Incorporating firearms into your home defense plan is a decision that needs to be understood and not made in haste. The potential for dramatic life changing consequences is high, if precautions are not taken. This article will cover some of the considerations and decisions that need to be made after making the decision to incorporate firearms into your home defense plan.
THE CHOICE
Once you have decided to use firearms in your home defense plan, a decision regarding the condition 
your firearms are in needs to be made. Are your firearms stored or are they staged? Storing firearms refers to long term storage, magazines are unloaded and the firearm is stored in a traditional gun safe or other storage device requiring planning or an investment of time to defeat combinations or physical key locks to gain access to your firearms. Staging your firearms refers to your firearm being secured in a configuration that allows you to defeat a minimum-security apparatus or container to gain access and immediately employ your firearm in a defensive situation. An example of this type of container would be a StopBox safe or one that uses a RFID bracket or fingerprint scanner to gain access. The key difference between staging and storing is the amount of time it will take to access and employ the firearm should it be needed.
Another area of consideration is the potential legal requirements for state. Does your state have a Castle Doctrine? If it does, you still do not automatically get to engage those individuals in your home without making clear decisions based on a perceived threat of great bodily harm or death. If you are in a duty to retreat state, like Minnesota, your residence is still defendable similar to a Castle Doctrine State, but it only applies to your residence and if the individual reasonably believes he or she or another person is at risk of great bodily harm or death or to prevent a felony from occurring in their home. If you are outside of your residence you have a legal requirement to retreat from any incident, until you are no longer able, before using deadly force. In either case your best choice may come down to if you assess your property is worth the time in prison and expenses of a legal defense.
The US Concealed Carry Association (USCCA) has a great analogy we use in our classes, which asks you to decide the following:
- If your expensive watch falls into a shark tank, would you dive in after it?
- If your child were to fall into a shark tank would dive in after them?
It seems like a “well duh” type of decision but it holds true, is your TV worth going to jail or dying for?
TYPE OF FIREARM
The obvious next question is: “What type of firearm should I use for my home defense plan?” Our options here consist of three main choices. Handguns, Shotguns or Rifles. We will cover all three in this section.
Handguns are a good option based on their size, rapid employment capability, ease of staging and the wide varieties of ammunition. The key here is selecting a caliber for your home defense handgun that allows for a balance of knockdown power; making repeatable shots; while respecting the pass-through potential of your projectiles into other rooms of your home. In more modern handguns, accessories such as flashlights and lasers allow for quick identification of targets and accuracy in many home defense type of scenarios. Drawbacks also arise when choosing to use mounted lights as the mere pointing of your flashlight at the intruder if it is attached to your firearm could introduce lawyers into the scenario unnecessarily, as you have now pointed a firearm at someone as you were attempting to survey your surroundings.
Shotguns are a common firearm used for home defense and strategies. Their distinct loading sounds and bark during employment are not likely to be missed by an intruder. They will easily be made aware of your intent to defend yourself or your family members. One drawback is the ability to control the recoil for smaller in stature individuals or smaller women. This however can be mitigated to some extent by choosing a different size of shotgun such as switching from a 12ga to a .410. When discussing penetration of the target and surrounding structure; one OO buck shot shell contains 6-9 .38 caliber projectiles. This can cause a devastating impact on an intruder intent on ill will. The passthrough threat into surrounding rooms is also a danger, but with proper planning can be reduced either by reinforcement of areas most likely to be encounter areas or using a bird shot shell which is less likely to cause fatality in surrounding rooms should shot pass through your interior walls.
Rifles, more specifically in recent times, the modern sporting rifle (MSR) or AR-15 have found a place in home defense planning. The ability to engage multiple targets with little to no recoil is a significant positive attribute of the AR-15 platform. Also, the magazine capacity and need to reload is much more in the defender’s favor than a 5 round magazine or double barrel shotgun. There are a vast number of attachments that can be added to the MSR, increasing the ability for the platform to be used more accurately aiding in acquiring the site and recoil management. The Stag Arms Stag15, also is one of the small number of MSR manufactured for left handed shooters. If you are left handed and have shot a traditional MSR, you know how it feels to have the brass wizzing past your face, awkward controls, or just the basic ergonomics not matching your body. Again, here like the shotgun has the drawback of pass through or over penetration of rounds should play a part in your selection and planning.
CONCLUSION
Ultimately when building your home defense plan, when you choose to incorporate a firearm into your plan, the best choice is the firearm you practice with and can use in an over stressed situation. Without practice and adequate planning, your use of a firearm in this home defense scenario could have disastrous effects on your family or God forbid your neighbors based on your choices.
If you are in the early stages of home defense planning or would like more information, please contact us at CastleGuard, as we would be happy to work with you to obtain additional information or training related to home defense planning. Please visit www.castleguardtraining.com or email Mark directly at [email protected].
Images:
- StopBox HRD Pro: www.stopboxusa.com
- Handgun, Sig Sauer: www.sigsauer.com
- Shotgun: www.barretta.com
- Modern Sporting Rifle, Stag Arms: www.stagarms.com