As some of you may be aware, I have been working on a big project for JeepGunner.com covering home defense. We are going to start producing videos as well as technical articles, and I’m kicking off the series with our recommendations on Home Defense.
Good home defense includes having good, functional locks on all outside-leading doors and windows, lighting to make your home less inviting to the bad guys, and a working alarm system with contacts on all outside-leading doors and windows. Keeping that alarm system armed when you are home (in the home mode, disabling any interior motion detectors) will give you advance warning of any intruders if they make it past the physical defense layer.
Think about it. If an alarm is blaring and alerting you and your neighbors to an intruder, are they likely to stick around? It’s a sure bet that if they do, they have more than a simple home burglary in mind.
Most folks consider the shotgun to be the end-all-be-all of home defense. It’s true that at close range they are generally quite devastating. However, they also have a number of drawbacks. There is one big one to keep in mind.
Remember…
YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR EVERY PROJECTILE THAT LEAVES YOUR FIREARM.
While shotguns may indeed allow you to hit a target more easily without a good sight picture – they do so by firing multiple projectiles at a time. YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR EVERY PROJECTILE THAT LEAVES YOUR FIREARM. That includes every pellet from your shotgun.
I hear a lot of rumors and crap on the Internet about “bird shot won’t go through walls but it will destroy an intruder” or “if the shot goes through the wall it won’t penetrate skin”.
You need to keep in mind that what you see on television – and a lot of what you read on the Internet – is FANTASY. This was again driven home at work this week when I was trying to dispel this myth to a customer. Two gentlemen were standing nearby, and they were nodding in agreement as I educated this gentleman on the reality of home defense. I thought they looked familiar. It turned out that they were the Editors of another publication that I had met at the SHOT SHOW a couple of years ago in the Press Room. They chimed in their agreement, and he started getting the idea.
The outer walls of houses are made of siding (often plastic or thin metal), plywood, fiberglass insulation, and drywall. These things, even put together, will not stop rifle rounds. Plywood has a better chance of stopping bird shot, but drywall will not stop it.
DRYWALL WILL NOT STOP BULLETS, AND WON’T STOP MOST SHOTGUN AMMO.
So, while you are tearing apart the bad guy, the pellets that miss him are going to hit whatever is in their path. Maybe nothing. Maybe your kids in their room. Maybe your neighbors home. Maybe the car in your driveway or across the street. Whatever they hit, you just bought.
I had some exposure to the FN P90 earlier this year. It’s designed as a personal defensive firearm, is fully automatic, and is perfect for protective details and home defense. There are rounds for it that are devastating, yet limit over-penetration. However, being fully automatic, short-barreled, and made after 1986, there is no chance for anyone other than law enforcement agencies or the military to own them.
However, FN does make the PS90. It has a longer barrel, and is semi-automatic only. And to learn more about why we recommend it highly for home defense, you will need to check out this upcoming series from JeepGunner.com. We have one we are testing, and so far it has proven that it has what we feel you need.
You can even get them from Impact Guns – unless you live in California. Just enter PS90 into the search bar.