The 5 D’s Of Home Defense
If you missed the introduction to this series, start here [link]
In the first article in this series, we learned what would make our house
look like a hard target, one that thieves and attackers would pass over. To
Deter an attack. In the second article, Detect, we covered ways of
knowing that someone was on your property and letting the bad guy know
that you knew of his presence. The third “D” in the five D’s to home
security is Delay. We addressed reinforcing our doors, windows and other
openings in our homes to delay intruders. Depart was next, in case of a
home invasion and all the occupants of the house can get out safely, do
so.
When all of you cannot get out, it is time to Defend yourself and your
family. Let me clarify my thoughts on using the word ‘defend’. Yes, you’ll
be defending your family by definition but not waiting for the invader to be
offensive so you can counter the attack. No, that line has already been
crossed. (See or review the color code series, here’s the link) I don’t
believe in counter attacks. I don’t believe in waiting for him to swing or
shoot at you so you can use the latest ninja-inspired block and counter
move. The fight is already on. As the sheepdog of your family you will
move first, with skill and speed to determine the outcome. To be most
effective, the attack (YOUR ATTACK) must overwhelm your opponent in
the first seconds of the fight. We don’t offer time to the invader(s) for him
to think, look around or get comfortable in his home invasion.
The invaders are likely to be armed with weapons. It could be a bat,
screwdriver, knife or gun. They will also be trying to end the fight quickly.
They will show overwhelming aggression, the likes of which you perhaps
never experienced or seen. To think that you are ready for such an attack
by buying a handgun and throwing it in the nightstand is flat out absurd.
When you least expect it, there are suddenly three men in masks inside
your house, screaming and threatening your wife, you think you can grab
your handgun, fight for your life in a gunbattle, shoot all the bad guys and
save the day by merely having a pistol under your bed?
It will take planning, training and practice.
Plan
Consider the following and think through the solution.
Who in the family or others could be home at what times of day?
Remember that people commonly picture bad guys breaking into their
house in the middle of the night and yes, it does happen but also consider
when your alarm is off, when there is household noise going on and when
our minds are occupied. Daytime. The alarm is off, the extra noise might
not be noticed, and you are not in a mindset of readiness.
Where will your family likely be and given their age, what will they be
capable of? Immobile infant? Mobile and can run to a designated place?
Are they of a maturity and physical stature that they can also be trained to
help defend your family? When you read and conducted a security audit
as mentioned in the Deter article <link> in this series, what are the likely
avenues of entry into your home? Where should you be during an
invasion? Armed next to your bed on the phone with police? Do you head
to the stairway that leads to the kid’s bedrooms or family room where they
are? Does your plan include an action code word? Can you escape?
There will likely be several answers depending on your family and house
design. Consider each one and develop a plan for each. Planning includes
what you will fight back with or ability to provide fight avoidance.
Firearms, blunt force weapons, edged weapons, tear gas, a safe room, or
martial arts may all be on the table, but each require thought to use as
part of your plan. If this planning stage frightens you it should. It might
have re-consider how well you have covered the other D’s in this series,
Deter, Detect, Delay and Depart. If it does, that’s good. Having to use
this fifth D in this home security series is not an ideal scenario but it is
important to consider and plan for. Luck, hope or “I’m a good person, it
won’t happen to me” does not constitute a plan. Bad things can and do
happen to good people.
Training
Training is the when the plan that you have made takes physical form.
Again, don’t fall into the mindset that if you own a gun or a baseball bat
that is the extent of your plan. In training, you will discover what in your
plan works and what does not. You might learn that the two armed family
members could shoot each other in a crossfire or that running to a safe
room that is too far away just won’t work. If your plan is to grab your
shotgun under the bed and run to the beginning of your hallway, great but
don’t expect to have your body to that if it hasn’t ever done it in the past.
Your mind could turn to mush and your body must be counted on to repeat
what it has done many times without thinking. If you have young ones,
have training such as this include egress in case of fire. Of course any safe
code word would be far different in case of a fire.
Practice
This is ongoing training. Have the occupants changed in the numbers of
them, age or ability? Any weapon will need practice, lots of it. You must
rely on muscle memory, it will have to be on auto-pilot. Your plan will
need to be alive, adapting and growing, not sitting getting dusty.
This concludes the series of the five D’s of home security but there is
bonus article coming next week. For those of you that use or are
considering using firearms for the Defense of your home security plan, we’ll
provide information on what to consider in your choice and use of them. If
you don’t think you can use a firearm to defend an attack you might be
right. It’s certainly not for everyone. We’ll talk about that also. As for me,
I take to heart the saying “God made all men, but Sam Colt made them
equal.” Sam Colt was a firearms manufacturer and the saying means that
despite physical disparities, all men can be equal in their ability to defend
themselves.