We had our second burglary attempt within the past three weeks, and it changed our minds about gun ownership

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I call BS.
Where do you live that a security company has armed guards on standby?
This also wasn’t an attempted burglary. It was a suspicious act. Someone walking around your house, while unusual and definitely concerning is not a reason to gosprinting to your attic in fear.
Take it down a notch.
You are the type of person who will accidentally shoot someone in fear.

I’m not op but my parents live on 20 acres. Someone walking around their house is reason to get a gun. You don’t just wander up a 150 yard driveway on a wooded lot.

That’s completely ridiculous and extremist. I mean, why don’t they just call 911?

You clearly don't live in rural America. Why on earth would someone be on their lot if uninvited? No reason whatsoever.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I call BS.
Where do you live that a security company has armed guards on standby?
This also wasn’t an attempted burglary. It was a suspicious act. Someone walking around your house, while unusual and definitely concerning is not a reason to gosprinting to your attic in fear.
Take it down a notch.
You are the type of person who will accidentally shoot someone in fear.

OP here. We moved from DC a of few years ago (but I am still on DCUM). Yes, our large neighborhood has a private security company. I have never seen it in the DC area, but it is common in our new area.

I am certain that it was a burglary attempt. Nobody just walks on our property toward the back yard unannounced.

Many ultra-wealthy people live on our street, many with their own security guards either in a car in front of the house or stationed in their gate-house. Just because this is beyond your experience it does not mean that there aren't places like this in this country.

If you have armed security that responds immediately why did you wait 25 minutes for the police when someone walked across your property?

Are you saying you would have taken the gun and gone off into the night to search for and kill this person who wasn’t in your home? And, since that’s not self defense by any definition that you would put your kid through the trauma of losing their parent to prison over sitting still for a few minutes?

OP here. Thanks everyone for their replies.

The neighborhood armed security patrol never showed up after being alerted by the motion sensor and me telling the call center that it is a burglary attempt.

The motion sensors are not on a path from the street toward the house, but on the side of the house almost at the backyard. So no mailman, passersby, neighbor etc sets off that alarm. There is no doubt that those were burglars on the property just a couple of minutes away from entering the house by pushing in a patio door or window.

We don't wear flashy jewelry, etc, however we have museum-quality 18th century antique furniture/clocks/candelabra/paintings visible through the front door and the living room windows (when the curtains are open).

I agree, hedges/fence/gate are a priority.

I friend has recommended this self-defense mechanism, that apparently does not require a license, and uses chemical irritant projectiles:
https://byrna.com/products/byrna-sd-non-lethal-self-defense-pistol

You're a real piece of work -- how about you cover your windows and get a new door, ding dong???

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You’re here to make money, so there are some trade-offs. You’re not in “Northern Europe” anymore, making peanuts. Get a gun and get plenty of training.

Northern Europe is where the real money is. It's only Southern Europe that is poor, by comparison.

Riiiigght… https://www.thefp.com/p/why-i-left-norway-unrealized-gains-tax

https://www.thelocal.se/20241016/fraud-on-the-rise-in-sweden-while-sex-crimes-and-bike-thefts-decrease

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I call BS.
Where do you live that a security company has armed guards on standby?
This also wasn’t an attempted burglary. It was a suspicious act. Someone walking around your house, while unusual and definitely concerning is not a reason to gosprinting to your attic in fear.
Take it down a notch.
You are the type of person who will accidentally shoot someone in fear.

OP here. We moved from DC a of few years ago (but I am still on DCUM). Yes, our large neighborhood has a private security company. I have never seen it in the DC area, but it is common in our new area.

I am certain that it was a burglary attempt. Nobody just walks on our property toward the back yard unannounced.

Many ultra-wealthy people live on our street, many with their own security guards either in a car in front of the house or stationed in their gate-house. Just because this is beyond your experience it does not mean that there aren't places like this in this country.

If you have armed security that responds immediately why did you wait 25 minutes for the police when someone walked across your property?

Are you saying you would have taken the gun and gone off into the night to search for and kill this person who wasn’t in your home? And, since that’s not self defense by any definition that you would put your kid through the trauma of losing their parent to prison over sitting still for a few minutes?

OP here. Thanks everyone for their replies.

The neighborhood armed security patrol never showed up after being alerted by the motion sensor and me telling the call center that it is a burglary attempt.

The motion sensors are not on a path from the street toward the house, but on the side of the house almost at the backyard. So no mailman, passersby, neighbor etc sets off that alarm. There is no doubt that those were burglars on the property just a couple of minutes away from entering the house by pushing in a patio door or window.

We don't wear flashy jewelry, etc, however we have museum-quality 18th century antique furniture/clocks/candelabra/paintings visible through the front door and the living room windows (when the curtains are open).

I agree, hedges/fence/gate are a priority.

I friend has recommended this self-defense mechanism, that apparently does not require a license, and uses chemical irritant projectiles:
https://byrna.com/products/byrna-sd-non-lethal-self-defense-pistol

Nice long con, OP! You're just trying to sell us something, LOL!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are you truly prepared to kill someone? Are you prepared to be someone who shot someone dead? Do you know what that does to a person psychologically? Think about that before buying a gun.

OP here. After having lived through the agony of waiting for the police for 25 minutes, yes, I am prepared to shoot and kill a perpetrator in my home, especially to protect my teenage daughter and my husband. So far I always thought that I would hide, but now I do not see why I should accept the risk of bodily harm to us.
I felt very helpless and exposed. I don't want to feel that way ever again in my life, especially not in my own home.

It sounds like this experience is bringing up older traumatic experience for you, to be honest. This is not your adult brain, talking about getting a gun because motion sensors went off and would-be burglars were successfully deterred.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I call BS.
Where do you live that a security company has armed guards on standby?
This also wasn’t an attempted burglary. It was a suspicious act. Someone walking around your house, while unusual and definitely concerning is not a reason to gosprinting to your attic in fear.
Take it down a notch.
You are the type of person who will accidentally shoot someone in fear.

I’m not op but my parents live on 20 acres. Someone walking around their house is reason to get a gun. You don’t just wander up a 150 yard driveway on a wooded lot.

There are 1 million reasons why someone would be walking up to a house that have nothing to do with crime. What a sick worldview. People in actual war torn countries don’t even act that paranoid.

PP said someone walking around the house at the end of a long wooded driveway. Yeah, that's a problem.

And nothing like OP’s situation in which a motion sensor in a house close to the street in a pretty dense suburb was set off, probably by a deer or a stray dog.

[Anonymous]

Set up a couple of claymores when you are in for the night. Just need to be sure to remember they are there in the morning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I call BS.
Where do you live that a security company has armed guards on standby?
This also wasn’t an attempted burglary. It was a suspicious act. Someone walking around your house, while unusual and definitely concerning is not a reason to gosprinting to your attic in fear.
Take it down a notch.
You are the type of person who will accidentally shoot someone in fear.

I’m not op but my parents live on 20 acres. Someone walking around their house is reason to get a gun. You don’t just wander up a 150 yard driveway on a wooded lot.

There are 1 million reasons why someone would be walking up to a house that have nothing to do with crime. What a sick worldview. People in actual war torn countries don’t even act that paranoid.

PP said someone walking around the house at the end of a long wooded driveway. Yeah, that's a problem.

And nothing like OP’s situation in which a motion sensor in a house close to the street in a pretty dense suburb was set off, probably by a deer or a stray dog.

I live in N. Arlington in a very suburban area, and it is like Jumanji around here - deer, foxes, racoons, squirrels etc. The deer are bigger than humans. Maybe the OP should put a camera in that spot before deciding every trigger of the motion detector lights is a burglar.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are you truly prepared to kill someone? Are you prepared to be someone who shot someone dead? Do you know what that does to a person psychologically? Think about that before buying a gun.

If someone hopped up on crack went towards my kids’ room I’f have no compunction whatsoever in shooting them in the head. I could live with myself if I was such a coward I could not defend my family.

What if they weren't on crack? What if they didn't go towards your kids' room? What if they just wanted to take electronics and china? Or steal your dog? Then would you kill them? Can you make that decision in a split second?

Why does it matter if they are on crack? They have no right to be in your home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I call BS.
Where do you live that a security company has armed guards on standby?
This also wasn’t an attempted burglary. It was a suspicious act. Someone walking around your house, while unusual and definitely concerning is not a reason to gosprinting to your attic in fear.
Take it down a notch.
You are the type of person who will accidentally shoot someone in fear.

OP here. We moved from DC a of few years ago (but I am still on DCUM). Yes, our large neighborhood has a private security company. I have never seen it in the DC area, but it is common in our new area.

I am certain that it was a burglary attempt. Nobody just walks on our property toward the back yard unannounced.

Many ultra-wealthy people live on our street, many with their own security guards either in a car in front of the house or stationed in their gate-house. Just because this is beyond your experience it does not mean that there aren't places like this in this country.

If you have armed security that responds immediately why did you wait 25 minutes for the police when someone walked across your property?

Are you saying you would have taken the gun and gone off into the night to search for and kill this person who wasn’t in your home? And, since that’s not self defense by any definition that you would put your kid through the trauma of losing their parent to prison over sitting still for a few minutes?

OP here. Thanks everyone for their replies.

The neighborhood armed security patrol never showed up after being alerted by the motion sensor and me telling the call center that it is a burglary attempt.

The motion sensors are not on a path from the street toward the house, but on the side of the house almost at the backyard. So no mailman, passersby, neighbor etc sets off that alarm. There is no doubt that those were burglars on the property just a couple of minutes away from entering the house by pushing in a patio door or window.

We don't wear flashy jewelry, etc, however we have museum-quality 18th century antique furniture/clocks/candelabra/paintings visible through the front door and the living room windows (when the curtains are open).

I agree, hedges/fence/gate are a priority.

I friend has recommended this self-defense mechanism, that apparently does not require a license, and uses chemical irritant projectiles:
https://byrna.com/products/byrna-sd-non-lethal-self-defense-pistol

Nice long con, OP! You're just trying to sell us something, LOL!

+1

OP, in what DC neighborhood do you reside?

[Anonymous]

OP is probably fake but there really are a lot of people who constantly believe they were “almost” burgled. Someone is “casing” their house.

There is also a whole genre of social media for white women convinced they’re about to be human trafficked from Target.

People are just bored and like feeling scared and important, but then sometimes it gets out of control and they shoot someone.

[Anonymous]

Sounds like OP has money to throw at this problem. I would build a small panic room that would be safe from intruders rather than have to potentially shoot (or lose the gun and get shot myself) an intruder.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP is probably fake but there really are a lot of people who constantly believe they were “almost” burgled. Someone is “casing” their house.

There is also a whole genre of social media for white women convinced they’re about to be human trafficked from Target.

People are just bored and like feeling scared and important, but then sometimes it gets out of control and they shoot someone.

Burglaries do happen so the fear isn't some far-fetched idea. My aunt was burglarized (very mc area, almost rural), my parents' neighbors, my neighbor across the street in a totally different area. It's not bad to implement protections though I personally wouldn't get a gun.

[Anonymous]

OP go out and get a gun or two, liberal are buying them in droves. Just be sure to get some training so that you don't hurt yourself or other innocent folks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I call BS.
Where do you live that a security company has armed guards on standby?
This also wasn’t an attempted burglary. It was a suspicious act. Someone walking around your house, while unusual and definitely concerning is not a reason to gosprinting to your attic in fear.
Take it down a notch.
You are the type of person who will accidentally shoot someone in fear.

OP here. We moved from DC a of few years ago (but I am still on DCUM). Yes, our large neighborhood has a private security company. I have never seen it in the DC area, but it is common in our new area.

I am certain that it was a burglary attempt. Nobody just walks on our property toward the back yard unannounced.

Many ultra-wealthy people live on our street, many with their own security guards either in a car in front of the house or stationed in their gate-house. Just because this is beyond your experience it does not mean that there aren't places like this in this country.

If you have armed security that responds immediately why did you wait 25 minutes for the police when someone walked across your property?

Are you saying you would have taken the gun and gone off into the night to search for and kill this person who wasn’t in your home? And, since that’s not self defense by any definition that you would put your kid through the trauma of losing their parent to prison over sitting still for a few minutes?

OP here. Thanks everyone for their replies.

The neighborhood armed security patrol never showed up after being alerted by the motion sensor and me telling the call center that it is a burglary attempt.

The motion sensors are not on a path from the street toward the house, but on the side of the house almost at the backyard. So no mailman, passersby, neighbor etc sets off that alarm. There is no doubt that those were burglars on the property just a couple of minutes away from entering the house by pushing in a patio door or window.

We don't wear flashy jewelry, etc, however we have museum-quality 18th century antique furniture/clocks/candelabra/paintings visible through the front door and the living room windows (when the curtains are open).

I agree, hedges/fence/gate are a priority.

I friend has recommended this self-defense mechanism, that apparently does not require a license, and uses chemical irritant projectiles:
https://byrna.com/products/byrna-sd-non-lethal-self-defense-pistol

Nice long con, OP! You're just trying to sell us something, LOL!

This con is almost as long as Don the Con’s con!!!