Defense of the Home Frontier

*From my 2005 archives, with a little updating; with a current anti-Second Amendment AG and anti-Second Amendment congressional allies like a Black Panther-turned congressman from Illinois, probably not a bad one to repost*

"Go ahead...make my day".

One of my favorite movie lines of all time, from an actor who had the on and off screen presence to carry it off with a style of blunt brevity and a look: Clint Eastwood.

I have no doubt that, faced with the proper circumstances, my using the line would draw sarcastic laughter. More on that in a mo'.

The subject of home defense came up recently on a local radio talkshow, when the on-airs were discussing a home invasion in Boulder, CO, that went badly for the invader. Armed with a knife, he forced himself past the screaming wife into the home; whereupon she seized a bat, and began 'Barry Bonding' with the invader. Her husband, responding to the ruckus, pitched in with a vengeance.

Bottomline: they beat the invader to death. Mourners please omit flowers, and a high five for the defenders, from about everyone but the ACLU.

At any rate, the show hosts asked callers to relate what they think they would have done, if thus confronted like the victims-turned-defenders. The variety of answers was predictable, from "the same" to "I would have run away". More than one caller opined that, in essence, "it's hard to say, until or unless you're confronted, just how you'll react".

I reckon that's true of most of us.

Putting myself in such shoes -- it'd have to be his, 'cuz hers would most likely kill my feet -- the scenario wouldn't have played out the way it did. Firstly, I wouldn't have opened the door to someone pounding on it, claiming to be "county police".

We don't have those h'yar.

Secondly, I do have a security peephole to see who it is.

Thirdly -- and only relevant if "they" decide they're coming in, welcome or not -- I have something else.

Raised around firearms, I have a passing familiarity with handguns, rifles and shotguns. I've hunted in my time, generally small game. I was a police reserve officer. In former corporate job, I did property and corporate security, up to and including executive protection. I've been through formal combat handgun training.

In short, I can hit what I aim at. Even accounting for the unfortunate turkey episode in my youth (see, at my expense, a blog entry in '07 or '08, TurkeyDuck) .

In the early 90s, I got rid of my firearms. All of them. Not because I had some liberal conversion to "gun= immoral"; I just didn't feel the need to have one, and was undergoing other issues at the time.

Earlier this year, that changed. I decided it wasn't such a bad idea. Not that I had sudden qualms about being unarmed in a world that occasionally goes bonkers for no earthly reason; but it didn't hurt to think about.

In Colorado, home invaders well know that there's a law that's been on the books since, oh, say about 1976 or so: the "Make My Day" Law. Homeowners, confronted with an invader inside their humble abodes, can use deadly physical force to defend themselves and their families, if they feel the threat justifies it. The law -- criticized by opponents as an 'open season' for the trigger-happy -- has been applied a number of times since then. In only one or two cases that I recall has the applier of the law not been upheld (by chasing and shooting the invader in the yard or beyond).

In short, contrary to what the anti-gunners claimed would happen, when the "Make My Day" Law was passed, Colorado, in no way shape or form, became Dodge City.

So, what would YOU do, if your home was penetrated by a person of dubious intent and unwelcome presence?

My answer is simple, should I be home to be thus confronted: the weapon I have will dictate the terms. The invader can retreat, follow instructions, or push the issue. That will determine whether my local police will be responding to take a break-in report, make an arrest....or summon the coroner.

It wouldn't make my day, as I am not, by nature, a violence-prone person; but bad guys may be assured that despite the inclinations of the current AG and lesser congressional lights of dubious intent, I will make your forced entry very, VERY inhospitable.