First off I won't keep ya waiting. It was a false alarm due to a downed phone line and everyone was ok.

 

But at 3:12 AM, with that thing blaring.... You have no idea what the situation is at all.

 

Seriously, it scared the s*it out of me. I mean like, OH MY GOD WHAT DO I DO kinda stuff. But even with that fear, I'm kinda proud that in my first instance where the thing went off (guess we've been lucky so far?) I was able to keep my head about me.

 

I've always had in my mind a series of actions that I figured would give my family the best chance for staying safe in a situation. And although I don't practice it often (only when the wife isn't home, she thinks I'm nuts....) I was able to perform each action quickly, efficiently, and safely. Secured our bedroom, made her call the cops (it's like First Aid, people are shocked, you have to MAKE them call 911 with a commanding tone of voice if they are out of it!) and then racked the .40 and cleared our house.

 

Small house, easy to tell that there is no forced entry just by looking down the stairs.

 

Didn't really go back to sleep, too much adrenalin. And btw my wife doesn't think I'm nuts for having firearms or a plan anymore, she was really shaken up.

 

As I'm in bed not sleeping I did a lot of thinking, and I was kinda mad that someone would just lock the door and hide in a closet and pray to god for the Police and safety. I can't comprehend how you wouldn't want to have a means to protect your family. Scared is ok, unprepared is unacceptable....

 

Anyone else have any stories? What did you learn from it? I intend to analyze my actions when I get some time so I can see what I could do better, safer, etc. I want to have as much of a chance to keep my family safe as humanly possible and I know the only way that will happen is if I force myself to become better at these responses somehow....

Playing devil's advocate here, if you had secured yourself in the bedroom and called the police, why would you grab your gun and clear the house? If you encountered a bad guy and blew him away, you would be making this post from Somerset County Jail in Somerville. At the very least, you would be financially drained by your fight for freedom, at the worst, your family would be growing up with you sitting in jail, being some drug dealer's biotch. There is no castle doctrine in jersey. Just saying!

Playing devil's advocate here, if you had secured yourself in the bedroom and called the police, why would you grab your gun and clear the house? If you encountered a bad guy and blew him away, you would be making this post from Somerset County Jail in Somerville. At the very least, you would be financially drained by your fight for freedom, at the worst, your family would be growing up with you sitting in jail, being some drug dealer's biotch. There is no castle doctrine in jersey. Just saying!

 

Good question. Our doors are not going to stop anyone who wants to get it. But it will slow them down enough for me to get the phone into my wifes hands, and get my protection ready. We are talking seconds, that's all I need. I don't think I can do better than that.

 

Also you make me sad for living in NJ. Everything you say is true. I just don't see hiding in our room behind our tin foil thin doors as safe though, seriously.

 

Believe it or not NJ is a "no duty to retreat in your own home

There is no castle doctrine in jersey.

 

Just to pile on bit, there is indeed a castle doctrine in NJ. It starts at the threshold of your door. You have no duty to retreat inside your primary dwelling. He posted the statue above.

 

NJ was one of the first to have these protections. It is one of the weaker ones but better than the 8 or so states that have no doctrine.

 

Justifiable homicide is legal in your home under a very strict set of guidelines. You must be under the threat of severe injury or death. You can only shoot to stop the threat, not pump in a couple "safety rounds" after the actor is down. Outside of your home there is a duty to retreat. You must flee. Even if they are setting your house on fire, you must flee.

 

Worry about justice later.

Justifiable homicide is legal in your home under a very strict set of guidelines. You must be under the threat of severe injury or death. You can only shoot to stop the threat, not pump in a couple "safety rounds" after the actor is down. Outside of your home there is a duty to retreat. You must flee. Even if they are setting your house on fire, you must flee.

 

Worry about justice later.

 

I do think about this during the day from time to time. I've accepted that if the decision is my wife or some scumbag who violates the sanctity of my home who refuses to allow me to peacefully deescalate the situation, I don't really have much of a choice. And make no mistake, I abhor any situation that requires me to make that decision.

 

And yeah I will be someones biotch in jail but my job is to protect my family. I really feel like as long as I know I did what's right then I can't really lament anything other than living in a s*itty criminal loving state.

 

So I've thought about the sequence of events and one thing I've found to be mad at myself for is although I "think" I was utilizing proper trigger discipline, I can't be 100% certain. That's something I will have to keep drilling into my head at the range...

[quote name="NJ609"

 

I do think about this during the day from time to time. I've accepted that if the decision is my wife or some scumbag who violates the sanctity of my home who refuses to allow me to peacefully deescalate the situation' date=' I don't really have much of a choice. And make no mistake, I abhor any situation that requires me to make that decision.

 

And yeah I will be someones biotch in jail but my job is to protect my family. I really feel like as long as I know I did what's right then I can't really lament anything other than living in a s*itty criminal loving state.

 

So I've thought about the sequence of events and one thing I've found to be mad at myself for is although I "think" I was utilizing proper trigger discipline, I can't be 100% certain. That's something I will have to keep drilling into my head at the range...[/quote]

 

That's the thing, if you are inside your home and a bad guy is in there too, you are protected. Also notice the wording "An actor employing protective force may estimate the necessity of using force when the force is used, without retreating, surrendering possession, withdrawing or doing any other act which he has no legal duty to do or abstaining from any lawful action

 

YOU get to decide the necessity. This is specific language for a specific reason. If this was not in there, prosecutors would jump all over you and question necessity of shooting a poor man down on luck, just trying to make a buck. It say YOU, the homeowner MAY ESTIMATE THE NECESSITY. Estimate is also appropriate. It's an estimation, not an absolute. The paper boy(your neighbor's kid) enters your house to give you the paper at 5:30am, you cannot shoot him. That's not a reasonable estimation. If you heard glass break, hear someone ransacking the house, you call out a challenge and no compliance, you estimate that your life is endangered. That is what a castle doctrine does for us. It prevents armchair quarterbacking the decision many days or months later in an entirely different light.

 

Just make sure that if it ever comes to it, you're sure you're threatened. Shoot to stop the threat.

 

Quoting Evan Nappen here. It's good for people to see this:

SAC

That's the thing, if you are inside your home and a bad guy is in there too, you are protected. Also notice the wording "An actor employing protective force may estimate the necessity of using force when the force is used, without retreating, surrendering possession, withdrawing or doing any other act which he has no legal duty to do or abstaining from any lawful action

 

YOU get to decide the necessity. This is specific language for a specific reason. If this was not in there, prosecutors would jump all over you and question necessity of shooting a poor man down on luck, just trying to make a buck. It say YOU, the homeowner MAY ESTIMATE THE NECESSITY. Estimate is also appropriate. It's an estimation, not an absolute. The paper boy(your neighbor's kid) enters your house to give you the paper at 5:30am, you cannot shoot him. That's not a reasonable estimation. If you heard glass break, hear someone ransacking the house, you call out a challenge and no compliance, you estimate that your life is endangered. That is what a castle doctrine does for us. It prevents armchair quarterbacking the decision many days or months later in an entirely different light.

 

Just make sure that if it ever comes to it, you're sure you're threatened. Shoot to stop the threat.

 

Quoting Evan Nappen here. It's good for people to see this:

SAC

A similar event happened to me a few months back. Long post, sorry, and also a false alarm.

 

2:45AM - Alarm goes off. As a side note: when the alarm was installed, I specifically asked for the bullhorn and other noise producing devices to be on the lower level of the house. That way, it's still loud enough to easily wake me up, but it's blaring loud downstairs (for the potential intruder to deal with), but not right in my ear. It still lets me hear something/someone coming up the stairs.

 

So I pop out of bed, arm myself, and quickly check to see which zone went off: Basement Window

 

It's just the wife and I, so she's dialing 911 and I park myself at the corner to the staircase. No need to clear the house, or even go downstairs. If they want to take all my personal possessions, that's fine with me, I have insurance. If they try and come upstairs, the it's castle doctrine. And God forbid a body is found lying on the stairs when the cops arrive, at least it will collaborate my story that the intruder was coming up stairs with intent on bodily harm.

 

Cops come screeching down the street, I disable the alarm so the noise stops, and my wife still on the phone with the dispatch tells them to have the cops check the basement windows. They say nothing is broken, and ask to be let in. My wife tells them I am armed (which I was hit or miss on since it led to the inevitable "You have a permit for that?" ) and heading downstairs to unlock the front door. They popped there head in, looked around, I showed them my permit/receipt, thanked them, and they left.

 

Turns out the window dropped in the jam just enough to separate from the sensor which caused the alarm. The next day the alarm company came out and fixed it so it won't happen again.

 

It was actually a very good experience all around. My wife was a little shaken up after wards, as was I. But I was glad my first instinct was not shock, and I was somewhat thinking clearly. If you have the option of seeing what zone was activated on your alarm system I highly recommend adding it as a step in your mental process.

And always remember:

 

Dead men tell no tales!

And always remember:

 

Dead men tell no tales!

 

Well, entry wounds in the back or at severe angles tell stories that will land you in jail for a long time.