At 2:13 in the news package above, Houston’s KTRK advises victims of a home invasion to play dead. “If you come face to face with an intruder and you’re not prepared, lie down and do not look at them. Pretend to have a heart attack or breathing problem.” Yeah. No. To be fair, the report also advises Lone Star Staters “to know how, when, and where to use” guns. In the interests of public safety, we suggest you aim the gun at the bad guy, when there’s a bad guy, where the bad guy is, and pull the trigger. Wash, rinse, repeat. That is all. [h/t SS]

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61 COMMENTS

  1. “Just lay there and let the guy sexually assault you; it will all be over quick and easy that way”….mine as well just say what you mean.

    • My thought exactly–teaching sheep to act like possums. It occurs to me that if enough homeowners had–or obtained– guns and shot down enough home invaders, the market for ‘security experts’ might decline a bit, no?

      • I’m sure the thought crossed someone’s mind already but does anyone know if heir bloomburg has any stock in home security companies?

    • Coonhounds are very good a figuring out that the ‘possum is just playing dead. When confronted with one that falls over “dead” they turn fantasy into reality.

  4. Yeah “PLAY DEAD” ! And soon you will be raped and dead. Here’s some advice make sure you make the bastards remember you long after your dead by leaving them painfully and permanently scarred !

  6. You know, a “home invasion” is rally a different thing from a plain-vanilla burglary–or at least it was when the term was first coined. It referred specifically to criminals targeting an occupied home. Advice about how to handle a burglary really doesn’t necessarily apply. I’m especially unimpressed with that “kids hide under the bed” stuff, leaving them alone and helpless to be picked off piecemeal at the invader’s leisure.

  8. I think that “Shoot the intruder” is good for those who are prepared! For those who aren’t, they’re basically saying you had best look as harmless as possible like you are at their mercy.. because you are.

    “If you come face to face with an intruder and you’re not prepared..” then you’re boned.

  9. “I make my living off the evening news
    Just give me something-something I can use
    People love it when you lose,
    They love dirty laundry
    We got the bubble-headed-bleach-blond who
    Comes on at five
    You don’t really need to find out what’s going on
    You don’t really want to know just how far it’s gone
    Just leave well enough alone
    Eat your dirty laundry ”
    Thank you, Don Henley

  10. Was the “security expert” in the shadows because he was ashamed of being associated with this defeatist nonsense?

  11. Insane advice. Another example of news that is really NOT news but idiotic advice from someone who knows nothing about the subject they are talking about. How do these morons keep their jobs ? Though, on second thought might be about all you can do in a state like New York or CA where only the bad guys have guns.

  13. A lot of home invasions start with a back door or back bedroom window being smashed. If that back door is on your way to your bedroom or that back bedroom window is your bedroom where you keep your main self defense firearm, then you could have a problem.

    You could have to cross paths with the invaders while you’re unarmed. Or you could arrive unarmed in your own bedroom and find that the invaders now have your firearm, which you keep on the night stand or leaning against the wall.

    If you’re not going to home carry, you should develop some other options. Maybe position some furniture in front of that window to impede entry through it. (Caution: that would impede your escape, too, from fire or whatever else.) Maybe plant some thorny shrubs outside that window. Definitely reinforce the hinges, strike plates and locks on your doors, back/side doors, too. Maybe keep other guns elsewhere in the house.

    You get the idea. Have a plan, but a flexible plan.

    • Great advice, and now I know what I’m going to do with the Sig 320 I just bought, besides have fun shooting it. I didn’t “need” another handgun, but it’ll be a good home carry or kitchen stash weapon.

  15. It is a good suggestion beyond criticism, that if you plan to let the home invader kill you then playing dead is appropriate practice.

  16. I have a shotgun, baseball bats, 2 axes, pepper blasters, knives and a machete. And “other” deadly stuff. Even if you hate guns you can be prepared…for man or bear 🙂

    • There’s a huge fundamental difference between a firearm and a non-firearm weapon. If you find yourself a victim of a home invasion, there’s a pretty good chance you won’t be dealing with a beta male. Confronting such a man is in essence a challenge to a fight. If you confront such a man with a firearm it is clear that you are challenging him to a fight to the death and he is at a distinct disadvantage since even if he has a weapon you already have him in your sights. If his brain is functioning normally (a big ‘if’, granted) he will flee, if not he may take you up on the challenge. On the other hand if you confront such a man with a baseball bat you had best be ready to use the weapon with extreme violence or he’s libel to take that bat away from you and beat you to death with it. There’s a fundamental difference in how the two weapons are perceived.

      • Um, if one is close enough a machete is MORE scary than a firearm; I for one would rather be shot than hacked.

        That said, you’d best swing without hesitation or remorse, else (presuming Joe Baddie has a gun) he can retreat, then fire – say through a window. Makes noise, so maybe not, but why chance it?

        I once stopped a home invasion with a steel crossbow, but that’s at least a distance weapon and this one was over/under, loaded with two bolts and had a six inch blade on the end of the stock. Medieval weapons do not suck.

        My tuppence.

  17. This is yet another wonderful example of the modern American liberal’s epistemology: just lay there and let someone else worry about your problems. In this case, liberals are espousing the idea that one should let the attacker’s possible aversion to necrophelia be your protection.

    Here’s the hard statistical truth out of years of combing through the FBI UCR’s: The more force with which you respond to an assault/robbery/rape/etc, the better your outcome. That might not apply in every single case, but in the large statistical trend, it is easily seen in the UCR’s. More force used by the victim results in better outcomes for the victim.

    In other words, “playing dead” goes against the statistical trend and is predicted by the statistical likelihood as being the option that tends to result in the worst outcomes.

    This is yet another example of how the people who get a case of the fantods at the mere mention of a gun are going to have to grow the hell up and admit that their view of the world is simply not how the world works. Not every day starts with a rainbow, children do not get a coupon for a free pony (or unicorn for the very special snowflakes) in their breakfast cereal, we cannot solve our national energy requirements with pinwheels and Smurfberries, and criminals will not be deterred with pleading entreaties or a stern wagging finger, much less a girl playing possum.

    Here is the hard truth: Life is nasty, brutish and short. Everything we pale males have strived to achieve and invent (including civil society, the rule of law and reliable, affordable guns) simply reduces the degree to which it is nasty, brutish and short.

    • I have a little sister still in college who spouts off that kind of hopelessly naïve bullshit at every family gathering. Yes, she has actually said “We shouldn’t teach women to fight; we should be teaching men not to rape!” with a completely straight face. I try to point out that A: The sort of monster who do that to another person won’t be stopped by society going “Bad rapist, no no!” B: There are already severe criminal penalties and extreme social stigma for committing such an act which don’t necessarily deter monstrous people, and C: That you can’t teach predators not to go after prey, but she gets upset and starts throwing out all those fun new Social Justice terms she’s been learning like “misogynistic,” “cisgendered” and “privilege.”

      I can’t push it through her tender skull that the safe, mostly consequence-free environment she now operates in is terrible preparation for reality, and she keeps picking these arguments with me even though she has to know by now that I don’t back down. So I’ve just been having fun with it by using real-world logic and bare facts to see how long it takes to make her break down into tears of incoherent rage. The record so far is ‘2:19.

      • Fun after dinner game: Drop her off in a “bad part of town.” Follow at a safe distance and observe.

        • Don’t tempt me. I’d never hear the end of it from my parents.

          I notice that when I hear her theoretical horror stories about date rape or whatever, she appears to consider it “blaming the victim” if you ask why a girl would do something so blatantly irresponsible as to get intoxicated to the point of helplessness around strange people. What that tells me is that she and kids like her want to be able to engage in stupid, dangerous behavior without any of the risks that accompany it. This goes back to the whole “avoiding reality” thing that college has a reputation for engendering.

          Hell, I want to be able to whatever I want without consequences too, but I also realize that in real life such foolishness is punished very harshly. The idea that we “shouldn’t have to” be careful or responsible in our actions sounds nice in principle, but reality has not supported it in the past, does not support it now, and never will support it in the future. Do victims deserve it if they get drunk or high and someone takes advantage of them? No. Could they have taken precautions to keep it from ever happening to begin with? Yes.

  18. I just love it when the MSM beclowns itself with stoooooopid advice like this. Just consider this nonsensical advice another nail in the coffin of old media.

  19. I thought TTAG was about truth, not pandering to it’s constituency.

    In this article, I have to hold you accountable, Mr. Farago. CONTEXT is everything. I charge you with willful manipulation.

    “If you are not prepared”, “This article specifically did not address firearms”. Did this get lost in the mix? Consider Murphy’s Law – It never hurts to plan to be unprepared. As the founder of the Church of Devout Cowardice, I am not above faking anything if it will keep me alive.

    “The most important thing is to have a plan”. I can not agree more, plus have at least one back up plan.

    I participated in an excercise, at Travis AFB, some years ago. My goal was to infiltrate the base (as a protester). I faked a massive seizure which the security forces people did not expect. The SP went to get help – I trotted away to blow up some airplanes…

    • I agree with your analysis wholeheartedly. In fact, there’s a good chance pretending to be dead for a home invader can inspire the guy to really help you get into the role and make it your very own. Even the police and county coroner will be floored by your astounding performance.

  20. This is some of the dumbest advice I have EVER heard. I rather go along with the concept of putting two in the bad guy and letting him “play” dead.

  24. This reminds me of the UC Santa Barbara official response- rape whistles or something, and the politically correct thinking of the campus police director, after a series of brutal rapes of co-eds in the Isla Harbor party community. “the higher numbers may be a sign of women being empowered to report the incident…”

    That was before nutcase Rodgers knifing, bmw bashing, and shooting spree…

    Now, after much careful deliberation and grandstanding in Sacramento, the answer is:
    your brothers, sisters, grandma, cousins, parents, etc can have your guns taken, with a phone call…
    and thats for the law abiding…

    But, for the potential victims- hey! lets not tell the girls to defend themselves with… a gun….

    MUST. OBEY. THE. NARRATIVE…

    I swear, the progtards and their media enablers are like zombies…no sentient thought…

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