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If you don't have a land line keep an old cell phone and a charger plugged in somewhere. They can all call 911 - If it is plugged in it will be ready, and if you aren't using it daily it won't get lost and be where you last put it.

Glad all are safe!!

Divided Attention wrote:If you don't have a land line keep an old cell phone and a charger plugged in somewhere. They can all call 911 - If it is plugged in it will be ready, and if you aren't using it daily it won't get lost and be where you last put it.

Glad all are safe!!

I keep an old non-activated 2001 cell phone charged and have a house and car cord; it has E-911 (GPS-911) so 911 can find you if you fall off a cliff in the country.. I never activated it; it's a recycled phone no one wanted, it still calls 911 though without activating it or getting any phone service; they all do. I keep it handy and a spare battery charged for when power goes out (my magic jack requires electricity, so when power goes out= no phone ... after my battery backup Uninterpretable Power Supply runs out) When phone lines are down/electricity is out; it's a good backup in a storm... or out on the road ...if you have no CB/ham radio and GPS coordinates or Onstar etc So, if a burglar cuts a phone line thinking you can't call police or /cuts your power thinking you have an alarm/ you have a backup 911 phone

If you already have an old cell phone, it should work.
If you know anyone who needs one, help recycle these so people have 911 access and the landfills don't fill up witrh old electronics
If you have an old one you do not want, please recycle it this way instead of throwing it away; you may be helping 911 ambulance find some old geezer who fell off a cliff and can't get up in the country while hunting/taking a walk or a teen whose parents don't want to have a cell phone, but want to have 911 access (there aren't many pay phones to give a kid 2 quarters to call you with any more much).
http://www.usedcellphones.com/contactus ... equest.cfm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.911cellphonebank.org/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I have no affiliation with the above, nor with boys and girls clubs or other organizations which recycle the phones.

when our kids were little, our son would want to be outside....this was good except he would want to run out without asking, and we lived in the country, right next to a busy-ish highway... we bought what I have always called a 'hotel latch' it acts like a chain but is hard and much more secure, you might look for that if you can't find the other latch they were mentioning.

The flip locks I got from Tru Value Hardware

Lowes has them painted or brass or bronze
http://www.lowes.com/ProductDisplay?par ... &cId=PDIO1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.lowes.com/ProductDisplay?par ... &cId=PDIO1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.lowes.com/pd_253029-76018-U+ ... facetInfo=" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.lowes.com/pd_253030-76018-U+ ... facetInfo=" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


as a last resort you can get at home depot http://www.homedepot.com/Tools-Hardware ... reId=10051" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

mamabearCali wrote:Upon reflection my DH and I think it was our annoying neighbor. Our cat likes to sit on the hump on the property line between his and our house. This annoys him, but there are no laws against cats or dogs being off leash in our section of chesterfield and there are hundreds of feral cats in the neighborhood so if he thinks a cat has never walked on his lawn he has another thing coming. He has kicked our cat, and hit him with an umbrella. And our cat is so nice that he just lets himself be picked up and carried about so I think he picked the cat up, put him on our porch, rang the doorbell and took off. Scared the daylights out of me though. They are moving in two weeks. I shall not cry.

If he gets that upset about a cat, he may have a screw loose.

Thought I would update yall....solution found! I was lamenting a few days ago how womens clothes did not always have pockets and so I kept leaving my phone here and there and everywhere, my husband kept calling me and I would have to run back upstairs to get the phone...miss his call...call him back, bring the phone downstairs, then two hours later he would call again and I would be upstairs and the process would repeat. It was really annoying me, then I remembered an old belt pack, that had a phone pocket on it. It is black leather and just hanging in the closet. When I went to go get it a stroke of genius hit me. The hidden pocket in the back is just big enough for my EDC 9mm carry in a pocket holster. There is enough room in there for my pocket knife, pen, tweezers, and even my wallet (a separate pocket for this than the gun). So now I can wear pj's if I like....the gun is still with me in the belt pack.

You go girl! I like it - but alas, no button

Way to find a reasonable - cheap solution!

The kid latch should be used for what it was designed for, not security.

I live far enough off the beaten path and the driveway is gated. If you are unannounced at my door at night you would one of few blessed to see my CCW un concealed...
One time is was a LEO, let's just say I had his full attention.

Topbuilder wrote:The kid latch should be used for what it was designed for, not security.

I live far enough off the beaten path and the driveway is gated. If you are unannounced at my door at night you would one of few blessed to see my CCW un concealed...
One time is was a LEO, let's just say I had his full attention.

I'll bet... how'd that turn out?

Without incident. He was looking for a different address. I believe it was before our area swiched to 911 addressing. We were a "rural route" , with a row of mail boxes 1/4 mile from our homes. Seems like something that could have waited 'till daylight. All the trouble in our neck of the woods for the last 20 years can be traced to one address. Guess what house he was looking for.

oilman wrote:To the OP


Carrying
There are safe options for carrying in your situation:

Belly band
Kangaroo carry
Various fanny paks
Remora Holsters
etc

There are also options for keeping a guns safely nearby for example a quick assess safe such as a gun vault.

Answering the Door
Do NOT open the door. Many bad things can and have happened when people open the door. Google The Dartmouth Murders
Install a peephole (although a perp can block a peephole with his hand).
DO let them know someone is home there have been situations where people have not answered or verbally responded to a knock and the person then breaks in assuming no one is home.
A chain is worthless (as others have said)
Residential doors are easily kicked in. You can install long throw deadbolt locks on the doors but it is more secure to also install a reinforced strike plate that the deadbolt goes into.


Stay safe.

If someone covered the peephole after ringing my doorbell, the next thing I would do would be to loudly ask who it was while stepping away from the door and unholstering my G21 or leveling a shotgun at the door, depending on what I happened to pick up on my way to the door. Covering the peephole seems like an overtly threatening act to me.

If they didn't answer my question, it would result in a 911 call by me.

There is a device that allows the person on the other side of your door to peep INTO your home through the peep hole. That is why mine is taped over. If you go up close enough to the door to look through the peep hole, you are too close to the door. Stay back out of line of the door while armed and call out for anyone to identify themselves. You would be amazed how fast a door can be kicked in and knock you down before you can move and someone could just shoot at you through the door. You don't want to give someone on the other side with a gun an idea of your exact location. You need the distance to protect yourself and identify your target if he breaks in. It might be a BG or it might be a drunk neighbor. A friend recently almost shot the latter when he broke her door in thinking it was his own in the middle of the night. Also consider the tactic that one person may be distracting you at your front door while another is breaking into the other end of your house. This was being done by a couple of people robbing houses of the elderly in the Fort Worth area last year. You are smart to keep yourself armed inside the house.

TexasGal wrote:There is a device that allows the person on the other side of your door to peep INTO your home through the peep hole. That is why mine is taped over. If you go up close enough to the door to look through the peep hole, you are too close to the door. Stay back out of line of the door while armed and call out for anyone to identify themselves. You would be amazed how fast a door can be kicked in and knock you down before you can move and someone could just shoot at you through the door. You don't want to give someone on the other side with a gun an idea of your exact location. You need the distance to protect yourself and identify your target if he breaks in. It might be a BG or it might be a drunk neighbor. A friend recently almost shot the latter when he broke her door in thinking it was his own in the middle of the night. Also consider the tactic that one person may be distracting you at your front door while another is breaking into the other end of your house. This was being done by a couple of people robbing houses of the elderly in the Fort Worth area last year. You are smart to keep yourself armed inside the house.

This ^^^^^^^

There are VERY low cost simple to set up, operate and cost almost nothing a month to use video cams with a small screen. Cheaper ones are wired, but wireless is getting cheaper by the month.
For under $180 you can have a wireless 2 cam with IR lighting and a small screen for viewing.

If you live in an area that needs a peep hole in the door to check who is there... skip the peep hole, install a simple camera with IR lighting, and see who is at the door from the hall way...bedroom...kitchen.. where ever your best secure vantage point is.

I never answer the door. Period. day or night. Let them leave a note or send you a letter.

Bluegill wrote:I never answer the door. Period. day or night. Let them leave a note or send you a letter.

We do not answer the door to those we do not know, but we always make a point to speak through the door sorbet know someone is home.

A lot of burglars have broken into homes with the resident present because they did not speak and make their presence known.