A typical senario..WWYD?

[SIXTO]

Late at night, your dog begins to whine and whimper waking you up. Other than the dog, you're alone. So you get up to go let Fido out, he bolts to the corner of the yard, seems interested in whatever is over there. Not thinking about anything out of the ordinary , you assume he is after a critter and call him back. Back to bed you go.
An hour or so later, something goes bump in the night. Wakes you again. This time, coupled with the earlier happenings, you fear something is up.
the house is a typical American two story, bedrooms up, kitchen living room etc down....
you have a phone upstairs...
you have one handgun with you, others firearms are locked away...
you have one small flashlight...

Walk me through how you would handle it....

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[havegunjoe]

My pooch, (see avatar at left), would be growling and barking her head off at anything approaching our home. If I really thought it was something to worry about I would pull my gun from the night stand, call 911, make sure the bedroom door is bolted, assume a defensive position behind the bed and wait for the calvery. Searching out the source of the noise will only lead to trouble IMHO.

[peacefuljeffrey]

I say pretty much the same.
Get access to my gun (as in, have it in hand); call 911 and inform them of the address, my description, and that I suspect that there's an intruder in my home; wait in a safe area.

I don't have the benefit of a dog for intruder detection, though. Not sure if I can count on the two cats... heh.

[SIXTO]

Forgot to add, I just want to see what peoples thought process's are, I'm not looking for a debate with this one.

[rocky]

wait in a position of cover and listen. If no sounds in a while turn on all outside lights and wait. I keep a phone next to the bed as well, so no need to go anywhere to call 911.

[MattInFla]

Dial 1911 (remove from bedside electronic safe). Acquire light from safe at same time.

Move to cover and listen up. Call 911.

If I hear movement that sounds human, announce loudly that the police are enroute, I am armed and I will shoot.

Make him come to me.

Make him sorry he did.

That's the plan in a nutshell.

Only thing I might change is if there is no imminent movement toward me, I may exchange the handgun for the M4gery in the big safe.

Pistols are pistols and rifles are rifles, after all.

Matt

[Todd]

Make him come to me.

Make him sorry he did.

+1 on that!

If I was certain there was someone in the house, I would have my wife call 911 while I got the gun and light and went down the hall to get my son. Once my son was back in the bedroom with my wife, I'd announce that the police were on their way and hold the stairs (good cover and fire lane) until the police showed up. The BG could either vacate the premises or engage me.

Makes me think that I definitely need to get a shotgun. Just the sound of a shell being chambered in a quiet house with hardwood floors would probably make a BG decide on a quick departure.

[sjp2452]

I second the "move to cover, listen to confirm, dial 911" strategy. I wouldn't be in the house alone though...don't quite see that ever happening. My wife & kids are here to stay. ;)

[JKFrost68]

you have one handgun with you, others firearms are locked away...
you have one small flashlight...

Has my security alarm gone off? Since I am relatively safe in my deadbolted, solid door bedroom, I grab the handgun and surefire, get out of bed, take 3 steps to the gun safe, and then try and decide which shotgun or rifle I most feel like using and wait...

[peacefuljeffrey]

Makes me think that I definitely need to get a shotgun. Just the sound of a shell being chambered in a quiet house with hardwood floors would probably make a BG decide on a quick departure.

This brings up an interesting point that I don't see discussed very much.

Let's say you send the bad guy running with fear of an armed homeowner.

What if he decides:
a) he's pissed off at you and wants revenge for scaring him off
b) you must be sitting on lots of good loot to be so determined in your defense

and as a result, he comes back a few weeks later with a couple more of his buddies?

I know that there's really nothing more you can do but remain as prepared as you were the first time. But now that he knows you have access to a gun, it may change his whole approach to how to engage you the next time... Should you have to sit around up every night acting like ?

[MIKEV]

I would do the same as most here, secure fiream, call 911 inform them that there are 3 gg in house 1 AM, 1 AF and 1IF, Seeing as our infant currently sleeps in the MBR with us I would simply secure the door as fast as I could, after reaching out and turning hallway light on. (switch is 6" from doorway)

I would also direct my wife to take the infant into the Bathroom (which is on the same wall as the door to the bedroom) and instruct her to seek cover by laying in the bathtub with the baby. I would then station myself opposite the bathroom door giving myself a lane of fire to the bedroom door that will eliminate the chances of them getting caught in crossfire if any shooting starts.

This part I am unsure of, wether to turn off BR light and have Surefire at the ready, or leave the light on. I think with the hall way light on a BG would make a great sillouette when opening BR door. But probably I would leave the light on because he would actually have to bash the door in to gain entrance.

At that time I would yell out that police are enroute and I am armed giving the BG oppurtunity to decide to leave, wait for police and get arrested, or attempt to gain entrance to BR and die.

I would also be thinking about the next breed of dog I want cause the current one is a slacker!! LOL J/K

Mike

[sailormnop]

Only thing I might change is if there is no imminent movement toward me, I may exchange the handgun for the M4gery in the big safe.

Pistols are pistols and rifles are rifles, after all.

Matt

What the heck is an M4gery? I've seen this on here a couple of times and have no idea. A fake rifle? That doesn't seem very useful...

[SIXTO]

m4GERY (N) m-four- jur-ee, A civilians version of the military's M4 rifle.

[sailormnop]

Oh m-forgery meaning a little watered down, not fake. In that case, what exactly is the difference? Is it just that it's not fully auto?

Sorry about going a bit off topic.

[gotammo]

What kind of bump in the night? You don't know the dog what the dog was after, not enough information to act on.