1. “Aks you a couple of questions”? Ha, ha, ha.

   I’m not going with an image like that. 911 call come first, defensive position second.

   1. You never know when they will try and kick in the door. That’s why I want to take the defensive position first while my wife calls the police. My focus is on immediate security while she can focus on communication with 911.

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2. All good points J.Kb but I would add that ‘the plan’ needs to be practiced under duress, to simulate as much as possible the reality of experiencing a life-threatening event. Wife and children need to be acclimated to this extreme environment imposed within the home and or property. The failure to act due to the fear factor needs to be known and adjusted for. Language triggers must be determined, established and implemented, within the mind through practice, which produce the intended action repeatedly. The family ‘must’ act in harmony and unison when the fear factor is through the roof.
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   The defender thereby is able to direct 100% of his focus on the threat, knowing the family is adjusting as planned and practiced. Confidence provides a foundation for success, and addressing the failure factor prior to experiencing the need, is the key.

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3. “…I would add that ‘the plan’ needs to be practiced under duress, to simulate as much as possible the reality of experiencing a life-threatening event.”

   This.

   We’ve reached the point in our society that we need to not only “have a plan,” but that “we have practiced the plan, and done a “lessons learned” session afterward each time we drill.” Develop a plan, practice it, refine it, practice again. We do fire drills – rarely at home for some reason, but frequently at school and work – it’s now time to start doing “intruder drills.” Without planning and practice should such an event occur the shock will cause people to freeze; training, and practicing what is trained, prevents that.

   And, as an aside, from the NRA Range Design Manual, a few inches of compacted pea gravel stops handgun rounds. A 4 ft X 4ft hollow panel – made from one sheet of 1/2″ – 3/4″ plywood – 2.5 inches thick filled with washed 1/4 inch pea gravel (no fines, they make a mess) will stop everything up to 44 magnum and 55 grain 5.56 (7.62X51 is a different story). Construction tips: Use a grid of coupling nuts (5/16-18 works fine) inside the panel – divide the panel vertically and horizontally into thirds, so 4 assemblies in a 16″ square does it – – with pan head screws with washers through the front and back panels to keep it from bowing out when it’s filled (Loctite will be your friend here), and lining the interior faces of the plywood with self-sealing roof membrane will help control, but not completely stop, gravel leakage when the panel starts absorbing rounds. Compacted, or very well settled, pea gravel is needed; vibratory settling in 4″-6″ layers works best, if you have access to a concrete vibrator tool, center it inside the panel at the bottom, slowly pour the gravel in around it and extract the vibrator head as you fill the panel. Lacking that, gently tapping both sides of the panel assembly with a rubber hammer as it is slowly filled works nearly as well – lots of small taps works better than fewer large taps; think “frequency” rathern than “amplitude.”

   If you use 2X3 wood studs for the edges they will be the weak point – C-shaped galvanized studs (solid, without the punch-outs for wiring and pipes) are a better choice, Even washed pea gravel will have some amount of “fines” so a thin layer of caulk between the galvanized studs and plywood will keep “dirt dust” from leaking out. Pea gravel weighs about 100 lbs per cubic ft, so your 48″ X 48″ X 2.5″ panel will weigh about 350 lbs so it’s not portable, but positioned, say, against the back of a couch it will provide a bullet-resistant position from which intruders may be addressed.

   Fiberglas bullet resistant panels are also available in 8 different thicknesses from Level 1 (1/4″ – stops most common handgun rounds) to Level 8 (1 7/16″ – up to 7.62 X 51) depending on what rounds you need to stop, but they need to be encased because they will shed fiberglass particles which can cause respiratory issues. If you go the fiberglas panel route, be mindful of seams, they’re the weak point, so overlapping panels is the way to go, and 8″ or 12″ stud spacing is recommended instead of the usual 16″ stud spacing . The neat thing about the fiberglas panels is they can go under drywall and no one will know they are there; I’ve seen a 1/2″ fiberglas panel placed vertically on 4 feet of wall, 1/2″ drywall “spacer” against the other studs in that wall, and 1/2″ drywall over the entire wall, and it looks like a generic wall. FYI, cutting, drilling and mounting the fiberglas panels is best left to the experts, it’s not a “Harry Homeowner” job.

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   1. Good content Elrod. Preparing homes for battle differs greatly, obviously, from home to home. I work with many people in country homes with property which allows them to legally shoot and practice. One of the first suggestions I provide is to stop shooting stationary targets and graduate to moving targets. Depending on financial status, this is accomplished in a variety of ways. Next is to learn the failure rate under various physical engagements.
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      With families the goal is to form a ‘Crisis Response Team’ designed from the weakest point and upward. Everything comes into play, age and ability of children, adults, secondary and primary defenders. It takes time to construct an efficient family defense team. Ability and timing are everything. From the youngest shooter to the oldest, failure rates must be addressed. We are One or We are None, mentality must be natural in crisis.

4. So what was the end result from that video?

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