You got your gun, your bright white light, and you live in a state that recognizes your natural right to defend your home. With that in mind, you may feel pretty ready for a self-defense situation. You aren’t far off. You can certainly fight your way out of a home invasion. However, I’d prefer to avoid the situation altogether. In building my new home, I figured out that the best way to avoid going on the offensive is to have a good defense. With that in mind, I have five non-gun home defense strategies.
Motion Sensing Lights
Human nature makes us wary of the dark. The dulling of our main sense of sight makes it easy to feel uneasy in the dark. It also exists because bad things often happen in the dark. Predators are often nocturnal, and that includes human predators. Doing bad in the dark is a common theme. You can’t stop the sun from going down, but you can adopt a home defense strategy to bring some light to the darkness.
It’s not a modlite, though. No, it’s motion-sensing lights that provide instant and easy coverage around your home. Bad guys hate the dark, and it’s awfully hard to sneak up on a motion-sensing floodlight. Not only do these lights make it tough to be sneaky, but they also act as a visual alarm that someone is approaching your home.
Prickly Plants
Have you watched that video of the dad encountering a random nude man climbing in his daughter’s window? It’s terrifying, and luckily no one was hurt. A good home defense strategy to prevent such an invasion and to keep people from peeping in windows, in general, is some prickly, uncomfortable, downright pokey plants. It won’t stop a psycho with a machete from chopping through, but it will discourage a variety of bad actors. Plants like berry vines, firethorn, and carissa work well.
Get Cameras
Bad actors don’t like to be seen in the light, and they don’t like to be seen by cameras either. This might not be the most helpful if someone is kicking down the door, but it still has merit. Obviously, when away from home, the cameras allow you to spot and identify thieves in an instant. In a more violent situation, they can be excellent testimony. How many Ring cameras spotted bad guys and were able to provide a clear picture to police later?
I have a long driveway with an outdoor, solar-powered camera point at the entrance. If you cross my driveway, I have a near-instant alert you’re coming onto the property. I always know when Fedex is heading my way. It’s a high-tech home defense strategy that isn’t nearly as expensive as it used to be.
Readdress Your Entry Points
What’s your lock situation like? Are they cheap Hoem Depot specials? Then they are probably easy to get through. Sad to say, but locks are not a cheap item, at least not quality locks. Locks keep honest people out, but good locks can keep dishonest folks out a little longer. A Schlage B60N and a good strike plate cost less than a hundred bucks.
What about your windows? No one expects y’all to buy bulletproof glass, but you can put some things in place to make them tougher to break into. 3M security film is a cheap and overall excellent step to take to protect your home. It makes it tougher to break in and renders most common window breakers; IE rocks a lot less useful.
Zip the Lips on Social Media
OPSEC, or operational security, is the final gun-free home defense strategy. While it’s tempting to let everyone know everything all the time, it’s poor security. Real Gs move in silence like lasagna. Don’t tell people you went on vacation till you get home, don’t advertise you’re home alone and lonely, and be mindful of posting picks of kids, the outside and inside of your home. Don’t check into places, etc. Zip your lips and post only what matters. Clearly, what matters is dumb gun arguments, so stick to posting that.
Home Defense Strategies
The gun, the light, and the plan are critical to home defense. They are your kickstand when things go wrong, so you don’t want them to let you down. With that in mind, if you can put some steps in place to make your home look undesirable, that’s even better. Hopefully, I’ve given you a few new home defense strategies to consider.
