thing as an aggressive salesman or solicitor around my place.

[locknload]

Frankie, do you loan out your dog?

Heh, heh....

[bpet]

WildBill,
Please forgive the "almost thread hijack" but here's the particulars.

No particular brand. I just went to ebay and searched on security camera. Lots of them out there. Found a cheap (color) wireless model with receiver for $18 plus $8 shipping (made in China but I won't be eating it so I,m not too concerned about the lead paint issues). Could have got the same thing at FRY's for about $60.

It is placed inside in a window overlooking the front porch and transmits to the receiver (in the den at the back of the house). Receiver is plugged into the Aux input to the TV so I just toggle between Satellite and Aux when the door bell rings. Works great.

I was a little concerned about ordering from China but shipping was fast (less than 2 weeks) and quality is acceptable. Picture quality is very good. Came with 9volt adapters for both the receiver and the camera but batteries don't last more than 2 hours with the thing so I use some old 110VAC to 9VDC adapters I had around the house.

[WildBill]

WildBill,
Please forgive the "almost thread hijack" but here's the particulars.

Thanks bpet. Now, back to the program already in progress.

[mctowalot]

My old tired eyes had no problem reading through that.

Good to hear you had your wits about you.

Dan

No trouble here as well, but my glasses are up to date. I believe there is a way to increase the text size. They also have a fine selection of reading glasses at CVS, and they can double as eye protection at the range!