Oh, COOL, a ZOMBIE KILLING thread.
NOT.
We all want to be ready when things go bump in the night. But what about the "little things" that may help or harm you in a home defense scenario?
And what is a set of realistic scenarios?
(I'm assuming for this thread that your primary weapon is an M4. I know a lot of people will say they reach for the Glock, etc., but since this is M4carbine.net I'm taking artistic license here).
This post is just my opinion, so other input is of course welcome. I worked eight years in law enforcement but I was not a line officer. I picked up a lot of this from our mandatory annual refresher training.
This is designed to get you (and me) REALLY thinking about having to use your weapon instead of being "that guy" who thinks just because you bought a brand new Colt 6920 that your home is now invulnerable.
Let's take a likely lifestyle (and I'm assuming you are an individual who does not make a living shooting; in that case tell us how you do things).
You work in the daytime and are (mostly) home at night.
A lot of home burglaries occur in the daytime, so let's hope you have your toys secure or that someone is home most of the time.
At night, it's a different story.
Someone who decides to break in at night will probably encounter you being there, and is possibly even okay with that. That makes him especially dangerous.
Logically, that kind of perp is either stupid, crazy, drugged, brave, or has nothing to lose. This is why places that allow people to keep home defense guns have lower crime rates than places with strong restrictions. Anybody who breaks into a home knowing he may be confronted by the homeowner is not the average grab-and-run perp.
So, how do you prepare for that individual...who...unfortunately....you may have to fire upon?
Let's say you keep an AR at the ready because the ammo won't overpenetrate the walls, or you just shoot better with it, or whatever.
Because of the kids, you DON'T keep a round in the chamber. That means if you hear glass breaking at 3 am, you've got to chamber a round as quietly as possible (get ready to use the forward assist because if you chamber a round slowly the breech may not close all the way).
Does your optic have to be powered up? Did you check the flashlight batteries with a quick burst before you went to bed (because you dang sure can't check it now)? Do you have an optic cover that you have to remove? Can you do all of this while the perp is about to walk into your bedroom at any second?
How close is the carbine to your bed? Do you have to get up and open the safe while you hope the perp doesn't pick your room to invade first? Or do you keep your combat weapon nearby?
Has wifey told you "You're not keeping that thing right by the bed at night." ?
Is it handy enough that you can get to it silently?
Then what?
Let's hope you've had some kind of training in silently patrolling your residence at night.
Have you ever simply just practiced navigating your residence at night in the pitch black without bumping into walls or tripping over things? Maybe you better do it regularly enough to get good at it.
Does any part of your gun rattle? Do your house shoes make enough noise on your tile floors that you give away your position?
Do you have the mindset to actually pull the trigger and destroy another human being? Have you considered that you may see that person's face for the rest of your life?
Do you know the laws of your particular area? If it's required that the perp be armed with a deadly weapon for you to use deadly force, have you trained your mindset to look for a weapon the first thing? Otherwise if you panic and shoot an unarmed burglar--YOU may be the one going to jail.
People who shoot and then try to "stage" the crime scene by planting a weapon on the perp are living in fantasy land. This is not the 1950's. Forensics are advanced enough these days that a good police lab person will know that the gun in the perp's hand was planted because it's missing the right blood spatter.
The point is: do you have the capacity to make sure it's a "good shoot" before you do the shooting?
Do you have at least the business card, or contact info for a lawyer? Even if you know that you know that you know the shoot was good--the cops who walk into the scene may see it entirely differently. Maybe the perp looked seven feet tall in the dark but with the lights on he's just a fifteen-year-old, and what you thought was a pistol in his hand was actually his phone.
So there you stand with your zombie-killing machine and a poor kid is dead right in front of you. Don't answer any questions without contacting your lawyer first--even if you have to spend the night in jail. (And I am not talking about a scene where even Stevie Wonder could see it's a good shoot.) I have attended too many jury trials where the prosecution tried to make the homeowner the criminal and the perp the victim. I know of cases where the resident shot someone who came home drunk or drugged and entered the wrong apartment through the window because his key didn't fit the door. (Because it was the wrong door).
I know: most of you have thought about all of this (I hope). But I know there are people who don't ever consider "what if" beyond the "I need a gun" stage.
I also know that no matter how well you prepare there are always things you forget.
Did you forget that your house is full of motion-sensor lights and as soon as you enter the hallway you've given away your position?
Did you forget that you tend to walk around the house barefoot, and if the perp broke the big picture window in the living room to get in that you may walk through broken glass while looking for him? Did you stop to consider that you should hug certain walls to prevent yourself from being silhouetted as you walk around the house?
These are all just things to consider. Have you evaluated your particular tactical situation and thought of all the "what if's"?
Anyway...I just want people to post things that make us all collectively say, "Gee I never thought of that." It's about realistically getting ready.
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