The FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program has been collecting data on all manner of criminal activity since 1930. The result: a comprehensive annual database based on reports from police departments across the length and breadth of the United States. One crime they don’t include: “home invasion.” Burglary, armed robbery, assault, kidnapping, sure. Home invasions, no. If the Fibbies did gather comprehensive info on home invasions one glaring fact would stand out: the majority are drug-related. You know, gang bangers and other extra-legal opportunists stealing cash and drugs from people who deal in cash and drugs. Not-so-strangely, the victims of these home invasions are usually armed . . .

“We know that this was not a random act and that the suspects specifically targeted this house for reasons not entirely clear at this time,” said [San Mateo Police Dept. Deputy Chief Mike] Callagy.

Callagy said the suspects did steal stuff from the house, but he won’t say what. He also said more arrests are coming. The suspects are facing charges including robbery and homicide.

The video report from abclocal.go.com quotes the Chief’s assurance that “the community is not in danger.” Yes, well, horsesh*t. Not only are community members in danger from errant bullets, but there’s also the degrading effect of living amongst criminals. House values are people too. (Or something like that.) Then there’s the potential for a SWAT raid in the wrong house. Which could bring still more errant bullets.

But the general point here is this: bad guys tool-up for defense as well as offense. They don’t want to lose what they have any more than, say, you do. So if armed self-defense works for them as both a deterrent and a last-ditch defense, why wouldn’t it work for you?

Answer: it does.

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30 COMMENTS

  1. Wait a minute! You brought up the big pink elephant in the room. You brought up gangbangers and that means black people so therefor it is a racist and verboten subject. You cannot talk about race in gun violence. Race has nothing to do with gun violence. You are not supposed to talk about the big pink elephant! This is only about the guns and we are not supposed to have them.

    Is that enough sarcasm?

    • Sorry to burst your bubble, but here in the great state of Texas (DFW area) our gangbangers are Black, Latino, White and Asian. Texas being an equal opportunity state you know. So racism? Down here, not so much.

    • In LA, the vast majority of gangs are black and Hispanic. They’re also mostly black in the south side of Chicago. Check the murders rates of a young black man / teenager vs. the other races. They are usually much higher. Racist? Sometimes. Factual? Yes. Gangs can be comprised of any race, however.
      Gunnery Sergeant Heartman once said that all races are “equally worthless.”
      That pretty much sums up how I feel about criminal street gangs.

      http://m.nationalreview.com/corner/353485/theres-no-such-thing-black-black-crime-patrick-brennan

      (I can’t look up other sources because the baby started screaming again)

    • There are white meth-heads and gang bangers aplenty. More blacks, sure, at least in heavily urban areas, but gang frequently does not equal black.

      Belief that it does can lull one into the wrong awareness level when in pale company. Double plus ungood.

      Stay awake.

  2. A friend of mine had downstairs neighbors involved in a gun battle over meth territory. The invading thugs were in body armor and packing semi-auto rifles. Bad news. I would take that as a sign that it might be time to look for new digs.

  5. This raises a side question. It’s bad enough when the SWAT team gets the address wrong and does the No Knock Thang on innocent people asleep in their homes. What do you think is the likelyhood that your local team of gang bangers is going to do their due diligence in raiding the correct house?

    • They have an arguably stronger motive to get it right – waking the real target next door could bring down a retaliatory preemptive strike while they’re off balance and in the wrong place.

    • They’re probably more accurate with this than the cops hahaha

      Again, if drugs weren’t illegal than those who sell them could have legitimate business with insurance and could put their money in banks, etc. Gangs exist and are violent and have territories and have to protect their money, inventory, and territories with firearms because it’s a black market and they cannot seek other protections for these things. Now sure, sure, sure… I’m sure they would find something else to sell illegally, but taking the motivation out of the illegal drug trade would be huge and would probably make a big difference in violent crime in the U.S., Mexico, and elsewhere.

  6. I went to a range and was told I couldnt use 357 sig as it would go through the steel targets. Sounds like a cure for pesky body armor 😛

    • Um, no. I am not aware of any “normal” handgun round in any caliber that will penetrate ballistic vests. You need very high velocities — higher than possible with handguns — to defeat ballistic vests.

      • 7.62×25 Tokarev rounds (in the FMJ flavor, of course) will reliably punch through soft body armor. Granted, it’s not exactly a “normal” caliber, but it’s readily available and the guns that chamber it are generally inexpensive.

    • Is fan,

      There are a multitude of vests available. Most are rated as a IIIA these days, and are typically designed to defend against the same gun that the police office in question is wearing. Since they are designed to protect against a DOJ standard level threat, the rounds that they will reliably stop have already been tested. Of course, soft body armor can be enhanced with trauma plates and AR500 armor plates (DOJ class IV), which can potentially stop multiple hits from 7.62 / .308 AP rounds.

      A .357 Sig is merely a necked down .40 Smith round. The .357 Mag / .357 Sig / .40 Smith +P are in a very similar power and energy class. I am referring to the Underwood, Buffalo Bore, and Double Tap ammo offerings, but there are other companies that hot load .40 as well.

      There’s no way a .357 Sig will zip through a IIIA best unless the armor has been compromised or a custom tungsten core bullet has been used.

      http://njlawman.com/Feature%20Pieces/Body%20Armor.htm

      A little google-fu will likely reveal newer sources.

  8. I care as much about gangbangers killing each other in Chicago as I care about Hezbollah and Al-Nusra killing each other in Syria.

    Well, actually, I’m in favor of both.

    • I wouldn’t care as much if the lying politicos and media talking heads would differentiate the “gun death” numbers. Most us know that the majority of those 8,500 people that are murdered with firearms are involved in illegal activities by people involved in illegal activities.

    • I’m all for what Henry Kissinger supposedly said about the Iran-Iraq war when he was Secretary of State: “It’s a shame they both can’t lose.”

  9. The illegality of drugs makes life more dangerous for everyone, whether they are involved in the drug trade or simply live in neighborhoods with people who are.

    While the abuse of alcohol can lead to problems (and obviously some people commit crimes under its influence), the extraneous crimes associated with drugs – e.g. drive-by shootings, home invasions, etc. – barely exist with alcohol because people can purchase it legally.

    Not only that, but by prohibiting drugs (and other “consensual crimes”) we give gangs a source of income, since they will gladly provide a supply for the demand that is already there.

    Lock up the people who cause harm to others (and keep ’em locked up for a while). Drug use should not be a mitigating factor – if anything it should be an aggravating factor. Those who simply consume a plant (or even a non-food chemical) have no business being in prison simply for possessing or ingesting, or even selling, a particular substance.

    As another benefit, we’d have less innocent people and dogs getting shot by SWAT teams who invade the wrong house. Many of those raids are drug raids, after all.

  10. In the last year or so we’ve had half a dozen home invasions in my town. Violence has been done and a 62 yo woman was shot, not fatally. In none of the cases has a drug connection or gang connection been made to the victims.

    We just recently had 2 young men murdered in the street. Apparently the savages doing the killin were gang connected and they mistook the 2 victims for gang bangers, which they don’t appear to be.

    As far as race in these incidents it seems to be a mix of white, asian and mexican amongst the aggressors and victims. I’m sure we have some black bangers in our town, but mostly the bad guys here that make the news are white, asian or mexican.

    The last couple of guys I saw that I would have classed as drug dealers looked middle eastern to me. We seem to be a true melting pot in my town of bad guys and victims.

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