Locking your doors?
 

M21snipers recent thread about the gunshot victim has me thinking, do you lock your doors? do you live in a safe area? I grew up in Philly, I know the worry of making sure you secure everything you own, I know that there are places in this country where you have to have bars on the lower windows just to keep you and you family safe.
It makes me sad when the reality of how bad we have become as a society comes to light.
In my little slice of the world, if you forget to lock your doors, before you go to work, or to sleep, you just shrug it off, and go on with your life, and think nothing of it. Leave your keys in your car overnight? oh well it will be there when you get up. Nothing to worry about.
I guess I am just writing this to point out the fact that not every where in our country is the lawless fontier where the bad guys rule. There are places where people are still people and crime has yet to happen. Well that drunk guy down the road did drive to the store yesterday................................better call out swat. If we can get them off the river, I think they are bass fishing.

At home we don't lock our doors and have left keys in the car overnight - my wife has forgotten her purse in the car. At work, I routinely leave $15K in electronic equipment in my unlocked car outside of my office. I do lock my office at night, although I doubt much would happen if I forgot to do so.

My office is in a town of 1,000 people - there isn't even a police officer nor is there a need for one. A sheriff's deputy drives through every so often. Apparently several years ago a bank was robbed but that was by someone passing through.

I live near the Amish. We normally don't have much trouble but in the past week some clowns stole 5 catalytic converters off some cars. The cars were sitting in our neighbors yard about 1.5 miles away. That makes me worry they might attack our place.

I have the guns in a convenient location and the shells are all sorted and ready to go.

Speedy:)

One advantage of my kids being adults (with thier own guns) is I leave the hand cannon chambered. Just flip the safty off and I am hot. I may live in a safe area but I don't work in one, and I do carry.
Procon can vouch for he strength of my carry piece.:cool:

Ah the heat is strong with you young Skywalker. (spoken in my best Yoda voice)

Speedy:)

Ah the heat is strong with you young Skywalker. (spoken in my best Yoda voice)

Speedy:)

Florida - absolutely. If it ain't bolted down, it's gone.

Out West - I routinely forget to lock the front door at night. No worries.

Only lock the doors when we go on vacation...the dogs help as well.

While I love the farm, I really have to adjust my scan and awareness when I travel since I'm so used to not worrying about leaving keys in the car, etc.

"lock the doors"
__________
Why bother at most homes?

We are in a very low crime area but as I look at my place; Single pane of glass (windows) in garage doors, easily broken, reach in, unlock. Six seconds tops?

My mother once locked herself out of her home. I went over with my B.I.L. to survey access possibilities. Nothing. At rear door I said, stand back, I short-punched my fist through the thin (plywood?) panel/wooden door that looks to most people to be solid/strong!! Pffft! Reach in, turn deadbolt, Another six seconds!

Yep, doors are always locked here in the city.

Where do you work, Rick? I thought it was Charlottesville.

My Grandfather in law lives in a rough part of Baltimore a few blocks from my FIL. He's like 94 and keeps the place locked up like Fort Knox. He apparently had someone over doing some work and at midnight they decided to come back and break in for some stuff. GFIL called the cops who showed up and left. My FIL went over to check on him and heard something...the guy was still in the house hiding in a closet!! He ran, pushed over my FIL and ran away.

Scary times indeed.

I live in downtown Lowell, MA... lower crime than the rest of the Lowell area, but still not the safest place. To get to my condo after business hours (the bottom two floors are commercial, top two floors residential, four units total) you need to get through four locked doors. During business hours, two.

I never lock anything in NH,, but in Reno, I've had stuff in my car ripped off so that's locked now too. Gun is in the nightstand , loaded, chambered, and safety off..

I never lock anything in NH,, but in Reno, I've had stuff in my car ripped off so that's locked now too. Gun is in the nightstand , loaded, chambered, and safety off..

Yup, just depends on where you live. I lock my door as soon as I walk through it if I get home in the evening and won't be leaving again, so that I don't forget and go to sleep. I live in an apt. in the city and it's pretty secure, has a safe feeling when inside. In 10 years, though, I've never had anyone rattle my door knob or try to enter when I was home. When I'm not home, it's locked tight.

I miss my dog for many reasons, not the least of which was his "early detection" feature if anyone approached while I was sleeping. (Anywhere). And if I left him home, stuff was REAL secure.

I ran to the dyno on Wed this week and in the excitement of getting there on time I forgot to lock my office, it was unlocked for 2-3 hours, not a problem.

I forget to lock my work truck in front of the house a lot, have not had a problem in years. Now, 5 years ago, before my neighbor built her house and kids could vut through from the neighborhood behind we would have "incidents" where the change would be stolen from our cars. Nothing more.

I have left my house unlocked many times and never had a problem as a matter of fact I cannot remember of there ever being any robberies in this neighborhood in the 11 years I have lived here.

In North Carolina (where procon lives) I have left that house unlocked for months on end without a problem.

Where I live in Florida is a lot like NC, small town most folks know each other and the supermarket constantly turns into social visits.

With all the vermin moving up out of south Florida I worry these good times are ending.


My bro in law just got some neighbors renting a formally foreclosed house across the street. It is obvious by their actions and behavior they are from a really rough neighborhood. I was over today welding a trailer he is building. Their teenage son got out of the car after they pulled in the driveway and he threw his trash in the swale out front. My bro-in-law and I looked at each other in shock. I simply said to him this is why when we survey in the hood there is garbage all over the place no respect / pride / concern about how your living.

I feel sorry for him his neighborhood is going downhill fast, he has already had someone try to break in his shed last week.

We lock our doors if we are going out all day, but its really just habit. No big deal if we leave the door open.

i lock the doors just to make myself feel better. i think any 12 year old can break into any house in seconds. my house is no exception. if i lock myself out, it takes me time to crack the perimeter, but i am trying hard not to break anything. a thief could chainsaw thru a wall.

Locked, alarmed, and armed at least at night....I really think the "protected by" sign in front of my house helped when a murderer was loose in the are some years back...he picked Marie Olson's motor home as a hideout for a few days. No alarm in her home, and she was gone visiting relatives. That's where he got fresh clothes and a .357 Magnum.

Forgot to hit the lock button on the Subaru remote last night or two. Found myself a rifled glove box and short about $1.38 in ashtray change this morning.

Would have loved to have caught them.

Double-cylinder deadbolt on every door, including the entrance door from garage to house. That door swings out, so they ain't kicking it in.

That being said, I saw a commercial burglary being reported on the news. The dirt-bags knocked a hole in a block wall, entered during the evening and waited for the store clerk to arrive in the morning. So...concrete block walls are no longer a deterrent. Gotta have re-bar now!

Oh yeah.

Yes- if you get stranded in one it's exceedingly easy to 'find' cheap transportation.

I think i read somewhere recently that the #1 cause of stolen cars in the US is people leaving them unlocked with the keys in them.

Now that's a spooky story.

Thank god that dude wasn't in the mood to commit double homicide.

Using a gun really takes away a lot of the satisfaction of beating an intruder senseless with your bare hands/feet/elbows/knees or a blunt object.

Of course you never know if they are carrying a knife or gun...

I never locked a door even at night until the 1990s.

The nice thing about a locked door is that if somebody does get in, it obviously cannot be argued that they went to wrong house and just walked in accidentally. That gives you a lot more latitude to blow their ass to hell.

Yes Steve I do work in Charlottesville..........................we had 3 fatal shootings last week. I had 2 fellows (who don't speak english ) come after me 2 weeks ago because I objected to then cutting me off........................Big Mistake, their Saturn VS My full size Dodge 4X4, and their knife VS my .45.

And Randy, I use a gun instead of beating them to a pulp cause I am too old to fight and too tired to run.

Front door locked only, and sometimes not even that.
Two 90lb dogs, one 38, one 357, one 44, one 12gauge. No children, no child safety locks.
The dogs wake you and you shoot their dinner.

We welcome the intruder.

80 y/o MIL lives with us. Not a good watch dog. Do have three dogs, two are useful, one too old. 25 house gated community, a plus, 200 feet of I-5 not so good. Neighbors too self absorbed to notice if robbers put my entire house on a truck and drove off with it. Hey, I'm in Socal, but at least a good, sort of, area.

Oh, usually lock the front, but not the back (two useful dogs in back).

I've been bating. The $100 didn't work last night.

Answer.

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We are in a pretty nice area but by habit we always keep the doors locked when home or not home.

I did it last November, oh wait Ya'll knew I was commig to get the car.:cool: I did however have to deal with alot of being checked out when I stopped right down the road. Good thing Beth parked her Porsche right behind me. I think thay figured it out.

I grew up in a place called Paterson. We locked and sometimes double locked everything. Paterson is why I learned to shoot. When I got married I moved to the deep 'burbs for the sake of my children. It took awhile but my house is now generally unlocked. I have accidentally left my keys or my wallet in my unlocked truck overnight. Never an issue. There is of course the chance of an exception but in 30 years here no problems at all. Not even a street fight.

I used to work in NW Philly, like 12 years ago. I'll tell ya, anyone living there voluntarily is much tougher than me.

Ever read "In Cold Blood"? The Clutter family lived in a quiet area of a rural state.

Always lock the house, pay attention when I get home too, home invasion type robberies are becoming popular around here. Always lock the cars, don't leave valuables in them.

If you were a criminal, would you go to the crappy areas to steal, or the nice neighborhoods?

We went away for the weekend a few weeks ago, and my father in law checked in on the house while we were away.

When we got home, he had the place all locked up. We never lock the house, and I don't even have keys. I had to go in through a window.

I don't have keys for my Suzuki either... lost them 2 years ago. I had to break the steering lock and put in a hidden switch. Funny thing is that someone tried to steal it last year by hammering a screwdriver into the ignition switch... which isn't even hooked up anymore.

We live in a very safe neighborhood, but I still lock the house. Also keep a 1911 in the nightstand.

As Daley has torn down much of Chicago's public housing and quietly encouraged the thugs to relocate to "greener pastures" (small towns without large police forces), Bloomington has seen a decided increase in crime. Like in Chicago, it's mostly thug on thug, but I also know they don't have much regard for who else is around them when they start shooting.

BTW, my neighbor across the street has a 19-year-old goth/emo son (he had been living with his mother, but recently moved in). Seems the son has adopted a thug who is now living there too. In my experience, there's only one reason hippies or goth kids talk to gangbangers.

Every night. Spending several years in ghetto rentals made that a firm habit. I spent quite a few evenings with the 1911 on the nightstand back then. Now live in a very nice, safe neighborhood, it makes a loop so there's no thru traffic. Everyone knows everyone and their cars, I think someone would most likely notice suspicious activity. Still, I lock the doors every night.

My wife is from a town of 800 in central KS, I don't think her parents even carry house keys. I've never seen their house locked, and their cars always have the keys in them. They also have a lab and a small arsenal:D, so that never hurts.

Were I worried about crime at my home, the FIRST thing I would buy is a dog. No question.

Electric driveway gate locked.
Steel security doors locked (double locks).
House doors locked, and double bolted.
Bedroom door locked.
Car locked in garage.
House alarm armed.
Surveylance cameras on alert.
6-wire electric fence (on top of 8' wall) energised.
9mm para within easy reach.

Welcome to Africa!

That would be scary.

A family friend's brother & sister in law had an 80 acre farm in Zimbabwe, built it up over 25 years and employed ~60 locals. When things started to get spooky, they were assured by their employees that they were well liked and not in jeopardy. But some out-of-town agitators got folks stirred up one weekend, and they barely made it out with their lives. A handful of their loyal employees helped get them out.

Outcome:
-25 years of hard work and investment down the drain
-farm overgrown and non-productive
-60 people unemployed

I used to live in Passaic, NJ, which is a pretty rough inner-city in North NJ. We lived in the parsonage that was attached to the church -- my dad is a minister. We had two guard dogs - one outside and one inside the house. Still, the church compound was broken into several times.

Now, I live in Wayne, NJ, which according to a 2005 CNN/Money article, is the 2nd safest place to live in the USA. Link to article. It helps that the Sheriff of Passaic County lives in Wayne, and has the Sheriff's HQ in Wayne. I live within earshot of the Police station.

I never had a break in, although I had a rock thrown through my window -- we suspect it was a contractor that we wound up taking to court. But that's a different story...

That said, we do lock our doors at night. I guess living in Passaic all those years, I can't help it. However, if someone breaks into our house, we really don't have anything of value to steal. I mean, we still have a 27-inch TV for cryin' out loud! No real expensive jewlery or other stuff that would have any worth. I fear that if someone broke in, they would mess up the place in sheer frustration of not finding anything to take...

-Z-man.