Correct, my house has the worst tactical layout. I could have retrieved others from other areas of the house, but from the exact place I was, it was the fastest option. I’ll definitely be reconsidering this in our planning now.
Living where we do has given us a more SA view of the outside world. This was more common around here than people realize. It has calmed down a lot in the last 2 years since our local LEO have put the hammer to a lot of the crap and a serious change in the residents also have had a calming effect.
OP you did pretty well actually. Our responses are a bit more seasoned from the issues we have been exposed too over the years so we have a solid plan in place. The spouse immediately arms herself and retreats to the bedroom with the phone doing the 911 thing. I look at the cameras and decide on a course of actin. And yes this includes confronting if need be. Depends on the issue at hand.
Been really quite around here as I said but we are SA if things do not seem right.
Have a plan. Talk about the plan at times to keep it fresh. Fire....a plan. Tornado.....a plan. Tweaker...a plan. No one wants to think of a home invasion but they do happen.
Overall, very well done, congrats on lessons learned, and thank you for sharing your experience.
Curious regarding the 15 minute police response. How did you describe the situation, and how much of a sense of urgency did you articulate to the dispatcher? If you made it sound urgent, 15 minutes seems like a long time for Fishers, unless you're in a remote section of town.
And I'm not sure about the lesson learned regarding telling them that you're armed. Depending on the officer's mindset, experience, and training, it seems like it could go well or end very badly. IMO, it would be better to give a clear description of your clothing vs. the intruder. But I would be interested to hear what LEOs would say about that (aside from the standard "don't take the law into your own hands").
Here in the GSF if somebody is banging on the door after dark it's never good. Fortunately that's never happened.
As others have mentioned about crashing through. I'd seriously look at a new steel entry door with a smaller window, or ballistic film to really slow them down.
Something along these lines that still lets in light and looks good, but the glass cant be used to enter or reach through and open the door.
https://proxy.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=h...c_1000.jpg&f=1
I'd suggest any improvements to cause an intruder as much delay and frustration as possible. Window film to prevent kicking thru a glass pane sounds like the easiest improvement for you. 3" screws to require more than one kick to solid door frames. Even furniture in the way can give you precious seconds.
Glad you're ok brother.
Speaking of glass doors... we purchased and installed this Larson storm door over our (partially) glass front entrance door to enhance overall security.
The Larson full view storm door has three latch points instead of one... and the laminated glass is pretty resistant to a general intruder.
Take a look at the video, including a “bad guy” with a baseball bat. I would recommend it to anyone. Well worth the investment.
https://youtu.be/MjVNYuUWP6U
Props for using this as an honest audit of your plan...
Fun little story...I have a friend who has firearms "planted" around the house (no kids/family, not much of an entertainer); claims he does that so he is "never more than x feet away from a firearm". At my work,we were doing an electrical upgrade, adding variable frequency drives to some big pumps. During start up, something in one of the old electrical panels gave up the ghost, emanating the unmistakeable smell of something letting out the magic blue smoke. I ran past 3 fire extinguishers to get to the one just outside my office door; the one I see 25 times a day. aside from the fact that the extinguisher I grabbed wasn't rated for electrical fires (like the one in the MCC room that I ran past), I reverted back to what I KNEW; i.e. where THE fire extinguisher was, outside my office.
This is the calculus you have to play out in your situation. When it hits the fan, will your brain default to the closest firearm hidden (that you probably haven't handled for 3 mos, maybe more)? Or will it default to the most familiar firearm? Unfortunately, this probably won't be apparent until a fan moment. You had one, take the time to evaluate your response and plan accordingly.
Thank you for candidly sharing your experience. It's made me take another look at how I handle things at home after the lights are out!