Story time. Lesson learned.

[Moondog1]

What kind of rcr123 were you using? Watch out for all the ones that end in fire. Also, most of those coming off the charger are at 4.2v instead of 3.2v if the cr123a. So that's a difference of 8.4v to 6.4v. Might be fine but you never know until it breaks. Also, those lithium rechargeables will drop a bit after a while when not in use.

 

[Glorfindel]

On a positive note the most important thing that happened is you’ve learned a few of you personal weaknesses in home defense for a false positive situation.

 

[jpm2953]

Odd. Exact same thing happened to me about 5:30 this morning. Suction cup soap holder fell off the shower wall in the guest bathroom. Grabbed the pistol and went to investigate. I’m not gonna sit and wait to find out what the noise was.

 

[Bear44]

Without a doubt I would have a walk through as well. I wouldn’t have considered waiting in the bedroom.

Then you are giving up a major tactical advantage and giving it to the intruder. Not a great move.

 

[Bear44]

Odd. Exact same thing happened to me about 5:30 this morning. Suction cup soap holder fell off the shower wall in the guest bathroom. Grabbed the pistol and went to investigate. I’m not gonna sit and wait to find out what the noise was.

See post #14.

Stay in your secure location and make the bad guy walk into your ambush instead of you walking into his.

 

[GFB]

Then you are giving up a major tactical advantage and giving it to the intruder. Not a great move.

It’s probably been programmed into me.

 

[cmshoot]

Sounds like it was just you and the wife in the house. Why clear it at all?

Maintain a solid defensive position until the threat materializes or you are convinced there isn't one.

I'm picturing the layout as the OP is telling his story:

1. Out the bedroom door
2. Begin to clear the house
3. Clear the bathroom
4. CLEAR THE NURSERY

Sounds to me like at a least a minimum of clearing is required here, otherwise the child gets left swinging in the breeze while Mom and Dad hunker down in the bedroom. That's a big no bueno.

THIS is why I wrote the curriculum for the course that I run, Residential Room Clearing & Response to Active Shooter. I don't expect a person to clear their own home, and in most cases I agree with @Bear and do not advise it. However, if all the family members aren't already in a single room, some kind of secure movement through the house is going to be necessary.

My wife works from home as a paralegal and keeps the weirdest hours. I have been woken up, looked beside me in the bed, and found I was all alone. So I clear the upstairs looking for her, then had to go downstairs, until I located her.

On another night, I woke up and couldn't tell if I had dreamed a noise or heard one. Wife was in bed beside me. Cleared the upstairs to my daughter's bedroom. It was empty. Went downstairs and found my daughter playing video games. This was during the summer and we allow her to keep whatever hours she wants then.

In both cases, I had to clear over half of the living space of my house to locate missing family members.

Those are both real incidents that I dealt with myself, but I can come up with a whole slew of hypotheticals. Having a solid defensive position is best, but you cannot always count on that being the solution. If you're a bachelor living by your lonesome, that will work.......if you've got at least one additional co-habitant, you better have a plan and the skills to implement it.

BTW, I have Level 1, Level 2 and Level 3 Residential Room Clearing & Response to Active Shooters Courses coming up later this year.

 

[cmshoot]

I'm picturing the layout as the OP is telling his story:

1. Out the bedroom door
2. Begin to clear the house
3. Clear the bathroom
4. CLEAR THE NURSERY

Sounds to me like at a least a minimum of clearing is required here, otherwise the child gets left swinging in the breeze while Mom and Dad hunker down in the bedroom. That's a big no bueno.

THIS is why I wrote the curriculum for the course that I run, Residential Room Clearing & Response to Active Shooter. I don't expect a person to clear their own home, and in most cases I do not advise it. However, if all the family members aren't already in a single room, some kind of secure movement through the house is going to be necessary.

My wife works from home as a paralegal and keeps the weirdest hours. I have been woken up, looked beside me in the bed, and found I was all alone. So I clear the upstairs looking for her, then had to go downstairs, until I located her.

On another night, I woke up and couldn't tell if I had dreamed a noise or heard one. Wife was in bed beside me. Cleared the upstairs to my daughter's bedroom. It was empty. Went downstairs and found my daughter playing video games. This was during the summer and we allow her to keep whatever hours she wants then.

In both cases, I had to clear over half of the living space of my house to locate missing family members.

Those are both real incidents that I dealt with myself, but I can come up with a whole slew of hypotheticals. Having a solid defensive position is best, but you cannot always count on that being the solution. If you're a bachelor living by your lonesome, that will work.......if you've got at least one additional co-habitant, you better have a plan and the skills to implement it.

BTW, I have Level 1, Level 2 and Level 3 Residential Room Clearing & Response to Active Shooters Courses coming up later this year.

We cover all sorts of scenarios in these courses, and have numerous proven solutions. For instance, you're upstairs in your bedroom, got the door barricaded, and have called 911. The police arrive and find all your doors securely locked. Exactly how do you expect them to enter your house and clear it for you?

You encounter someone in your house, they appear to be unarmed, and are totally compliant. You haven't called 911 yet because you thought you'd check it out. Now you are holding the suspect at gunpoint.......does the room that you are in have a phone? Did you remember to take your cell phone with you when you went a-checkin'? If the room doesn't have a phone, and you didn't take your cell phone ("Why would I need a phone to clear my house?!"), how are you going to call 911?

I know several of y'all read that last paragraph and said to yourself, "I'm a-gonna shoot any sumbitch that enters my house uninvited!". That isn't what the Castle Doctrine means; it isn't carte blanche to shoot anyone you don't want in your home. There's a true story that I tell in my classes about a call I handled on Morning Watch when I worked at Marietta PD. Long story short, it's around 2am and a woman is calling 911 because a guy was beating on her front door and yelling. She ran into the bedroom and locked the door, then called 911 from there (not everyone had cellphones at the time). We arrived within 2 minutes, during which time the "intruder" found an unlocked back door and was inside the woman's house. 3 of us went in hot. We found a gentleman that lived 2 doors down from this woman. The gentleman was elderly, a US Navy WWII combat vet with Alzheimer's. He went for a walk around 2am and came back to the wrong house. His key wouldn't work in the door, and he was beating on the door and demanding his wife to let him in. His wife had been dead for 20 years. How bad would you have felt if you had shot him?

 

[Bear44]

I'm picturing the layout as the OP is telling his story:

1. Out the bedroom door
2. Begin to clear the house
3. Clear the bathroom
4. CLEAR THE NURSERY

Sounds to me like at a least a minimum of clearing is required here, otherwise the child gets left swinging in the breeze while Mom and Dad hunker down in the bedroom. That's a big no bueno.

THIS is why I wrote the curriculum for the course that I run, Residential Room Clearing & Response to Active Shooter. I don't expect a person to clear their own home, and in most cases I agree with @Bear and do not advise it. However, if all the family members aren't already in a single room, some kind of secure movement through the house is going to be necessary.

My wife works from home as a paralegal and keeps the weirdest hours. I have been woken up, looked beside me in the bed, and found I was all alone. So I clear the upstairs looking for her, then had to go downstairs, until I located her.

On another night, I woke up and couldn't tell if I had dreamed a noise or heard one. Wife was in bed beside me. Cleared the upstairs to my daughter's bedroom. It was empty. Went downstairs and found my daughter playing video games. This was during the summer and we allow her to keep whatever hours she wants then.

In both cases, I had to clear over half of the living space of my house to locate missing family members.

Those are both real incidents that I dealt with myself, but I can come up with a whole slew of hypotheticals. Having a solid defensive position is best, but you cannot always count on that being the solution. If you're a bachelor living by your lonesome, that will work.......if you've got at least one additional co-habitant, you better have a plan and the skills to implement it.

BTW, I have Level 1, Level 2 and Level 3 Residential Room Clearing & Response to Active Shooters Courses coming up later this year.

Completely agree. I had the impression it was just the two of them in the house.

Room clearing is a skill that anyone serious about home defense should have, but part of that skill is knowing when it's not the best plan. Ego should not have any part in decision making for HD. Sounds like you teach that, too.

 

[Bear44]

We cover all sorts of scenarios in these courses, and have numerous proven solutions. For instance, you're upstairs in your bedroom, got the door barricaded, and have called 911. The police arrive and find all your doors securely locked. Exactly how do you expect them to enter your house and clear it for you?

You encounter someone in your house, they appear to be unarmed, and are totally compliant. You haven't called 911 yet because you thought you'd check it out. Now you are holding the suspect at gunpoint.......does the room that you are in have a phone? Did you remember to take your cell phone with you when you went a-checkin'? If the room doesn't have a phone, and you didn't take your cell phone ("Why would I need a phone to clear my house?!"), how are you going to call 911?

I know several of y'all read that last paragraph and said to yourself, "I'm a-gonna shoot any sum***** that enters my house uninvited!". That isn't what the Castle Doctrine means; it isn't carte blanche to shoot anyone you don't want in your home. There's a true story that I tell in my classes about a call I handled on Morning Watch when I worked at Marietta PD. Long story short, it's around 2am and a woman is calling 911 because a guy was beating on her front door and yelling. She ran into the bedroom and locked the door, then called 911 from there (not everyone had cellphones at the time). We arrived within 2 minutes, during which time the "intruder" found an unlocked back door and was inside the woman's house. 3 of us went in hot. We found a gentleman that lived 2 doors down from this woman. The gentleman was elderly, a US Navy WWII combat vet with Alzheimer's. He went for a walk around 2am and came back to the wrong house. His key wouldn't work in the door, and he was beating on the door and demanding his wife to let him in. His wife had been dead for 20 years. How bad would you have felt if you had shot him?

I really hope people listen to you on this. Every time I try to make the same point about the Castle Doctrine a **** storm follows about how I'm wrong and all the old (and wrong) cliches come up.