MN Naive , lock em up and lock your doors.

[XDM45]

I cannot believe the naivete of people, especially these days.

You are not safe. There is not guarantee for your safety, your life, or anything else other than the fact that you will be born, pay some sort of taxes, and die. That's it. Everything else is a variable.

Where I live (Shakopee), there is a gang problem, a minimum security woman's prison (not really a factor, but it's still there), and in the past few months, home invasions by heroin addicts while the homes are occupied, so having a gun (with all of the accompanying training, safety, care, maintenance, proper use of it, etc), is a good idea. In fact, my post along with every other post in this thread, really shows good reasoning why everyone should get a PTC and carry in their own home along with everywhere and anywhere else they legally can. I'd even go so far as to say buy a good concealable pistol for concealed carry at work if you can. (Obviously that won't work if your job is in a hospital or on federal /state grounds or anywhere else limited by law.)

My biggest obstacle is my wife who when she told of this first happening to other homes in the area, thought we should get a gun and stick in the drawer, and that's it. None of the care, safety, cleaning, maintenance, proper use, etc was ever thought about or mentioned. If I could get her to do it, I'd have her interested in guns and all of the things with them, including carrying as well as keeping the alarm system on 24x7x365 and to always carry her cell phone with her even in the house. At least she and I keep the doors locked all the time, but still, it's not enough.

I love my wife, but I can't be there to protect her all the time. Each person needs to protect themselves, and that includes not making it easy for criminals with unlocked doors, running vehicles, etc.

I must add the caveat, I've worked in some high-security jobs in the IT Security field and have a natural protective/security-minded nature, so I'm probably more aware and paranoid than the average person.

...on a hopeful side note, one of my step-daughters went to the range with me for the first time this past weekend to shoot for the first time ever. She liked the 22/45 a lot, and so after a bit of practice, I let her fire the XDm .45ACP at a TSR-II target at 21 feet like you do when you shoot for your PTC; and for the first shots for her first tiem firing a .45, the first 7 shots all went center of mass. I told her that if she'd been shooting for her PTC, she'd obtain it with those shots. If the daughter can shoot, maybe the mom can too if she puts her mind to it.

[driztan]

I cannot believe the naivete of people, especially these days.

You are not safe. There is not guarantee for your safety, your life, or anything else other than the fact that you will be born, pay some sort of taxes, and die. That's it. Everything else is a variable.

Where I live (Shakopee), there is a gang problem, a minimum security woman's prison (not really a factor, but it's still there), and in the past few months, home invasions by heroin addicts while the homes are occupied, so having a gun (with all of the accompanying training, safety, care, maintenance, proper use of it, etc), is a good idea. In fact, my post along with every other post in this thread, really shows good reasoning why everyone should get a PTC and carry in their own home along with everywhere and anywhere else they legally can. I'd even go so far as to say buy a good concealable pistol for concealed carry at work if you can. (Obviously that won't work if your job is in a hospital or on federal /state grounds or anywhere else limited by law.)

My biggest obstacle is my wife who when she told of this first happening to other homes in the area, thought we should get a gun and stick in the drawer, and that's it. None of the care, safety, cleaning, maintenance, proper use, etc was ever thought about or mentioned. If I could get her to do it, I'd have her interested in guns and all of the things with them, including carrying as well as keeping the alarm system on 24x7x365 and to always carry her cell phone with her even in the house. At least she and I keep the doors locked all the time, but still, it's not enough.

I love my wife, but I can't be there to protect her all the time. Each person needs to protect themselves, and that includes not making it easy for criminals with unlocked doors, running vehicles, etc.

I must add the caveat, I've worked in some high-security jobs in the IT Security field and have a natural protective/security-minded nature, so I'm probably more aware and paranoid than the average person.

...on a hopeful side note, one of my step-daughters went to the range with me for the first time this past weekend to shoot for the first time ever. She liked the 22/45 a lot, and so after a bit of practice, I let her fire the XDm .45ACP at a TSR-II target at 21 feet like you do when you shoot for your PTC; and for the first shots for her first tiem firing a .45, the first 7 shots all went center of mass. I told her that if she'd been shooting for her PTC, she'd obtain it with those shots. If the daughter can shoot, maybe the mom can too if she puts her mind to it.

Thank you for sharing and caring about your fellow citizen. You are not paranoid, when you love something more than yourself it is totally natural to become protective.

[plblark]

Slightly off topic but this brings to mind an excellent article I read recently:

http://personallysafe.com/2013/01/secured-entry-ways-that-arent/

An excerpt from the meat of the article:

Simple Solution
Dorms and apartments that use keys or access cards will always suffer from our unwillingness to be rude and inconvenience others, our unwillingness to be inconvenienced, and the complacency of all actors involved.

While secured entries help keep the riffraff out, improving them to do much more comes at a high cost to convenience, a cost that most others are not willing to suffer even if you are.

So, you are best off resetting your assumptions about the effectiveness of your common entry security. Just assume they don’t work that well and, instead, do what you can to keep unwanted people out of your apartment or dorm room. Simply keep your doors locked ‡, even when you run down the hall to get the mail, go to the laundry room, visit a neighbor or use the community bathroom. Then, put your key on a lanyard or clip it to a belt loop so you’ll always have it with you.

[XDM45]

Slightly off topic but this brings to mind an excellent article I read recently:

http://personallysafe.com/2013/01/secured-entry-ways-that-arent/

An excerpt from the meat of the article:

Simple Solution
Dorms and apartments that use keys or access cards will always suffer from our unwillingness to be rude and inconvenience others, our unwillingness to be inconvenienced, and the complacency of all actors involved.

While secured entries help keep the riffraff out, improving them to do much more comes at a high cost to convenience, a cost that most others are not willing to suffer even if you are.

So, you are best off resetting your assumptions about the effectiveness of your common entry security. Just assume they don’t work that well and, instead, do what you can to keep unwanted people out of your apartment or dorm room. Simply keep your doors locked ‡, even when you run down the hall to get the mail, go to the laundry room, visit a neighbor or use the community bathroom. Then, put your key on a lanyard or clip it to a belt loop so you’ll always have it with you.

Good article and very true.

It's one reason I say that amateurs have computers and professionals hack people. People are much easier to get into that computers are. I can socially engineer my way pretty quickly and gather information without the person/people even think I'm doing so. If you want to go after someone's computers and network, start out by building a dossier on them. facebook, twitter, matlego, there's tons of tools for doing so, but often times the best access is to talk to them directly if you can. People love to blab about themselves and advertise things they shouldn't.

[msnden]

Let me understand, Holiday season, house full of kids & adults, 3:00AM, Door gets kicked in, apparent attempted break-in-----No one calls 911???? no offense,
But Those people should NOT have guns. jmop msn

[Momosa]

.....I do believe I started this thread emphasizing the importance of locking up the home and also stating that the guns should be secured in a gun safe. Kudos for finally catching on.

To simply say that an old timer stuck in his trusting ways should not own a gun sounds a bit Feinstein-ish!

They'll be secured. I'm working with another relative on it.

[Northfield 556]

This is my first line of defense. South African Boerboel.

[GunClasses.Net]

I cannot believe the naivete of people, especially these days.

You are not safe. There is not guarantee for your safety, your life, or anything else other than the fact that you will be born, pay some sort of taxes, and die. That's it. Everything else is a variable.

Where I live (Shakopee), there is a gang problem, a minimum security woman's prison (not really a factor, but it's still there), and in the past few months, home invasions by heroin addicts while the homes are occupied, so having a gun (with all of the accompanying training, safety, care, maintenance, proper use of it, etc), is a good idea. In fact, my post along with every other post in this thread, really shows good reasoning why everyone should get a PTC and carry in their own home along with everywhere and anywhere else they legally can. I'd even go so far as to say buy a good concealable pistol for concealed carry at work if you can. (Obviously that won't work if your job is in a hospital or on federal /state grounds or anywhere else limited by law.)

My biggest obstacle is my wife who when she told of this first happening to other homes in the area, thought we should get a gun and stick in the drawer, and that's it. None of the care, safety, cleaning, maintenance, proper use, etc was ever thought about or mentioned. If I could get her to do it, I'd have her interested in guns and all of the things with them, including carrying as well as keeping the alarm system on 24x7x365 and to always carry her cell phone with her even in the house. At least she and I keep the doors locked all the time, but still, it's not enough.

I love my wife, but I can't be there to protect her all the time. Each person needs to protect themselves, and that includes not making it easy for criminals with unlocked doors, running vehicles, etc.

I must add the caveat, I've worked in some high-security jobs in the IT Security field and have a natural protective/security-minded nature, so I'm probably more aware and paranoid than the average person.

...on a hopeful side note, one of my step-daughters went to the range with me for the first time this past weekend to shoot for the first time ever. She liked the 22/45 a lot, and so after a bit of practice, I let her fire the XDm .45ACP at a TSR-II target at 21 feet like you do when you shoot for your PTC; and for the first shots for her first tiem firing a .45, the first 7 shots all went center of mass. I told her that if she'd been shooting for her PTC, she'd obtain it with those shots. If the daughter can shoot, maybe the mom can too if she puts her mind to it.

First thought was "Pity the fool who messes with THAT family".
Then, though, it's obvious the security plan is well-rounded and proactive, so ... not as likely to even become targeted to begin with

That's most of the battle - don't look like a target. The OP was right - having guns on display is foolish nowadays. I don't even park my car in my driveway with any gun-related bumper stickers, and generally don't advertise I may have anything in the car worth stealing. Stickers can say "come wait for me to leave and then rob me while I'm out", or "come break into my car when I walk into the grocery store". No way. They won't rob you while you're home. He'll wait at the end of the block for you to go to work and then clean out your house during the day.