Rob Pincus lays out his thoughts on home defense:
Here are Rob Pincus’ 5 Fundamentals Of Home Defense:
- Run like a lil’ bitch and let the bad guy have the things you worked hard for
- Hide like a lil’ bitch inside your own home
- Your hiding spot should have weapons
- Call the cops and warn the bad guy you’re prepared to shoot him
- Respond to the bad guy as appropriate
I made #1 and #2 look stupid the way I worded them, but in reality pretty much everything that the bad guy is going to want to steal can be replaced by your insurance, and hiding while being ready rather than automatically getting into a confrontation is probably a good idea. #4 though… WARN HIM?! Uh… why? I don’t think someone who wants to take your stuff and possibly your life grants that kind of courtesy. Can you imagine if the police started warning people hahah “Sir! Sir.. put that gun away and quit stealing this guy’s stuff and leave his house or I’ll shoot you. Yes you can run away. Please don’t come back and do anything in retaliation. Just know you got lucky, and be thankful for that.” *eye roll*
In my opinion at the very least I wish every criminal would have to live their lives expecting to die every time they try and pull some illegal move. Want to burglarize a house? Want to steal a car? Well, that’s a personal choice but as long as you’re OK dying tonight because there is a good chance that’s going to happen.
Thoughts?
Comments
24 responses to “The Pincus Home Defense Paradigm”
I have a better idea, Rob. How about we take responsibility for ourselves, not be a little bitch and effectively use our weapons to shoot our attackers to the ground–dead? Why on God’s green Earth would I ever hide and warn someone who wants to kill me? Your advice is great–if you live in Chicago or California. What a craven shit-weasel. Your fifth step is great, as long as it’s the FIRST thing you do: Respond as appropriate.
Honestly, 1 and 2 are good rules to follow. There is an old expression “everyone gets cut in a knife fight.” If someone breaks into your house and they have a gun, there is a chance you might get shot. It is a much stronger tactical position to be on the defensive than the offensive. For 99% of people who have guns to defend their homes, the best advice is to find a defensible position, stay there with your gun, and call the cops. Let the police clear your house and take the risk of having confront the bad guy. Homeowners insurance will replace whatever is stolen/damaged, its not worth your life to protect a TV.
BUT… if the bad guy comes after you, our a family member (who should be hiding behind you), fill him with bullets. For example, if your family sleeps upstairs, and the bad guy is down stairs, get in a covered position that overlooks the staircase. It’s not worth exposing yourself going downstairs. Take cover, stay there, call the cops; remember you are defending your life, not your stuff.
This. +1.
Macho chest thumping aside, the best way to survive a gunfight is not to get into one. Rob isn’t giving advice to a bunch of school-trained trigger-pullers, he’s doing a video that will mostly be watched by recreational shooters and neckbeards who are as at risk for a heart attack as they are for violent crime. In that context, yes evading the conflict is important. In the frame of home defense, getting to a place where you can keep anyone from coming past you to threaten your children, you set up a hasty ambush and ventilate the daylights out of anything coming that way. Defenders always have the advantage, and defenders sitting on the right side of a chokepoint increase that advantage.
Now from a legal standpoint, shooting people is a hassle. A good way to avoid that is verbal contact. For me, that means a string of “Who the fuck is that? I’m calling the cops” kind of stuff. Doesn’t cost me anything and it’s another tool in the toolbox.
In a perfect world, I could just show the responding police the surveillance video of my illuminating and then perforating a home invader to prove I had positive ID and that he was a threat, they’d file the report and I’d go back to sleep after loading up another mag. The reality is that all kinds of shit happens when you pull triggers in CONUS and someone ends up dead.
Criticize all you want, but from a legal perspective, a safety perspective, and a social perspective (by which I mean keep in mind the target audience of the video) Rob is right on.
I actually agree with a lot of this. Even though I’m ready to defend my family, I do not want to kill someone over a TV. To me it just isn’t that big a deal to lose possessions as long as my family stays safe, although I would hope the thief was caught and punished.
I’ve had my home broken into. I posted at the top of my stairs with my AR and shouted down that I had called the cops. The thief ran away and has never come back, and my house has never been broken into again. I’ll never say people can’t defend themselves as they see fit, but I think a lot of gun owners are out for blood sometimes.
I don’t think Rob is off base here. If plan A is a shootout, you really need a new plan A.
1. Take my shit, it’s all insured and I have replacement cost insurance.
2. Exactly, hide and away. The element of surprise.
3. Why wouldn’t your hiding spot have weapons?
4. Call the cops and keep the line open. If you’re in the right it will help you like Zimmerman.
5. This is the stage where you shoot.
Thanks for sharing the Good Word, ENDO. Even with the sarcasm. -RJP
Always good hearing what you have to say Rob. Hope everything is well!
The thing with #4 has been taught in CWP classes. The fact that you’ve warned the guy and he continues to come your way actually clears you a whole lot legally.
Although, I would agree I’d rather get the guy before he even knew what hit ‘im, but that’s the way things go
Rob,
Until reading this post, I was a fan. As a 26 year veteran law enforcement officer, I cant help but find your advice completely and totally irresponsible and outside the scope of any existing laws regarding the use of deadly force! I would have thought that you at least, would have known better. Now before you become apoplectic, let me explain. Stuff is just that…STUFF, and can be replaced by insurance. Not a single state in the union allows the use or threatened use of deadly force to defend property. Only a reasonable amount of force may be used. Deadly force is a last resort only when a reasonable person can articulate that they were in imminent fear of receiving serious bodily injury or death. For you to advocate killing someone for stealing a car, or for taking your TV is irresponsible and careless coming from a man of your experience and knowledge. I hate the criminal predator as much as the next guy, and I’m sick and tired of seeing people victimized…I’ve seen enough of it over the past 26 years. I am an ardent supporter of ones right to utilize the 2nd Amendment to protect one’s castle, family and life. When teaching people how to employ deadly force, it’s not enough to teach them how to keep their blood in their body, its equally important to teach them how to stay out of jail, keep their money in their bank account, their mortgage in their name, and their stuff in their garage.
Rob made the video, I made the post. I have zero use for criminals. If the penalty for committing crimes here was harsher than a free bed and meals and place to do drugs with your buddies maybe my point of view would be different.
Gary,
For some one with 26 years you sure don’t know other states laws. There are states that do allow deadly force to protect ones property, Texas is one example. So your wrong there. I also don’t really remember him advocating killing anyone. Just to respond as appropriate. Did you even watch the video? If your sick of seeing people victimized maybe you should start supporting them or move to a state that does.
PA’s castle doctrine allows the use of deadly force against someone inside your home. They don’t need to be armed and you don’t have to warn them. An intruder is already committing a felony with the illegal entry to your domicile.
Alaska is the same , under castle doctrine here you have no need to retreat anywhere. The intruder is assumed to be in the act of committing or intending to commit harm on the occupants and lethal force maybe used to defend property and person . This standard has been applied often in review of household shootings by the DA and LEO agencies. I think the idea of telling them where you are is stupid , WHY give up your spot if you choose to hide ?
Gary, you might want to listen to the video again… I as NOT advocating shooting to defend stuff… Quite the opposite. I think we agree.
#4 He only says to warn him if you know for sure that he knows you are in there, like he is banging on your direct door going “Hey, I know your in there!” Otherwise, if he doesn’t know your there there is no point in giving away that information.
All things considered it sounds like perfectly reasonable advice for your every day home owner. Tacticool operating operators know the best defense is a good offense and should dive in head first with de’eagle brand de’eagles blazing.
I wish people would watch the video on these blog posts first instead of commenting based on mike’s inflammatory sense of humor.
Heh, while you pussys are hiding in the closet watching some dude take your shit I’ll be calling in a dead home invasion suspect. Later on if you don’t die hiding in the closet I’ll be fucking the prom queen while you are filling out insurance paperwork.
Keep it classy proles.
This is why we can’t have nice things.
Next time the anti’s need some ammo to attack stand your ground here it is.
I’m sorry. I live alone in the middle of nowhere. If you are entering my house at any time, but especially after nightfall, with force your life is subject to forfeiture.
If you are kicking in my door, including police, I will fire first and ask questions later. I fortunately live in a castle doctrine state. I have six acres and my neighbors have a minimum of 5. If you are on on my property without announcing yourself you are questionable to start. The Pincus “rules” don’t apply.
Where I live (Wisconsin) you can’t use deadly force for just theft. If they come into my home I’m good to go, if I’m in my car and they try to do something I’m ok because both of those are protected under the castle doctrine. But if I’m in my home and someone is trying to steal my car in my driveway, I can not use deadly force.
So what if someone steals my stuff? This is what I pay my insurance for every month. With the current efficiency of the norwegian police, I’ll never see the stuff again, and I’ll get shiny new stuff from the insurance company. Stuff is just stuff.
The only thing I worry about is the gun safe. I’d hate to see my firearms find their way into the hands of criminals. This is a risk the current laws force me to take though, since I’m not allowed to bring them with me unless I’m going to the range, and I’m not allowed to store them elsewhere if I’m going away on vacation… That last one could be solved by just writing lending statements for the guns and then lend them to someone who wasn’t going away, but that option isn’t there anymore. The reg cards for my newer guns say “Not eligible for lending or borrowing under § so and so…”
If I’m home when someone tries breaking in, you can be damned sure I’ll take the gun out of the safe. If nothing else, then just to keep it out of their grubby little hands.
I see no reason to be a victim and allow a throw pillow be stolen off my couch. Even if I had property/renters/homeowners insurance, I wouldn’t just let that happen. I understand that only real safe way to teach home defense may be to advocate retreat, but I have no doubt Rob teaches his elite students who have now trained with him and are therefore adequate to follow the realistic rules of home defense. I’m no macho mall ninja operator but I’m also not a coward. My property that I worked even 5 minutes for is mine. I’ve been burglarized in CA and had simple electronics stolen and a stake knife left on the nightstand by my wife’s and my bed. The feeling of being “Rob’bed (yep, see what I did there?) and being a victim is nothing I’ll ever put up with again. I also don’t want my wife and children to have things stolen and to live in fear of the next time, especially if we ran away from our own home.
I don’t want to kill anybody, but I will not be victimized in the least, especially in my home, even if I have the opportunity to ditch out the back. Telephone use is ideally for afterwards to hopefully clean up the bad guy’s mess.