Almost Had to Change Underwear

[dickenscpa]

I'm not a "Rambo" gung-ho clear my house guy. If I get home and suspect something, I call police and let them do their job.

Tuesday night my son had achievement night at school. We took separate vehicles in case I had to take our 2 yr old daughter home earlier. There was a dinner afterwards and she's usually in bed by 7PM. We all stayed the duration. My 9 yr old son rode home with me and the daughter went with Mamma so she could watch videos in the car. I stopped and got gas. Since we left at the same time and I got gas, I figured the wife would beat me home.

First thing I noticed in the garage was my wife's car wasn't there. No big deal she made a stop too I thought. We have a basement level garage and my son took off ahead of me. I clicked the remote to disarm the alarm and he goes in. Halfway up the stairs my cell rings and my wife is frantic, "Don't go in the house. I called the police!" She was down the street in a neighbor's drive trying to flag me down before I got home. She had also tried calling but cell reception in my neighborhood is horrid. Even worse in our basement, I'm surprised she got thru when she did.

My heart went into my stomach, my son was in the house. I dropped briefcase, phone, etc. I carry a P238 in my pocket all day but have a 1911 in the truck and carry it in each night. It was already in my hand so I drew it out of the holster and took it off safety and went in.

What felt like an eternity, but probably less than 20 seconds, my son calls out, "Dad! Something's freaky with these lights!"

Before my wife pulled into the driveway, she noticed a light come on in the house and go back off. I'm so proud of her awareness. She turned tail and called the police and tried to get me. My phone didn't ring and I didn't see her flagging me. I pulled into the drive at just the right time when no freaky light thing was going on so I was unaware.

Come to find out, we had a 3-way switch that had gone bad and was periodically turning a light on, then off.

Everything turned out fine, but when I figured out my son was safe, I had to calm my breathing down.

[98SS1LWEE]

Great ending to the possible situation, but i'll be honest, I NEVER WANT TO HAVE A SITUATION LIKE THAT AT HOME!

[Guest 6.8 AR]

Glad that's all it was. Scary!

[QuietDan]

Good outcome!

If it's not real, it's a drill.

Sounds like time for a family drill. You might be able to get another gun for yourself or your wife out of this! After all, "it's for the children!!"

[walton6467]

Holy Smokes! I'd have needed new pants too.

[Makiaveli]

Glad to hear it was nothing. My wife would likely have gone inside to see why the light was flickering, if she even noticed......

[runco]

Wow, I don't know how many times my 8 year old and 7 year old boys race to get into the house, usually grabbing the car keys to open the front door. This really makes me re-think this fun for the kids game, what if someone was in the house. Thanks for the information, glad it turned out too.

[BPE]

Glad it was a simple issue. Had it gone the other way that is why I require my family be completely in the house prior to ever beginning turning off our alarm. If someone jumps from the shadows then they'll not only have to contend with Mrs. 9 and Mr. 40 and hopefully Senor 12ga., but the alarm will go off in due time alerting police without the need for an additional panicked phone call.

[chances R]

And that is why you don't run around the house with the 1911 safety OFF. Geezz

[Volzfan]

A false alarm like you just had is a great way to evaluate your response in a real emergency. Go thru the whole thing and see what could have been done differently/better, if anything. Sounds to me like things were pretty good. Not sure what you can do about the cell reception though.

[Mark@Sea]

And that is why you don't run around the house with the 1911 safety OFF. Geezz

Hey, at least it wasn't scissors!

And what is the difference between a 1911 with the safety off and a gluck?

[peejman]

Glad it worked out. I doubt my wife would've been so observant. I agree that it might be time for a little practice.

Hey, at least it wasn't scissors!

And what is the difference between a 1911 with the safety off and a gluck?

Now that's funny!

[chances R]

By design and trigger function. A lot of difference in the amount of slack, and in some cases pull weight. It is a safety feature, just like a seatbelt, it's there why not use it. Yeah, I know, keep the finger off the trigger, etc , etc. But those that teach and run 1911 routinely will advocate safety off when pointing in to the target. There is no time delay, regardless, and hopefully is something that could prevent a tragedy. As gunowners we certainly don't need the bad press of an unintentional shooting because the routine safety procedures were not utilized or followed.

While somewhat different situation, I have bird hunted for years. The safety on a shotgun goes off as one mounts the gun. There is no speed advantage in taking the safety off when approaching the birds, or while ducks circle, etc. It only increases the liklihood of a ND. Add an adrenaline charged, scary, unfamiliar situation to the mix with the possibility of innocent people as 'targets' then why not use every precaution available?

[Guest Matt Pavo]

Hey, at least it wasn't scissors!

And what is the difference between a 1911 with the safety off and a gluck?

There is an optional safety of a Glock, it's called an empty chamber.

[Mark@Sea]

The crappy triggerpull is a safety feature?

[chances R]

The crappy triggerpull is a safety feature?

It does offer a margin of safety...that's what I think makes the S&W Sigma a good SD gun. You definitely have to pull THAT trigger to make it go boom!

[dickenscpa]

Yes I took the safety off. I took it off while I was not under duress. Finger off the trigger. That's the way I practice. It was loaded too.

[Guest Bassman17SC]

Hey, at least it wasn't scissors!

And what is the difference between a 1911 with the safety off and a gluck?

Is that like a glorp?

[chances R]

Yes I took the safety off. I took it off while I was not under duress. Finger off the trigger. That's the way I practice. It was loaded too.

In the opinion from those whom I have taken training, your practice should be changed. You will be placing your finger on the trigger under duress and it MAY be a 'no shoot' circumstance. Just sayin', to each his own however.

[c.a.willard]

Id say in the process of clearing his house he probably was under duress, you will revert back to you basic level of training in situations like that. What you dont do well in situations like that is remember small motor functions like taking off the safety right before shooting. once you see a threat you become threat focused and are likely to forget the safety all together. Not saying the people you received training from are wrong, they just do things different. Id be more worried about my weapon being on safe in a shoot situation

[Guest Sgt. Joe]

I'm glad everything turned out OK.

I knew by your title and the fact that you were posting that the story was going to end well but it still gave me a bit of chill just reading it. I am sure that both you and your wife were both freaking out for a few minutes as it all played out.

Given that you cant fix the cell service I dont know that you could have done anything different other than maybe to have noticed your wife trying to flag you down. I would think that finding a way to make sure that she does get your attention if there is ever another similar situation would be all that you can do.

I would say being the first to enter the house all the time could be a good thing too, but then being the first inside isnt going to do one much good unless they are at the low-ready when they enter if someone is indeed inside waiting.

Having to even think through things like entering our own homes with weapons drawn stinks but it is the reality of the world that we all live in these days and doing such may well be the answer for some given their individual situations.

Dogs can be a good thing too but then they can also be neutralized so it can be easy to think ourselves in circles about these things.

I think that it is really good that your wife even noticed something to begin with because I believe I am with the crowd of those whose wives would not have.

[Dolomite_supafly]

In the opinion from those whom I have taken training, your practice should be changed. You will be placing your finger on the trigger under duress and it MAY be a 'no shoot' circumstance. Just sayin', to each his own however.

Under the duress that put the finger on the trigger the safety would also be clicked off so I don't see how clicking the safety off before or at the time of makes a difference. Also, relying on the thumb safety to prevent shooting during a "no shoot" circumstance is only going to lead to a person not being able to shoot when they really need to. Whether the target is a good or bad target the actions are going to be the same if you feel your under duress.

It really is about how a person trains and is comfortable. My safety stays engaged 99.9 percent of the time but if I am expecting problems the thumb safety gets clicked off long before I make contact if I can help it. That way when stress overcomes everything but the most basic motor skills you can still shoot.

To the OP, something that might work to warn is the flag on your mailbox. It should never be raised at night but if there is a reason not to enter the house have the person feeling that way raise the flag. Then all family meet at a predetermined location to wait on the authorities. And it is unlikely a bad guy will take notice to a mailbox flag being up.

Dolomite

[dickenscpa]

Between cell service and not seeing my wife flagging me, it was like the "perfect storm." I live in a decent neighborhood on a hill. You'd think we'd get decent cell service. I'm on Verizon but have had sprint and Nextel as well since we've lived her Oct '03. My brother has AT&T and nothing picks up in my neighborhood. You can look outside and see my neighbors all walking their lawns trying to get a signal. LOL! The only thing that was flawless was the old Nextel direct talk. When they switched to sprints system that was sketchy too.

My street is maybe .3 miles long and shaped like a horseshoe, I live almost exactly half way. Going home the road is a straight away that turns left onto my street or you can pass that left turn and go about .2 of a mile more that dead ends into a turn left only situation into my street, thus the horseshoe shape. If you take the first left, I'm the 5th house on the right. The second left, I'm the 5th on the left. This creates and "infield so to speak and the only piece of the neighborhood where back yards meet. All other houses are on the outskirts and their lawn backs up to wooded area.

We always take the first left. My wife did and when she retreated, she went to a driveway backtracking toward the first left. I took the second left which I hardly ever do. A song was on the radio and my son wanted to hear it so I took the slightly longer way to give him more time to hear it. So there were houses and back yards between us. I would have normally drove right passed her but not that night. Can't really say that was a wrong thing to do, just an unlucky, freaky chain of events. The light flicking off and on also timed just where I didn't see it and was already in the garage.

What I've learned. Need to add a scenario to our practice plan. My son is heavy into Scouts and we've had family practices for emergencies. However, they were focused on waking up in the middle of the night to the alarm going off and a house fire. Apparently we need to add something as simple as coming home to the list. And possibly more.

I didn't post this thread for a critique of my technique although I understood going in that would come. Ima big boy and none of us are perfect and none of us know truly what we'd do until the rubber hits the road. I wish now I hadn't gotten snide and sarcastic in my previous post. I apologize, I'd like to think I'm better than that.

I turned 40 a couple of months ago and in a very short time, this world went haywire. I've done everything I can to safeguard my family. Built a home in a secluded neighborhood with no thruways. Fenced in back lawn with coded gates and tied into the alarm. Two dogs, a Jack Russell that yips at anything and a 120lb predominantly lab/German Shepard that would eat pavement. We aren't allowed to park in the driveway or leave anything in the driveway. I leave my ATV trailer at Dads. I got lazy and postponed taking it to his house 3 days and on the 3rd day in broad daylight with wife and kids at home, someone stole it. Nobody in the neighborhood saw a thing.

What in the world can a body do in this day and age? People are crazy!

Brad