“The incident happened at about 6:45 p.m. in the 500 block of Saratoga Lane,” Missouri’s stltoday.com reports. “Police said three masked men knocked on the front door of the home and the resident, 51, answered. The men forced their way inside. The man was struck several times with a handgun, the suspects stole an assault rifle, and fled. The man was taken to a hospital with several cuts on his head and was in stable but serious condition Thursday night.” Judging from that information it seems that the bad guys . . .
were destination robbers. They knew what they were coming for: the modern sporting rifle. Which means that they knew it was there. How they knew that is anybody’s guess. I heard stories of a Rhode Island antique dealer who sold customers valuable objects and then paid thugs to steal them back. Thugs who tied-up and beat the customers before leaving with the goods.
Face it: maintaining total secrecy about your gun ownership is about as doable as marrying Barbara Palvin. People are social animals and social media is the 800-pound gorilla in the room. Someone’s going to know you have guns. That someone’s only a few degrees of separation from someone else who’d like to steal your firearms.
Bottom line: gun owners need to be especially alert to the possibility of burglary and armed intruders. That means scanning the environment around your home before entering, not entering if it looks like you’ve got uninvited guests, not opening the door to strangers and, yes, home carry. Amongst other things. Including a retention holster.
I’m all for open carry. But doing so increases the possibility of a gun grab – when compared to concealed carry. I reckon a retention holster reduces the odds of a successful gun grab from near zero to nearer to zero. Yes, retention holsters are a bit bulkier. But if you’re going to open carry, a retention holster adds a potentially life-saving layer of security to mission critical situational awareness.
I know: the antis’ exploit the prospect of a gun grab morphing into murder to put people off of the idea of armed self-defense. But just because it’s misleading – anyone that violent is ready, willing and probably able to kill you anyway – and statistically improbable doesn’t mean you shouldn’t consider the possibility that your gun could be used against you.
In other words, take steps to reduce the risk of non-governmental firearms appropriation. A Krav Maga class or two, for example, wouldn’t go amiss. Any other ideas would be most appreciated.
Blackhawk. And balls…….
Understanding the purpose of sentries – to make as much noise upon initial contact with an enemy as possible & alerting the rest of the unit – is an important lesson to learn. Translating that to home defense means improved barriers, alarms, etc. Very little stops a determined intruder, the point being to generate alert time so that your response is ready: call 911, rack the shotgun, go to a secure room, take careful aim, unleash the dog, whatever. Locked storm door would have helped this instance.
Thing about concealed carry:
If you carry on your strong side hip and you’re not wearing a jacket, then it’s often child’s play for someone to notice you’re carrying if they know how to look.
Concealed ≠ invisible.
Interesting assertion. Concealed = simply concealed, legally, but it makes sense that concealed = invisible if you are frequenting neighborhoods with a high (or even significant) number of handguns stolen from individuals who were legally CCing them every year. Is anyone aware of any such place in the U.S.? Personally, I wouldn’t keep going there, before I would alter my carry method to avoid getting my piece stolen. I mean, I have the piece in the first place to prevent the rest of me from being stolen, why bother carrying at all if I can’t keep my gun from being stolen?
I disagree, to an extent. While it is true that some people carry too big of a pistol, wear clothing that is too tight, or carry with inappropriate equipment (a bulky holster or without a sufficiently forward cant to hide the grip) all of the concealed carriers in my life do so in such a way as to make the pistol invisible, even when wearing a t-shirt. This is relatively easy with a single stack pistol, but still possible with something like a Glock 19 with the right wardrobe choices.
Perhaps my assertion is due to living in a state where open carry and concealed carry are legally the same thing.
Perhaps. Here in Ohio gun buster signs have force of law, so the axiom that concealed means concealed tends to go a little further.
Not without the statutorily required wording, they don’t. A no-smoking symbol over a gun doesn’t cut it.
Even so, yes: concealed is concealed.
Agreed, if you open carry, use retention.
Cops do it (almost unilaterally) because idiot thugs would sneak up behind and grab for the handgun.
Or because they are required to?
uh… why do you think they are required to? See above.
[citation needed]
I hear this repeated often; I’ve yet to see any statistics to support it.
(Falling back to “it’s just common sense” is not a viable replacement for actual statistics of firearm retention and having one’s firearm taken from one’s person during an assault.)
Exactly. If this was such a big problem, you should have at least one documenting link.
I’ve read a number of news stories where robbers take guns from the victims, not often but some. I’ve also read where designated victims take the gun away from the criminal and use it effectively. Love those. People are at greater or lesser risk of having their guns stolen or snatched for many reasons, not just how they carry. Each person has to decide for him/herself what to do about it.
No guarantees. Carry as you wish. I’m really so tired of this OC bashing Farago.
1st amendment.
Attackers gon’ attack. There will always be someone who wants what you have; your watch, your phone, your girl, your car, even your jacket. Saying that concealed carriers are “safer” because they don’t have their gun in plain sight is ludicrous.
Making statements without the data or evidence to back them up is irrational.
Robert claimed: “I’m all for open carry. But doing so increases the possibility of a gun grab exponentially, when compared to concealed carry.”
I’d like to see how that “possibility” was calculated. On what measurements were those odds based?
Just because someone (pro CC or anti OC, for example) believes something to be true does not make it true.
The fact of the matter is that the number of OC-ers getting their gun grabbed out of their holster in a “surprise attack” is extremely small.
To make a claim of an exponential difference in two sets of data requires actual data.
I was going to post the same thing Chip did…almost word-for-word.
Point taken. Text amended,
“Any other ideas would be most appreciated.”
How about this: don’t open your door to three strangers wearing masks!
Destination robbery? Most gun thefts are. Listing your collection on a blog,forum or fakebook doesn’t help. While you guys were under attack I mightily resisted posting under my real name on your fakebook page.
uh, dont open the door for masked men.
you might also get solid frame doors that open OUTWARD.
That’s stupid. Doors that open inward are safer. An inward opening door is easier to block closed, like with your body or a chair, where as an outward opening door must be held closed by the handle. Do you have more grip strength than a thug used to breaking into places with his hands? Do you have a sufficient length of cord sitting by the door just waiting to be lashed onto the handle in case of an emergency?
High-security storm/screen doors are available to resist upwards of 1000-lbs of force, installed with security hinges and long bolts into the door frame, and dead-bolt key locks that prevent easy jimmying. They will run about $600 installed, ad are fairly attractive – they look like a scroll-pattern screen door, with extra bars.
Not a perfect solution, but they at least let you open the front door(assuming you look through the main solid-door peephole first) without making it easy for an intruder to shove his way past you. And if someone tries to avoid the door by smashing a window, you know immediately that you need to grab a gun.
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