RobertNashville

I doubt they carry any legal weight as they don't really convey whether this particular business establishment does or does not allow firearms in the establishment. That said, if you are concerned about whether that bar does or does not bar firearms, I'd ask.

Maybe I'm just a little more pessimistic than you Fallguy but I'm not completely convinced that my "catch -22" sort of situation might not happen - at the very least, I could see this issue being something that would have to be decided at trial which, even if ultimately good for the person who defended himself, would not be a fun time of life!

Based on the statute, I can't help but wonder if it would be possible to be legally justified to discharge your weapon and kill an intruder because you were "in fear for your life" and still be held liable for civil damages to the intruder/intruder's family if a court later found that the intruder was not actually committing one of the enumerated crimes? For example... 1. 3AM; an intruder is drunk, "breaks" into your home by mistake (he's drunk and thinks your house is actually his house) but he has no actual criminal "intent" and at this point, his only real crime is a simple burglary (if that). 2. You, a responsible homeowner and owner of a 12ga shotgun you purchased specifically for home defense are in bed asleep when your burglar alarm goes off alerting you to the "break-in". 3. You grab your shotgun, aim it at your bedroom door while your spouse is calling 911 4. The drunk intruder lumbers down the hallway and opens your bedroom door and you shoot and kill him In that situation, I would say you (the homeowner) has every logical reason to be in fear for your life yet the intruder, hasn't actually committed any felonies that I'm aware of. Maybe this is far-fetched but it seems like it could happen and if it did, I wonder what the eventual outcome would be???

Unfortunately, a sign being easy or not easy to see probably won't stop you from being charged with carrying in a prohibited (posted) location - whether the sign(s) are truly visible/easy to find would likely become a matter for a jury or judge to decide. The other day when I went to see a Dr; his office is on hospital grounds (although separate from the hospital itself)...I didn't see any signs anywhere turning into the complex or anywhere in the parking lot and I was carrying...even so, I left my firearm in a portable safe in my vehicle...sure enough, on the entry door to the office facility was a big sign saying all firearms were prohibited anywhere in the facility OR on the grounds. Made me wonder if I was actually breaking the law at that point. I probably was...makes me wonder, realistically, what they (owners) expect people to do when their signage isn't visible until you get the door.

It's great that this company seems to be doing both the right and the sensible thing! While I do believe that employers ought to be able to decided if firearms will be allowed withing their physical facilities, I think parking lots ought to be a very different matter - I hope that we can get action this year on legislation that will allow us to carry and be able to leave our firearms in our locked vehicles while parked in "company" parking lots...as it stands right now, many of us are forced to go to/from work unarmed despite our HCPs.

I appreciate all the responses to this thread! I think on my short list of things I can do fairly easily and with relatively low costs is... 1. I'm going to replace all my deadbolt door locks with those that require a key to enter or exit (I don't have multiple family/children to worry about). Of course I'll be replacing the doorknob locks too so they are all keyed alike. 2. Add reinforced strike plates to the front and rear doors - I'm going to look into the glass film that has been mentioned as well. Moving forward, I'm going to add at least three IP cameras, one to cover the front of the house/front door and one to cover the back and one to cover the majority of the interior. Beyond that I have ideas but I suspect they'll be fairly expensive to implement so I'll move forward on those fairly slowly.

The "reasonable man" standard isn't a one-size-fits-all and the situation must take into account all factors. What a 65 year old mobility impaired "reasonable man" would consider life threatening is ENTIRELY different than a 20-something linebacker for a the Titans (or any 20-something in decent physical shape for that matter). And in any case, while I hope I never have to kill someone I'd rather be alive to face a jury and possible jail time than dead.

One-half of a statistic does not a convincing argument make nor a good foundation for an opinion. Maybe a search of the same web-based gun sale forums did yield a "plethora of unhidden serial numbers but how does that compare to the total number of listings? A search of the same sites might yield a "double-plethora", of hidden serial numbers if one were looking for them and a search of many, many more sites might yield data that contradicts your view. In any case, how many people do or don't do something (like hide serial numbers on pics of firearms) is irrelevant to whether hiding serial numbers is or isn't a good idea.

A bloody nose isn't but if someone is coming at you to, apparently, beat you up how do you know it will end at that??? Plus, what is a mere "ass whipping" to a 20-something in good shape could be a life or death issue for a senior citizen; even a senior in fair shape for his/her age. In other words, if you are truly in fear for your life then you are in fear for your life...whether someone else would have been in the same situation is somewhat immaterial.

It's been a number of years ago but I once lived in a house with bars on the windows...they are actually quite attractive and the did make me feel more secure in the house (the fact that the house was all brick and had been standing since 1865 didn't hurt my feelings of security either!). In the case of a fire the primary exits would either be the front door, the back door or, if one was in a bedroom, a bedroom window...those bars were actually hinged and could be released (and only be released) from a mechanism on the inside...you pushed in this rod and the bars would open much like a door. In other words, you can have bars on the windows and still have adequate fire escape routes.

At one time or another I've shot most every caliber of handgun out there (well, at least the popular calibers and many of the less popular ones)...a .45 especially out of a 1911 is nothing to worry about in terms of recoil...I suspect you'll likely find that the felt recoil in a 1911 in .45 trim is not only far less of an issue than you imagine but less than you've already experienced in other handguns if you've done much shooting at all. I'm a "1911" guy...I carried one in the service and have own several and although I've got a two or three non-1911's the 1911 will always be my handgun of choice both for the fun of shooting as well as for carry. I live in Murfreesboro so if you are ever over this way, just let me know; I'd be happy to let you shoot any of mine that you want and "On Target" shooting range rents many guns at their range.

Yeah...I think the strikeplate is a given and is on my short list...I'm also going to change all my deadbolts to "key only" both in or out. I like the idea of a second deadbolt lower on the door although given that my front and garage doors are steel, I'd probably have to have help installing those (as I'd probably screw it up if I start drilling into my doors!).

I think a good alarm company could probably help you out with that...of course, you don't want you motion sensor setting off your alarm at every stray motion detected and everyone who comes to your front door isn't necessarily a bad guy.

Does anyone have any experience/advice about the devices that are propped up against the door, usually at the doorknob) and are braced against the floor? I'm just wondering how effective they might actually be. This product (link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mQ1ACpLxwg ) looks interesting but I'm always wary or "sales videos" and can't help but wonder if there was something more done to the secured door than is apparent in the video.

While I don't disagree in general; the real problem is that waiting until the general election is FAR too late to start worrying about it. If you want a truly good candidate to vote for then the time to make that happen is months (at least) before the general election...once the primary has happened then you have no real choice of who to vote for except the one's chosen in the primary...as I said above, I didn't like voting for Corker but I sure as hell wasn't going to vote for his opponent and I don't think anyone can make a reasonable argument that Corker wasn't the better choice; not a great choice to be sure, but clearly the better of the two; at least in my opinion.

No argument there and a look in my gun safe would show that I tend to like "big" caliber weapons over small caliber ones but at the end of the day, I wouldn't overlook a 20ga and assume I had to have a 12 for HD purposes.

I understand that you don't like answering general questions but, in your "general" opinion, does Tennessee law protect a justified shooter from civil liability if a stray bullet injures or kills an innocent bystander? For example, a person is defending himself from a violent home invasion, shoots and kills one or more of the bad guys but during the fight, a bullet kills a neighbor child sleeping in her room in her own home one house over...I understand that the bad guy's aren't entitled to damages if the shooting was justified but what about the family of the innocent child? I guess where I'm coming from is that one thing drilled into me almost my whole life is that when you fire a weapon YOU are responsible for every bullet that leaves the barrel (hence one of the reasons why you must be sure of your target AND what's behind it!.

Well; these come to mind (and these are general; I'm sure there are specific exceptions)... 1. less expensive ammo 2. slightly lighter weight of the gun/maybe a little easier to handle 3. 20ga still makes a heck of hole and the difference is negligible (especially to someone on the receiving end!) 4. slightly less felt recoil Now...as i mentioned above I have a 12ga pump (a Benelli Super Nova Tactical) precisely for home defense use but if I had already had a 20ga I doubt I'd have gone out a bought a 12ga because at the end of the day, I think a 20ga will do the same job quite nicely.

My front door and door from the garage into the house are both steel but I worry about the frame and what I should do the strengthen it. My back door is another matter; it's steel but also has a large glass area and someone could break the glass and then easily unlock the door. My "storm doors" on both the front and back are also "glass doors"; they do open outward but getting by them would again be a simple matter of breaking the glass. Of course, making any entry at any of the doors or windows would instantly set off the alarm system but it wouldn't stop them from gaining entry. As you can tell, my "doors" are my primary concern at this point but I"m unsure of what the best course of action is to make them more secure as well as how much of a headache/cost it's going to be!

If you have wireless internet at you home there are good wireless IP cameras (both regular and infrared that you can view, tilt, pivot, etc from any computer or even an internet enabled smart phone form anyplace you have a connection...many can even be set-up to alert you by text message or email when they capture motion including a still pic of whatever set them off. The ones I've been looking at are around the $200 each range. Of course, those won't necessarily make your home more secure against such things as a home invasion type of break-in but I think they are a possible worthwhile addition to overall security.

In the situation being talked about here it seems to me that if you are going to try and "make it" it would tactically be better to stay in a more familiar setting...as was said, if you don't already live "in the hills" and have a self-sustaining place to live, suddenly moving out into the wilderness is probably not a good move. Perhaps a finding a better location than you are in (but still within your area of area) would be the best thing...by that I mean, perhaps your particular home in a suburb isn't ideal but maybe some other abandoned home in/near the same city or an abandoned commercial building could prove a better choice; looking for something that can be more easily secured/protected and perhaps less of an inviting target, etc. Overall, in a situation where the whole of society has broken down I think a person has to think realistically about whether it's worth surviving. As was intimated earlier, surviving is one thing but truly "living" is another and they may not be much point in surviving if there is no home of "living". Of course, part of that decision comes down to who or what you are surviving for...if you are a 30-something with a family you are working in a much different framework than a 50 or 60-something widow/widower.

This is much more of a general “home defense†question than a “self defense†(i.e. gun related) question so if this is in the wrong place, please feel free to move it. In thinking about making a home “secureâ€, especially from the “home invasion†sort of burglary while the homeowner is home, I’m curious about what some of you have done or are considering doing to make your home safer against such things. In particular, one issue, raised in another thread is reinforcing the obvious points of entry (doors) against being kicked in/forced open. If anyone has any thoughts on things to do; especially say on a scale from simple/inexpensive that doesn’t take much “mechanical ability†to complex/expensive and/or that require significant installation/construction I’d appreciate hearing your thoughts. I suspect that there are a lot of even simple things we can all do but may not have thought of. For my own home, my guns (except the ones I have out for immediate use) are always locked in a good gun safe…I have a dog that, while not dangerous certainly sounds dangerous from behind a door…I also have a pretty good alarm system using a land line with a cell phone back-up (all windows and doors are individually alarmed and all open areas including back hall and garage have motion sensors). I also have back yard and front yard exterior lights that are on timers and one or more sets of lights are on during all hours of darkness…many inside lights are also on timers to give the appearance of occupancy for when I’m not home. In short, I’ve think I’ve done most of the “easier†stuff but I’m now looking for things I could do but haven’t thought of and/or what I should do “nextâ€.

To each his own but I really think a 20ga is not only a sufficient shotgun gauge for home defense, it might even be superior to a 12ga and if I already had a 20 I doubt I'd then go for a 12. Frankly, I prefer a 556 (AR 15, SCAR, etc) as the best overall choice for home defense (although I still have a 12ga pump and at least one handgun handy for those purposes). Aside from the reasons already cited, with the 556 there is less risk of overpenetration. If the AR15 isn't within your pocketbook I understand but in that case, I wouldn't spend money on a 12 ga unless you have other uses for it. Just my $0.02

I can't argue with that!

Isn't it wonderful that we have outlets like YouTube so that those with no talent can prove it by putting their entertainment attempts out there for people to watch!