I always sharpen my digging tools... They ARE cutting tools after all. A grinder for a new one, then a file for touching up as needed. About a 60° angle if are dealing with topsoil including some grass & small tree roots, maybe more oblique for heavy clay subsoil.
After digging holes all day long to install lawn sprinklers when I was younger/stronger, an older guy who had spent some time digging out ball & burlap landscape stock shrubs before hydraulic tree spades were a thing taught me how to make my life less strenuous.
I might sharpen my E tool to a little more acute angle. Might keep it where I can reach it in the driver's seat of my truck too.
Personally, I'd go for something fairly short, as it's kinda hard to swing a full size shovel indoors. Amazon has a Berry & Bird 20" short hand shovel with a serrated edge that should work, or you could get the Cold Steel copy of the Russian spade for about $30.
Alas, some states (including some deep red ones, like mine) have a thing called "duty to retreat".
I wish I was joking, but I am not. In my state, I would not be justified sending this creep into eternity if he broke into my house and charged at me with stated intent, as long as I could possibly retreat from the situation.
If I truly believe my survival is threatened within the walls of my home, I will ignore the duty to retreat.
I'm very familiar with "duty to retreat" laws -- and you should probably check with a lawyer regrding exemptions to duty to retreat in your own home, because to the best of my knowledge the last state that required a duty to retreat inside your own home had that law changed in the early 2000s.
I learned this when taking the Enhanced CWP class in 2015. As of 2015, it did apply here within a home, which is really stupid.
It's possible that it has changed in just over a decade, but whether it has changed or not, it won't change how I respond to an aggressor who has forced his way into my home.
"3) In the exercise of the right of self-defense or defense of another, a person need not retreat from any place that person has a right to be. A person may stand his ground and defend himself or another person by the use of all force and means which would appear to be necessary to a reasonable person in a similar situation and with similar knowledge without the benefit of hindsight. The provisions of this subsection shall not apply to a person incarcerated in jail or prison facilities when interacting with jail or prison staff who are acting in their official capacities."
and
"5) A person using force or deadly force in defense of a habitation, place of business or employment or occupied vehicle as defined in section 18-4009(3), Idaho Code, is presumed to have acted reasonably and had a reasonable fear of imminent peril of death or serious bodily injury if the force is used against a person whose entry or attempted entry therein is unlawful and is made or attempted by use of force, or in a violent and tumultuous manner, or surreptitiously or by stealth, or for the purpose of committing a felony."
I was gonna say, I was under the impression that Idaho was one of the states where your life is forfeit if you find yourself illegally in someone else's domicile. Or even on their property, assuming proper "No Trespassing" signs are posted.
Now, in and around Boise (and, increasingly and annoyingly, Coeur D'Alene) I can see the truth being distorted for political gain.
In my stupid state, the intruder has to show "intent to harm" before you can legally defend yourself, which I suppose is slightly better than "don't fire until fired upon", but only just. In my opinion, breaking into my house should be sufficient, but alas the DA has other thoughts.
Mostly true. Within my own home, I will not retreat unless it's to get a better shot.
I respect laws, except when they mandate that I must become a victim so that the bad guy can have yet another chance. Preferential treatment for criminals needs to end yesterday.
Re-think it. As Ian (and plenty of others) have pointed out frequently, you want to create distance from an intruder so you have time to properly deal with him. Moving from the door back a few feet is "creating space" - but it's also "retreating." (Some might say "attacking in another direction.") So your tactical move is also your legal duty satisfied.
(Note that I'm not saying you should have to retreat. I'm just saying that you change your perspective on what you're doing anyway.)
Duty to retreat: You take a step or two backwards, away from the man. You have just fulfilled your duty. If he continues to pursue, you can shoot. (IANAL - but if you get a good one, you'll do fine).
My answer to any prosecutor would be "I was in my own house; I couldn't conceivably retreat any further." Following on with the fact that once he's inside my home he can do all manner of things which might gravely harm me or mine without ever coming near me (like setting a fire or opening a gas line).
I must say that the short story had unnecessary twists and turns that the author could have avoided if he had paid attention to the technology of the era. Seriously, if you have better tech, use better tech. Still the ending was moderately satisfactory and a reasonable effort for a new author.
Ah, the Blue State home defense conundrum. Know it well.
NY allows the use of force, including deadly physical force to remove a home intruder as long as you are not the initial aggressor. I teach that if you can get the intruder to get gone without bloodshed; great!
As Ian stated, pepper spray is a good less lethal option. NY has regulations on it; well, sort of. If you carry it for repelling human violent criminal actors (VCA's); only 1 oz @ no more than 0.7% total capscanoids. If you use animal repellant (bear spray); well, that's 16 oz @ 2.5% total capscanoids.
Yep. Technically he could probably have done so in Cali, but they sure make it hard to do so, and will probably do all they can to make you wish you hadn't.
Crazy intruder man responded "Harry Dresden" when the homeowner asked who he was initially. The protagonist's name from a sci fi book series? Crazed intruder is a giant nerd.
Homeowner showed up in his work truck full of many metallic tools... And grabbed a (low sectional density!) aluminum grain scoop for CQB?! Practically a NERF shovel.
I'd have gone for a round nosed (steel!) spade for such an indoors contest, a long handled one for outdoors, "interesting choice" as Carman would say.
I regularly SHARPEN my shovels with a file, having been a landscraper grunt on an irrigation installing crew decades ago, a sharp cutting edge on your spades & shovels makes your life so much easier (and improves their performance in hand to hand combat).
Your points are pretty much correct, except the man wasn't trained in any way to actually combat the wizard. ANY tool he picked up was nothing more than a makeshift club. The man and his family lived in a safe world with no thought given to combat at any level. (My thought would have been on something shorter - a shovel would be really hard to swing in most rooms and all the hallways in a house.)
Which goes back to other Ian posts and lots of other commentators on the internet: actually think about your safety, analyze your situation, decide to protect what is valuable (your life, your family's), then act to do something about it.
I can only add an observation: The homeowner beat the cops to his house by several minutes. He became the First Responder in a dicey situation. (A cop buddy confessed that cops hate the "Crazy" calls and will "make sure" they have sufficient backup and a rookie before rolling up to the scene.) The way the nutter kept inserting his hand in the duster made me very nervous. If you can (admittedly difficult in Kalifornia), have something on you more "persuasive" than a snow shovel. Even a pocket knife would have been better. Before we escaped from the Tofu Curtain I always had a knife on me. Now in Florida, I always have something more energetic.
All that being said, the homeowner deserves a St George (the Patron Saint of Chivalry) medal.
For many years, Lloyd the Elder was a LEO. Chief of LEO's in at least three small towns in Texas. In the last one there was a local gentleman who liked to hide on porches, jump out and demand money from the home owner.
Said nair-do-well applied his begging strategy with Lloyd the Elder on the porch of the family domicile, only to fall to the ground squealing he was unarmed and don't shoot when Lloyd the Elder reacted to his request for money by putting a Smith 686 with a one inch barrel in his face.
Needless to say, I arrived at home while the on-duty officer was there taking the report, and said local gentleman of leisure was awaiting transport to the pokey, where he would require a change of clothing as he had soiled himself.
This kind of set my response standard for such situations.
I have it on good authority (a brief internet search) that lead was used in antiquity in Southeast Asia as currency. Lloyd the Elder was simply attempting to comply with nair-do-well's request.
Nair-do-well never said nothin' about delivering the goods at subsonic speeds.
Oddly enough, Lloyd the Elder spent some of his... shall we call them formative years, in Southeast Asia, before things there were 'officially' spicy, so that is an option.
In the situation as explained with the added details. If i knew daughter or family wasnt present. I would be calling 911 and heading home in a safe manner for all on the roads at best speed.
If familly was on premises i would call 911 and pass the cops on the way there.. they could justly give me a trafifc citation latter.
On arriving home i would not grab a shovel. I would have the proper tool with me on entry.
If i and familly were on premises i would greet that absolutly terrifying mental case with first warning him he was scaring me and that if he managed to break into the house it would be a bad day as i defended myself, address him with a calm please go away the cops are on their way .
As he made ingress i would make sure i was across the room where he started coming in. If at my current house it would be straightforward in that im not worried at rhe 00 buck hitting another house with any overpenetration or pellets that missed him. If in high densidy housing if the first thing in wasnt a barrel of a firearm i would vigorously debate his welcome at an angle such that over penetration or misses would hit the exterior wall after him to give my innocent neighboors a reduced risk. Im not happy doing so as it puts a roe that raises my risk but for a single intruder i probably would make that choice. If multiples, then once opening into the house was battered down i would use it as a choke point. May god have mercy on their violent little souls.
This scenario caught on camera is what i consider a bad day for intruder day. What i fear isnt deranged mental cases like him that want to talk or scream first. They give you seconds to minutes of time to prepare. It is the group of individuals that give zero warning before doors or windows are penetrated by multiple probably armed individuals.
Indeed, and a shovel doesn't LOOK threatening (unless you wave it about...)
Our self defending home owner entered the affray with a light aluminum "grain scoop", kind of like a Nerf shovel, less than optimum but better than a harsh word, I guess
Ian, you hit all the points I made commenting on this elsewhere. Remote viewing doorbell is great - but not really as much a deterrent as many think - and you can't really react any faster than the cops. Your house - inside and outside - is on the friggin' internet?!? (Saved on your own server in the house I can understand.) And, of course, the lack of any defense capability for the occupants except for 911-and-pray.
I advocated a revolver for simplicity, if the spouse feels otherwise incapable of weapons handling. And a nearby second weapon if 6 rounds don't put him down. A shotgun is another great choice, only (typically) reducing the available round count by 1 or 2. It has the added manual of arms of properly racking the slide (or being a semi-auto), which might be an issue for some (generally those incapable of weapons handling).
Of course, this all happened in California. So many people haven't even thought about obtaining a firearm because it is difficult to get and difficult to train. And that is why it's evil for the gov't to so restrict things - making vulnerable the very people who most need protecting.
Good on you and Rita for not listening to all the folks insisting you get a 12ga. A 20g is a fine weapon and packs a more than adequate punch. Always figure out what *your* needs are and what *you* can work with in deciding on defensive armament.
My first apartment had a sliding glass door. And, a month after I moved in that was how some ne'er-do-wells broke in. At least there was a blood trail down the sidewalk from where they left (I was not home). After that, I always did something to block the sliding door and hopefully discourage these scumbags. I was so glad when I finally bought a house without a sliding glass door.
Peace. through superior firepower and training.
And longer shovel handles.
Hope sharpened ends on those handles.
If yer going to use a spear, use it right.
@Joseph L. Wiess
I always sharpen my digging tools... They ARE cutting tools after all. A grinder for a new one, then a file for touching up as needed. About a 60° angle if are dealing with topsoil including some grass & small tree roots, maybe more oblique for heavy clay subsoil.
After digging holes all day long to install lawn sprinklers when I was younger/stronger, an older guy who had spent some time digging out ball & burlap landscape stock shrubs before hydraulic tree spades were a thing taught me how to make my life less strenuous.
I might sharpen my E tool to a little more acute angle. Might keep it where I can reach it in the driver's seat of my truck too.
https://youtu.be/z1auKybE6Vs?si=bAvbjy7FK9FqZR1T
Personally, I'd go for something fairly short, as it's kinda hard to swing a full size shovel indoors. Amazon has a Berry & Bird 20" short hand shovel with a serrated edge that should work, or you could get the Cold Steel copy of the Russian spade for about $30.
I already own the cold steel version of Russian tool and two milsurp originals. Also a Swiss army snow shovel made in 1939, just because they're cool.
Alas, some states (including some deep red ones, like mine) have a thing called "duty to retreat".
I wish I was joking, but I am not. In my state, I would not be justified sending this creep into eternity if he broke into my house and charged at me with stated intent, as long as I could possibly retreat from the situation.
If I truly believe my survival is threatened within the walls of my home, I will ignore the duty to retreat.
I'm very familiar with "duty to retreat" laws -- and you should probably check with a lawyer regrding exemptions to duty to retreat in your own home, because to the best of my knowledge the last state that required a duty to retreat inside your own home had that law changed in the early 2000s.
I learned this when taking the Enhanced CWP class in 2015. As of 2015, it did apply here within a home, which is really stupid.
It's possible that it has changed in just over a decade, but whether it has changed or not, it won't change how I respond to an aggressor who has forced his way into my home.
What state, if you don't mind me asking?
Idaho.
Idaho Penal Code 19-202A (3) and (5), to wit:
"3) In the exercise of the right of self-defense or defense of another, a person need not retreat from any place that person has a right to be. A person may stand his ground and defend himself or another person by the use of all force and means which would appear to be necessary to a reasonable person in a similar situation and with similar knowledge without the benefit of hindsight. The provisions of this subsection shall not apply to a person incarcerated in jail or prison facilities when interacting with jail or prison staff who are acting in their official capacities."
and
"5) A person using force or deadly force in defense of a habitation, place of business or employment or occupied vehicle as defined in section 18-4009(3), Idaho Code, is presumed to have acted reasonably and had a reasonable fear of imminent peril of death or serious bodily injury if the force is used against a person whose entry or attempted entry therein is unlawful and is made or attempted by use of force, or in a violent and tumultuous manner, or surreptitiously or by stealth, or for the purpose of committing a felony."
Full citation here:
https://legislature.idaho.gov/statutesrules/idstat/title19/t19ch2/sect19-202a/
Thank you! Maybe some of the corrupt yahoos that are in office are actually doing something right, for a change. Perhaps one faced an intruder?
I was gonna say, I was under the impression that Idaho was one of the states where your life is forfeit if you find yourself illegally in someone else's domicile. Or even on their property, assuming proper "No Trespassing" signs are posted.
Now, in and around Boise (and, increasingly and annoyingly, Coeur D'Alene) I can see the truth being distorted for political gain.
In my stupid state, the intruder has to show "intent to harm" before you can legally defend yourself, which I suppose is slightly better than "don't fire until fired upon", but only just. In my opinion, breaking into my house should be sufficient, but alas the DA has other thoughts.
No, no, you tried to retreat. Your attacker pursued you. Lethal force was my only option, officer.
Mostly true. Within my own home, I will not retreat unless it's to get a better shot.
I respect laws, except when they mandate that I must become a victim so that the bad guy can have yet another chance. Preferential treatment for criminals needs to end yesterday.
Re-think it. As Ian (and plenty of others) have pointed out frequently, you want to create distance from an intruder so you have time to properly deal with him. Moving from the door back a few feet is "creating space" - but it's also "retreating." (Some might say "attacking in another direction.") So your tactical move is also your legal duty satisfied.
(Note that I'm not saying you should have to retreat. I'm just saying that you change your perspective on what you're doing anyway.)
Thanks. I am familiar with the concept of creating space.
Fortunately, this isn't something that I need to deal with much now. However, I still constantly play the "what if" game.
My "Duty to retreat" ends when it concerns my family.
Who ever came up with duty to retreat oughta be beat.
Duty to retreat: You take a step or two backwards, away from the man. You have just fulfilled your duty. If he continues to pursue, you can shoot. (IANAL - but if you get a good one, you'll do fine).
My answer to any prosecutor would be "I was in my own house; I couldn't conceivably retreat any further." Following on with the fact that once he's inside my home he can do all manner of things which might gravely harm me or mine without ever coming near me (like setting a fire or opening a gas line).
I must say that the short story had unnecessary twists and turns that the author could have avoided if he had paid attention to the technology of the era. Seriously, if you have better tech, use better tech. Still the ending was moderately satisfactory and a reasonable effort for a new author.
Four stars
A. Reviewer.
Ah, the Blue State home defense conundrum. Know it well.
NY allows the use of force, including deadly physical force to remove a home intruder as long as you are not the initial aggressor. I teach that if you can get the intruder to get gone without bloodshed; great!
As Ian stated, pepper spray is a good less lethal option. NY has regulations on it; well, sort of. If you carry it for repelling human violent criminal actors (VCA's); only 1 oz @ no more than 0.7% total capscanoids. If you use animal repellant (bear spray); well, that's 16 oz @ 2.5% total capscanoids.
There's bears where I normally live and play.
Yep. Technically he could probably have done so in Cali, but they sure make it hard to do so, and will probably do all they can to make you wish you hadn't.
Erm.
A couple of odd things?
Crazy intruder man responded "Harry Dresden" when the homeowner asked who he was initially. The protagonist's name from a sci fi book series? Crazed intruder is a giant nerd.
https://www.amazon.com/Dresden-Files-18-book-series/dp/B074CF4JMZ
Homeowner showed up in his work truck full of many metallic tools... And grabbed a (low sectional density!) aluminum grain scoop for CQB?! Practically a NERF shovel.
I'd have gone for a round nosed (steel!) spade for such an indoors contest, a long handled one for outdoors, "interesting choice" as Carman would say.
I regularly SHARPEN my shovels with a file, having been a landscraper grunt on an irrigation installing crew decades ago, a sharp cutting edge on your spades & shovels makes your life so much easier (and improves their performance in hand to hand combat).
Your points are pretty much correct, except the man wasn't trained in any way to actually combat the wizard. ANY tool he picked up was nothing more than a makeshift club. The man and his family lived in a safe world with no thought given to combat at any level. (My thought would have been on something shorter - a shovel would be really hard to swing in most rooms and all the hallways in a house.)
Which goes back to other Ian posts and lots of other commentators on the internet: actually think about your safety, analyze your situation, decide to protect what is valuable (your life, your family's), then act to do something about it.
Excellent work, Sir Bugscuffle.
I can only add an observation: The homeowner beat the cops to his house by several minutes. He became the First Responder in a dicey situation. (A cop buddy confessed that cops hate the "Crazy" calls and will "make sure" they have sufficient backup and a rookie before rolling up to the scene.) The way the nutter kept inserting his hand in the duster made me very nervous. If you can (admittedly difficult in Kalifornia), have something on you more "persuasive" than a snow shovel. Even a pocket knife would have been better. Before we escaped from the Tofu Curtain I always had a knife on me. Now in Florida, I always have something more energetic.
All that being said, the homeowner deserves a St George (the Patron Saint of Chivalry) medal.
For many years, Lloyd the Elder was a LEO. Chief of LEO's in at least three small towns in Texas. In the last one there was a local gentleman who liked to hide on porches, jump out and demand money from the home owner.
Said nair-do-well applied his begging strategy with Lloyd the Elder on the porch of the family domicile, only to fall to the ground squealing he was unarmed and don't shoot when Lloyd the Elder reacted to his request for money by putting a Smith 686 with a one inch barrel in his face.
Needless to say, I arrived at home while the on-duty officer was there taking the report, and said local gentleman of leisure was awaiting transport to the pokey, where he would require a change of clothing as he had soiled himself.
This kind of set my response standard for such situations.
I have it on good authority (a brief internet search) that lead was used in antiquity in Southeast Asia as currency. Lloyd the Elder was simply attempting to comply with nair-do-well's request.
Nair-do-well never said nothin' about delivering the goods at subsonic speeds.
Oddly enough, Lloyd the Elder spent some of his... shall we call them formative years, in Southeast Asia, before things there were 'officially' spicy, so that is an option.
Well, we're a 2nd amendment household. Kid gets locked somewhere down low and safe.
I call 911 on speaker and keep them on the line and voice that I have a home invasion in progress. The door gets breached at all? Castle doctrine.
I go to jail calmly and politely and call my CC insurance immediately. 5th amendment and shut the fuck up Friday until my lawyer gets there.
911 needed to be called as soon as dude refused to disengage and leave the porch.
Well that was exciting and scary.
In the situation as explained with the added details. If i knew daughter or family wasnt present. I would be calling 911 and heading home in a safe manner for all on the roads at best speed.
If familly was on premises i would call 911 and pass the cops on the way there.. they could justly give me a trafifc citation latter.
On arriving home i would not grab a shovel. I would have the proper tool with me on entry.
If i and familly were on premises i would greet that absolutly terrifying mental case with first warning him he was scaring me and that if he managed to break into the house it would be a bad day as i defended myself, address him with a calm please go away the cops are on their way .
As he made ingress i would make sure i was across the room where he started coming in. If at my current house it would be straightforward in that im not worried at rhe 00 buck hitting another house with any overpenetration or pellets that missed him. If in high densidy housing if the first thing in wasnt a barrel of a firearm i would vigorously debate his welcome at an angle such that over penetration or misses would hit the exterior wall after him to give my innocent neighboors a reduced risk. Im not happy doing so as it puts a roe that raises my risk but for a single intruder i probably would make that choice. If multiples, then once opening into the house was battered down i would use it as a choke point. May god have mercy on their violent little souls.
This scenario caught on camera is what i consider a bad day for intruder day. What i fear isnt deranged mental cases like him that want to talk or scream first. They give you seconds to minutes of time to prepare. It is the group of individuals that give zero warning before doors or windows are penetrated by multiple probably armed individuals.
Hey, don't knock the humble home defense shovel-
https://youtu.be/z1auKybE6Vs?si=bAvbjy7FK9FqZR1T
With a few modifications, a classical shovel can be even more effective:
https://imgur.com/gallery/old-gold-build-own-ak-47-from-shovel-TspVw
A sharp spade has been a classic tool for infantry hand to hand for generations.
There's been a few foreign NPE's where one has been my go-to tool should a nasty situation happen to happen.
Indeed, and a shovel doesn't LOOK threatening (unless you wave it about...)
Our self defending home owner entered the affray with a light aluminum "grain scoop", kind of like a Nerf shovel, less than optimum but better than a harsh word, I guess
Ian, you hit all the points I made commenting on this elsewhere. Remote viewing doorbell is great - but not really as much a deterrent as many think - and you can't really react any faster than the cops. Your house - inside and outside - is on the friggin' internet?!? (Saved on your own server in the house I can understand.) And, of course, the lack of any defense capability for the occupants except for 911-and-pray.
I advocated a revolver for simplicity, if the spouse feels otherwise incapable of weapons handling. And a nearby second weapon if 6 rounds don't put him down. A shotgun is another great choice, only (typically) reducing the available round count by 1 or 2. It has the added manual of arms of properly racking the slide (or being a semi-auto), which might be an issue for some (generally those incapable of weapons handling).
Of course, this all happened in California. So many people haven't even thought about obtaining a firearm because it is difficult to get and difficult to train. And that is why it's evil for the gov't to so restrict things - making vulnerable the very people who most need protecting.
Good on you and Rita for not listening to all the folks insisting you get a 12ga. A 20g is a fine weapon and packs a more than adequate punch. Always figure out what *your* needs are and what *you* can work with in deciding on defensive armament.
9mm pistol, center mass shot. F'd around and found out.
Had that guttersnipe broke into my house, he'd be leaving feet first, in a box.
Sliding glass doors are an excellent choice for forced entry in a fire situation.
I can neither confirm nor deny that a couple over in Collin County might have had to be replaced when someone opened them with a fire axe. . .
My first apartment had a sliding glass door. And, a month after I moved in that was how some ne'er-do-wells broke in. At least there was a blood trail down the sidewalk from where they left (I was not home). After that, I always did something to block the sliding door and hopefully discourage these scumbags. I was so glad when I finally bought a house without a sliding glass door.
God Bless TEXAS
Why do I suspect that if father had driven home and shot the suspect he would have been charged with premeditated murder?