Preview – Safe House

Illustration by Ced Nocon

Think owning a gun is enough protection? Think again.
Your home is your castle, so harden it with these additional common-sense security measures.

Pop quiz, hot shot: You’re in deep REM sleep, making a nice little pool of slobber on your pillow, when you’re awakened by a window being smashed. Is it a burglar? Or, worse, a home invasion by an armed robber — or three? What do you do? What do you do?!

Finding the typical “get a gun and learn how to use it” advice woefully inadequate, RECOIL interviewed some of the industry’s most experienced security experts in search of a more comprehensive home-defense plan. We learned that you don’t need to install a moat around your property or a .50 BMG turret on your roof — but you do need a proactive mindset.

“A homeowner’s biggest mistake is saying, ‘I live in a good neighborhood. It won’t happen here,’” says Kris Sutton, co-founder of and firearms instructor at Shoot and Move, LLC. “Newsflash: criminals aren’t going to steal from places that offer them nothing to gain. Complacency is a huge mistake.”

After serving as a U.S. Army Ranger, Sutton became a police officer in the greater Atlanta, Georgia, area, working various assignments that included SWAT and undercover narcotics. As a former lieutenant, Sutton says that burglaries are crimes of opportunity, committed by crooks who seek easy prey. Home-invasion robbers, on the other hand, select their victims in advance.

In either case, taking some common-sense precautions can go a long way in making your dwelling a hard target for either bad guy.

First Line of Defense
Hardening your home isn’t as difficult or expensive as it sounds. In fact, a trip to Home Depot could take care of many of the security measures recommended by our panel of experts. Mike Pannone, a world-renowned firearms instructor and owner of CTT Solutions, says that many humble abodes are soft targets because of a confluence of obvious weaknesses that people fail to address, from flimsy doors to poor lighting.

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