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pardog
Posts: 424 Member
Almost had an intruder
pardog
Posts: 424 Member
We transitioned our 3 year old twins from their cribs to regular beds last night. As a result, my wife and I were up no less than half a dozen times putting them back in bed, making sure they were not falling out etc. About 6:00 am my wife woke me up again and said she heard something. I checked on the kids who were asleep. On my way back to bed I hear someone trying to come the in the front door (trying to turn the knob, push on the door etc). I looked out the window and say some strange guy standing on my porch. I grabbed my .357 from the bedroom and returned to the door. I turned on the porch light, banged on the door and asked him politely :tooth: to be on his way . He tried the door again and then wandered away. I had my wife call 911 and I checked the back and side windows to make sure that he didn’t try and get in another way. My wife handed me the phone and the 911 operator asked if I had a gun. I told her yes, and she told me to keep it for my protection and once the police have secured the situation I should put it away before talking to the police. He continued to try the front door then wander off. It became pretty apparent that he was either drug or stoned and lost. Eventually the police showed up. They said he was so drug he could barely communicate, had lost his shoes and thought he was either at his house or a friends but wasn’t sure. He was charged with intoxication. I hope as soon as he sobers up somebody at the jail tells him how close he came to being shot this morning. I hope the party was to die for.
Funny side note to this story. As I was standing by the door with my gun in one hand and 911 on the phone in the other my was was scrambling like mad to clean the house before the police showed up.
Funny side note to this story. As I was standing by the door with my gun in one hand and 911 on the phone in the other my was was scrambling like mad to clean the house before the police showed up.
Replies
-- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, German writer and politician
It would have likely been legally okay if you'd have fired through the door and blown the drunk guy away, you'd have probably felt terrible remorse when you learned he was just a totally stupid drunk and not actually trying to invade your home. So you did a good thing.
Thanks for sharing the story -- these real world accounts are valuable.
Seriously, shoot through a door?
Sam, that has got to rank in the top 10 dumbest replies. In no state in the union would that be anything less than murder. Even TX where you can shoot for property crimes would you get a pass on that.
I am hoping you are just trying to stir things up and not at all serious with that statement.
But only with a 12 gauge shotgun. His .357 would be "right out".
That would cut down on door to door solicitors.
Otherwise you did well grasshopper! LOL! I think if it was me I'd had to change underwear. I remember once I forgot to lock my car. My wife woke me up about 2 AM and said somebody was outside making noise. I got my .357 and went to the door. There's this drunk getting in my car. I hollered at him and he looked around and then figured out he was where he wasn't supposed to be and took off down the street.
Son that's somebody with nothing to do with his time but keep me in trouble with mom.
Here in Texas, people have indeed shot through their front doors and have been absolved of any crime in the legal sense. Yes indeed.
Am I totally nuts or have I read in this very forum where members have advocated precisely that action? I do seem to remember reading that, occasionally. Anyone else have memories of that?
And hey, I was NOT advocating the action, although Joe Biden did -- he's the Veep so he's perfectly the one to provide great advice, eh?
I was just remarking about this having NOT been done and that it was not the right course of action, morally and emotionally. Lots of times in the heat of things, we've all been tempted to do things that we sort of "wanted" to but were wiser. In the realm of real world self defense, there are all sorts of scenarios that can occur in which the defender may perhaps shoot too soon, or shoot too late (and maybe not get the chance to use proper defense as a result).
Did I say it would have been right to do that? I did not. I only said that it may likely have been okay legally but that it wouldn't have been the right thing to do.
My fault for not explaining the posting better.
I looked through the blinds and it was some drunk idiot with a BBQ grill trying to open the door. New Duplex, new neighborhood, all look alike...he was one block off same distance from the corner. I showed him my .357 and asked him if he knew how close he was to getting shot...he mumbled something about he guessed he had the wrong address..I told him you damn sure did.
Anyway, I'm glad I didn't shoot through the door and never will unless I'm being perused into my house and fired at and 100% sure of the situation.
Words of wisdom from Big Chief: Flush twice, it's a long way to the Mess Hall
I'd rather have my sister work in a whorehouse than own another Taurus!
Don't try to take a life unless yours is imminently threatened. And never stand in front of the door if someone is banging on it that you don't know. It's just as easy to fire through the door from the outside as it is from the inside, and if a felon is of true evil intent, your door lock is not going to stop them.
D
Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.... now who's bringing the hot wings? :jester:
Absolutely correct, too. Much of the responsibility of owning firearms for self defense is knowing when NOT to shoot.
I've told this story before, but it's true and makes a good "campfire tale"... KC Chiefs had this star defensive lineman rookie signed, big new recruit, great college record and promising pro career. After training camp and he'd been signed to the team, his fellow pro linemen took him out to celebrate, they all got drunk.
They decided to have him surprise his girlfriend. So they went to an allnite store, bought a big red bow and ribbon. They had him strip naked, they tied the bow around his, er, you know, and he was sent to wake up his gf (3am) at her apartment complex. He stormed up to her door, banged on it, and when she didn't open it, he bashed the door open. BANG! One round, .357 Mag, chest shot, died at the scene. They'd gotten the wrong building in the complex and he instead burst straight into the apartment of a sleepy and frightened citizen, reacting as anybody would if a 6'5" 280lb naked man would crash through your front door.
I would like to see any article about anyone shooting through their front door, and how that was justified.
Bedroom door, different story. BG has already proven that he is ready to be an aggressor. Hollow core doors are cheap.
I couldn't find any but my search skills are weak.
I know it's happened, I just can't remember when. And you're right, it was likely during a home invasion or some other disturbance in the middle.
I'll tell you that Texas is however very lenient regarding self defense shootings. And yes, it's not exactly politically correct or a pleasant concept, but cases where the shooter was white and the shot person was black, there have been few prosecutions. It happens.
The point however is that it's of course a really bad idea to shoot through the front door. But the end result was not found to be criminal action in some cases.
That's of course no excuse and so doing is a breach of all the proper self defense admonitions about "knowing your target".