When seconds count, the police are only 15 minutes away. When I was growing in a less than ideal neighborhood, someone purporting to be police rang the doorbel

When seconds count, the police are only 15 minutes away. When I was growing in a less than ideal neighborhood, someone purporting to be police rang the doorbell at around midnight on a Saturday night. My father opened the door with his .22 rifle in hand. These supposed cops were "looking for a missing child." My dad wasn't buying it and they left in a hurry, never taking their eyes off the rifle. My father called the police department afterwards and it turns out no child had been reported missing in the area. No, my father didn't shoot anyone - but you can be sure he was ready to do so if necessary. If someone rings my doorbell in the middle of the night, they're going to meet me with a gun in hand. If someone is so bold as to break into my house while my loved ones are home - I'm not going to wait for the police to show up to protect them. The rational assumption is these individuals are a threat to the safety of my family. I'd rather go to jail than see my family hurt. While rare, home invasions are a thing - this is probably the worst/most-gruesome example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheshire,_Connecticut,_home_invasion_murders https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheshire,_Connecticut,_home_in... Victimization During Household Burglary https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/ascii/vdhb.txt https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/ascii/vdhb.txt An estimated 3.7 million burglaries occurred each year on average from 2003 to 2007. A household member was present in roughly 1 million burglaries and became victims of violent crimes in 266,560 burglaries.