Category Archives: home defense

Downrange Incident During Home Invasion

From the Armed Citizen http://graphics.nra.org/ac/ac-138.html this month.

Authorities say a man opened fire on a suspected burglar who attacked his wife at their home

https://www.wfla.com/news/pinellas-county/man-found-shot-after-home-burglary-in-north-redington-beach-deputies-say/

Deputies said [the intruder] encountered a 74-year-old woman inside the residence and ‘began to struggle with her physically.’ Her husband heard her screams and saw her struggling with Jackson. The man then retrieved his firearm and shot Jackson in the right shoulder.

This is what I call a ‘downrange incident.’ I.e., there’s an innocent party downrange and in close proximity to the attacker. Incidents where close range precision is required are more common than is realized.

A downrange drill is part of all my private sessions above the beginner level. The shooter has only one round in the pistol. Two IDPA targets downrange with one placed directly to the side of the -0 zone. The shooter can advance to any distance they feel they can make a -0 hit, either head or body, on the first shot without hitting the hostage. Even experienced shooters tend to get somewhere within Social Space (4-12 feet).

It doesn’t have to be an IDPA match scenario

but practicing the ‘downrange shot’ occasionally is worthwhile.

Los Angeles Citizen’s CCW Taken Away

L.A. homeowner who fired on armed robbers has concealed carry permit suspended

https://news.yahoo.com/l-homeowner-fired-armed-robbers-055345708.html

It’s as plain as the nose on your face that this is retaliation. For what, you may ask?

Embarrassing the authorities on public media. Just that simple. His incident demonstrated that he was capable of protecting himself and his family at the moment of crisis and the authorities were not. By talking to the media, i.e., the local news and Colion Noir, he rubbed that fact in the faces of the Law Enforcement Agencies responsible for his and his family’s protection.

One of the benefits of belonging to a self-defense legal organization such as the Armed Citizens’ Legal Defense Network https://armedcitizensnetwork.org/ is getting to talk to someone about the incident in a confidential manner. Regardless of what organization or attorney you contact, they will undoubtedly advise against giving statements to the media. They are going to tell you to not make public statements.

After any such incident, it’s a natural desire to want to talk about it to decompress. Doing so is probably emotionally healthy. What we want to do is accomplish our decompression in a format that won’t hurt us. Talking to a lawyer is a non-harmful format. Talking to the media, even if they are neutral or well-intentioned, is fraught with hazard.

Couching your criticism with comments like “the LAPD is understaffed” or the like is equivalent to “Bless their hearts.” Then saying you’ve hired a private detective to investigate, which is tantamount to saying the authorities are incompetent, is only throwing more fuel on the fire of their future discontent. And please don’t publicly say that the investigation was sloppy, even if that’s true. NO BENEFIT. That’s just venting. Vent to your attorney not the local news.

As we can see in this incident, the authorities are not going to take kindly to a gunowner publicly proclaiming that it was the Second Amendment and not the authorities that protected them. In States that only issue Licenses To Carry because of Bruen, they’re going to look for some way to get even. Law Enforcement administrators in those States are not your friends. Don’t poke them in the eye by publicly exposing their inability to protect you.

Having to interact with the authorities after an incident is a Negative Outcome.

In its statement to KTLA, the sheriff’s department did say that Ricci’s CCW may immediately be reinstated as long as he has followed all the required policies, such as “proper notifications” and “use of [a] properly documented weapon.”

The Sheriff’s Office’s definition of “immediately” may be somewhat different than ours. Having to jump through a bunch of bureaucratic hoops to reinstate your Right to protect yourself is an undesirable interaction. Don’t put yourself in that situation, regardless of how righteous your incident was. In this case, his attackers are still out there and I wish he could carry his piece.

Attempted Home Invasion in LA

https://abc7.com/los-angeles-homeowner-fights-back-armed-robbery-home-invasion-ccw/14016199/

As reported in The Armed Citizen blog http://graphics.nra.org/armed_citizen/ac_136.html from the NRA, which is well worth subscribing to.

The surveillance video is instructive. Note the ‘chase instinct’ in play. After the homeowner gains the upper hand by pulling his gun and firing, he chases after the intruders instead of going inside, locking the door, establishing a blocking position, and then calling the POlice.

This incident demonstrates a worthy addition to Don’t Go Outside http://modernserviceweapons.com/?p=18502 to our Personal Protection pre-planning. Get Inside As Soon As Possible is the flip side tactic.

Home Invasion – Part II

and that’s the first time I realized how difficult it was to try and remove somebody’s testicles by hand.

The gentleman was very angry that his wife and homestead had been attacked and he had been shot at.

He used a 6 inch revolver to shoot back. No results, unfortunately.

Not necessarily his but one like it.

And with that I went back to retrieve my own firearm. So I went to the vehicle. I had a handgun, a 38 special with a 6 inch barrel.

Quite an amazing and educational story.

Part I https://thetacticalprofessor.net/2023/06/17/home-invasion-part-i/

Home Invasion – Part I

It’s not often that we are able to listen to such a detailed narrative of how a home invasion went down. Having the victim tell the story makes it even more remarkable. This is a very brave woman and family. The overhead view of the property and accompanying explanation of the movements are invaluable.

My thanks to the creator of the video. More about the story in the next post.

CCW Safe Podcast – Encountering Home Intruders

CCW Safe interviewed me about my Five Year Analysis of the Armed Citizen for a podcast recently. The emphasis of this interview was incidents in the home. It is now available to read and listen to.

In Self Defense – Episode 97: Claude Werner on Encountering Home Intruders – CCW Safe National … https://ccwsafe.com/blog/in-self-defense–episode-97-claude-werner-on-encountering-home-intruders

Significant points for me in the interview were:

  • Timing of the incidents
  • Misapplication of the Tueller Principle
  • Distinction between self-defense and personal protection
  • Accessibility of weapons

Here are some Home Defense examples that have occurred more recently. As always, there are Positives and Negatives.

It is was an interesting interview and worth listening to.

Energizer® Tactical Metal Flashlight

#flashlightfriday

Small, inexpensive, and readily available flashlights are very useful. I purchased an Energizer 300 lumen Tactical Metal Flashlight https://www.energizer.com/lighting/tactical-metal-flashlights#ENPMHT1L at The Home Depot for $9.98.

The flashlight runs on one 123 battery and has three modes. The high mode is 300 lumens, the output for the low mode is unspecified but may be 30 lumens based on the product literature, and a strobe mode. There are no instructions packaged with it nor on the website but through a process of trial and success, I discovered that it goes into High, then Low, then Strobe by rapidly clicking the button on the tailcap. If the light is left off for about two seconds, it will go back to High mode the next time it is turned on. The switch is capable of momentary flash and the same cycle sequence results.

It has a clip that can easily be reversed for head up or head down carry. Being a one cell light, it’s easily carried in a pocket. There is also a hole in the tailcap that accepts a keyring (not included). This is useful for quickly removing the flashlight when it’s clipped head down inside a pocket.

The TAC 300 has a crenelated bezel but not tailcap. The reason for having a crenelated tailcap has always escaped me so I’m glad of that. The tailcap has a lip to help keep the button from being accidentally depressed but the lip is scalloped enough to provide easy access to the button. I have found that orienting the clip opposite the scallop gives the easiest access when gripping the flashlight.

It is rather bigger than the Surefire Sidekick so it’s more suited to being a pocket flashlight than something to be carried on a keyring.

Overall, a very workable little light that is not expensive. There’s no reason to not have a flashlight next to your pistol when something like this is so readily available.

“Who’s there?”

Tactical Professor Information Products

STOPP Presentation at Rangemaster Tactical Conference
https://tacticalprofessor.wordpress.com/2021/09/14/stopp-presentation-now-available/

https://www.payloadz.com/go?id=3381307

Books (all PDF)

Suspect Held at Gunpoint (temporarily)

https://www.foxnews.com/us/caroline-schollaert-murder-florida-man-charged

Sequence of events

  • Perp establishes Line of Business consisting of checking car door handles for unlocked cars to burglarize
  • Perp finds gun in unlocked car and steals it
    • “The firearm used by the suspect in this murder was found to be stolen from an unlocked vehicle in the same neighborhood just eleven days prior.” –JSO
  • Eleven days later, perp is carrying said stolen pistol while burglarizing the car of a USCG Servicemember
  • Servicemember detects the burglary in progress
  • SM calls 911
  • SM gets own pistol and confronts would-be burglar, ordering him to remain in place until POlice arrive
  • Perp refuses to comply and instead draws stolen pistol
  • Perp fires several shots and hits SM at least once, incapacitating her
  • Perp departs
  • POlice arrive and ‘attend’ to SM
  • SM dies from wounds
  • POlice identify perp
  • Perp turns himself in
  • Family, friends, and fellow SM are heartbroken
  • Perp is charged with murder in the second degree
  • Family, friends, and fellow SM are still heartbroken

Negative Outcome for everyone involved

“Don’t go looking for trouble not expecting to find it.” –John Farnam https://defense-training.https://defense-training.com/present-tense/com/present-tense/

Possible tactical alternatives

  • If you feel compelled to challenge a criminal, do so from a position of cover (concealment does not count as cover). If no cover is available, do not challenge.
  • Use a high intensity flashlight to illuminate and blind the perp before issuing the challenge.
  • If your car door is locked, illuminate the perp with your flashlight from a considerable distance without issuing a challenge.
  • At your own residence, have a large bear-spray type canister of OC close at hand. Spray the perp, without warning, at the maximum range of the container. Be sure to saturate him from the top of his head to the tips of his toes. Then immediately seek cover if you’re not already behind it.
    • “Begin to attrit the enemy at the maximum effective range of your weapons.” –Infantry maxim

Facebook link to Sheriff’s Office Press Conference

https://fb.watch/7l5H9RudgH/

We strongly recommend citizens lock their vehicles and absolutely remove their firearms when exiting. Please do not provide criminals with easy access to a gun that will only be used in more criminal, and as in this case, violent acts.

Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office

Very sad. RIP Airman Schollaert

Bloody Violent Battle in Barbershop

From the ARMED CITIZEN AUGUST 2021 page of the NRA Official Journals:

On the evening of May 21, a 33-year-old man walked into a barber shop in Riverside, Calif., apparently intent on causing harm. According to the Riverside Police Department, the suspect, an ex-employee, started a fight with a former co-worker. During the fight, the suspect stabbed one of the male barbers, and, when a second employee tried to intervene, he was also stabbed. However, one of the victims was able to retrieve his firearm and shoot the attacker. The suspect was taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead by the coroner. The two stabbing victims’ injuries reportedly were not life-threatening and deputies said they considered the shooting to be a case of self-defense. (losangeles.cbslocal.com and pe.com, Riverside, Calif., 5/21/21)

The original story is here.

https://www.pe.com/2021/05/22/man-stabs-2-barbers-in-riverside-before-victim-shoots-him-to-death/

Armed Citizen Task Analysis

  • Retrieve from Storage (handgun)
    • Implied task – avoid menacing others with your handgun as you retrieve it and bring it to bear on the attacker (Rule 2). “Muzzle direction is the primary safety. Always has been and always will be.” –Bill Rogers
    • Implied task – maintain trigger finger in register position until indexed on the attacker (Rule 3). “An Unintentional Discharge during an incident can become a disaster.” –John Farnam
  • Shoot with handgun (Proxemic Distance – Social Space) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proxemics
  • Shoot in midst of others, some possibly downrange.
  • Implied situational task – don’t send rounds flying out into the parking lot.
    • “One motorist snapped a photo of the shop… A window that had been pierced by a bullet was boarded up.” -Press-Enterprise
  • Implied situational task – don’t send rounds flying into adjacent businesses.
    • “as you can see, we got a grocery store here, some fast food places, other businesses” – POlice spokesman

Here’s a more lurid description of the incident with an “Example of a knife.” Perhaps it’s Jason’s knife.

The Armed Citizen is a good resource for starting a task analysis of incidents from The Real World™.

Tactical Professor books (all PDF)

Shiny! – Surefire Try-Out Haul

A friend at Surefire https://www.surefire.com/ sent me a large box of swag as a present. A number of flashlights were in the package, as well as some batteries and CDs.

As much as I advocate using flashlights to avoid Negative Outcomes, I should talk more about the particulars of those tools. So, for several weeks I’ll be writing a series of #flashlightfriday posts. It will be a ‘Try-Out Haul’ as the YouTube models say.

Comrade Detective

The Surefire 6P LED has been my bedside light for years. It’s a tried and true product and well regarded in the industry. A Streamlight Microstream I received from HK-USA https://hk-usa.com/ has been on my keychain for a couple of years now. It’s been useful and convenient to carry.

I’m going to try out the new gear from Surefire to see what I think of it as an upgrade for my current setup. On Friday, I’ll be reviewing the Sidekick, which will take the place of the Microstream on my keychain.

Also included in the package was an invitation to attend the Inaugural Surgical Speed Shooting Summit. The event will be held in Tennessee in June of 2022. It’s still in the planning stages but as more information becomes available, I will post it.

FTC Notice: These products were sent to me gratis but I receive no compensation for writing about them.