raymor

The dog could probably use some training. For most people, dogs should be trained
to bark an alert, but NOT to attack. Attack training should really be reserved for special
circumstances and the training done professionally. Most dogs can be trained to bark
to alert the owner, though, and cause the bad guy to consider maybe going elsewhere,
where there is no dog. So no need for a different dog, but just some training probably,
depending on the dog.

Firearms for home defense are great for some people, not for others. Pump action shotguns
have that distinctive sound which will scare of many intruders. I once had a digital recording
of a pump action shotgun hooked up to a motion detector. Some of the ideas about shotguns
for home defense don't pan out in the real world, though. Assume a 11x11 foot room. The muzzle
of the shotgun couldn't be any closer than 8 feet from the perp. At that distance, the spread
pattern is two inches at best, probably closer to one inch, so it doesn't maker any easier to
hit the target. It's also sometimes said that a shotgun won't penetrate walls like a pistol
bullet will. That's only true with smaller shot, like birdshot. Buck shot will go right through
drywall, and a slug will go through several layers of drywall. In fact, though, medium sized
shot will normally stop an intruder faster than 00 buckshot will, which seems counter intuitive.
A projectile can stop a perp in three ways - psychology (damn, I'm shot and it hurts), mechanically
(severing a major nerve or joint damage from a slug), and hydraulically (bleeding out). The
odds of hitting just the right spot to take them out mechanically are near zero except for the
top snipers. Bleeding enough to cause them to pass out takes many minutes or even hours.
So the best way to stop them quickly is psychologically - make it hurt like hell. Just like road
rash, a shitload of #4 birdshot turning your chest to mush will hurt a hell of a lot more than two
pieces of 00 buck. The larger shot is more likely to kill them eventually, but we're not trying to
have them die two hours later, we're trying to make them stop right now. Also large 00 buck
will go through a wall or two with enough energy left to kill a good guy on the other side, just
as larger pistol rounds will.

Given that the spread of a shotgun is a myth at close range, we turn our attention back to
the pistol. My pistol is sitting on my desk right now. Ali, who sits behind me, has hers
in her purse. When I go to bed, my pistol is still within reach. When I take the dog outside
at night, my pistol is again within reach. A shotgun isn't always going to be within reach
like that. Well, some people may carry a shotgun around the house and yard, but most of
those people also wear tinfoil hats. When I had my carry license, and when it get my new one,
my pistol will also be in my car. So there are some advantages to a pistol for home defense -
you can keep it with you at all times, and use the same firearm in the car. Another advantage
of a pistol is that it can be kept secured in the holster at all times, so it's not accessible to
other people. I did that for a while when we had kids in the house. I wouldn't have a shotgun
in the bedroom where they might get their hands on it, but I knew that my pistol snapped
into my ankle holster was always secure. Later we decided we didn't want to have any firearms
for a while - we had the kids and we lived in a safe place. You have to consider your situation,
and for different people at different times a shotgun may be best, or a pistol may be best, or
pepper spray might be better.

When looking at a security system, keep in mind that #1 failing of all security systems.
Most security systems, even very expensive ones, do not provide any protection when
they are needed, for one reason. People stop using them. If it's any hassle at all to use,
you'll probably stop using it before too long, or only use it sometimes, but leave it turned
off a good portion of the time. Look for one that it very quick and easy to use. Do you
ALWAYS lock all of your doors? Now go look and see, to be sure. My mom would SAY she
always locks them, and she really believes that, but in fact most of the time at least one door
is unlocked. If any of your doors are unlocked right now, get in the habit of locking them
before buying a security system. Actually go check them any time you see me post, or perhaps
every time you check your sales stats or whatever. If you find that you forget to lock them
and can't establish that habit, you'll be wasting money on a security system that you won't use.
Maybe consider a cheap passive camera system, the idea being that the bad guy will see the
cameras and go away without you having to actually do anything.

For us, we have the pistols, the dog, the pepper spray, the security alarm, the cameras, and
all doors and windows are always locked. That may seem like a lot, but we also have your
personal information, so aren't you glad we keep the office secure? The security system we
stopped actually using a long time ago. I need to look at what I can do to make it even easier
to use, so we actually use it, and replace several of the motion detectors with window detectors
since we now have the dog, which would trigger motion detectors.

The camera system I started to install, but then didn't finish because of DVR problems.
There are several visible cameras outside, so hopefully the bad guys see them and go
away, but few friends notice them, so bad guys probably won't notice them either. I need
to find another DVR soon and finish the camera system installation.