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Has Your Family Planned for a Home Invasion? PDF Print E-mail
Written by Mike Kinsey   
Wednesday, 02 August 2006

Along with higher temperatures, summer also brings a higher number of home burglaries. Today, The Dayton Daily News reported that:
“More residential burglaries occur in July and August than at any other time of the year, according to the FBI.

That's why the New York City-based Insurance Information Institute suggests that everyone protect against "a physical or virtual break-in" during this crucial time…

The institute suggested the following tips to prevent residential burglaries:

• Keep exterior lights on at night and put indoor lights on a timer.

• Don't make it easy for crooks to break in. Slow down burglars with dead-bolted windows and doors. You could get a 2 to 5 percent discount on your home insurance policy by installing dead-bolts.

• Get a burglar alarm that will notify police and fire if your home is broken into.”
But is that enough?

These are excellent suggestions that will certainly help to make your home more secure. However, even the strongest deadbolt or loudest alarm may not cause a determined or inebriated criminal to flee. In addition, an armed burglar can usually make his way up a staircase faster than police can respond to an alarm. It is for these reasons that some choose to strengthen their home defense plan by forming a strategy for protecting their family that includes a reliable firearm and the necessary training to legally and effectively use it. Minimally, this strategy should include gathering all occupants into a defendable area with a telephone, light source, and means of self defense.

Current Ohio law does not maintain a “duty to retreat” for defense against an attacker while inside one’s home. If passed, House Bill 541, known as “Stand Your Ground” legislation, will extend that notion of common sense to anywhere a citizen is legally allowed to be. Thus, parents would be capable of protecting their children from a violent attack whether they happened to be inside the home or not.

So... has your family planned for a home invasion?