When Burglars Come Calling

Dear Fellow Survivalist;

Many people who carry take their gun off when they get home. I personally don’t do that, because I’ve decided that a gun in my night stand isn’t going to do me the least bit of good if someone kicks open my front door. I carry to protect my family and that has to include protecting them at home.

Should someone try kicking down my door some evening, I want to be prepared. Not that I’m actually expecting that to happen; but like car insurance and a fire extinguisher, I consider my pistol and my concealed carry license a form of insurance. As with any other, it’s best unused; but if I ever need it, I don’t want to be without it.

But what I’m talking about there is a home invasion. Those are considerably different than a burglary and our strategy for the two needs to be different. In a home invasion, the criminals break into the home when the family is there, whether to steal from them or to do them harm. A home invasion may include robbery, but burglary will not include all the elements of a home invasion. The biggest difference will be that the burglary will most likely happen when the family is not at home.

Surprisingly, most burglaries happen between the hours of 9am and 3pm. That’s because our homes are mostly empty during those hours, with mom and dad at their respective jobs, while the kids are off at school. It is the safest time for a burglar to enter a home, grab what they can, and get out before anyone knows they are there. The average time they are in a home is 90 seconds… no more.

Obviously this is considerably different than a home invasion, which happens in the evening when people are at home. But the motive is quite different as well; whereas the burglar is just looking for something they can sell for money, the criminal performing a home invasion wants to confront the family for some reason, possibly even because they know them.

Carrying my gun at home will help me deal with the home invader; but it’s not going to do a thing to help with the burglar who enters my home when I’m not there. That burglar is avoiding me for good reason; he probably isn’t even armed.

So, what is that burglar likely to do in the 90 seconds they are in your home? They’re going to head right for your master bedroom, where they will check the top of your wife’s dresser, looking for her jewelry box, the nightstands and the closet. They’ll grab whatever they can of value, including your guns and head out the door, before the police can arrive.

This strategy is based upon what these criminals have learned about how people store their valuables. If there are any valuables in the home, they are most likely to be stored in the master bedroom; and the place they are most likely to be stored, is one of the three that I just mentioned.

This is horrible news for those of us who have firearms. The very same places where criminals are likely to go looking for valuables are the very same places where we are likely to keep our guns. So, even if they don’t find anything else to steal, guess what? There’s a very good chance that they will find out guns… and once they find them, they’ll be gone.

This is how criminals get guns. They don’t walk into the local gun store and make their selection, they either steal them from someone who bought them legally or they buy them from someone who stole them from someone who bought them legally. Those guns, which were bought for legal purposes, are then used for illegal ones. And it’s all because they were stored in the first place a burglar is likely to look for them.

If we want to do something serious about gun control and even crime control, the best place to start is by moving our guns and hiding them in a better place. If you have a gun cabinet, that’s ideal, as they won’t take the time to bust it open. But you don’t have to have a gun cabinet to keep your guns safe; all you have to do is hide them someplace where the criminals aren’t going to be looking for them.

That leaves you lots of options. I personally keep some of them in the office. But even then, I don’t have them in obvious places. I’ve created hiding places inside the walls and furniture. They’re easy enough for me to find; but (hopefully) well hidden from anyone else.

It’s just another part of keeping my guns ready, where they’ll do me the most good. Kind of like keeping my powder dry and y survival gear close at hand.

Dr. Rich