Slashdot Mirror
Home Defense, Geek Style?
Yo Maing writes "So my mom got lives alone, and got her car broken into last night. We have a motion sensor light in the driveway, and the car has an alarm but apparently both of these deterrents were ineffective. Crime has been rising around her neighborhood, and only action the police can take is to file a report. So I ask you, Geeks of Slashdot, what tricks do you guys have to defend yours and your loved ones homes against crimes like this? Not looking for anything that would get someone injured, but more in the area of detection and repulsion. Anyone have a holographic Yeti generator to scare away intruders? :)"
Buy a gun.
First I would suggest watching Home Alone 1. That kid is pretty damn clever and easily fended off joe pesci and that ugly guy. Next I would buy an outdoor webcam with some motion detection software.
If you don't have any pets, consider getting a dog.
flossie
Write now. Defend liberty
Summary of all the "Home Alone" movies in 3... 2... 1...
I shall go and tell the indestructible man that someone plans to murder him.
I wait on the roof dressed in all black with my ninja sword.
That's worked pretty well for a few years.
How could I say to men: "Speak louder, shout! For I am deaf!"? -Ludwig van Beethoven
I live on an air force base. No problems. :)
Guns. Lots of guns.
Geek it up some by controlling the shotgun trap with an old pentium running BSD.
Curb CO2 emissions: Kill yourself today!
Shotguns - a good shotgun, all you need for close range theft deterrent!
i'm sorry to hear that :(
first problem is that you think a motion sensor light will do something. it won't.
secondly, i think a car alarm should do something, why didn't it work? was she not home? could she not hear it? if you tell us, we can find a solution for it.
oh yeah, get one of those steering wheel 'clubs', they help deter criminals (at least from stealing the car)
Marge, get me your address book, 4 beers, and my conversation hat.
drive a yugo
the extra "got" in his first sentence. Now everybody move along now.
I'm a minister!
My cousin in Texas has outdoor motion sensors around his house, hooked up to a PA system than when activated, play a recording of a pump shotgun being cocked. It sounds real as hell, and you can't really tell where the sound is coming from.
How bout a full sized cardboard cut-out of goatse in the front hallway? I'd run....
http://request-header.info
Use what works, not what you see in the movies.
The duty of care owned by landowner or person in charge to a trespasser is to refrain from willfully, maliciously or recklessly injuring them. In other words, a landowner or person in charge cannot set traps for trespassers. A trap is a hazard that is known to the landowner or person in charge, but concealed to others. If a trespasser is injured by a trap, the landowner is open to liability for the injury, even though the trespasser violated he law by trespassing. The following have been held unlawful traps for which the landowner can be held responsible: (1) setting a spring gun, (2) creating obstacles on a public roadway, (3) installing a cable gate across a private road known to be used by he public. To reduce he liability risks for #3, the road should be posted as private access. If a cable or chain is used o close a road, it should be flagged with brightly colored flags or other materials.
Studies have shown a dog with a good bark scares away most would-be attackers. There have also been studies showing dog companionship actually lowers the blood pressure of seniors.
www.hiredinsight.com
If you don't have anything of value, then you don't have to worry about someone ripping off your valuables. The things in life that are worthwhile are rarely tangible. If you're living in the crossfire of someone else's greed ... Move!
It sounds like you're concerned primarily with property crime, yes? That's actually pretty darn easy to prevent if you think about it logically. Don't leave anything in your car if you park it outside. Keep your garage door closed even during the day so people can't see in. Plant thorney bushes under the windows. Put up a couple of flood lights to take out the shadows in your yard. Keep your yard neat so it's obvious somebody lives there.
In terms of detection, nothing beats a well-trained dog. Train 'em to give a couple of barks whenever someone enters the yard (although just a couple so it doesn't get irritating).
This isn't a complicated problem, but as with a lot of things the best solutions are the obvious solutions.
Every year during my review, I just pray the words "slashdot.org" aren't mentioned.
netfilter.
Well, if you don't mind repelling everyone instead of the ill-willed, you might try buying a computer off this guy. I'm sure the dead pig odor would keep thieves out of you're mom's car -- it's a deterrent whose effectiveness was recently proven on Mythbusters...
Get a Dog. Preferably a big scary looking one. Is it High Tech? Sure, Think of it as bio-tech / Genetic engineering. After all, the domesticated dog is largly a creation of man. (ie.. cultivating certain breeds.) It certaintly isn't new tech though.
You have 5 Moderator Points! Use 'em or lose 'em! They will expire before any good stories are posted.
...you mean you don't live at home?
I believe ThinkGeek has an interesting motion-sensor device that can auto-dial a phone in the event it detects something...unique approach and potentially very useful.
I know nothing
... 10 guage loaded with rock salt seems to do the trick for me.
filter: +3. Hey, look! all the trolls went away!
What better place to ask about repulsion than a website where sweaty geeks hang out?
Get your own free personal location tracker
Seriously, first the story about a mushroom shaped cloud over North Korea and soon there was an article about bomb shelters and now this! Is there going to be a Homeland Security topic created soon? I'd suggest a chicken since the sky is falling.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Personally, I believe the most effective way to deter theft is the human technology. If your neighborhood is suffering from increased criminal activities, I am sure you're not alone.
So get together and patrol the streets together.
Nowadays thieves ain't that scared of high-tech security devices anymore, they will always find a way to get around them, but it's just that much more difficult to get around 2 or 3 pairs of watchful eyes at night.
Uselessful technology (Air-Charged
If you have metal window grills, consider hooking up an electric fencer to them. (the type to keep animals in fields). It's not harmful and will discourage anyone from trying to get in. DO NOT just connect them up to the mains.
Secondly, always lock your windows and doors, even if you're only going out for a minute or two. Get a decent alarm for the house.
The car - get a steering lock for it. They might be easily removed by a professional, but it takes time and if the theif has a choice between your car and one without, they'll go for the easy option.
PocketGamer.org - For the gamer on the go!
I just bought a new house. Because it's our first house-house, I can't wait to finally build something I've been thinking of for a while.
A sentry gun.
Ever since playing Half-Life (oh hell, ever since watching Aliens) I've been intrigued by the idea of the sentry gun. With recent advances in electronics, it's easier than ever to build something like this.
Here's the plan, I'll use an electric actuator or pneumatic cylinder to pop it up out of the ground (when a motion sensor that covers the front sidewalk goes off) and unfold (using stepper motors or heavy duty servos controlled by an OOPIC programmable microprocessor) to aim a...
well...
I haven't figured out if it'll be a paintball gun (with human firing only, of course) or just something menacing that LOOKS like a machine gun) that'll use a CMUCam (which automatically tracks motion in one of its modes) to keep it pointed at anything moving in front of it.
I've done other robotics projects before, I really like the idea of all the neighborhood kids staying away from crazy 'old man Hallert' and his scary robo-house.
Recognizing that crime is often (not always, but often) a product of personal desperation I vote for candidates who will do things like:
At first, it may seem that, economically, you are better off keeping more of your dollars in your pocket (especially if you need them to pay the fees for your gated compound or personal home defense equipment). There is another equilibrium, which does mean higher taxes but on the other hand, makes the streets safe and crime less common, which is to reduce the societal risk factors that promote crime. Most wealthy Americans, for whom gated life and home defense is a minor cost, call this "rampant tax and spend looney pinko socialism". Many Europeans call it "responsible government".
Admittedly, shooting the "perp" and/or throwing him in jail does lead to a satisfied feeling that you have avenged, say, your Mum's honour. As many non-white citizens of your country can tell you, and good research has shown, your current system does actually promote, rather than prevent, the crime you wish to stop (cf. recent Cringly article as a starting point).
Want a safer society? Make sure it's one where everyone has a genuine chance, which doesn't oppress you if you're poor/black/unlucky, which is based on sound research and reasoning about policy (not 4000-year old policies promulgated in middle-eastern nomadic herding societies). Keep the police around to keep the hard-core cases under control.
It takes a little longer, and you guys nearly had it in the 60's, but it's worth it.
I have a major crime problem can anyone give me some sugestions on cameras pref night vision if possable
Is a Steyr M-40 with nightsights and hyrdroshock rounds. Does dead count as injured?
1. Get a club or some such for the car, to help prevent the car itself from being stolen. A removable face plate on the car stereo. Don't leave anything of value visible in the car. (Deter)
2. Outdoor video camera tied to the motion sensing light. This way, if something does happen, you have a record. DON'T go for the cheapest camera. It doesn't do any good if you can't recognize anything in the video. (Detect)
3. Defend is harder, since you said you don't want anything that could hurt anyone. A shame, as pain is a very effective deterrent. I'd suggest a nice rottweiler. They are lovable to those they know, but can be very territorial. Measure the distance from the front porch to the car, and affix a chain to the porch that is about 6" short of the car. With some sort of quick release, just in case.
A pump shotgun in case anyone gets nasty ideas and tries to enter the house. They take little skill and are quite effective at short ranges.
Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
dude that had been debunked time and time agien "This myth, stemming from a superficial "study" of firearm accidents in the Cleveland, Ohio, area, represents a comparison of 148 accidental deaths (including suicides) to the deaths of 23 intruders killed by home owners over a 16-year period. 2 Gross errors in this and similar "studies"--with even greater claimed ratios of harm to good--include: the assumption that a gun hasn't been used for protection unless an assailant dies; no distinction is made between handgun and long gun deaths; all accidental firearm fatalities were counted whether the deceased was part of the "family" or not; all accidents were counted whether they occurred in the home or not, while self-defense outside the home was excluded; almost half the self-defense uses of guns in the home were excluded on the grounds that the criminal intruder killed may not have been a total stranger to the home defender; suicides were sometimes counted and some self-defense shootings misclassified. Cleveland's experience with crime and accidents during the study period was atypical of the nation as a whole and of Cleveland since the mid-1970s. Moreover, in a later study, the same researchers noted that roughly 10% of killings by civilians are justifiable homicides. 3 The "guns in the home" myth has been repeated time and again by the media, and anti-gun academics continue to build on it. In 1993, Dr. Arthur Kellermann of Emory University and a number of colleagues presented a study that claimed to show that a home with a gun was much more likely to experience a homicide. 4 However, Dr. Kellermann selected for his study only homes where homicides had taken place--ignoring the millions of homes with firearms where no harm is done--and a control group that was not representative of American households. By only looking at homes where homicides had occurred and failing to control for more pertinent variables, such as prior criminal record or histories of violence, Kellermann et al. skewed the results of this study. Prof. Kleck wrote that with the methodology used by Kellermann, one could prove that since diabetics are much more likely to possess insulin than non-diabetics, possession of insulin is a risk factor for diabetes. Even Dr. Kellermann admitted this in his study: "It is possible that reverse causation accounted for some of the association we observed between gun ownership and homicide." Law Professor Daniel D. Polsby went further, "Indeed the point is stronger than that: 'reverse causation' may account for most of the association between gun ownership and homicide. Kellermann's data simply do not allow one to draw any conclusion." 5 Research conducted by Professors James Wright and Peter Rossi, 6 for a landmark study funded by the U.S. Department of Justice, points to the armed citizen as possibly the most effective deterrent to crime in the nation. Wright and Rossi questioned over 1,800 felons serving time in prisons across the nation and found: 81% agreed the "smart criminal" will try to find out if a potential victim is armed. 74% felt that burglars avoided occupied dwellings for fear of being shot. 80% of "handgun predators" had encountered armed citizens. 40% did not commit a specific crime for fear that the victim was armed. 34% of "handgun predators" were scared off or shot at by armed victims. 57% felt that the typical criminal feared being shot by citizens more than he feared being shot by police. Professor Kleck estimates that annually 1,500-2,800 felons are legally killed in "excusable self-defense" or "justifiable" shootings by civilians, and 8,000-16,000 criminals are wounded. This compares to 300-600 justifiable homicides by police. Yet, in most instances, civilians used a firearm to threaten, apprehend, shoot at a criminal, or to fire a warning shot without injuring anyone. Based on his extensive independent survey research, Kleck estimates that each year Americans use guns for protection from criminals more than 2.5 million times annually. 7 U.S. Department of Justice victimization surve
I line my house with slashdot trolls and a few penguins! Keeps even the most dangerous perps at bay!
Fuzdout
..My sig ran away. Has anyone seen my sig?
Car alarms are based on proximity? I thought they were just on a timer, set to go off at 3am.
Kinda low tech, but post a target like this in your window.
1. Motion sensing lights at proper heights placed for full coverage of important areas
2. Motion detector webcam with pre-programmed scanning capabilities (the wireless Toshiba unit is superb http://www.toshiba.com/taisisd/netcam/index.htm)
3. Alarm system securing all major entranced points, and if you can afford it all the screens as well
4. Dog. Even if its a cuddly licker like a lab, dogs can hear and sense things no alarm system can handle. I'm constantly amazed how my lab KNOWS when someone is coming to the house, even when the car is still in the road!
Under no circumstances get a gun. It is a stupid precaution that only serves to increase your risk substantially. Killing someone is a tough thing, and your more likely to get shot with your own weapon (or get sued by someone you shoot) than you are to successfully defend your home.
Or as my friend always says, if you DO end up having to shoot an intruder make sure you finish the job...
-rt
If its legal where she is, and she can safely handle one, consider a gun. Its a last resort option(obviously) but when all else fails, even showing a gun can often deter someone. There are plenty of articles out there on home defense with a gun, so look it up to select a good weapon for her and to get her in the proper mindset to make the right call when she has to decide "shoot or don't shoot?". This is probably the most powerful option, but also the most dangerous if you screw it up(both to your health and legally), so do some serious research before going for it.
Getting a large, or at least loud, dog can be very useful. Something that will bark loudly and incessantly if someone tries to break in, and will fight to defend the property. Be careful here too- the line between a dog that will fight to defend their master and a dog that will fight just because can be very thin, make sure you go to a reputable breeder and trainer if you want a dog that does more than make noise. But as with a gun, the mere presence can be a deterrent. Think about it, you start crowbarring a door and all of the sudden you hear loud, aggressive barking on the other side- all surprise is gone and you might have an animal on the other side ready to kill you. Most criminals will bail at that moment, to seek out an easier and safer(for them) victim.
For alarms, don't use the default alarm tone. 9 times out of 10 if I hear it I ignore it, because its so damn common and most of the time its only going off because it was set too sensitive. Choose something out of the ordinary. Machine guns, explosions, screams, something that does not sound like a typical car alarm. It will startle the perp a bit more(being unexpected) and it will be more likely that a passerby will notice and glance over to see whats going on. Also, don't have it too sensitive, if the neighbors know your alarm will go off in a mild wind they won't do anything when it happens. Going to the previous selection, if you can get an alarm that will trigger a realistic recording of a dog barking and growling like its ready to kill, you can get the detterrent(though not the defensive) effect of a guard dog without the cost.
Cameras placed in spots a perp will see when casing the place or running an impulse attack can also be a deterrent. They don't have to be hooked up to have deterrent value, or even be real cameras- a decent looking mockup will still be a deterrent. Of course a real camera that is hooked up can gather evidence in case they fail to deter the perp.
Locks are an obvious one- while they won't stop a determined criminal, they will slow him down and require he make more noise on coming in. Any lock that is not working properly should be replaced immediately, and you might want to consider upgrading really old locks even if they are working right, they might not be as secure as newer models.
Guns are problematic. First, there's the obvious safety issue of having a gun in the house. Second, there's the fact that if you miss (or even if you don't), you could toss a bullet through a wall and kill your kid sleeping in the next room or the neighbor down the block.
Pepper spray is good stuff. It's effective over any range you'll encounter in your house. It's nonlethal, so you can use it without being 100% sure of your target (is that shadow an intruder or my 16 year old sneaking back into the house?). It's even effective if you don't have a clear shot -- spray it into the hall and you'll deny access to a section of the house while you dial 911. And if your kids find it, the worse that can happen is they'll spray themselves and need an eye wash. Painful, but beats a bullet in the head.
Given the real risks of even keeping a handgun, in most realistic scenarios (aka, 35 gang members probably aren't going to rush your house), pepper spray is a far better solution given the overall risk/rewards.
Every year during my review, I just pray the words "slashdot.org" aren't mentioned.
-Put a mannequin in the passenger seat (dressed, of course).
-Wire up a camera to the motion sensor in the driveway. You'll
catch the person(s) breaking in. Also, set the camera, if
possible, to put time & date stamp on the photo.
-Wire a barking dog to the motion sensor in the driveway.
-Put up a fence around the house, with a gate to get in and out
of the driveway.
Think deterrence, and capture, instead of bulletproof system.
If you decide to get a dog, PLEASE rescue one and do not buy a puppy. Too many great dogs are euthanized every day because nobody wants them.
a very big, territorial dog, and a gun in case the dog isn't an effective deterrent.
The FBI tells us that somewhere between 200,000 and 800,000 crimes a year are prevented when the intended victim pulls a gun. The gun is only discharged in 1/10 of 1% of these instances, usually into the air and not at the criminal. So a gun is a very real deterrent, and the odds that you'll actually have to fire it at all are 1 in 1,000, if you're the target of a crime.
Most criminals are cowards. Most criminals will run if their victim is armed *even they're armed themselves*. Don't believe the claptrap that if you own a gun you'll get yourself involved in a shoot-out if you're the target of a criminal. The odds of that happening are extremely low.
Max
My god carries a hammer. Your god died nailed to a tree. Any questions?
Frink: Well as you can see when the burgler trips the alarm, the house raises from its foundation and runs down the street around the corner to safety .... won't burn quite so fast.. mohoy!
*house model crashes, goes in flames with the human figurines as well*
Frink: Hah.. well the real humans won't
How about we mix it up a little:
What about:
A vicious camera(robots these days)
A visible fake dye capsue
And my personal favorite: An exploding dog.
And of course that a sign that says, "Exploding dog tracking system installed"
I wouldn't want to fuck with that house.
Monstar L
While living in downtown Miami, my passenger-side window was bashed out one night at a time when I lacked the funds to replace it.
Nearly every night thereafter for several months, there were intruders into my vehicle. Bums slept in it, random shady passersby stuck their heads in for a look just in case anything good might have been forgotten there; the crappy broken CD player was ripped out of it (I should have thought to stick a little post-it on the thing that said 'only the radio works on this one, please ignore') which sucked because it left me to drive in silence (aside, of course, for the blaring wind and driving rain which couldn't be helped.)
I was living, at this time, in an apartment directly above the busy street (Biscayne & 24th, for those familiar) on which I left the car parked, and became obsessed with running to the window to see if anyone was rooting through my poor little car, and dialing 911 and giving them descriptions of the people in the car right then.
Anyway, I finally solved the problem (until I was able to replace the window, anyway) with a home-made, zero-cost, silly-as-fucking-shit system of my own device: I ran a piece of twine down from my window and around the opposite side of the car, such that it was tied to the inside door-handle of the passenger side. That way, if the passenger door were to be opened, the bag of loud things I tied the other end of the string to would jingle! Ingenious, I know! I did this every single night.
Sure, the system could have been circumvented easily enough, but it wasn't! My car was never entered by another single foreign body. Which leads me to the MORAL OF THE STORY:
Don't shy away from doing silly shit like this, because it doesn't even matter whether it would work or not: it's the psychology of the thing that's important. If you make people feel like they're being watched--especially if you're able to make them feel like they're being watched by a crazy, potentially violent person (as I no doubt did and possibly was)--then they will leave your shit alone.
Insightful as all get-out, I know.
Art Schools Dietzilla
Isn't your mom lucky? She can participate in an opportunity she didn't have just a few days ago. Now she can buy a AK-47 (the weapon of choice for home-defense professionals in some of the worst places in the world, like Iraq and Afghanistan) with as many combat-style accessories as she wants. Just tell her to buy a Bushmaster and put a sign on the lawn saying "Tresspassers beware - I can shoot you in the ass 80 times in a minute and then bayonet your corpse from here to Denver"
We had an attempted break-in this summer, and man did it freak me out. They didn't get in, but I could see the handprints on the windows they had tried to open. I called the police.
When the cop arrived, he pointed out a few things that he said could make the house more inaccessible, but he said that in all his years of investigating break-ins that he's never seen anything taken from a house with a dog. Not a fuzzy laprat -- a dog of 40 pounds or more. In fact, he mentioned that the people across the street from me were broken into that night and had some cash and jewelry stolen. They don't have a dog.
Then, a week later, I received a packet from the local police department, about 50 pages or so on how to protect your home. It included some very useful information. It showed the differences between cheap and useful locks on doors and windows. It showed how thieves try to circumvent most common types of doors, windows, and locks. It covered security lighting, alarms, realistic opinions of subscription security services (i.e. waste of money), landscaping considerations and patio furniture considerations.
So, rather than ask a bunch of tech nuts, just call your local police department and see if they have such a packet. As much as we hate cops when we get speeding tickets or raided for warez ops, when it comes to protecting your family they're generally willing to help.
http://www.nrahq.org/women/index.asp
I'm not kidding. Watch geese make a whole lot of noise when they spot an intruder, and they're aggressive, too. They also have the effect of confusing the hell out of some would-be criminals.
By reading this you acknowledge that you have read it.
Until the police benevolent society office drives into the driveway to solicit for their annual fund. Having a gi-normous gun automagically enter the sights of an armed officer prolly isn't on your list of intended consequences... Remember people have been cut down for brandishing a 3 musketeers bar, much less a large gun-ish erm, - gun.
But hey, it's your descending aorta.
"Win treats sysadmins better than users. Mac treats users better than sysadmins. Linux treats everyone like sysadmins."
The goal here is to get people aware, know that there's someone in the neighborhood who cares, and get them calling the police whenever something isn't right. Having known a number of police in my lifetime I can tell you that they don't mind checking out a "suspicious car/person" while their on duty. Just like Open Source, many eyes improves security.
****
"I'd never want to join a club that would have me as a member" - G. Marx
Yeah...that'll bring back your family after a botched home invasion.
I live in an area where ALOT of people own firearms. That kind of thing doesn't happen here much...you'd have to be farking crazy.
Check out a reputable, local gun shop and invest in some training on how to handle it responsibly. The NRA is pretty big on that kind of thing.
The low tension wires to the started motor are an excellent place to break the circuit. When they try stealing the car, it seems like it has a dead battery. Some bozos in Manchester tried to steal my girlfriend's car which I had installed such a switch into. A quick walk around the block and we found the car perfectly safe in the middle of the road - they had tried push-starting it.
flossie
Write now. Defend liberty
When you're home is invaded, I recommend coming down the stairs with a hockey mask on, wielding a small gas-powered chain saw.
In addition to an outdoor camera, you can get a motion detector and camera kit that turns on a VCR when triggered and also has a German Shepherd voice synthesizer, virtual Robo Dog. All kinds of gagets for a geek, and pretty simple to install even if you aren't. If you want to go for broke you can get the whole security system and program it to turn the lights on after the second time the robo dog barks. Or whatever -- be creative. Smart Home also has stuff (although some of its the same) if you want a 2nd source.
Finally, if you're in Bush Country, just go door-to-door with your good buddies Smith & Wesson (grin).
to the Engineer, the glass is neither half full nor half empty. Its just two times too big.
Your statement about property is state specific.
Massachusetts residents are not allowed to use deadly force to protect property.
Texas residents are allowed to use deadly force to protect property. It is perfectly legal to kill someone for spraypainting graffiti on the side of your building, assuming you catch them in the act and use deadly force to make them stop (as opposed to after they stop, which is retribution, which is not legal.) If someone is running away with your garden gnome and all the way down the block, and you have to decide between letting them go or shooting them in the back with a high powered rifle so you can get your garden gnome back - you can legally do either (your choice.)
Spring guns (booby traps) are still a no-no.
Glonoinha the MebiByte Slayer
Cheap stealth security:
l
t =3
t =6
t =5
t =15
t =16
Install motion detectors under your eves outside, and run a lamp, light fixture inside your house off a sensor switch to alert you when activity is going on. Motion is detected, light inside goes off. Silent alarm. Then call 911 and "embelish" about the eminent threat. Be convincing, sound scared. Police can use deadly force. Better to let them beat/shoot suspect than risk your life or health, or risk being sued.
Very Cheap. Goto http://www.homedepot.com
type : home automation
into their search field.
Look for these items in search result (cannot link directly to catalog, otherwise I would post a link):
(can also goto:http://www.desatech.com/heath/remotehome.htm
Heath Zenith
Wireless Command Remote Motion Sensor
Home Depot Model SL6030WH5
Internet/Catalog # 161731
$24.99 EA
mfg link: http://12.153.20.72/cgi-bin/remotehome.cgi?produc
Heath Zenith
Wireless Command Plug In Lamp Converter w/ alert
Home Depot Model SL6012WH5
Internet/Catalog # 161730
$19.99 EA
mfg link: http://12.153.20.72/cgi-bin/remotehome.cgi?produc
Heath Zenith
Wireless Command Screw In Socket Converter
Home Depot Model SL6010WH5
Internet/Catalog # 161729
$17.99 EA
mfg link: http://12.153.20.72/cgi-bin/remotehome.cgi?produc
mfg also offers kits:
Product: Motion Activated Indoor Alert
Model: 6019
http://12.153.20.72/cgi-bin/remotehome.cgi?produc
Features:
# Alerts you inside to activity outside.
# Includes remote motion sensor and indoor plug-in converter with alert.
# No wiring required.
# Plug-in controls up to 300 Watts of incandescent lighting.
# Plug-in includes audible alert with volume control.
# Sensor turns lights ON and OFF and activates alert up to 100' away.
# Sensor detects motion up to 70' away and 180 arc.
Product: Motion Activated Lamp Socket Control
Model: 6024
http://12.153.20.72/cgi-bin/remotehome.cgi?produc
Features:
# Adds motion security to non-motion lights.
# Includes remote motion sensor and lamp socket converter.
# No wiring required.
# Socket controls up to 150 Watts of incandescent lighting.
# Sensor turns ON and OFF up to 100' away.
# Sensor detects motion up to 70' away and 180 arc.
Look, I understand not wanting to hurt people, but you have to realize anyone that is commiting a crime against you is typically a peice of shit that deserves to be hurt.
I was once the same way, but having been robbed/stolen from several times in the past, my general philosophy has evolved so that as far as I'm concerned, once someone has decided that it is both necessary and appropriate to try to steal from or injure me or those under my protection, they have made a conscious decision that their life is now forfit. As such, I'm now the proud owner of several firearms that are kept with me basically all the time and will NOT hesitate to shoot to kill if necessary.
This brings me to an important point, if you decide to adopt my general outlook on things, get intimately familier with your local and state laws on when you can and cannot use leathal force, they vary greatly from place to place. For example, in Colorado where I live, it is perfectly legal to kill someone if you feel they have both the opportunity and means to injure/kill you or another person. This can amount to them saying they're going to kick your ass, then charging you. It's considered perfectly clean to throw down and blow their ass away right there. However, it is not legal to kill in defense of property unless it is to protect yourself/others. So you couldn't go outside and kill some duche for stealing your car stereo (sadly) unless he pulls a knife or something on you when you confront him. You could still beat his ass, just don't shoot or you'd likely eat a manslaughter charge. Now if he's trying to burn down your house and you do the world a favor, that would be fine, as arson often directly endangers human life. Meanwhile, in Texas (among several other states), it is perfectly leagal to kill in defense of property, so you will without question want to check on those laws.
Other than that, all I can tell you is to remember that anyone commiting a crime against you quite likely doesn't give a shit about you or anyone else and could care less what happens to you. I recommend you do the same when it comes to them. Oh, and make sure to shoot to kill. I can't count the number of times I've seen news stories where someone has been paralized robbing a house or mugging someone, but then managed to sue their victim and win a sizeable judgement in civil court. So make sure the only people that can sue are their family who will have a much harder time convincing the judge that they need $2 million to make up for the loss of that abortion their mother should have had.
It's a cold, nasty world out there. All you have to do to ensure your continual survival is just be the most stone cold motherfucker on the planet. Hope that helps. Good luck.
Request: ECM unit, 1000 km fullerene cable, 1 tactical nuclear weapon. Reason: Birthday party for foreign dignitary.
Killing someone because of trespassing? Someone that's almost surely unarmed!? That's the last solution I would've chosen, if at all.
Flame me all you want, but deep down you know it's wrong. Guess Michael Moore was into something in the movie Bowling For Columbine.
>A dog like a labrador has a more 'friendly' bark that might not worry a hardened criminal. But that rottweiler sound, that will make anyone think twice.
:)
That's not true about Labradors at all. I live in the middle of nowhere 20 miles from town. I have 2 Labs, a black and a yellow and 2 Goldens. When I go into town (which has a high gang ratio) and bring my Black Lab *everyone* clears the way. He is big and has presence and doesn't do the "I love everyone to death!" attitude my Goldens do. I once was lost at night somewhere and had the same black Lab with me and locked him in the car while I ate dinner at the Denneys. When I came back and opened the door I couldn't see him anywhere. Then I looked down and saw he was coiled up front under the steering wheel just daring anyone to try and get in the car. I also have never had anyone dare enter the yard when he is around and when I lived in town in a little duplex even my landlady didn't dare come through till I locked him up. Also, he has the meanest bark I have ever heard, along with flashing white teeth. My yellow Lab may look less scarey but he A: Has a big bark and B: He has has a higher intelligence about people than most Rottweilers. Most Rotts think everyone is the Bad Guy. Not This dog. When I had a new washer delivered to my house and was home he never even barked, just watched. Everytime somebody comes around with no business being here he acts like he is going to eat them.
The Goldens bark but then try and "love" you
BTW, speaking as a dog trainer and having worked in kennels for many years the very BEST guard dog in the world is a Chesapeak Bay Retriever. They are gentle and loyal with the elderly and children but make the best, most intelligent guard dogs there is. A Chessie is NOT afraid to knock a perp over and stand on them snarling in there face and only bite if necessarly till help arrives without any training in protection work.
Also, they love to "be tough" without actually being mean. A friend who had one let his loose in his yard when some car pulled up in his driveway at 1 AM and the two people started necking. His dog Eric, quietly approached the car, slipped into the open window and then roared like a bear, scaring the crap out of the couple who drove off in a hurry.
Fuzdout
..My sig ran away. Has anyone seen my sig?
A couple of months ago I had a neighbor break into my house and thought I wouldn't notice. As soon as I got home I did, and on consulting a camera in my living room I found pictures of her where she shouldn't have been.
Video cameras are great, but require lots of tape and can wear out, even digital ones require large amounts of disk space.
I was very happy that I was using a MemoCam that I had picked up in a thrift store back in December. I was very eager to use it as I had a pair of DVD's disappear the month before, and after many months of sitting idle it found my burglar (at least in this one case).
As for the camera, it's a small B&W cam that uses IR to detect motion, when detected it starts snapping pictures to a MMC card. It even supports scheduling so I have it automatically enable motion detection soon after I leave for work and disable it again just before I get home.
With such a device, there is always the risk that it could be stolen, along with the pictures it contains. To help prevent such an occurrence I have since improved my camera arrangement in my home... all I will say is that I now have more than one camera and not even a burglar setting fire to the place could prevent me from having good, usable pictures of the event.
For those who didn't go to the link above, my burglar initially denied everything until she was confronted with the pictures by the police. She's now facing charges of 2nd degree burglary and petty theft, charges that carry maximum jail terms of 10 years in the state pen and 30 days in the county jail respectively.
We are now at 3 months to the day since the break in and still the wheels of justice are turning slow... but at least they are turning, all because I am paranoid enough to have a camera in my home.
Help Brendan pay off his student loans
Yeah, and if the thief got nuked, your friend would have been liable.
:P Told them I'd make any statement they wanted once I was allowed to talk with my lawyer -- why do you need an attorney, they asked, unless you are guilty...well if I'm not being charged, let me go...if I'm being charged, I think I need to talk with someone. And thats how the entire conversation went...for 5 fucking hours.
I say this after being interrogated for 5 hours because I booby trapped my lil' Triumph Spitfire several years back when I was in college.
I had gotten a removable cd player from a friend that owed me money -- he pulled it out of his car and said it was collateral. Turns out, he took off the week after that and never came back. So I had to figure out how to put the thing in my car and with the help of a friend that was an EE major...I don't think they were intended to work without the cage, but we got it working and build a new nonremovable enclosure for it and popped it in where the radio should have gone.
Spitfires are convertibles and the locks never worked, so with the help of the same friend, we worked on a trap. Got two frames and embedded razor blades at a 45 degree angle inward on both sides. Very easy to put your hand in, but pulling it out is a little difficult. For added effect, we tinsnipped the blades to be a bit more jagged.
For the final portion, Mike hooked in a charged capacitor to a bar in the middle...slap your hand up against it without discharging it and you are going to have a nasty shock. Most likely try to yank your hand out...hmmm...see where I'm going with this?
Not less than two weeks later I come out to my Triumph to see the leather pulled off the front of the radio (I did try to conceal it by pimping out the console in leather -- looked really nice). and my radio was half pulled out...and a pool of congealing blood on the passenger side seat and floor.
Turns out some neighborhood kid tried stealing it and ended up at the hospital (which was only 2 blocks from my dorm). There was still some skin on the blades...when I removed them (I started freaking out because I knew the possibility that this would come into use, but didn't think about what would happen if it was used).
A few minutes after trashing the razor'd frames I get a knock on my dormroom door from the police asking me some questions.
For the next 5 hours I was interrogated about trapping my vehicle and if I knew it was illegal. I claimed ignorance. One cop tried being the good guy while the other was the asshole. The good guy confided to me that in his day he too set some 'nigger traps'. His words not mine. I found it pretty appalling as most of my friends at the dorm were black including the EE that helped me set the trap. C'mon, he said, I'm a good ol' boy -- you can tell what you did. I simply told him I was going to file a complaint about his use of racial bigotry and that he shouldn't be a cop and that the fact that the video camera in the back of the room with the taped over record light was visible recording as you could still see the light and I thought his captain should know about this. A thief is a thief and I've had far more white people fuck with me than blacks ever have...so he really pissed me off with this line.
His mood changed and the asshole cop came back with the boys mother. The 'boy' was 17 and it was said he almost lost his hand (doubtful) and that he had to get his arm required 60+ stitches and some vascular surgery on his vein. Poor baby...fucker tries stealing from me, and he is being coddled while I am being interrogated. Fuck him and fuck his mother...I told her point blank I hoped he did loose his fucking hand and maybe he could see what it really is like to go without for a while.
5 hours of this alternating between police officers. it was bullshit. And it was 8 years ago, so I'm well past the statutes of limitations on this as charges were never files and I never made a statement
The fuck
I heard it slightly different... Better to be judged by 12 than carried by 6.
Think for yourself, destroy your television.
No, he didn't set out intending to kill anybody at all. In response to repeated roberries, he set out to defend his business, which he has every right to do. Why the hell are you defending the robbers anyway, instead of the poor old man who was repeatedly victimized? Get your priorities straight!
...can be found at nononsenseselfdefense.com.
but what do i know, i'm just a model.
In addition, he was facing armed robbers.
You could've hired me.
You can put together a home video security system on the cheap if you can hang a webcam somewhere usefull. I'm running Suse 9.1 on a Celeron 433 with a measley 128MB of ram and a software called motion that does motion detection and can save video or individual images to disk (or off-site) when it does.
When I travel I have the webcam pointed at the enterance and setup to ftp any captured frames to another server. When I'm home I put the software in streaming mode, point the webcam out the window and broadcast my view:
http://astroturtle.dyndns.org/
This won't prevent your mom's car getting broken into but I'll give you some ammo to hand over to the cops!
More linux video resorces here: http://www.exploits.org/v4l/
Good luck,
--
Luis Esteves
http://www.astroturtle.com
--- http://www.astroturtle.com
Doesn't *matter* if he'd been robbed, he still killed somebody. He set out intending to shoot and kill a person, which in pretty much *any* country is murder.
No.
In some US states, anyone who breaks into your domicile (that includes house or vehicle) can be shot, even if no other crime has been committed.
IOW, just the mere fact that a stranger is in the house w/o permission from the owner is justification for shoot-to-kill.
Anti-gun activists in Louisiana brayed that the streets would run red with blood if such a law were passed, and the law was passed, and, of course, blood hasn't run down the streets...
Brady types tried to spread the same fear about a concealed-carry weapon law, and the same lack of blood in the street occured.
"I don't know, therefore Aliens" Wafflebox1
I was watching from my window when I saw a guy breaking into my shed. I called the police.
"I'm sorry, sir, but we don't have any cars available to check it out."
I couldn't believe it. I was calling to tell them that I was witnessing a crime in progress, and they couldn't be bothered to come arrest the guy.
I waited for one minute and called again.
"Hi, I called to tell you that someone was breaking into my shed. Don't worry, I shot him."
Two minutes later, four police cars and an ambulance pulled up to my house, catching the guy red-handed. The lieutenant in charge was pretty upset.
"I thought you said you shot him!"
"I thought you said there weren't any cars available!"
There's not really anything you can do, except park in the garage. There's one thing the cops tell you to do - keep your car showroom clean. That means nothing inside. Someone will smash your window to get an empty pop can. They'll steal quarters from the tool booth bin, or anything else.
If you're tired of paying for repairs, keep it clean and keep it unlocked. They can't break in if it's already open.
---
ECHELON is a government program to find words like bomb, jihad, plutonium, assassinate, and anarchy.
An increase in crimes = increase in patrol.
Please DO report it to the police. Some people say it's a waste of time, but they are wrong. While you might not see a detective looking into your case, your issue will be documented and will be part of the police departments stats.
As others have said, boobie traps might sound like a good idea, but they aren't. As you have said motion sensors and car alarms don't stop someone who is really wanting to steal something.
Be pro-active - don't leave anything in the car that can be stolen (or seen to be stolen).
you forgot to douse the pins with antifreeze.
Snowden and Manning are heroes.
Now for the really geeky solution...
1) Motion sensor switches on PC and video cam.
2) PC checks for changes to video image, and if changes exceed predetermined threshold, plays sound of bolt action hunting rifle being loaded.
3) PC switches on laser and uses servo to guide red dot onto largest area of change in video image....
4) PC waits a few seconds and if changes persist, plays loud sound of heavy caliber rifle firing and triggers flashgun, followed by muttering about damn laser sight...
5) Police follow trail of brown (and rather smelly)footprints to determine where perp came from.
To cut to the chase, about the only thing you can do is make certain the car alarm is working. Consider installing a good alarm system in your mother's house, since a car is expendable, but your mother is not.
Ignore the testosterone-laden bozos who tell you to buy a gun for your mother. A gun will have no deterrent value. Criminals are not telepathic. They will not know there's a gun in the house they're about to break into.
Once a criminal is in the house, of course, your mother can wave her gun around. That may, in fact, protect her. It may also involve her in months and months of legal anguish. If you do buy her a gun, be sure you also buy her some training so she doesn't shoot herself.
Remember, too, that the cops' job is to catch people after they commit a crime. Unless you can talk the local town council into stationing a police patrol in front of your mother's house, I wouldn't expect too much from them.
In the end, the real solution may be to move, if that is realistic.
-- Slashdot: When Public Access TV Says "No"
I mean, who's going to mess with your pet cougar, or puma?
What is the robbing of a bank, compared to the founding of a bank? -- Bertolt Brecht
A person who would break into an occupied house is taking a risk. This burglar knows people have guns. I assume he is aware that to maintain his freedom, he may have to fight the occupant. Violence is inherent in the act of breaking and entering.
Robbing a house is no different from robbing a bank. If you rob believing that everyone would rather give up their property than hurt someone over material goods, you're in the wrong business. I won't risk my family on the assumption that a burglar is working within a code of ethics.
Well, not what you might expect, but it seems to me being a geek is also questionning the conventional way people solve problems.
You alluded to the context- your neighbourhood's crime rates are rising. I haven't looked at criminology data in an organized way, and not recently, but I encourage you to do so. There are a few things I have heard about that seemed quite promising- e.g. community gardens encourage people to be out and about where they would be more likely to notice suspect activity (not sure if that's necessarily accurate, but it seems like a good deterrent, especially as most small B&Es are made by people within a short distance of their residence). Traffic calming also sounds intriguing, as they also make for more active neighbourhoods and slower getaways. Leaving only 1 or 2 exits out of a suburban area also increases the psychological pressure on intruders.
You might also have immediate causes to the crime wave that aren't being dealt with by the police- gangs and/or increased drug use. These can be sometimes addressed by neighbourhoods and congregations in a more tactful way than police can- although requesting more visible presence can do wonders.
All this of course doesn't negate the need for a good alarm system and/or a dog. I would however steer clear of guns- if it's a young gang member trying to get quick money for his next hit, they're more likely to escalate if they see their victim has a gun. No amount of stuff is worth risking life and limb.
Information: "I want to be anthropomorphized"
A person is justified in using deadly force against another to protect land or tangible, movable property: when and to the degree he reasonably believes the deadly force is immediately necessary: to prevent the other's imminent commission of arson, burglary, robbery, aggravated robbery, theft during the nighttime, or criminal mischief during the nighttime; or to prevent the other who is fleeing immediately after committing burglary, robbery, aggravated robbery, or theft during the nighttime from escaping with the property; and he reasonably believes that: the land or property cannot be protected or recovered by any other means; or the use of force other than deadly force to protect or recover the land or property would expose the actor or another to a substantial risk of death or serious bodily injury.
So, if you're commiting a crime at night, you're fair game. I feel sorry for thieves and murderers in Texas, whenever they go to work, they're taking their lives in their hands.
Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
Its the Japanese student incident. Pity this home owner didnt have a hologram wookie...
.44 Magnum-carrying Rodney Peairs. Yoshihiro, thinking he had
found the party after all, stepped towards Mr. Peairs and said, "
'We're here for the party' ". Webb Haymaker then found himself
standing over his dying friend, Yoshihiro Hattore, a victim of
unintentional homicide."
Baton Rouge, Lousiana--October 17, 1992--8:30 P.M
"A Japanese exchange student, Yoshihiro Hattori, was searching for a party he had been invited to. Thinking he had found the house in which the social would take place, Yoshihiro knocked on the door. Not knowing that they had the wrong house Yoshihiro and his companion startled the proprietor. After having the front door shut in their face the two boys began walking back to Yoshihiro's car. Yoshihiro Hattori and his friend, Webb Haymaker, then turned back towards the house upon hearing the carport door open behind them. Instead of seeing the party's host, these two boys were greeted by a " 'Freeze' " and a
In post Patriot Act America, the library books scan you.
I tend to agree with you but how is a rifle which fires a more powerfull cartredge offer a greater opportunity not to kill?
Compared to a shotgun? It's the difference between one small hole and a saucer-sized circle of nine big ones (or one saucer-sized hole, depending on the shotgun load).
But it is hard to generalize, since rifles and their ammunition come in a wide variety of calibers, energies, and bullet expansion characteriesics. Just remember that the shotgun shoots more bullets at once, propelling them with more total powder, to get the general idea. One shotgun blast is like emptying the magazine of a rifle.
Downside to both rifles and shotguns: They're long (even the "short" ones). If the bad guy gets within arms-reach (which he can do from across the room in under a second) he can get behind the muzzle and you're toast. A pistol MIGHT be usable even while he's wrestling with you or knifing you.
That time issue, though, is why, as part of your training, you learn a two-sided coin:
Heads: You NEVER point a gun at anything you aren't willing to destroy.
Tails: If you are pointing a gun at the bad guy, you ALREADY DECIDED that you're justified if you use it and you're going to pull the trigger if he makes ONE MORE MOVE toward you.
Once the gun is pointed you don't have time to wrestle with your conscience if it turns out you have to use it. So get that over with (and the safety off) BEFORE you point it.
Don't try to wing him, either. Not only is it a bad idea self-defense wise (it's hard enough hitting him near the center of the torso in a stressful situation), it's also evidence that you didn't think deadly force was necessary (so why did you use it?) This can turn a justifiable homicide into assault with a deadly weapon once it gets to court.
Either you fear for life-and-limb (of yourself or someone properly under your protection, like a family member or guest) or you don't. If you do, you are justified in using deadly force - and the bad guy gets to take his chances (about one in four) of dying as a result of his criminal decisions. If you don't, you're not justified in shooting, or pointing, at all. (At least in most jurisdictions. Some, like Texas, let you defend your home, car, etc. Others still have a "fleeing felon" rule - or a judicial interpretation (Oregon) that you might fear the crook is running out to his car to get some firepower or reenforcements. Still others (like MA) require you to flee if you physically can, even at home, abandoning the baby and risking a shot in the back.)
For myself:
Home defense at the townhouse: 12 guage shotgun with #40 birdshot. Quite as effective as 00 buck at in-house distances, but passing through a copule layers of drywall will slow it down enough that it won't kill the neighbors.
Ditto at the country house: 12 guage w/00 buck. (Closest houses are over 1/10th mile away and the siding is wood over wood, shots where a good guy is behind the bad guy and an interior wall virtually impossible.)
Personal carry: 38 special airweight for cities, 45 ACP backup for country hikes (where I might have to deal with a coyote, mountain lion, bobcat, or bear). Will probably switch to 357 magnum now that NV alows more than two on the license, since slide-actions are more often problematic in a pinch. Both only where it's legal, of course. (I.e. in NV but not CA.)
And of course the personal carry pistol can be used for home defense if you happen to have it handy - like when you've just arrived, are unloading the luggage, and haven't pulled the shotgun out of the safe yet. A likely time for a bad guy to come at you, when things are open and you're distracted.
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
Sorry, I was wrong earlier today, used up my allowance of 'wrong' so I'm just gonna have to be right on this one. I'm sure you understand.
Texas Penal Code Chapter 9 Subchapter D Subsection 9.42 says (and I'm quoting) : Aww hell, read it yourself. Scroll about 3/4 the way down, look for '9.42. Deadly force to protect property.'
Long story short, it's not a myth. Fun fact - it doesn't even have to be your property. Watch a purse snatcher take a random woman's purse, if she screams for your help you are legally authorized to shoot him to death and recover her purse. Check out PC 9.43, sub 2A (also in that link.)
You would be awed by the different circumstances under which you are legally allowed to kill a man in Texas. Your life is going to suck for a while if you do, and you may need to retain a lawyer - but when push comes to shove if you were acting in good faith, have a clean record, and were protecting yourself, your family, or your personal property you will get away with it.
Glonoinha the MebiByte Slayer
Canadians are also better educated than Yanks. Go figure.
-- "...I'm a bad guy because I, well, I sing some rock-and-roll songs." M. Manson
Nowhere in your article did I see:
"Keep the gun in a location where it cannot be stolen and cannot be used by your 12 year old to shoot his best friend or himself in the face while playing with it". IE, in a gun safe, or with a trigger lock, etc.
I used to drive by a billboard every day that had about 12 pictures of kids, all who shot themselves or were shot by a friend, playing with a parent's gun.
Please help metamoderate.
You calling me stupid? I'll bust a cap in yo ass!
"Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
The classic example is the robber that enters, gets shot by the homeowner, and drags himself outside to die. If the guy dies in the house (or maybe just on the property) then it's clearly a case of defense. If he dies outside, it can be construed that he was fleeing. Big fat gray/grey area.
No, that is not the classic example. Where the intruder dies is irrelevant, where he was shot is relevant. The classic example contrasts the robber being shot in the house vs. being **shot outside**. The difference is not legal vs. illegal, it is the presumption of imminent threat. In many states in the US, an intruder who is a stranger and who has forced his way into a home is presumed, by legal statute, to be a theat unless there is evidence to the contrary. Outside no such legal presumption exists and there will be more explaining to do by the homeowner.
Sorry, accidentally posted anonymously.
Asnwer this then: 1/5th the gun deaths in Canada compared to the US.
One of many social factors: The US war on drugs. Many homicides are drug related, directly or indirectly.
The guy you pepper spray can get pissed off and come back and kill you tomorrow. (What's the worst you can do to him? Pepper spray him again?)
The intruder you shoot in your hallway won't be bothering anyone ever again.
Pepper spray is a useful weapon. It's an incomplete substitute for a gun though.
The assault rate per 100,000 is higher in Canada.
Sexual Assault, 32.8 per 100k US to 77.5 Canada
Robbery higher in US, 144.9 to 88.0 but there is no mention if this includes use of a gun
Aggravated assault, Canada is higher with 761 to 323.
These are numbers for 2000...
Only problem aligning the two is definitions... I found that Aggravated Assualt in Canada is 3 categories but usually all clumped together.
What the numbers usually imply that if the criminal knows your not supposed to be armed you are an easier mark. This was proven a few times in Washington DC by comparing the times of day when certain crimes occured and how ofter. DC has very strict gun control laws...
Laws don't mean anything to most criminals. Access to guns is very easy and the better deterrent is to make yourself unattractive to would be assailants.
This can include..
1. Stay in very visible areas.
2. Living in a well lit area
3. House on the main street of a neighborhood
4. Front side apartments
5. Living where gun ownership is permitted (esp carry/concealed)
6. Having nosy neighbors
7. Keeping doors and windows locked and closed on ground levels.
8. Having a well lit backyard. (fences can work against you)
9. Dogs are nice.
10. Home security systems and signs to help "advertise it" - (will deter some)
There are many things to deter crime, don't for a minute think laws have much to do with it.
* Winners compare their achievements to their goals, losers compare theirs to that of others.
Mini cameras are cheap and easy to hook up to an old computer. for under 500 bucks you can have a 360 degree in car camera system that delivers the video wirelessly to your home or apartment from the parking lot/street. Use a computer hooked up to a power converter all concealed in the spare tire compartment of your trunk.
If you have significant dough rolled into your car audio system, consider creating a massive short circuit to the components when your equipment is removed without authorization. This could simply be a battery hooked up in reverse triggered by a pressure switch on your speaker box or head unit. before the unit gets completely removed, the hidden battery sends a charge to the components rendering them uslessless. Trust me, thieves will completely destroy your car to get out the electronics. Its cheaper for you to allow them to easily removed completely useless stuff, than to make it so they have to pry your dash apart. AND THEY WILL PRY YOUR DASH APART IF THEY HAVE TOO.
I have seen thieves tear through the back seat when people have thier trunks bolted shut. I have also seen thieves completely destroy components they can remove in anger.
Regardless of what you do, the most import step you can do to safegaurd your investment is to INSURE it. You can get an extra rider on your home/auto insurance to protect expensive items. Insure thoroughly, it is just stuff, you can replace it.
The best insurance for your valuable data is daily off site back ups. If all else fails keep your data in a different safe than your finances. How many thieves expect 2 safes in a non-mansion?
Looks like it is time to replace your Personality Module. You are a bit to clingy, guess I better replace your fuser to
Killing someone because of trespassing? Someone that's almost surely unarmed!? That's the last solution I would've chosen, if at all.
"Because of tresspassing". Not even "because he tresspassed". Already your bending the language to avoid putting the responsibility where it belongs - on the person who chose to "tresspass", almost certainly as the first step of committing a more serious crime - like car theft, vandalism, rape, burglary, etc.
But you DON'T shoot somebody who's just tresspassing. You warn them off (or in some jusisdictions, if you have evidence of a lot more than tresspass, demand they stay put with their hands where you can see them until the police arrive to sort it all out.)
If you'd actually TAKEN the course recommended by the original poster, you'd know that.
As for "unarmed":
If you point a gun at somebody and demand that he leave, and he comes at you instead, either he's armed or plumb crazy and thinks he's strong enough to take you DESPITE the gun. Either way a "reasonable and prudent person" would believe that he's about to take "serious bodily harm" unless he does something.
THAT's the legal standard for firing.
But not for KILLING. You fire to STOP THE ATTACK. Maybe one in four he dies. His tough luck.
If you're a 120-pound skinny (or 250-pound fat) nerd and he's a 280-pound muscle-bound felon who spent two years pumping iron in stir until they let him out last week, he doesn't NEED a weapon to take you. But that doesn't mean he doesn't have one. Him coming at you after you point a gun at him and tell him to leave is a VERY strong hint.
Fortunately, most crooks are smart enough to realize that if you've got the gun pointed at them it's time to leave now. So you almost NEVER have to shoot.
But (like seatbelts, fire extinguishers, and armies) you have to be READY and WILLING to use them when they're needed or there's no point in having them in the first place. And some human predators are good enough at reading your resolve that they'll know if you're NOT willing to shoot - so you have to be willing.
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
Why don't you build yourself a vomit-inducing microwave gun? Or play a diarrhea-inducing infrasound mp3 using a motion-controlled mp3 server? There are loads of useful non-lethal options to explore, some of them may be illegal though.
http://www.stickdeath.com/2004auto.html
"Guns don't kill you - rappers do."
Do get the dog. Others posted that, I am just saying do it.
Get home security stickers. You know, the protected by ADT kind. Buying the system is optional however. Monitoring will let you know you have been hit, but the big deterrent is simply the idea that the system is there. Place them and the yard signs in obvious places.
Use outside lights that are on all the time. Lighting your home up costs a bit, but nothing says go away like a nice clean home that is well lit.
Make sure the place is clean and sharp.
Start or participate in a local neighborhood watch program. These things are pretty cool. You get to know the local folks. Everyone takes turns just keeping an eye out. We have regular people who will walk around the block every so often just to see what has changed.
Meet your neighbors. After you get to know one another you can better watch for changes or people that are not supposed to be there. Also it's nice to have somebody to tell when you are not going to be home for a while.
Along the clean and sharp line, step away from the house and look at the neighborhood. Whose house would you hit? Do those simple things that keep your house at the bottom of the list. Make sure there are no easy temptations. Sometimes it's a slippery slope with minor property crime. A couple of successful hits on a particular home will make the perp more comfortable. Do not encourage that.
Use house timers to vary the interior lighting in the evening. Again, this costs a bit, but does a lot to keep you at the bottom of the list. Change is bad for planning crime.
Put a little radio or television somewhere and leave it on where it can just be heard outside in the evening, but not annoying to your neighbors.
There is no real security. If somebody really wants to hit your place they are going to be able to do it. The key is making them consider another option.
Blogging because I can...
There was a post above asking why gun deaths in Canada are so much lower than that of the US, and now finally I understand why - rampant garden gnome theft in Texas.
" When you're sleeping, those aren't particularly effective. ;-)"
I had a crazy idea while listening to a tutor talk about what he is researching on.
He was talking about 'computer vision'. So basically a computer can look at something using 2 cameras and gauge its distance/etc relative to itself.
So I was thinking.. "Hey, how about if I mount that array onto a gun, and then mount the whole shebang onto a turret?"
That's be so cool!
And better yet, I'll have a small hole in the ground and put the whole turret inside, so that it is protected and only shows up when needed.
Of course, now that it is dormant, we need to wake it up. What then? And I imagined that if we use pressure sensors embedded around the house and in the garden, the coordinating targetting computers can immediately aim the turrets in the right direction so that when it comes out, it is ready to fire.
For added effect, add a million laser pointers. And put like 6 of these on every side of your house.
And there you go, a winner geek's home defense system =)
**If you are really paranoid, you might want to mount SAM/bazooka launchers onto those turrets too! Good for stopping an oppressive govt cold! What can they do? Nuke the whole nation?
Online backup with Mozy, sounds like Ozzie, but more!
About 95% of the posts are about guns, and people wanting others to know they have a clue or two about them. intresting..
The camera idea is good only to ID the perp, and is the solution I would suggest if using a gun is not an option for your mother.
I have an old SGI Indy which runs capture upon movement software (securitylite, its free at freeware.sgi.com). When it detects movement it will start to capture and page me via text msg. When I get the page, I can load a page hosted on my G5 which will allow me to view a real time qt stream from its camera. As this is happening, the Indy is sending frames to a remote ftp server (just in case it is stolen). The set up is simular to what I have been using since 1995, I'm sure there are several windows apps which will do the same and more.
it won't prevent anything from happening, but we'll have a better idea who to look for.
I just took the sounds of the weapons from Doom (the original) and set them up to motion and pressure sensors. Playback begins on a trip. Scars the crap outta crooks, and drunks.
Good programmers drink beer to relieve job stress.
Great programmers drink hard liquor and work best hungover.
As previous posters have pointed out, the man did not set out to kill anyone. He just took precautions against future crimes and waited until the armed robber clearly posed a threat to him.
I will never understand people like you, who are bothered by the average person having the right to defend themself when their life is clearly being threatened. Does it make you feel better if only the police can have means to protect anyone? You know, the police can't be everywhere, and they're not going to take responsibility for every crime that they could not prevent. Morally, I don't know how you could say that a person robbing someone else has more rights than the one being robbed. I'm not advocating vigilante justice, far from it. I'm saying that somebody should not be legally required to submit to the whims of armed thugs.
When you're sleeping, those aren't particularly effective. ;-)
But the NRA and CRPA bumper stickers (and the "I'd rather be hunting" license plate frame) on the car in the driveway IS. B-)
In particular, the burglars that were working their way down our street a few years back skipped two houses - the retired cop two doors up (whose son had similar stickers) and ours.
Current neighborhood has a couple gangs trying to move in. They've intimidated witnesses - with both minor and major vandalism - elsewhere on our block. They have NOT done that to OUR place. B-)
Closest they came is when their spokesthug came buy and asked the wife (an NRA-certified fireams / personal-protection instructor B-) who smokes on the front porch and watches neighborhood goings-on) whether she was worried about attacks or breakins. She said, no, she'd just shoot anybody who tried to attack her. But wasn't she worried about her guns being stolen while she was gone? No, because the firesafe weighs too much to steal without special equipment.
Been here over 5 years, no problems so far. B-)
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
The turret is only responsible for rotational aiming, and a servo/pivot thing will flip the weapons towards the ENEMY. Rifle/chaingun/whatever is such that it points skywards when it is parked in the firehole.
Maybe if you make the turret pop up very fast, it can actually look even MORE COOL!
The only thing I'm pondering about is if it rains wouldn't all that gunk get into the barrels of your weapons?
Even better, why not make it a cooperative system. So suppose the ENEMY runs away, wouldn't your system lose him? Not if your computers alert your neighbours and wake theirs up too. You will see the turd run down the walkway with a trail of rockets exploding behind him, just like in Duke Nukem Forever! **Except here the ENEMY is fragged before he knows it =)
You'd obviously want to turn this thing off if your kids come home late though.. otherwise they'd innocently step onto the driveway and *boom*... the neighbourhood turns into a warzone.
Online backup with Mozy, sounds like Ozzie, but more!
My high school physics teacher had problems every Halloween with kids blowing up his mailbox with fireworks. He finally took a laser home from school, set up some mirrors and ringed his mailbox with laser tripwires. This was hooked up to a freakin' loud alarm. You get the picture.
If you wanted to take it a step further, you could set up strobe lamps and a camera like the intersection ticket boxes. Multiple view angles would help in case the person has their back to the camera. That way, when the police came by you could hand them glossies and a DV tape of the guy.
The number one rule of burglars must be to go for the low-hanging fruit. (Wow, same rule applies to performance tuning...)
I think burglars are smart enough to notice the burglar alarm sensors around the windows. Just the sight of these can make them choose another house instead of yours. I know someone whose neighbors have all been robbed, even during the afternoon with all sorts of people around, but his house has been spared all these years, thanks to the alarm system.
Get an alarm system with the monitoring through a reputable company.
wire the ignition coil to the ignition key. make sure mom uses gloves before starting said car.
This message brought to you by Jack Schitt's Previously Shat Shit
http://johntitor.strategicbrains.com/CopyrightProo f.cfm
This prediction was made in late 2000, when bush just got elected probably.. so either that guy is a genius, or he is telling the truth
"...Civil war in the United States will begin in 2004 or 2005, as the result of increasingly oppressive police state tactics like warrantless searches and other violations of American civil liberties. It will become common for people to have their doors kicked in and homes violently invaded by police looking for evildoers. The Gestapo-style oppression of innocents by an increasingly oppressive and murderous government will be worst in the cities, so many people will seek refuge in the countryside, but police will soon enough seek them out there too. Civil war will emerge as a more or less continuous series of military sieges and confrontations resembling the Ruby Ridge and Waco police massacres of 1992 and 1993, and it will begin by 2004 or perhaps 2005 (it might not be obvious in the beginning what's actually happening). As time goes on the civil war will become more and more a continuous conflict between paranoid government forces headquartered in the cities, against perceived or imagined threats in the rural civilian population. The American government will wage war against its own citizens, winning most of the battles, but the battling will drag on for years. In the nuclear war of 2015 our cities will be primary targets, so the civil war will end then in favor of the rurals when the government and its domestic armies are destroyed. In this way the nuclear war will be regarded by the survivors as a good thing..."
You will need my home defense system detailed above =)
Online backup with Mozy, sounds like Ozzie, but more!
now, be do have our fair share of murders and stuff (Approx. 60 murders in a population of 4,5 million) but remarably few of them are done with guns. On the other hand, we hav A LOT of MP3s (sub machine gun, full auto), AG3s (Assault rifle, full auto) and Glocks in private homes due to the national guard. But I have never, ever heard of a case where someone has picked up thir rifle to scare the thief away. There are several reasons: If the thief is armed, there's a chance he'll assult you and not run awa since he thinks attack is the best defense. You might end up killing an unarmed person, that is murder unless you were defending yourseld. (note to texans: shooting a garden gnome thief in the back is not self defence). If you detect the thief, the odds of hum bolting away is a lot greater than him attacking you, since it will make him face potentially more problems.
In most US states if someone breaks into your home and you kill them, you can't really be held liable. By getting a garage, if someone should break into your car (assuming it's in said garage), you can safely kill them!
Now, how you get your garage home, is an exercise left for the reader.
Don't think that a small group of dedicated individuals can't change the world. It's the only thing that ever has.
Okay okay okay, too many comments about guns.
. html
Guns are not a reasonable solution for Yo Maing's problem. He/she specifically says "not looking for something that would get someone injured." Guns injure people. Besides, buying a gun and getting proper training just is not an interesting solution to the problem.
If you really want to do a security system on the cheap look into fish alarms like http://www.outdoorsweekly.com/ultrashackfishalarm
If you have one of those, you can set up a tripwire fence of barely visible fishing line around a piece of property so that when somebody or something trips it, a loud alarm goes off with flashing lights. You'll want to go with a non-nylon fishing line though because nylon stretches too much. My dad has used this system while camping in Alaska to ward off grizzlys and he's still alive too!
If $20 is still too much, you can make your own trip-wire circuit: http://www.aaroncake.net/circuits/alarm1.htm
++ Eschew Obfuscation ++
This is like the two guys from the nature film crew, one cameraman and one soundman, filming the lions... one of the lions gets all menacing and starts to make a run towards them...
The sound guy kneels down and starts taking of his boots, the camera guy starts laughing and says "you won't outrun a lion like that."
The sound guy says "I'm not trying to, I'm only going to outrun you."
OK, same principle applies, and I'm being 100% serious here.
You do NOT need to make yourself 100% impregnable, you only need to make sure you aren't the most attractive to the thieves etc
http://slashdot.org/~GuyFawkes/journal
Not those little Canadian geese, the ones with the three foot long necks (I can't remember what they're called. Damnit. Someone help me out here). I have a friend who lives in a... bad area, and trust me, NOONE messes with their three geese. Those suckers will A) Wake up the entire neighborhood B) Rip off a finger C) Crap on your shoe and D) Go for the gonads, all within ten seconds. They're kind of messy, but trust me, nobody is messing with them.
As much as I hate to admit it, booby traps are illegal, and for good reasons. As the article stated, firefighters or other emergency personnel who may have had a legitimate reason to enter the premises would have been at risk too. I do think that the judge's conduct was outrageous and I hope some sort of sanctions can be brought against him. People who go out of their way to stand up for the rights of criminals against their victims in cases like this are scum.
However, these able-bodied societal leeches that suck down money from those of us that are middle class can rot AFAIC. Lock them up and throw away the key.
You do know how expensive it is to imprison people, right? Especially since we have to make room for a hojillion non-violent weed smokers, and thus build new prisons?
It's cheaper to educate and train someone than it is to imprison them. But both cost money, both are social spending. It's just that the latter option doesn't even pretend to have a positive effect; it just tried to prevent future harm.
--grendel drago
Laws do not persuade just because they threaten. --Seneca
...to the motion sensors??
:)
It would be effective and have serious "Aliens Special Edition" cool factor.
I recommend a LED counter for rounds that gets to zero when there are still a few thousand rounds left... so they only *think* its safe
What the parent poster is implying is that owning a gun is less important than it is for the criminal to think you do.
;-)
Therefore, I would suggest doing as follows:
Get a nice NRA bumpersticker and a Beware of Dog sign. Note you don't actually need to have a gun or a dog to make this effective... If you put the bumper stickers on your cars and the sign on your window, it might help a bit.
As a bit of a joke, she could get a toy poodle
I have used similar techniques when required to protect my environments. For example, once I had to go away for two weeks and was unable to lock my door in an area where breakins occur sometimes (though relatively infrequently).
I moved the computers to the back room and covered them, and placed a desk right across from the door. On the desk I placed such books as "The Satanic Witch" by Anton LeVey and an open printout of "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" in the original Middle English open to a random page (assuming that a burgler wasn;t likely to recognize it, and to add to the air of scary ritual, etc). I also placed a clay chalace with a bit of dried dark liquid in the bottom and some other sinister-looking stuff.
It was a lot of fun. For better or worse, nothing came of it.... The idea was to make anyone who entered the apartment feel uneasy and encourage them to leave as fast as possible without taking anything. It should be noted that breakins in that area were usually drug-related (as in involving drug use just prior to the breakin) and such people might steal stuff, but did not generally steal valuables. For example, I knew of someone whose toothbrush was stolen....
LedgerSMB: Open source Accounting/ERP
Man, IT really has fallen in the shitter. We got the smartest people on earth talking about gangs in their neighborhoods....
Here are some suggestions that don't involve firearms.
1.) Locks. If you are like most of the US there is a Kwikset key in knob lock, and maby a deadbolt on your doors. These locks are equivalent to the old style Windows log on screens. You know, the ones that you could bypass with just the Esc key. Look into a Grade 2 or 1 knob or lever lock, and definately a grade 1 deadbolt for all of your exterior doors. Here is where you can actually let your inner geek play in the lock shop. You can get a wide variety of locks with really impressive mechanisms, mostly for pick resistance (this should not concern you as much as lock manufacturers claim, picking requires an incredible amount of skill and time, your average burglar will not possess this, or be willing to spend that much time crouched infront of your door.) and for security against key duplication. Abloy uses rotating discs, Medeco uses pins that need to be placed at the correct hight (like a standard pin tumbler lock) and a correct rotation and tilt. Mul-t-lock incorporates pin in pin construction, MIWA uses magnets.... there are a great many interesting options.
Besides just installing the locks, you should look into a Door wrap, a reinforced strike, and of course make sure your door frame is quite sound. Hollow core doors? Get rid of them.
Ground floor windows? There are many films that can be applied to the window, to make smashing a window a much more difficult task. Single pane windows, for example ones that open say into your basement, can be replaced with lexan.
Trim shrubs and trees so as to make your house visible from the road. Don't allow valuable, easily portable objects to be easily visible through windows. Ask the neighbors to form a simple Neighborhood watch program. If one house in the neighborhood was robbed, expect more to be... Another good, and often free service, is to ask your local police to perform a quick security survey of the property. You may also want to ask a locksmith what he/she thinks.
Wrong, moron. Don't be so quick to open your damn fool mouth, it makes you look mentally retarded when people show exactly why you should have just stayed quiet.
Try ex-armed guard. We had to learn when we could and couldn't shoot people. Someone steals a bag of money from a armored transport but doesn't give you any reason to believe they are going to attempt to harm you, you can't shoot them in Colorado. They pull a gun on you, but turn and run before you fire on them, you cannot shoot them. Well, you can, but you'll get a murder charge. I was mearly trying to get across the point that it is highly advisable that anyone looking into self-defense means learn their local laws. Before I knew mine, I assumed it was cool to blow away some fucker stealing lawn gnomes. Turns out it's not... except in Texas.
And then there was my time in the military, but that's a whole different society. There, you shoot anyone coming anywhere near that airstrip that doesn't go by you first. Those 15 ft. high razor wire topped fences are there for a reason, and it's to encourage people to make sure those guard towers don't come in handy.
And speaking of Mods, what happened to my +1, Insightful? I don't really care, but it's kind of odd it just disappeared without a -1, Overrated or anything else in sight. I'll just chaulk it up to some sort of pussy censorship.
Request: ECM unit, 1000 km fullerene cable, 1 tactical nuclear weapon. Reason: Birthday party for foreign dignitary.
Switzerland: Every citizen between 18 and 40 is required to have a gun in their house. Gun deaths are near nil.
"If at first you don't succeed, lower your standards."
Having read articles (I might even have one handy) about police who've emptied 9mm handgun clips into bad guys, only to be taken out with a single shot from a .22 pistol (the bad guy later bled out and died, but his blood pressure was high enough for him to return fire for at least 30 seconds), near-lethal force means you drop your attacker and hope he lives. If he's on his feet coming at you, you're still defending yourself.
Those same articles reccommend shooting for the pelvis instead of the chest. Still a wide target, but if you break the pelvic bone, your attacker's body will not support their weight and they will fall. A man with a lethal wound to the chest is not necessarily going to stop coming at you until he bleeds out.
Synergy is your friend
Better yet, you can mount some ninjas in those turrets.
THAT would be cool.
I find your attitude offensive. There are so many honest people in the world who have had desperate circumstances, unequal wealth, and bad situations - and who were good honest and even productive inspite of it all. In fact, the history if the United States is made of such people. You really slap these people in the face when you suggest that "well all we need is the right circumstances"
The best way of all to stop crime it to show people that they are destined by choices and not curcumstances. The second best way is to set a good example.
Taking money from one set of people just because they have more - is a great way to teach people why it's ok to steal and take things - just because you percieve you need it more than they do. Making social programs that center arround circumstance is a great way to teach people that it's not about their choices but their situations. It would seem to me that all of those would have the exact opposite effect as intended.
Not to mention that history has shown that the only effective way to reduce poverty and bad situations is to increase freedoms - especially economic freedoms, a progreesive tax does just the opposite. It's like that saying - if you can shit on one wealthy man - then you can shit on 10000 poor men.
I live in Baltimore city in a _very_ high crime neighborhood (albeit one that is rapidly gentrifying ). My neighhors and I have encountered all kinds of criminal activity.
Some suburban blowhards will say to get a gun first, but there are a number of things you can do that are more effective than having a gun. Simple preventative measures will go much farther than a loaded gun in the closet. If you have to have a gun, fine, but do the things below FIRST:
1) Keep an eye on things. Call the cops whenever something remotely suspicious is happening. Don't hesitate to call 911. The system can handle a tremendous number of calls and they know how to prioritize. Even if the police don't respond to the call, it is logged and stats are collected. In most urban areas, 911 call stats are used to allocate police resources. When calling 911 be accurate, specific and unemotional.
2) Don't leave _ANYTHING_ in your car and use a club. Larceny from auto is the hallmark of a drug addict criminal. They want easy targets. Even change on the dashboard is worth breaking a window to them. They don't think like normal people. Be discreet, don't show off wealth or new acquisitions.
3) Get to know your neighbors. Share information. Talk about what is happening in the neighborhood. The police in your area may offer "neighborhood watch" programs that educate folks about crime. This is usually done through their community relations department. Its a good way to learn about real crime prevention.
Please don't get a gun because some armchair libertarians on slashdot think its a good idea. If you have a gun, it is only useful if you confront the criminal. In the VAST majority of property crimes, you never even SEE the criminal. In those rare cases where you happen to catch the punk, you will discover something that is NOT what you expect: often a child, or a desparate drug addict who couldn't care less about risking his life and yours to get away. If you have a gun and display it, you have to be prepared to kill someone and face the permanent consequences of a potentially tragic mistake and the tremendous guilt that any normal person will feel even if they kill in self-defense.
You are close, but I must again say that you are incorrect on this point. Trust me, if someone stole your ipod while you were down in the great state of Texas and to exact your revenge you hunted the thief down and killed him, you would indeed be rung up on 1st degree murder charges.
I think this may be my fault for not being entirely specific about the Texas statute, and for that I apologize. Let me try to be more explicit.....
The statute we're both talking about is sec. 9.42 of Title 2 of the Texas Code. It does in fact say that you can kill a person to defend property alone, however, if you read to the end of the statute [specifically 9.42(3)(b)], reprinted here:
(b)the use of force other than deadly force to protect or recover the land or property would expose the actor or another to a substantial risk of death or serious bodily injury.
You will find that the use of deadly force to protected property is only allowed in those instances in which the protection of said property with deadly force is the only means available to prevent death or serious bodily injury to yourself or another. This is an extremely steep burden and although Texas does have that old wild west reputation, people are most certainly not allowed to kill simply for the fact that their property has been damaged or stolen.
Again I apologize for not being specific about this earlier, and it's possible that we were both right. I hope I cleared this up somewhat.
Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum viditur
I don't know about Geek style home defense, but I have my own system.
1. Own a gun of some sort. If someone is in your house at 3 AM and you don't know them, they are up to no good. Sorry, but they are dead. I respect all life, but the most precious ones are protected first, that is my wife and daughter.
2. Own a big dog of some sort. My dog of choice is a Labrador Retriever. You don't need a mean dog with a bad rep. From a distance and in a crisis situation nobody is going to know a Black Labrador from a Rotwieler. A Labrador is a great family pet, and Lab will be as mean in that sort of a situation, even meaner. I've had repairmen backed into a corner before because they made the wrong gesture to me, and it wasn't even threatening. However I would trust a Labrador with my family's life, she doesn't have a mean bone in her body twords us, but cross our family however, and watch it.
3. For home deterrent, use a automatic on/off light switch (or leave a light on) and a TV with an alarm. My TV comes on every day at 4pm and goes off at 2am. Most burglars are going to break into a house with no lights on, or a house that looks like nobody is home. Burglars are essentially lazy and just want the goods.
4. Move to a safer neighborhood or MAKE it safer. I know, probably not an option, however I won't live in a dangerous neighborhood. I'd rather drive 45min to a half hour. If the 'hood goes to crap, I pack and move. The 'hood I live in hasn't had a burglary in about 7 years. If you have to live in a risky neighborhood, organize a neighborhood watch.
-- 4 8 15 16 23 42
Seriously. The problem doesn't sound like its going to be fixed by arming yourself to the teeth. If your neighbourhood has turned into a sewer, putting up sewerage barrackades is only a temporary solution.
These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer
I learned this living in San Francisco for 5 years. I had a Jeep - over that period of time they broke into my vehicle over 100 times. That's no exaggeration, its actually a conservative estimate.
They would steal anything greater than or equal to the value of a matchbook.
They cut the windows, stole the battery, keyed the sides, pissed on it, cut a tire, broke the interior locks, and broke an egg onto it -- it was a brand new jeep. The city itself helped me out by writing $3000 in tickets.
The ultimate defense was to leave it with the doors unlocked, with all essentials locked into the trunk.
It would be nice to claim the high ground and say it was a turn the other cheek method, but actually it was just the path of least resistance, and incidentally the most effective.
"Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us." -Jesus Christ The Lord's Prayer
Can't believe it has not been mentioned. Use ZoneMinder. It's an open souce product available exclusively for Linux. I've been using it for the last 4 months running 8 webcams (not really webcams, cctv cameras actually) simultaneously for the last 4 months and it's pretty stable. Most of the webcam software that I deal with previously would crash every month or so, or wouldn't capture the right scenes of motion. This piece of software supports some of the multi-input cards on the market.
> use guns for protection from criminals more than 2.5 million times annually.
If you look at Kleck's numbers, they don't add up.
Kleck's survey reported that 8% of defensive gun uses involved the target being wounded or killed. With Kleck's estimate of 2,500,000 DGUs per year, that gives us 200,000 DGU-caused firearm deaths or injuries per year.
Studies have shown that approximately 23% of firearm injuries are fatal. Accordingly, Kleck's survey numbers imply that DGUs account for 46,000 killings by firearm per year.
However, the total number of non-suicide firearm deaths per year is only 20,000.
We're left with only a few possibilities:
1) DGU gunshot wounds are vastly less lethal than any other gunshot wound. Unlikely - bullets are bullets.
2) DGU-performing people are very good at hiding bodies. Unlikely.
3) Kleck's survey numbers are unreliable.
Occam's Razor points very strongly at that latter choice. Kleck's survey produces numbers that do not match reality; ergo, Kleck's survey is not reliable.
By contrast, the government's National Crime Victimization Survey suggests that about 100,000 DGUs occur each year. At an 8% hit rate and a 23% fatality rate, that would give 2,000 defensive firearm killings per year. That's still 10 times what the FBI cites the number as, but is quite close to Kleck's own estimates.
Why is Kleck's survey result so unreliable? Consider what is meant by "defensive gun usage": any time the presence of a gun - even if not shown - makes the owner believe a crime or attack was prevented, that's a defensive gun use.
The last time she had a bear nosing around her yard, my mother threw a rubber boot at it to scare it away. According to the methodology used to define defensive gun usages, this would count as a "defensive boot usage" against the bear.
Virtually anything would have worked to scare the bear off; had the boot not been available, there still would have been no bear attack. Self-reported "defensive gun usages" suffer from exactly the same bias and flaw - people report protecting themselves with a gun when either:
(a) there was in reality no protection needed, or
(b) any of a number of alternative techniques would have defended the person just as well.
For example, consider this "defensive gun usage" story from a similar survey:
`The police called. The alarm in my building went off so I went there to shut it off. Two men were outside my building, so from my car I shot at the ground near them.'
That's self-defense? Who's to say those two men hadn't just stopped for a smoke? Similarly,
A 58-year-old male is watching TV with a holster strapped on him. He tells us, `I was watching a movie, and he (an acquaintance) interrupted me. I yelled that I was going to shoot him, and he ran to his car.'
This is a defensive gun usage? This is the kind of "self-defense" story that gets multiplied by 10,000 by Kleck to estimate the number of DGUs per year? No wonder his numbers are off.
(source)
The logical flaw is similar to the famous anti-tiger stone ("this stone repels tigers from my lawn; I know it works because I haven't seen any tigers here in downtown Springfield in the last 10 years") - whether or not a gun has made them safer, participants in this
You know what would scare me away if I were breaking into a place?
Mirrors on the doors.
We used to have a huge mirror on a door in the hall. One night I got up to go get a drink, and for some reason someone had shut the door. I saw my reflection coming towards me in the dark after rounding the corner and nearly passed out from the shock!
~Ben
In the extremely unlikely situation that someone breaks into your house while you're there, follow these steps:
1. Yell "I have called 911 and the police are on their way." There are very few people that aren't going to turn and run.
2. If they aren't scared away try to escape and call police from a neighbour's house.
There are so few home invasions to start with and so few that are with intent to physically harm, the miniscule amount left over could be discounted as freak occurrences. People have a way of seizing on the worst case outcome no matter how rare and using that as a justification. Realistically, neither the event, nor the overblown countermeasure will ever be tested.
Like I said in the parent post, install a security camera or get a dog. Both are social deterrents that in time will dissuade thieves from trying anything as risky as home invasion
Well, I didn't see this mentioned by anybody: Rubber balls out of a shotgun. Somebody said rock salt earlier and got modded 5: Funny. WTF is that?
Here's a webpage that sells a number of 12 gauge rounds: http://www.ammoman.com/webstore_12GA.htm
Shipping with him is great, and the prices (at least on the other stuff -- I don't buy enough 12 gauge loads to know) is very well priced.
You've got plenty of suggestions on how to DETER people away from the residence. Motion sensor lights, dogs, stickers, etc.
Once they're in your house it's a whole nother matter. It's nice and quaint that you don't want them to be injured. Bust into the area where I'M sleeping for the night (this goes for when I'm on the road) and odds are injury will be the least of your worries.
I'm sure every gun hating hoplophobe on Slashdot is going to call me friggen Rambo for this setup, but here's what I run:
Remington 870 (cheap, and with the synthetic stocks and rubber recoil pad very managable) -- if you can find one get a smooth bore barrel in 18-20". Odds are the off-the-shelf stuff is going to be 20". Stick with that. I load with 4 rounds (pretty limited mag) of 000 Buck. I do NOT keep one in the chamber myself BUT if that was my primary HD (Home Defense gun) I sure as heck would.
On top of that I keep a good pistol at the bedside. I actually tend to change this out now and again with various models as it depends on what I'm practicing with most at the time. However, that's kept "Condition 1" -- one round in the chamber and safety on.
Explanation:
Shotgun is there in the event that I get some kind of advanced warning of an intruder. My door is solid steel and the deadbolt is pretty danged solid. Odds are I'll hear you banging on it a bit. In that event, shotgun comes off the floor and a round goes into the chamber. Time provided the spare round goes into the tube and I hunker down behind my bed for cover and line 'er up on the door. Oh, yes, I live alone. Whole situation changes when you've got kids, but since you're writing and your mother lives alone I presume you're all moved out.
If you get in instantly (window crashes, or door takes one solid whack) I'm just rolling off the bed and grabbing my pistol.
Now, if I wanted to take a "feel good and don't hurt anybody" approach I'd do the following:
870 stocked with 2 shells of the rubber shot stuff. One IN THE FRIGGEN CHAMBER! Here's why: Presuming you have a house of reasonable size it will NOT be immediately apparent which room is your mother's bedroom. Racking that shotgun, while it MAY scare them off, will only cause them to draw their pistols and proceed accordingly. No need to give them a head's up. Behind those two rounds of rubber balls keep some 000 buck shot. If they're still advancing after 2 rounds of rubber balls (presuming they DIDN't shoot you mother while she wasted valuable time with a less-than-lethal-hope-this-works method) then hopefully the 000 buck'll do the job and make them STOP!
You don't shoot to kill. I don't train for that. You shoot to STOP. Maybe the rubber balls will work. We KNOW the 000 Buck works (or 00 Buck, suit to your tastes)
Ammoman offers a variety of them. When you see "Tactical Law Enforcement" next to the names dont' be afraid. That that really means is "docile, won't rip your shoulder off loads only good for maybe 25 yards against human targets" -- which is EXACTLY what you want when arming a woman.
20 gauge is suitable also -- but I'd stick with a pump for reliability.
I'm a geek, but there's no way in HELL I'd be able to sleep at night if I told my mom that I thought her best bet was to sit there with a media player hooked up to a computer and motion sensor that'd play the sound of a shotgun racking if she died. No thank you.
A lot in life boils down to what you would REGRET MORE later on the down the road. I wouldn't want to be the guy at my mom's funeral thinking "Man, I thought that
HA! It'll be a short trial, and a short sentence, and even less time served.
I want to live in a place where people who enter other people's homes to steal their shit don't make it out alive.
If we're going to imprison so many people, we may as well make them work for us too, prison should be more than waiting to get out, it should be either school, work, addiction treatment, or labor.
"Sometimes, I think Trent just needs a cup of hot chocolate and a blankie." -Tori Amos on Nine Inch Nails
- His car, a Holden HZ sedan, with the door open; and
- His steering column partially disassembled; and
- Traces of blood and hair on assorted knobs and corners under the dash and on the door; and
- No car thief.
You see, 105dB at 3m in free space equals 117dB at about 40cm, which was the approximate distance between the screamers and the thief's ears as he lay in the footwell jiggering the ignition switch on the steering column.This is in a mostly-enclosed hard-walled space, which has to be worth at least another 12dB. And there were two of them, so add another 3dB as icing on the cake, draw a line, 132dB.
The threshold of pain, for reference, is 120dB.
If you're going to bother building a car alarm, get it right. (-:
Got time? Spend some of it coding or testing
which was the first item on the list. Any such course will cover safe and appropriate methods of storage, if they're even halfway decent.You apparently missed
You cannot apply a technological solution to a sociological problem. (Edwards' Law)
BTW, speaking as a dog trainer and having worked in kennels for many years the very BEST guard dog in the world is a Chesapeak Bay Retriever. They are gentle and loyal with the elderly and children but make the best, most intelligent guard dogs there is. A Chessie is NOT afraid to knock a perp over and stand on them snarling in there face and only bite if necessarly till help arrives without any training in protection work.
.sig). They can be crazy
Also, they love to "be tough" without actually being mean.
Couldn't agree with you more (see my
and they can be high energy but they can also be chill and sweet.
The only problem with Chessies is that they are not suited to everybody. As I'm sure you know, they can also be food-protective and their wariness of strangers can lead to problems. A dog that attacks burglars is good but I've also had mine charge at neighbors who are walking down the sidewalk. You have to assert your dominance if you're going to own a chessie.
I took the not lethal approach. I live in a decent neighborhood, but unfortunatley the f*ck next door got divorced and started up his own meth-lab. I won't get into the specifics, but there were several nights I stayed awake every night at the dinner table with a 10mm S&W, just ready for the f*ck to walk through my door. I digress.
0 .a sps p?nu mber=PC170IR&variation=&aitem=4&mitem= 11
:)
What I did was went out an purchased a cheap computer and bought a Geovision G600 card, and purchased three IR cameras. The total cost was around $1500 - $2000, but was completely worth it.
Here are some links to the system and cameras I purchased:
http://www.geovision.com.tw/002/en/product-gv60
http://www.supercircuits.com/STORE/prodinfo.a
I don't think the camera link is exactly what I purchased, but it is very close. I'd love to post a link to my system to let everyone view it, but there is no way I would survive a slashdotting.
Believe me when I say that this has been very successful, not only in getting this person arrested, but also in providing me with some very hilarious footage.
No no no. A gun would work in the 80s. Now criminals have stinger missiles and humvee mounted machine guns. You'll never outgun them.
Just get a giant wobbling sculptured cock at your front step. Any criminal walking by will be reminded of Clockwork Orange, and they'll say "Cool" and walk away.
Most people (esp. many anti-gun people) don't realize that the police have no legal requirement to come to your aid (at least in the US; probably elsewhere too).
Warren v. District of Columbia is one of the leading cases of this type. Two women were upstairs in a townhouse when they heard their roommate, a third woman, being attacked downstairs by intruders. They phoned the police several times and were assured that officers were on the way. After about 30 minutes, when their roommate's screams had stopped, they assumed the police had finally arrived.
When the two women went downstairs they saw that in fact the police never came, but the intruders were still there. As the Warren court graphically states in the opinion: "For the next fourteen hours the women were held captive, raped, robbed, beaten, forced to commit sexual acts upon each other, and made to submit to the sexual demands of their attackers."
The three women sued the District of Columbia for failing to protect them, but D.C.'s highest court exonerated the District and its police, saying that it is a "fundamental principle of American law that a government and its agents are under no general duty to provide public services, such as police protection, to any individual citizen." [Warren v. District of Columbia, 444 A.2d 1 (D.C. Ct. of Ap., 1981).]
Take the gun out with the kid and explain that it is not a toy its a dangerous weapon. Then shoot his stuffed bunny into a thousand pieces. He will never want to touch the gun.
If someone breaks into my home I have no idea what their intentions are. Are they trying to steal my personal belongings, or are they threatening my family? Just the fact that they have broken in already shows a complete disregard for the law or any vestage of respct for anyone other than themselves. Am I supposed to ask them "Pardon me Mr. Thug, are you just going to take some stuff or are you hear to hurt someone?" Oh wait, they'd probably lie, if they answer me verbally at all. And yet >I am the sociopath because I don't want to see someone in my family hurt or killed.
As the saying goes, if you "Don't start no trouble, there won't BE no trouble". I didn't ask for the clown who snatched my wife's purse (with her asthma inhaler in it) to come take from us. We were too broke at the time to replace that inhaler. Had I been carrying a gun I would have shot him. Had my children not been between me and him I would have killed him with my bare hands, I don't need no stinking gun.
Yet all you "gun grabbers" can do is whine about guns when I can kill someone wiht a pencil. I notice that gun control didn't prevent the 9/11 hijackers from taking over multiple air craft and murduring thousands of people who had done nothing to them. I also notice they didn't use guns. Do you get the picture yet or are you still determined to try to force the facts to fit your world view rather than adjusting your world view to fit the facts?
"Like fire and fusion, government is a dangerous servant and a terrible master."~RAH
It's common for Europeans to believe that they're enlightened enough not to need guns. Unfortunately, they're living in a dream.
Remember the massacre of the Israeli olympians in Munich? Well, about two years ago, I had the pleasure of speaking with the person who was the deputy mayor of the Olympic village at that time. He went into great detail about how they, as Germans, were very eager to prove to the rest of the world that they were an educated, enlightened society - that they didn't have need of heavy security, armed guards, etc..
The then told me about how horrible the massacre was, and the deep, personal pain that he endured having to assist the families of the slain athletes. After he had finished, he told me this:
"We thought that we were so educated and enlightened that we didn't need weapons. What we didn't realize is that no matter how enlightened we were, there are others in the world who are not."
You can be as enlightened and educated as you want, but when someone comes into your house with a baseball bat, smashes your face in, then rapes your wife and daughters as he chokes them to death, your enlightenment and education gained you exactly nothing. That's right, nothing.
And if you believe that the life of said murderer/rapist is so precious that you and your family should give up your lives so that he won't have to, well, good luck with that. The gene pool will be better off without you.
The best solution, as mentionned previously, is to have good neighbours and not expose your belongings.
Again, you're living in a dream world. Your neighbors can move and sell their house, then what do you do? I guess you can spend your entire life moving from place to place, but I don't believe that should be necessary.
And "don't expose your belongings"? HAH! I had a car that was broken into four times in three months, all in different areas. In no case was there anything of value in the car, and nothing was taken. These worthless little streat punks cost me over a thousand dollars in broken windows just so that they could take a peek inside to see if there was anything of value. People are mugged and killed often when their total possessions are worth less than $20. For someone of such esteemed education, you seem to have very little dealings in reality.
Steve
Oh, you're not stuck, you're just unable to let go of the onion rings.
1. Call for a pizza. Give your address in a loud voice, and ask that they get there as soon as possible. Say everything else quietly.
2. If the intruder isn't spooked off by you talking into the telephone, giving your address and requesting someone to arrive in a hurry, you're SOL. Now is time to call 911 and request, in this order, an ambulance and the police.
If the intruder left, calm down by enjoying your pizza.
If he didn't leave when you called for the pizza, he wouldn't have left when you called the cops, either. He probably understands better than you do that if Cop Number One shows up while the intruder is still in the house, Cop Number One is going to call for backup and sit tight until it gets there. Meanwhile, you get to enjoy whatever the intruder thinks is the appropriate way to handle a witness.
Chances are, the pizza arrived first. If you're exceptionally lucky, the intruder has finished with you, grabbed the DVD player and the PS2 and left. If you're not lucky, the intruder intended to injure you in the first place, and he's grabbed the PS2 just for spite. Now you've got someone who may perform first aid on you, or may break down and blubber. You've also a pizza, but you are lacking teeth. Or blood.
The ambulance will probably arrive next. The paramedics will enjoy the pizza while they work on you.
When the cops arrive, they'll either take a statement from you, or draw a chalk outline around you. They'll enjoy the pizza, too.
Now, all of the previous was fairly facetious, but here's the stunning fact for all of you: the police don't have to do anything about a crime in progress. They might or might not, their call. They do have to take a statement afterwards from any surviving witnesses, collect evidence, and all the other after-the-fact tasks. You, or your inheritors, have absolutely no recourse if the police are busy elsewhere, take their time in arriving, or just sit tight waiting for various amounts of back-up to arrive.
This is assuming that your 911 call got through in the first place. In some cities, such as Los Angeles, in normal circumstances, it can take 15 minutes for an operator to answer. (As I have read; I don't live in LA.) Then the request to passed to the dispatcher, who may have just sent all the cops in the area to the bank robbery on the other side of town. There are a number of reputable and scholarly (and some that are less so) publications about the folly of depending on 911 when you life is at stake. I refer you to this page from the Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership for only one example. Searching Google for "call 911 die" will bring up many more.
Your 911 call is a request for aid, not a demand that must be satisfied. You still have to defend yourself; nobody else is going to. If you can't handle the responsiblity of gun ownership, or you haven't the physical ability and training to defend yourself unarmed, get some chemical defense foam with the strongest ju-ju available. If you haven't that, use some wasp-and-hornet insect killer right in his face... the nerve agent in the bug killer will slow him down a bit.
To sum up: you must be willing, able and properly equipped to defend yourself when trouble has come looking for you. YOU are your own responsibility.
Salt shot for a thief? Did you just finish watching "Kill Bill 2" or something?
Believe it or not, some intruders are very intent (and/or drugged to boot). I've seen a security camera video of a bank robber shot cleanly *through the heart* who ran around, shot the Sheriff dead, then ran out the door - and died in the parking lot. But the Sheriff was still just as dead.
If you're going to point a gun at someone and pull the trigger, you are escalating the situation to the point of lethal force, and should be ready for them to do likewise. Assuming that you don't believe in using deadly force unless someone's life or body is in real danger, then it's nothing short of rediculous to believe that merely pissing the guy off is a good move. If your life (or someone else's) was in danger to begin with, how much more likely is he to shoot you in the head once you've put some rock salt in him, or shot him in the crotch with an air rifle?
Even though getting kicked in the crotch works all the time in the movies, in a real-life fight, it mostly just gets their adrenaline going and pisses them off. Sure, their nuts will be sore after the fight, but during the fight - watch out. I've personally witnessed it all too many times.
steve
Oh, you're not stuck, you're just unable to let go of the onion rings.
So.... let's say that someone breaks into your home and sees you pull out said imitation firearm. Let's say that they're packing heat as well, and so decide to return fire. Who's going to win?
If the situation truly calls for lethal force, then playing with toys is a stupid idea. And if the situation *doesn't* call for lethal force, whipping out an imitation gun is very likely to land *you* in jail.
steve
Oh, you're not stuck, you're just unable to let go of the onion rings.
Labs have a great combination of intelligence, aggressiveness, protectiveness, size, and gentleness. They look tough and have a big bark but they generally don't fly off the handle. An intruder will quickly get barreled over by a Lab but if the master is around and he okays the person then the Lab will generally chill out.
Labs are awesome with kids and are amazing at social interaction with people. My black Lab pretty much knows EXACTLY what is going on. If I'm going for a swim in the pool she is at the door before I leave my room. If I'm going to take a walk she is already by my side WITH the leash in her mouth. If I want her out of my way I just ask her to back up and she backs up, if I say move she moves out of the way.
The worst thing is the first three years. Up until age 2 or 3 they can be unholy terrors. They are such mouthy, energetic dogs that they are constantly carrying your shoes, socks, paper, etc around the house and chewing on them. Be prepared to run them to death every day to try to tire them out. A swimming pool is perfect for this, get 2 toys, throw one in and send in the dog, when it gets back wave the second toy and throw it, then you can pick up the first one. Repeat until you have a very tired dog.
Chesapeake Bay Retrievers are a bit more wild and energetic than Labradors but they are also wonderful. Chessies are just as friendly as Labs but they are even WORSE when it comes to taking a break. From what I've experienced most Chessies will work or play until they literally pass out from exhaustion. They are a little dopey but not dumb, it's just that their energy is a bit too much for them to stop to think about what they are doing! They are EXTREMELY trainable and are very protective of children.
You can hardly go wrong with either a Labrador or a Chesapeake Bay Retriever but be prepared to take a lot of walks and swims if you get one!
Sapere aude!
My voice is my password.
Verify me.
/sig
Phalanx Close-In Weapons System
In a world that is Free and Open, who needs Windows and Gates?
Actually, the advice is from Lazarus Long, the very long lived character from "Time Enough For Love", his advice?
Get a shot off fast. This upsets him long enough to let you make your second shot perfect.
War on Drugs and gun control. That's it.
The War on Drugs inflates drug prices, which means selling drugs is a really profitable business. This finances gangs and provides incentive for them to kill each other in turf wars.
Gun control prevents individual citizens from owning guns and defending themselves against criminals.
Of course both of these effects vary greatly depending on location - this is why places with a bad gang problem and lots of gun control - NYC, Chicago and DX for example - have crime the worst.
live(free) || die;
I don't understand.
Why is it okay to shoot someone for stealing and taunting? Their life (or in this case, the use of their leg) is more important than your stuff? Your pride? This is the impression I'm getting.
Stuff can be reacquired. There is insurance as well. Criminals occasionally even get caught by the police. But people don't get better after being shot to death. Splintered knee caps don't magically repair themselves.
The only case where it seems justifiable to maim or kill someone, is when not doing so presents the high likelihood of worse happening. Even then, it is all too easy to make a mistake in judgement, and one can't make amends for mistakes like that. To think that wounded pride and a car is worth someone's life just boggles my imagination. Seriously, you think that's ok?
My brother and I both had one, and they would not stop barking if a cop or park ranger tried to talk to us.
They can sense the "copness" - the implied threat.
"When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro" -- HST
i live in a house where we had six cases of arson in two years. This stopped after i installed webcams in the central lobby and at the backdoor.
I have a 50 line Perl-Script to archive those images for 24 hours and delete them afterwards. In cases something happened, i convert one hour of images (~7.000) to a short movie using OpenSource-tools.
I informed and got an endorsement from every appartment owner in the house and posted a note to the doors.
Since then: nothing ever again happened.
Downside: Some neighbours asking me for images to proof another neighbours did this or that (usually putting a bike in front of a door).
Regards, Martin
It's common for Europeans to believe that they're enlightened enough not to need guns. Unfortunately, they're living in a dream.
That is what YOU say. Now consider the following statistics, which I have taken from this report and which are for the year 1991: (I cut the list by some countries in the midfield)
And now tell me again that having a gun in your flat is a good prevention. I guess I need to say that I am from Switzerland and have an automatic gun (SIG Stgw 90) at home (from the army), as every male citizen has, but you can`t get bullets for it (the ones you have are in a sealed package).
As for the question for security: I lock the door, that`s it, but I guess in the US that is unfortunately not enough.
this sig is useless
'Anyone have a holographic Yeti generator to scare away intruders? :)"'
Okay, relax, it was just a joke!
Jeez, no sense of humor!
Richard Steven Hack - This sig is TOO GODDAMN SHORT TO DO ANYTHING USEFUL WITH! MORONS!
Several people have now mentioned these devices that track locate and squirt moving targets such as rabbits and pests.
No-one's said that they can be filled with things other than cold water or fox pee. Like HiLite bright Dye... Combine your webcams with a nice bright dyemark and your perpetrators may well be a bit easier to find...
Not lethal, not (usually) harmful, but it might be effective. Especially if you have a few of these things set up around the place...
-- ted russ http://www.arach.net.au/~ted/mydynes/ http://www.arach.net.au/~ted/myblogs/
You can have as many static firearms with trap mechanisms as you want.
But if one of them actually SHOOTS somebody, you can expect to spend time in prison for negligent homicide (if the setup worked well), plus have the victim('s estate) sue you for everything you're worth.
paintball
In my case, I moved to a safer neighborhood. It took me two years to effect the move to one of the two neighborhoods I had in mind, but the wait was worth it. My neighborhood is now safer and cleaner, and yet I didn't have to sacrifice on the amount of rent I was paying, nor did I sacrifice on the amount of time I was spending on the commute. It took a while, but my patience paid off.
Now, I don't know the age of your mother, but assuming she's getting older. Do you think her neighborhood is going to improve, or get worse? And as she does become older, do you think it will get easier for her to move, or not? It's never easy to move and it's never a good time to move, but it's usually one of the best and healthiest solutions.
"Europeans don't own guns" is a vastly over-generalized myth. Hell, I live in Finland (an European country), and this country is full of guns. Hunting-rifles, shotguns, pistols, few "souveniers" from the war.... You name it. 6% of Finns are active hunters, and many others own guns as well.
I don't hunt, but I grew up surrounded by guns. I shot my first shots when I was about 6 years old, my father teached me how to handle guns and how to live with them. Hell, he even showed me how to take them apart and put them together (blindfolded if needed. he was trained as a gunsmith by the Army) And he did that before I was eight years old (he died when I was eight). He thought that it would be alot better to learn how to handle guns than to pretend that guns don't exist. If there's one thing I remember him teaching me is "You never, EVER point a gun, even an unloaded one, towards another person, unless your intention is to kill him". Of course, killing in this context referred more to times of war than home-defence.
Yes. And I fail to see how armed general population could have prevented it.
Lesbian Nazi Hookers Abducted by UFOs and Forced Into Weight Loss Programs - -all next week on Town Talk.
Only if they're trying to repo a stereo or television from the rental place by breaking in your front door.
Trespassing is defined by entering into the domicile in question by forceable means or without prior consent of the owner or occupant. Even if you leave all of your doors unlocked, if someone steps through that door and you weren't expecting them, you have the right to shoot. This was all made possible by what's also known as the "Make My Day" law, a nod to Dirty Harry. Many southern states with dense cities and high transient populations enacted this law awhile back.
Personally I see nothing wrong with it. If someone breaks down my front door at any time, and doesn't shout POLICE WE'RE COMING IN, then they're catching a slug somewhere in their person. Anyone who is willing to commit such an entry surely knows the risks they face, particularly in states like Texas where gun ownership is high.
Is killing another person for breaking into your home extreme? Well, that depends on how much you value your own and your family's life. I'm no gun nut, and don't like guns persay, but I feel that the law gives me the right to defend myself and my wife, and if a criminal will most likely be armed, I have no choice but to arm myself in kind. Not arming myself would be a failure of duty, a total lack of self preserving responsibility. I couldn't bear to think of myself or my wife getting shot in our home without having a chance to fight back or win.
What does that do? Not much, at first but then they know who you are and some will also get to know their neighbors better. Some may even become better friends.
I've done that in many places and in other places my neighbors have beat me to it. One street still has an annual block party to this day.
Millions of car alarms go off so often for no reason that it's no deterrent. However, you will act different when someone you know sees a problem with your car or other liabilities if they know you or vice versa.
Second, if your mom lives in a neighborhood with too high a yuppie content, then it may be easier to move than to retrain them. They're not community builders, but instead they rather let it fall apart.
I'm sure your mom can handle these thing, but they take a few months to a couple of years to kick in.
Beta is broken and the link to classic doesn't work. Stop wasting our time or there won't be anybody left here.
<Slowly as if to a small Anonymous Coward>
Its a car, cars can be driven to an area with no neighbors.
</Slowly as if to a small Anonymous Coward>
Out of sight out of mind: He closed in his carport so you couldn't see his car
Inconvenience potential burglars: a pet fence around the back yard (with the gate locked), storm windows and storm doors extra locks on widows and doors.
A thorny defense: All the windows had holly bushes growing under and around them.
looking like you have nothing to steal: The house wasn't the best in the neighborhood or the worst and all the improvements were either invisible to the casual observer or common place.
In summary the house was the least attractive target on the whole block with many inconveniences visible from the street, where presumably the potential burglars case the property.
Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.
My family's home was broken into three times when I was young, so we learnt the following the hard way: - Gravel, gravel and more gravel. Cover the entire front garden down to the pavement/sidewalk right up to the sidegate/house windows with gravel. It can be dusty and gets into everything, but it's also noisy. If it's impossible to get to your front door without stepping on gravel, most theives will just walk away. - Personalise. I had a friend who bought a really REALLY old VW Beetle and she really went to town on it. She painted the words "Hi there" up on the roof, had each door a slightly different colour and left the inches of rust around the lights and handels. Years later when it was time for her to upgrade to a decent car, she left the beetle in the WORST area of town to see if her customising really was a deterrant. Three months later, it's still there untouched. Same goes for bikes and motorcycles. If you make them your own, theives will have a much harder time concealing/hawking them. - Automatic lights/motion sensors. 'nuff said. - LOCK ALL DOORS AND WINDOWS - get decent double glazing in. - Fake alarm/cameras on both front/side and rear of house. - Never be afraid to annoy the local police, it's their job to provide security if you've taken all other reasonable procautions. Get used to the phrase: "Ok so you're not going to investigate the prowler outside? Ok, I'm off to make a video diary of his movements / me shooting him / your inability to help. I'm sure the newspapers will be REAL interested. How do you spell your name again?" - Get a big dog. Call it Tison, Zeus, Thor, Mars, etc. - Have automatic timers for tvs and washing machines and lamps. Make sure to use them. - Cut up all your cardboard boxes into tiny pieces. Dont advertise that you have a new PC/TV/DVD player/ monitor etc. - Nothing looks quite so mean as a host of venus flytraps as your border plants. No kidding here, those things would deter King Kong.
That is, at best, woefully delinquent reading of the links you cite.
For a truthful comparison of firearm killings between Canada and the US, look here. In particular, check out this summary:
Firearm homicide rates in the United States are 8.1 times higher than in Canada.
> I've done all the hard math...
Maybe, but Garbage In, Garbage Out.
The problem is yours. The US glamourises violence and gun use. Every other film coming out of the states features guy shooting each other. Your head of state poses aboard warships. You're OBSESSED with guns, with violence, with killing.
I think it was Shaw who said the US is the only country to have gone from Barbarism to Decadence without experiencing Civilisation.
--
This sig is inoffensive.
It should be noted that "Beware of dog" signs on your property are a serious legal liability in the United States should you happen to own a dog and it ever attack someone. Lawyers say you're actually better off without having the signs if you actually do have a dog, because having such a sign implies that you are aware of the possibility that the dog may pose a danger and you can be charged with criminal negligence in many states because of it.
What I used to have were a few window stickers on my car that I got from police friends. Things that suggest an affiliation or friendliness with the local police departments or other law enforcement agencies. Mine were for supporters of Colorado State Troopers and the NRA.
Personally I think the law enforcement ones are a little more effective, because I've had a few friends with just the NRA stickers on their cars have their cars broken into on several occassions. I suspect maybe the criminals are hoping to find firearms to steal.
Best of that type, if you could get any, might be to try and find some kind of federal law enforcement stickers. FBI or U.S. Martial Service would probably be the best deterent of that type.
Keith D.
How about a bunch of halogen lights hooked up to a motion sensor?
If that's not enough, set them to strobe at about 10-30 Hz. Causes the human nervous system to wildly malfunction, inducing what is essentially an epileptic seizure in anyone.
Blind them with *science* !
P.S. For those who feel they must use a firearm to defend their homes: Sellier and Bellot make a variety of "less-lethal" shotshells. Now you can use the same rubber bullets the riot cops do!
seriously, you dont think theres a chance this guy who is robbing people may one day kill someone for a tv to save his own ass from going to jail?
seriously, you think i *care* if that guy stays alive when theres a chance he could not just rob, but even potentially kill someone quite innocent?
yeah, if he breaks into the house of a gunowner i dont care if he gets shot. if you dont want a gun, and if you see a guy robbing you and want to say "oh i forgive you" thats ok.
i dont want to say i forgive you, i want to point a gun at him and tell him tohave a seat while the police get a donut and come over. and if he wants to attack me, i want him dead. because after me theres my wife and 2 infant children in my home and i wont have them feel threatened because i thought id say "i forgive you, have another chance" to some prick who though he could come into *MY* house and do what he wants.
By and large, language is a tool for concealing the truth. -- George Carlin
I've learned the HARD way my black lab would take care of business in the event of a break-in.
/never/ put on a leash, was about 20ft behind me peeing. He saw what was going on, and within about 2 seconds was right in front of me facing the guy, SITTING DOWN, looking up at him. He did nothing more than let out a bit of a growl and show his teeth. The guy backed away slowly, and then bolted. My dog watched him run and did nothing. Once the guy was > 100ft away, my dog went back, and continued to pee.
:P
My dog is the biggest, suckiest, little wuss in the world. Loves everything that moves, greets everyone with licks, kisses, jumping up (despite my training for him not to) and everything. But if you come in the home when I'm in bed and I don't know about it, he will eat you.
2 years ago, at my old place, my dog had his own couch. He slept on this couch nightly. The couch was in the path between my bed and my computers (on another floor).
One morning, my pager went off, a network had stopped responding, and I have to investigate. It was about 3am, and my eyes hadn't adjusted to the light yet, so I didn't bother turning on any lights in my path between my room and the basement.
I got down there, where the dog was, and it was PITCH black. No matter how good your night vision, you weren't seeing ANYTHING. As I rounded the corner from the stairs into the basement, all I heard was a low-pitched growl and the quiet sound of a dog walking towards me very slowly (he desperately needed his nails cut)... it didn't even sound like my dog. I turned around, and said, "PUPPY ITS ME!" Upon hearing that, he came over, expected a quick petting, and then went back to sleep. I was so proud of him that day.
Aswell, if I'm not home and my girlfriend is, if any other male comes over to visit, the dog will instinctively ensure that he is ALWAYS between my girlfriend and the visitor. He will not allow the male to get between her and him.
My girlfriend's father came over to visit, and told me all about it. He couldn't understand why the dog wasn't as genial as he normally was when he visited, and why he wouldn't leave her side. I explained.
And to top it all off, I have grown up with labs all my life. I don't think I'll ever own any other breed of dog, they're SO intelligent when they need to be, but they're such lovable morons when they don't. They're great, and they never let me down.
One night, when I was about 17, I had come home late one night, and sat down at my computer to read my e-mail. At this point in time, I'd already dumped my wallet, keys, etc onto my desk, and had nothing on me. My lab started whining that he wanted to go for a walk. Whilst walking him -- this was about 1 or 2am, a guy in a trenchcoat approached me. He got about 4 feet away from me, and pulled a knife. He said, "give me your wallet." I told him I didn't have it on me. I honestly didn't. He started threatening me, saying he was going to "cut me up". My dog, who I
Needless to say, that night, when we got home, I fed him almost an entire ham out of the fridge.
Again, the niggers. And if it weren't for American medicine, you would be trying to heal each other with maple leaves and living in igloos. Eat shit you fucking communist.
Yes ladies and gents, this guy lives in the most "advanced" and "powerful" country in the world... The country where all they seem to know about the rest of the world is stereotypes they learn from their TV shows and Hollywood films.
The country that brands any other country that doesn't share its views or have an individualist capiltalist society exactly the same as it has "communist".
Wouldn't be so frustrating for the rest of us if these pig ignorant people weren't pilfering away a quarter of the world's resources while they sit scratching their fat asses watching Friends and wallowing in their self important air of smugness.
Check out This page
for instructions on how to build your own vehicle immobiliser. It features a warning LED, kill switch, and magnetic pickup to deactivate the system.
Anyone who talks about deliberately shooting someone in the leg in a combat situation obviously hasn't been trained with firearms at all. When using a firearm you shoot for the center of mass. Again, the headshot is a bad idea for someone attempting to defend themselves. Unless of course that is the only thing you can see. That is the caviat about center of mass, you aim for the center of what you can see. If all you can see is the head, go for it. But mind your backdrop.
Point #2, I have little or no sympathy for someone who is trying to violate someone else. And just incase you've never been on the receiving end of a crime, I assure you it is a serious violation of one's personhood.
Point #3, survey's have been done in prisons to try and determine what the best deterant to crime is. And guess what the thing the criminal fears above all else is? You got it, an armed "victim". The point here is simple, attempting to violate someone else's personhood (be it rape, B&E, simple purse snatching or worse) should be risky. Is the criminal concerned that they might cause physical harm to someone when they (the criminal) forcabley takes whatever it is they're after? No, not in the slightest. When someone behaves in that fashion they have removed themselves from the rules of civilized society, why should they be permitted to hide behind the selfsame rules they have scorned (including your pity/revulsion at their richly deserved fate) when they run afoul of someone who can and will defend themselves?
"Like fire and fusion, government is a dangerous servant and a terrible master."~RAH
I have an idea that most career criminals don't have the faintest clue as to who Kubrick is...
He must have been hung over or doing drugs y'r honour, it's just a car alarm (this after replacing the screamers with 80dB jobbies).
Got time? Spend some of it coding or testing
It's common for Europeans to believe that they're enlightened enough not to need guns. Unfortunately, they're living in a dream.
Remember the massacre of the Israeli olympians in Munich?
You mean the one that happened over 30 years ago? The crime that was committed by non-Europeans against non-Europeans and just happened to take place in Europe? Is that supposed to tell us anything more than that international events have to deal with the problem of 'imported' violence and need proper security?
You can be as enlightened and educated as you want, but when someone comes into your house with a baseball bat, smashes your face in, then rapes your wife and daughters as he chokes them to death, your enlightenment and education gained you exactly nothing. That's right, nothing.
OMG, think of the children!!! Look out for the terrorists!!! WMD!!! Terror alert red!!!
Thanks for discussing things objectively, without resorting to scare mongering. Now seriously: if someone breaks into your house in Europe, then 99.9% of the time they are there to steal your things and they carry at most a knife for self defense. Usually they are also smart enough to make sure you are not home, so you will usually notice the break in by simply missing stuff. If they do break in when you are present, calling the police and making a ruckus will nearly always be enough to scare the perp away.
Statistically, it is far more likely that you die in traffic than that you get murdered (unless you are a criminal). And even if you get murdered, it is more often by someone you know than a stranger, which means that it is unlikely that you will feel a need to get or pull out a gun until it is too late. Some of these statistical facts are also supported by my personal experience. I have had family members die in a traffic incident and many years ago, a girl in my class was killed by her father (who killed the rest of the family and himself too). Other people I know died from health problems. I have never seen a 'live' gun except when carried on the hip of the police officer. I have also never had a knife drawn on me.
So for my safety, I would first look at making my commute safer and then I would care about my personal health. Buying and carrying a gun for my safety would for me be like carrying a helmet to protect myself from tiles falling from the roof. Sure it can happen, but I refuse to worry about things that happen so rarely. If I stop living life because I go through life in a constant panic and fear, I might just as well kill myself right now and be done with it.
And "don't expose your belongings"? HAH! I had a car that was broken into four times in three months, all in different areas. In no case was there anything of value in the car, and nothing was taken. These worthless little streat punks cost me over a thousand dollars in broken windows just so that they could take a peek inside to see if there was anything of value. People are mugged and killed often when their total possessions are worth less than $20. For someone of such esteemed education, you seem to have very little dealings in reality.
Perhaps that is the society you live in. However, I don't and I won't be berated for not allowing my society to be overflowed with guns, even though it has never been proven that guns stop crime.
Dogs that bite often do it from a fear reflex. A dog that is sufficiently abused will bite at strangers, and will look impressive snarling on your chain, and will make you feel like a big man walking your beast around. But a sibling of that dog, raised in a caring environment by good owners, will be a sweet and hefty lapdog.
Some breeds are made for fighting. Changes are made to the breed to make the dog harder to damage (more muscular necks, etc), but the personality needed to fight is usually brought about by abusing the puppies. A pit bull raised as a family dog usually behaves as a loving member of the family.
For more information on the innate nature of Pit Bulls, see http://www.badrap.org/rescue/myths.cfm. (In a recent study of 122 dog breeds by the American Temperament Testing Society (ATT), pit bulls achieved a passing rate of 83.9%. That's as good or better than beagles ... 78.2%, and golden retrievers ... 83.2%.)
For information on links between animal abuse and spousal/family abuse, see here.
While a bit pricey, they generally are rugged, can be left outdoors for long periods of time and are intended for just this sort of thing.
Then I guess we are under no general duty to provide their salary? The next time some politician or police union is trying to raise police wages remember this decision.
"It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it."
Higher levels of violence in the United States are mostly associated with the following three cultures:
* Low-income white southerners
* Low-income African-American descendants of slaves.
* Low-income Hispanic-American descendants of immigrant laborers.
All three have in common:
* An "honor culture", where personal affronts demand a violent response. This follows from their shared cultural histories of being oppressed by an aristocratic upper class, where all they had left to defend was their dignity.
* Poverty, which more than anything else is a predictor for violent behavior.
If you add enough poor people with this cultural background to Canada, Canada would have the same rate of violence and homicide as the United states.