ADT Home Invasion Advice: “Don’t Pull a Weapon You Aren’t Prepared to Use”

1. “ADT Home Invasion Advice: “Don’t Pull a Weapon You Aren’t Prepared
   to Use”” OK, not a problem.

2. “There is one thing you should avoid doing during a home invasion:
   don’t give the invader a weapon he didn’t have walking in. If you
   are confronted, or were unable to successfully escape your home
   undetected, do not to pull a weapon you aren’t prepared to use.
   Otherwise, you run the risk of the intruder taking your weapon and
   using it on you or your family.” This dovetails nicely into the
   previous post.The victor in a fight is not the one with the largest
   gun but the strongest will to survive.

   • I am not sure I agree with that last sentiment: as has been pointed
     out many times on this site, a person can do everything right and
     still die. Will is important, but so is luck and circumstance.

     • Without the will, a person won’t be in position to take advantage
       of luck and circumstance.

       • “cmd says: May 9, 2012 at 09:34 Without the will, a person won’t be
         in position to take advantage of luck and circumstance.” Ever hear
         of dumb luck?

3. Could you imagine the lawsuit that would be filed if ADT would give
   advice on how to use a weapon, and things went badly for the ADT
   “protected” homeowner? This has, I am sure, more to do with the
   company’s legal department than anything else. Also, if the company
   made people feel empowered, then they would lose business.

   • +1 So very true.

4. The proper response to a home invasion involves the rapid
   acceleration of high density metals on a vector terminating in the
   attacker’s center of mass. Contact with the communications office
   of the local constabulary should occur at the safest possible
   moment; but no sooner.

   • LMAO ok coke all over my keyboard now! Luv it!!!

5. A.D.T. = asshole douchebag tittie-twisters! If you are stooopid
   enough to PAY someone else to call the po-po for you AND listen to
   their “advice” for the safety of yourself & your family, you
   deserve what you get. It is up to YOU to protect yourself. That
   little fact has been proven through “legal” experts year after year
   when innocent loss of life makes its way into the courtrooms of
   america. The police show up to clean up the mess & write the
   reports AFTER the fact. I guess having ADT camera’s will help
   convict the murders at their trials and that should make the dead
   people feel better about the whole thing, right?

   • Many (me, for example) have to pay ADT because our homeowner’s insurance requires ADT or a similar company. They monitor the heat detectors and smoke alarms. They call the police when we’re on vacation or away on business. The current advice, “don’t give the invader a weapon he didn’t have walking in,” is sensible: You’re only supposed to give the invader the bullets he didn’t have walking in.

   • WOW, that’s quite the portrayal of security-system owners! I didn’t know I (and probably a good portion of TTAG readers) were all of those things in the acronym… Be smart – it’s all about layers of protection (as stated in RF’s write-up)… an ADT (or whatever) monitoring service is only one layer. Most of the people I know with a monitored alarm (myself included), are capable and willing to protect our family. The alarm is mainly a deterrent and simply is one layer of the “onion” of home protection (along with dogs,
     security lighting, etc etc). Don’t be a fool and think that you’ll magically wake up out of sleep at the sound of a breaking twig outside your house, armed and ready to protect.

6. I don’t see a problem here. ADT is right in the limited sense of,
   “Don’t Pull a Weapon You Aren’t Prepared to Use.” That’s something
   everyone should think about.

   • Agreed.

   • I absolutely agree with this

7. “do not pull a weapon you aren’t prepared to use” I’ve always heard
   that that’s GOOD advice. Am I missing something? Leaving aside the
   rest of the ADT comments, that is.

   • Nope. It is good, sound reason.

8. One of the many reasons that the castle doctrine, and the laws that
   recognize it, exists is because running outside is often not an
   option. If it is December in Montana, it might be a little chilly.
   Some places its about as safe outside your home (think Detroit at
   night) as it is inside your home w/ that nice prowler. Suppose
   Grandpa is on sleeping meds and can sleep through anything and is
   incoherent for about an hour after he wakes up? Point is – running
   outside is an option . . . but its just that an option. Where the
   option does not present itself, force or victimhood become the only
   options.

9. It seems to me that confronting a home invader isn’t about
   defending my stuff. It’s about defending the principle of no one
   has the right to violate my home. Stuff can be replaced. Principles
   can’t. Defending principles is worth my life. If I run away, not
   only have I given up my principle but I have enabled the criminal
   to do it again.

   • It’s guys like you that make Farago seem downright reasonable,
     until he gets to that part about home carry, that is. “Stuff can be
     replaced. Principles can’t. Defending principles is worth my life.”
     It is not worth your life. Your life is worth much more than that,
     what the hell’s wrong with you? Are you really that rigid that
     you’d risk your life needlessly for a principle? What about a wife
     or kid, would you spend their lives too for your lofty principles?

     • “Defending principles is worth my life.” It is not worth your life.
       Your life is worth much more than that,” That is actually a perfect
       illustration of the difference between your world view and that of
       most of the people who frequent this site. I would not say my stuff
       is worth my life, but my principles absolutely are. There are many
       fates much worse than death.

       • These servers are brutal. Wrecked formatting and no edit button.

     • “What about a wife or kid, would you spend their lives too for your
       lofty principles?” —– No, but their lives are worth more than
       mine.

     • Defending your principles should always be worth your life,
       principles are what separate us from the animals.

     • Thanks, Mikeb. We’ve been waiting for you to tell us more about yourself. While your revelation is unsurprising, thank you for sharing.

     • I may be naive but, I’m pretty sure we became a country defending the principle to be free men, and a lot of good men died. I’m pretty sure we fought the Civil War defending among other things the principle that all men, men of any color, should be free, and a lot of good men died. Fast forward to today, and I’m pretty sure the next domestic war we fight will be over the principle to be free men, and a lot of good men will die……. my .02

       • The formatting bites

         • Fixed. Finally. Sorry about that.

     • While war is horrible and peace is wonderful, there are things more terrible than war and things more valuable than peace. Somebody said something like that once. I said exactly that just now. If you have no principles worth fighting for, I feel very sorry for you. I believe the term used is, ‘an unprincipled man.’

     • Thank you for sharing the fact that YOUR principles are not worth defending, mikeb. If your human dignity (one of my principles) is not worth defending, you might as well admit that you are a slave.

   • Are your principles worth more than your life to your family? I have my principles too and #1 on the list is taking care of my family. The #1 requirement to accomplish this is being alive and uninjured. If I am killed while trying to protect my easily replaced and fully insured possessions, I will have cost my family much more than any thief would have. My wife will have lost her husband. My children their father. My grandchild his grandfather. My brother and sister a sibling. My mother will have lost a child. If I live but am severely injured the cost will be much greater. My wife will have to care for me for the rest of my life. Or place me in a care facility. She will no longer have a provider, protector or partner, but she will still be married. My loved ones will come to visit, but we will never again interact as before. As for me, I will wait to die. Unable to participate in or enjoy life. Or if I’m ” lucky” and the injuries are less severe, I may enjoy a partial life and be able to watch my loved ones live. Perhaps even participate to some degree. But never as before. And for what? So that I can prove to some low life thief that I am a man? What do I\ care what this trash thinks? No one that I care about will ever question my manhood. No one who knows me has ever questioned my manhood. I know who I am. I have nothing to prove to anyone. I know that I could probably kill this fool easily, but I also know he could get lucky. I know that his family / friends could retaliate. What if there are five (5) home invaders ? Ten (10)? Fifteen (15)? Is there a point where principle gives way to prudence? Is there a point where principle becomes suicide? I have taken life many times and I have saved many lives. Often both within a matter of minutes. either is enjoyable or desirable. Ask a surgeon experienced in gunshot wounds how difficult it is to repair a wound caused by even the least powerful cartridge. Or a knife wound. If I must kill I will do so without a moment’s hesitation or a grain of regret. But only if I must. If given a choice I will stick to my principles and do what a MAN must, take care of my family. To do so requires that I remain alive and free from serious injury.

     • It may a good thing not everyone thinks like you, Ron. Th ere are folks running toward danger right now to allow you the choice you favor.

       • This is very true. This is also the work they have choosen. I have been there. I have done that. I will do it again if necessary. I thought I made that clear, on this and several other posts. What I will not do is throw my life away or suffer serious injury foolishly.

10. I’m beginning to think ADT stands for Another Dumb Tactic….here
    in the Detroit area there was a story on the news about someones
    home being robbed, their alarm going off, and the security company
    arriving at the scene, parking a block away, and calling the
    resident to inform him that he was “on the scene”. The robbers were
    STILL in the home when the security represetative arrived. I
    confess I do not know if it was ADT. But my point is, even alarms
    and alarm companies are subject to failure to function. I have a
    co-worker who DOES have an ADT alarm that failed to go off when her
    home was broken into on this past Christmas…won’t bore with
    details, but IT DIDN’T GO OFF. So, I’ll stay holed up in the safe
    room with the 12 GA. They can come and get it….

    • Molon Labe

11. A list that includes, wait for it, a good alarm system (with panic
    buttons) and alarm monitoring service. Alarm? Yes. Monitoring? NO!
    Monitoring services are worse than useless when the house in
    unoccupied: they generate a ton of false positives but have very
    little effect on burglars. Several cities will not respond to
    automated residential alarms because the false positive rate is so
    high, and those that do place them way way way down on the heap, so
    that a monitored alarm might as well be unmonitored. Rather, you
    don’t want to bother with expensive monitoring, but just make sure
    your alarm has a big A@#)(* noisy bell, it attracts attention when
    it goes off, getting neighbors to look in and burglars to
    skedaddle. (And if you are in an area where at-night breakins do
    happen, gets you time to get your shotgun…) And the “panic
    button” is really no different than just dialing 911 yourself, and
    skipping the middle man.

12. The taking of another’s life is a life-changing experience, even
    for those in combat. I would encourage anyone to be clear in their
    own heart what their personal morals are. Most people when given a
    set of hypothetical scenarios agree that they would kill to protect
    their family or themselves, but hope they never have to do so. I am
    one of those people. I can not justify killing someone who is
    stealing my car radio, but if you enter my house in the middle of
    the night or threaten me, I assume you mean to harm me. I believe,
    ‘If it is a fair fight, your tactics suck.’ That means I will meet
    any threat to me or my family with immediate, violent,
    overwhelming, lethal force, if possible. Afterwards the authorities
    may question me but they will not be able to question the other
    guy, they will be burying him. As I have posted before the ‘bad
    guys’ have the advantage of initiating any action and the ‘good
    guys,’ be it LEO or innocent victim is reacting. That reaction must
    overcome that initial disadvantage. To me that is by reacting as
    quickly and violently as possible whether armed or not.

13. BlAHAHAHAHA!!! “Do not try to go inside because your tired of
    waiting”…. Who writes this crap? People trying to protect the
    legal side of ADT maybe…. I.E. Lawyers…. 🙂

14. Some have said just call 911 and cut out the middle man. I can see
    some benefits to just having to push a panic button. It would save
    a lot of time. When you call 911 you have to sit there and talk to
    someone and they ask you all sorts of questions; it can be
    distracting. With a button you just push it and someone else will
    take care of communicating your address etc.

    • The whole point of 911 is they GET your address. And as a bonus, it is recorded, so call 911 and keep the line open.

    • In either case, the main job of the people who show up is to take photos, chalk outlines, put little folding numbers by spent cases, interview those too scared to get involved about what they heard, haul bodies away and if you are lucky enough to live where there are volunteer firemen, they’ll help you scrub the blood up and put up fans to take away that sweet sick smell of death. As to stopping the crime I’d rather be scrubbing up the bad guys dried blood than just dying for the cops to get there.

15. “Most people conducting break-ins aren’t interested in causing harm
    to anyone,…” That is a flat-out, blatant LIE. Any lowlife
    conducting a break-in when he has good cause to believe people are
    at home is primed and ready to do you grave harm – up to and
    including torture, rape, and murder. He will have no qualms about
    any of these, as long as they help him find out where you are
    hiding your valuables. And he is also quite willing to commit these
    crimes because they give him a feeling of power. Remember the line
    that “rape isn’t about sex, it’s about power and domination”? Home
    invasion robberies aren’t about stealing your TV or your computer,
    they are about someone who wants to destroy your dignity as a human
    being, as well as your life and the lives of your loved ones.
    Winston Churchill called it: “Never give in. Never. Never.” If your
    human dignity is not worth defending, you might as well admit that
    you are a slave.

16. I am a full time RVer, that means your RV is your home. In a travel
    trailer, even a larger one like mine which is a 40ft two bedroom
    model, there are just so many places to go inside it a virtually no
    place to hide. There is no such thing as ADT alarm systems for
    these, nor do any security system provider offer a system or call
    for help system for RVers. Most RVs only have one door, some two
    but very few do. Mine for example, just one. The RV will never be
    as secure as a home as they are easily broken in to. The only
    security for the wife and I are GUNS, FIREARMS, bang-bangs or what
    ever term you want to use, and we have several. And we “home
    carry”, inside, outside or traveling. Yes, both of us have our CHLs
    as well. We are not retired, we both work. That means that it
    remains parked 11 to 11 1/2 months out of the year. That makes it
    and us a target for those that watch for consistant activity. When
    we travel, we are sometimes at the will of others in truck stop
    overnight parking, or road side parking in the middle of nowhere.
    When our work location changes, we simply move to a new park. Altho
    most RV parks are very friendly and secure, you cant know HOW
    friendly or secure untill your there for a time. And you must
    remember that your neighbors change all the time. With that you
    really never get to know your neighbors as well as a homestead
    living. There are a LOT of RVers like us, we are all friendly, but
    keep to ourselves. Two little ankle biter dogs are our security, we
    have always encoraged them to bark at anything, and they do! RV
    security is only as good as you make it. Being on the low end of
    the totem poll of security, we are very keenly aware of our
    surroundings and listen. We are not paranoid, heck we have been
    doing this for ten years. But we are daily carry couple, with a few
    long arms to back us up. Two rifles and a 12 gauge loaded for
    defense, five handguns. We carry, and drive with backup in easy,
    quick reach. I wonder what ADT could offer us as advice??

17. “They take their duty to protect and defend seriously…” Uh huh.
    “Most people conducting break-ins aren’t interested in causing harm
    to anyone…” Except that stealing someone’s property IS harming
    that person, and if they’re willing to do that, then in most cases
    it takes very little to push them further. Something as simple as
    they don’t like your face, or they catch a glimpse of your pretty
    daughter. It’s very simple; someone illegally inside your house is
    there to harm you. How you respond to that is up to you.

18. One of my friends is a retired psychologist from the Texas
    Department of Criminal Justice. Early in his career he was talking
    to an inmate in for murder during the burglary of a habitation. The
    homeowner walked in and the inmate shot him. His rational?
    Self-defense. He was afraid the homeowner (who happened to be
    unarmed) would kill him, so he shot first. The inmate never
    considered the option of running – it hadn’t occurred to him. He
    was still claiming self defense when he was in prison. Rule number
    1 when dealing with home invasion – never assume anything. The
    invader already is not acting in a rational manner. Do not expect
    him to let you go unharmed just because he is only after your
    stuff. After 20 years of dealing with prison inmates, I can
    guarantee you that I’d shoot early and often until the invader quit
    moving.

19. “Strangely enough, making your home unattractive to home invaders
    is Job One” Yes!

20. My home is my castle, and a safe harbor for my family, period… On any given weekend we may have as many as six of our children at home all under the age of 18, so rounding up that many kids to escape or even retreat for that matter is not an option. An intruder has to things they can do if confronted. Turn and run, or immediately with out question comply to all commands. Anything less is a threat.. My Defense Technique: Two German Shepard’s as early warning system… Check 45 in easy reach, either on me or in a bed side safe… Check Charged cell phone so I can tell em where to pick up the bodies… Check Lots of rug shampoo to get out the aftermath, works well for kids spills too.. Check Number for my criminal lawyer on speed dial… Check…. Ok I live in CA I mean even a clean shoot we are going to wind up in court…

21. (PSST. Say Bob, I think that word is “perimeter” nor perimiter”)

22. Most people conducting break-ins aren’t interested in causing harm to anyone, but a robber may panic or become violent when confronted, potentially causing injury or death to the people you love. Maybe this is true and maybe not. Depends on the Goblin. One thing is clear, that the Goblin has already stated by his actions that he has no moral and social boundaries towards you and your family. I would advise not killing the Goblin over your VCR. But, by the same token, if he is closing in on a family member, open up with everything you have got.

    • Generally if these people break in while your there, they know that you are there, and have additional motive/s, not good for you or your family. Don’t even think about anything other than the front sight and double tapping.

23. Most people conducting break-ins aren’t interested in causing harm to anyone…

    . . . and for this reason, most break-ins occur when the robbers believe the occupants are away from home or asleep. The typical home invasion is different. The perpetrator knows the occupants are inside, they’re awake, and they probably won’t respond favorably to his breaking in. That means he also probably has a plan for dealing with said occupants. I wouldn’t put any stock in a home invader’s supposed aversion to violence.

24. “Don’t Pull a Weapon You Aren’t Prepared to Use” sounds like a line from a bad 60’s porno.

    • Ralph, normally your posts are spot on but in this case I could not disagree more. I think “Don’t Pull a Weapon You Aren’t Prepared to Use” sounds like a great 60’s porno.

25. In a disarmed society like the UK over half the burglaries are hot and where a lot of assaults and rapes occur. Someone who deliberately comes into your house while you are home is as unpredictable as a rapid animal. Fortunately there are very few true home invasions in the US and those are usual criminal on criminal actions. While I agree that someone who has broken into your home who thought it was empty is less of threat to you but the only way you can know if the perp is there by accident is if he turns tail and runs when you confront him with a weapon in hand.

26. I would never buy a home alarm system from ADT, simply because of their anti-gun attitude. There are plenty of other alarm companies out there. Choose one that doesn’t want to disarm you.

27. Don’t pull a weapon? YGTBSM! Forced entry into my Castle will be repelled with 8 rounds of BB from my Benelli M-4. If that doesn’t turn the goblin(s) into shredded meat I’m in deep doo-doo. I guess that loaded .45ACP on my nightstand would be better chunked into a river and replaced by an ADT security system. Right. I’ll put that on my “to-do” list. When seconds count, the cops are only minutes away.

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