home defense question.

Im about to buy my 1st home and am a firm believer that the police take far to long to respond after calling 911.

im looking for a firearm or 2 for home defense. something i can shoot for fun on the side but be an effective defense firearm.

i dont think i will be able to carry to work (gov job) so a carry gun is out. although VA has a non permit open carry policy

so if i want to carry i can.

anyways im thinking about a full sized, single stack .45 or double stack 9mm for downstairs and a 12 gage shotgun for upstairs. (bedrooms and office are upstairs)

both firearms will be hidden but easily accessible to both me and my GF. i will also go for a CCP eventually but wont be able to carry the firearm on my person or in my vehicle to work...

any brands to stay away from? ive heard rugars have mag problems and berettas can have the slides fail if you use high velocity ammo... stuff like that

saving the world, one warship at a time.

^ i thought it was a law you had to carry in TX?

saving the world, one warship at a time.

I didn't no about the VA policy, all this time I've been walking around unarmed.

Shotguns are all you will ever need for Home Defence and you wont have to worry about stray rounds and all that Dry Walling fun.

Besides in most states if you had any exit to your home and you kill the intruder you can be brought up on Manslaugther charges. So put down the E-peen and before you ask gun advise from a Paintball Board. Do yourself a favor and go check with your local PD. Look at crime stats and their average response time.

If you still feed the need to arm yourself. Think logically unlike most Steven Segal Movies most burglars boogie when spotted, Home Invasions are diferent but those are mostly to Urban and Subburban areas near crime infested ghettos. Get a good ADT alarm with a LOUD Audiable Alarm. Make sure that you put up those dorky Stickers and Lawn signs. Theives will bypass the hassle of playing beat the cruiser. Make sure that you dont waste your time going nuts with lamo window sensors. A few well placed Motion Sensor will do you more good than Window Sensors.

Make sure that you lock your door and windows and that all your doors have deadbolt locks. Make sure that your sliders have bars so that the can jimmy the lock and gain entrance. Keep shrubery to a minimum and make sure that your perimeter is lines with Motion Sensor Flood Lights.

"Abortion is not "choice" in America. It is forced and the democrats are behind it, with the goal of eugenics at its foundation."

-FreeEnterprise, 21 April 2011.

Yup, he actually said that.

-the house has an alarm system but it has window and door sensors. im sure we can add some motion sensors

-we have a small dog that will bark like crazy but isent a physical threat.

-flood lights if they arnt we will put them on the front, back, and side of the house. but we have a neighbor fairly close on the 4th side.

and while all of those are great precautions i would still be more comfortable with a firearm as a last resort. something to just hunker in the corner with and point at the door.

plus i would like to shoot every once in a while as a hobby.

saving the world, one warship at a time.

yeah mass if you kill intruder with a gun and he had knife you go to jail.

in mass you cant defend yourself.

sooo

get mace. lots of mace.

new hampshire is nicer. as long as you say you attempted to escape but feared so much for your life taht you had to kill them, and the intruder is physically in your house. and wasnt shot in the back you are safe.

but like EE said. its over kill. get a beanbag shotgun or something. or keep your paintball gun handy. that'll cause enough pain to make them stop if you keep shooting them in the face and what not.

or watch home alone. that kid was a genius at house security.

Kristofer wrote:

yeah mass if you kill intruder with a gun and he had knife you go to jail.

in mass you cant defend yourself.

but like EE said. its over kill. get a beanbag shotgun or something. or keep your paintball gun handy. that'll cause enough pain to make them stop if you keep shooting them in the face and what not.

Actually if you are in a second story or have no escape route then you have every right to use the a reasonable ammount of force to defend yourself. If you are in the last bedroom and he's gone Jack in the Shining on you you can shoot and kill the intruder.

As for Mace in Mass... even that requires a "restricted version" of the FID card

http://www.mossberg.com/products/default.asp?id=28&secti on=products

Previously DYE PLAYA

Owning a firearm for the purpose of defense is sketchy. I know most forumers won't agree with me though.

How do you know police response time is bad? I gurantee that in an emergency, they could have someone there in 5 minutes even in the middle of the night.