Replies

I'm kind of a nerd on home safety. But since you mention it, I have, in the past run some mental tactical situations regarding safe places in the house for my family should someone “wonder” into the place with malicious intent. We have a two story house. I would expect between the dog and myself, we would be alerted before perps made it to the stairs.

My kids know that if the dog goes off in the middle of the night, they go to certain corners of their bed room and huddle close to the floor. It's happened twice, both just loud neighbors on weekend nights. But it was good training. We do fire alarm training as well (GET TO THE MAILBOX YELLING FIRE!)

Why the corners of their room? Structural considerations. My house is built with 2x4 floor trusses as a apposed to joists or wood beams. They are spaced 24” on center. Given the layout of the downstairs and where shooting might likely occur, both at me and at them from somewhere between the top of the stairs and my front door, I have thought about the potential angles and trajectory potentials. My goal is two fold. 1) Put as much structure between potential trajectories and my family as possible and 2) I will have a better idea of where my family is in the house if a drawn out firefight (10 seconds or more) erupts.

As far as the structure goes, think in angles. Angles are our friends when considering penetration. Rounds hitting walls at 90 degrees touch less material and are less impeded. We want rounds to go into walls at as large of angles as we can get. It improves the chances of finding wood (a stud or floor joist or two or both) and slowing it down if not stopping it completely depending on the caliber.

BTW - When my wife hears my fingers playing a tune on my bedside gun safe in the middle of the night, she is trained to grab the phone, roll to the floor, cue up 911 on the receiver, open the shotgun case under the bed and start pushing shells. If she hears "danger" after I exit the bedroom, she pushes send on the receiver, chambers a round and clicks the safety off.

I'll tell you about helium balloons and ceiling fans in the middle of the night sometime. That was good training if not a bit too exciting.