Posted on 06/30/2007 10:08:46 PM PDT by onyx eyes
Article from a little neighborhood newspaper: Put your car keys beside your bed at night. If you hear a noise or feel as if someone is trying to get into your house, or, has gotten into your house, press the panic button for your car. The alarm will be set off, and the horn will continue to sound until either you turn it off or the car battery dies. This tip came from a neighborhood watch coordinator. Next time you come home at night think of this: It's a security alarm system that you probably already have and requires no installation. Test it. It will go off from most everywhere inside your house and will keep honking until you reset it with the button on the key fob chain. It works if you park in your driveway or garage. If your car alarm goes off when someone is breaking into your house, odds are the burglar or rapist won't stick around .
And, very important. Carry your keys with you when walking anywhere, and while walking to your car in a parking lot. The alarm works the same way there....This will stop a carjacker or rapist, and should be shared with everyone. Maybe it could save a life or a sexual assault or crime.
That’s a very good tip.
Thank onyx eyes.
My keys don’t have a panic button. They do have a pocket knife though :)
I prefer to walk with my hand on my gun, and my shotgun next to my bed. But that’s just me.
I’ve seen this and it’s stupid. It’s another “we’ll come up with ANY other idea, no matter how stupid, to keep you from carrying a gun” feel-good scheme.
Here’s some of the problems with it:
1. Nobody pays ANY attention to car alarms any more. They go off too often for no good reason.
2. Many cars will only panic for 30 seconds to 2 minutes.
3. Many car alarms can barely be heard outside when the car is in a garage.
4. Hitting the alarm will more than likely cause the would be rapist or burglar to panic and attack you (as dead witnesses can’t testify) rather than leave.
I can’t remember the last time someone took a car alarm seriously.
No, it’s a very BAD tip.
Don’t want to scare them off, I want them carried off!
Heh!
Car alarm goes off around a group of people -see who notices...
Pump-action shotgun goes, “Cer-CHAACK!!” around a group of people -see who notices.
I prefer my .38 and .44 instead of car keys, but hey, what do I know?
Exactly. This purported “security tip” is right up there with “fan your car keys out in your hand and use them to rake the face of your assailant” in the ranks of “stupid and ineffectual security tips”.
I've got intrusion alarms that would raise the dead in Christ. They're so loud if they ever go off in the middle of the night, I'll probably have a heart attack. LOL Of course, the good news is that they will scare an intruder to death.
Nothing beats the racking of a shotgun.
I saw a sign in a casino parking lot in Vegas that said that if your car alarm goes off and you don't stop it in 10 minutes, they will tow it in 15 minutes.
Hmmm...intruder in my house.
Car alarm for a car parked in a garage, so the sound is muffled, or an AK74.
Car alarm or AK74.
Car alarm or AK74.
Tough Call.
They make lots of noise and even little ones bite.
Except the safety coming off and the bolt being racked on an *AK* shotgun.
You never know when you'll need to key someones car. :-)
Personally I prefer to scare off intruders with the sound of my racking a shell into my shotgun.
Oh come on. The tip isn’t that bad. They even teach that in karate.
Hence, my pocket knife on my keychain.
Next time you’re in Dallas, come meet me in a gym and I’ll show you just how bad that idea really is.
The person trying it usually ends up with a badly cut hand and in pain - which makes it less likely that they can repel their attacker.
I have a dog that doesn’t bark. He will let the intruder either on the property or into the house and NOT let him OUT. A guy broke into my house while my wife and I were at work about 6 years ago. When we got home, we noticed a broken window. When we got into the house, we found the perpetrator on top of the dining room table with the dog laying down next to the table. The moron told us he had been stuck there for more than four hours.
Needless to say, the dog got a very special treat that night. TRUE STORY !!!
Heh! I take it this dog isn’t a Pomeranian.
I can appreciate your point. But, since I live in a ‘blue state’ and have been mugged at knife point, I can assure you, tools for defense are needed in every shape and form.
We can’t carry here, or in many states. I prefer that we can. But, any weapon of defense is better than none.
My dog (pit bull) didn’t let the perp in.
Unfortunately, the perp went to the 84 year old woman’s house across the street and did get in there. He raped her.
My dog got a special treat too.
I wish my neighbor had a dog.
Preach it, brother.
It's amazing how far some people will reach up their poop chute to avoid the obvious.
“4. Hitting the alarm will more than likely cause the would be rapist or burglar to panic and attack you (as dead witnesses can’t testify) rather than leave.”
I strenuously disagree with this notion. The attacker will panic and run out of your house. Unless, of course, he’s a professional who was hired to attack you. Then he’d probably calmly pick up the fob and turn off the alarm.
Another idea is to purcahse a couple of those pepper spray bombs, (the aresol cans that spin around like a top and empty all at once) next to your bed. You here someone break in toss a couple of those outside your door, grab your shotgun and take defensive action.
There are several interviews with gang members who disagree with you. They *know* they have 3-5 minutes, at least, before the police come, no matter what the alarm.
My sister was almost killed when she was staying at an elderly relative's home in the country. Used to being alone, the old lady apparently forgot my sister was there. My sister walked past the lady's open bedroom door on the way to the bathroom and was surprised to see the old lady sitting up in bed with her shotgun trained on her. My sister really needed to go the bathroom then!
That said, I think you have the right idea.
I can say, right now, someone’s car alarm just went off and I’m watching and listening to a gang of kids running down the street screaming ‘oh sh!t’.
I would classify gang members as professional vs. a user looking for quick cash to get a fix.
Tough Call.
LOL! I love FReepers; so many comedians. : )
Not a bad idea. Not everybody is capable of proficiently operating a gun (especially a shotgun). If you are then you need to pick your weapon based on how your house/apartment is set up. And it could be useful to have a layered defense or a method to distract an intruder.
Damn! All you folks are starting to sound like Dale Gribble.
I agree. That’s why I turned my .380 into a key ring. It’s a bit clunky, but it serves its purpose. LOL
I agree. That’s why I turned my .380 into a key ring. It’s a bit clunky, but it serves its purpose. LOL
I'm partial to my .357 magnum, it's always with me, it speaks with a bit more authority than a car alarm.
Why?
So I decided maybe sideswiping something or throwing the car in reverse and hitting a parked car or pole, how can you plan ahead for such things?
That was a creative solution though. I used to be terrified to be alone at night for the above reasons, worried about it constantly. Now I just try not to think about it.
I've been in some really scary situations, and there is really no fool-proof, one-size-fits-all solution. Sometimes I wish I could legally own a gun, but I do worry that either a perp could wrestle it away from me or someone in my family would get ahold of it accidentally. How can you keep a loaded gun handy enough to get at it quickly enough without endangering others? You should keep it unloaded, hidden, locked up, and the ammo in a separate place to protect children. So what good is that, and how many gun owners do that?
Neither my truck nor my wife’s car have remote Key Fobs with alarm. So instead, I keep a loaded .357 by my bed.
It makes lots of noise too ;)
Few do, nor is there need. There are rapid access gun safes in which one can leave a loaded gun ready for use in seconds, yet keep it locked away from unauthorized users.
See above posts.
To make it even more clear:
Set off your car alarm’s panic in a business area after dark.
Then call Dominos and order a pizza to be sent to your area.
See who arrives first, Dominos or the police.
Hint: Have change for the pizza boy.
Also, “having the gun wrestled away from you” is very, very unlikely - and is a scare tactic used by anti-gunners.
The antis refer to the fact that many cops are shot by their own guns. They fail to note that the vast majority of those shootings do not happen while the officer has their gun drawn, but instead happen when the officer’s clearly visible gun is stolen from out of the holster in a moment of inattention.
This isn’t likely to happen to a civilian.
Well, the first thing is you have the absolute wrong mindset.
No body is going to wrestle away a gun they are currently being shot with. If you bring it out, the decision to shoot has already been made.
As for children, how do you imagine they were kept safe in the past?
Please forgive me if I sound like a smart-alec, but your statement shows presuppositions that really aren't valid.
I figured out a long time ago that the police could never get there in time, and the perp could cut your phone line. That is one advantage to cell phones.
I hope I don't start obsessing about it again. I suppose I could have an alarm system installed that would be activated by a remote. I mean one like my neighbor's that went off. It was LOUD. With backup. With double backup. With triple backup lol.
People pay no attention to car alarms any more. There is always one going off in the neighborhood, and I just wait and wonder how long I'm going to have to listen to it.
I will read the other posts more thoughtfully. Maybe there is an idea that would work for me.
For what it is worth http://www.snopes.com/crime/prevent/caralarm.asp
In what way are you debarred from owning a firearm? Is it a restriction of where you live, or judicial restraint? I don’t ask to pry, but there *are* other alternatives (like Taser pistols) that aren’t firearms but *are* more effective than some of the claptrap that some people (like the safety expert that originated this stupid car alarm tip) promote.
Getting “saved” after being stabbed nine times doesn’t exactly sound like the alarm drove the man off.... not real successful there...
Oh, well the original post was for at home and I still think it’s a good idea.
As for waiting for the police...
We have had burglars visit us over the years...a few times when I was alone. I always dealt with it.
As for the pizza...you’re right.
I called one night to dispatch and the dispatcher said it was a windy night I was probably seeing shadows. I got my husband out of bed.
We ran out of handcuffs.
My husband simply said something to the effect that if there is anymore... deal with it. All I had was my gun and he had his...
It turned out there were only 2 burglars.
Bottom line... they were escapees and when the sheriff’s deputys finally arrived, they were taken into custody by them.
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