[talon]

You were outside and then went inside to get a gun and then went back outside. Not a good idea IMHO.

Too much can be twisted around by that.

[FireForged]

Just my 2 cents.. In this day and age, any door to door solicitors are suspect. Personally I think that better than 50% are simply trying to scope your place out. They are just trying to get a closer look and see what is what. My rule of thumb is Not to open my door to strangers. To answer your original question.. no, I do not think you are paranoid.

Once upon a time these (2) fellows came down my street carrying a wash pale. I watched from a window as they passed several houses on my street and 2 houses where people were outside. They walked past my house and stopped.. One look around and seemed to be counting houses from the corner. They backed up and walked up my driveway. They walked up to the porch and knocked... the pup will nuts and went to the closed door... they kinda stepped back and looked around at the windows and began talking to one another. One seemed to ague with the other and the younger one knocked again. The dog is still barking and hadnt stopped. They left the porch and walking around to the garage and stopped. They stood there about 60 seconds and one sees a camera in the corner of the roof and motions to the other to look. They both begin to walk off, passing more houses as they go. They stopped by a light pole where a beat up old smoking sedan picked them up.

I never called the Sheriff since there is a 45min response time and nothing ever came of this event. I do believe I was being cased.

[FireForged]

Originally Posted by talon

You were outside and then went inside to get a gun and then went back outside. Not a good idea IMHO.

Too much can be twisted around by that.

agreed

[Snapper2]

Originally Posted by racer88

Cardinal rule in my house: We don't open the door for anyone we aren't expecting or personally know. EVER. Period. It doesn't matter who they are, what they look like, gender, age, or uniform. We open for NOBODY... unless we are expecting them or know them.

I hear what your saying and that may be the safest way to play it but it really bothers me to have unwanted and uninvited visitors walking in my yard.

Originally Posted by talon

You were outside and then went inside to get a gun and then went back outside. Not a good idea IMHO.

Too much can be twisted around by that.

No reason not to go back outside(they were waiting). The reason I put my ccw back on was I was informed that they were casing houses(maybe,maybe not). I'm pretty sure I made mistakes but I'm still trying to learn how to handle solicitors.

[Misty02]

Originally Posted by racer88

Cardinal rule in my house: We don't open the door for anyone we aren't expecting or personally know. EVER. Period. It doesn't matter who they are, what they look like, gender, age, or uniform. We open for NOBODY... unless we are expecting them or know them.

Heck, there have been many times when I don’t even open the door to people I know. I don’t like unannounced guests. People may get told the first time they do it, the second time they get to knock and receive no response in spite there being cars in the driveway. Training new people is rather unpleasant for my husband (he’s the good guy in this drama I call our lives).

.

[Misty02]

Originally Posted by Snapper2

I hear what your saying and that may be the safest way to play it but it really bothers me to have unwanted and uninvited visitors walking in my yard.

No reason not to go back outside(they were waiting). The reason I put my ccw back on was I was informed that they were casing houses(maybe,maybe not). I'm pretty sure I made mistakes but I'm still trying to learn how to handle solicitors.

My personal opinion (but I’m often called anti-social, even before I was armed) about handling solicitors is, don't handle solicitors. It doesn’t mean I don’t observe those that are outside. Sometimes I just look at what the cameras are recording; sometimes I may decide to discretely look through a window to get a better life size look. If someone is suspicious enough the cameras are preferable as they provide views from all around the house, something my own eyes cannot do if I’m standing where I can only see the front of it.

I do have to do something about the new sensor spotlights our kids installed all around the house. Anyone that steps one foot from the sidewalk into our property or anyone that drives in (including ME) gets blinded when those things first go off. I have little doubt my house can be seen from outer space when that happens. Nothing worse than finding something like that on special at Home Depot, I must change all those bulbs or risk permanent retina damage.

We were looking at the video the other day, a poor old man walking his little dog nearly had a coronary when his dog stepped outside the confines of the sidewalk and into our property. It seems he picked a corner that activated three of those spotlights, I think it surprised him he could still jump that high. Poor man.

.

[Snapper2]

Originally Posted by Misty02

Heck, there have been many times when I don’t even open the door to people I know. I don’t like unannounced guests. People may get told the first time they do it, the second time they get to knock and receive no response in spite there being cars in the driveway. Training new people is rather unpleasant for my husband (he’s the good guy in this drama I call our lives).

.

I guess I'm a lot like that. In the small town we use to live in people actually waved when passing each other. Know them or not. In the city neighborhoods its not so. People seem annoyed and defensive with each other instead of friendly.They call the law when rights have been offended. We dont answer our doors because we dont want to be bothered,hassled or worst.We condition ourselves to be defensive. I'd rather live out in the country but in the mean time I guess I'll adapt. Maybe

[wjv]

Generally speaking I won't open the door for someone I don't know. My wife is just the opposite. . . . Will open the door for anybody. .

At least the kids know NOT to open the door under any circumstance if they don't know the person.

I guess one thing that would concern me is if someone showed up wearing a police uniform. . . The kids might open the door for someone in uniform. I guess the best approach would be for them to call 911 and ask if the cop is legit.

Couple years ago I wouldn't have seen the need to carry at home. Now I'll always be armed, even if it is just a good knife and a little NA Arms .22. Bought my S&W 442 (.38) J-Frame so that carrying a reasonable caliber at home would be easier. I still might pick up a .380 one of these days since they really are easy to carry, yet have a bit more oomph than a .22.

[Misty02]

Originally Posted by Snapper2

I guess I'm a lot like that. In the small town we use to live in people actually waved when passing each other. Know them or not. In the city neighborhoods its not so. People seem annoyed and defensive with each other instead of friendly.They call the law when rights have been offended. We dont answer our doors because we dont want to be bothered,hassled or worst.We condition ourselves to be defensive. I'd rather live out in the country but in the mean time I guess I'll adapt. Maybe

It’s not that, time is valuable and for the most part allocated in advance to things that need to get done or time to be spent with the family. I can steal minutes from here and minutes from there as needed to accommodate things not previously scheduled; however, when you allow others to continuously interrupt that, things don’t get done when you need them done. Your life becomes a mess and you become a wreck trying to play catch-up because you allowed others to take over your schedule.

It was more of an issue when our three kids were little. My evenings and most weekends were carefully planned to maximize the use of time. Now I just enjoy my privacy and ability to plan my day to accommodate us, not others. Of course, there is always the unexpected person that calls you to let you know they are in the neighborhood and would like to drop in to say Hi. Those disruptions are enjoyable ever so often, if practiced recklessly by family and friends then it becomes dreaded interruptions. I see it happen to other people quite often, I just don’t allow it to happen to us.

Since I’m the mean one in our home, I’m the one that is given the phone (people already know better than to show up unannounced) because so and so wants to know if they can stop by. If the phone is handed to me with a dreaded face (meaning I don’t feel like attending visitors today) I have absolutely no issues with letting the person know we have other plans.

Were solicitors are concerned; they are not given an opportunity to become a disruption at all. If there is a salesperson inside my house it is because we needed their services, we called them and allocated a certain amount of time to them. Unannounced ones are not acknowledged but are observed until they leave the property. To my knowledge they have never created much of an issue.

.

[jph02]

Originally Posted by H&K 4 LIFE

...If you think it's suspicious activity then go with your gut. Relay any relevant information to the police and let them handle it. They may even subsequently increase the frequency of random patrols in your area.

Who knows, it could be nothing, or you could actually prevent someone else's house from being broken into.

Originally Posted by IrishSheepdog54

Call the police. I never take issue with people in the neighborhood calling us for a suspicious individual. We'll check them out, and let them know we are watching...

Agreed. If the polie are too busy to respond to that type of call, at least they've got the information. If manpower's available, my city's police will always stop and check. This type of law enforcement makes your neighborhood less attractive to bad guys.

[Misty02]

Originally Posted by wjv

Generally speaking I won't open the door for someone I don't know. My wife is just the opposite. . . . Will open the door for anybody. .

At least the kids know NOT to open the door under any circumstance if they don't know the person.

I guess one thing that would concern me is if someone showed up wearing a police uniform. . . The kids might open the door for someone in uniform. I guess the best approach would be for them to call 911 and ask if the cop is legit.

Couple years ago I wouldn't have seen the need to carry at home. Now I'll always be armed, even if it is just a good knife and a little NA Arms .22. Bought my S&W 442 (.38) J-Frame so that carrying a reasonable caliber at home would be easier. I still might pick up a .380 one of these days since they really are easy to carry, yet have a bit more oomph than a .22.

I would open the door to a LEO only if they arrived in a marked vehicle or if they were expected, otherwise it is the same treatment everyone else gets. UPS, FedEx, same thing, there better be a marked vehicle I recognize or no dice either.

Needless to say, I’m alarmed by some family/friends that are the same as your wife and know more than a couple that believe a knock at the door means you open it to see what the person wants/needs. I was actually visiting one of my husband’s sisters not long ago; we were in the kitchen talking. Someone knocked at the door, she went and answered. No big deal until I realized she was kind of arguing with the person (obvious that she was not expecting or knew him) about being satisfied with their internet provider. It was a sales person offering a package deal of some sort. I peeked out of the kitchen and it was a clean cut person that didn’t seem threatening so I decided to take a chance and approach (in retrospect, that wasn’t exactly smart of me) because the exchange was starting to antagonize me. Why people open their doors when they are so darn polite that they can’t get rid of unwanted visitors is beyond me (not to mention the danger they can represent). I just told the gentleman “she said she’s not interested” and closed the door on his face as I wished him better luck on his next stop. Obviously, she thought that was terribly rude, but was also thankful I put a stop to it. The topic of safety and control of your day ruled the next 15 to 20 minutes of the conversation.


PS- Yes, I was armed and had a hold of my firearm where it was not visible to her or the unwanted guest, but I still shouldn’t have approached, he was too close to the door and had a hand on it.

.

[FifthFreedom]

Originally Posted by Snapper2

At the risk of sounding paranoid I've got a few questions.Doorbell rings while I'm handloading ammo. Wife and daughter are watching a movie in living room. I answer door (without ccw) and step outside to talk to a man and woman that say they work for kirby and want to give my house a free cleaning. While I'm in the process of sending them on their way my wife calls me back in the house to let me know that according to facebook people are scoping out houses in my neighborhood. So I grab my ccw and go back out and tell them NOT INTERESTED. This most likely is just a false alarm not worthy of calling police IMO, but I did go back out and watch them walk door to door down the street.So basically all I did was get their license number from their truck.Questions that I have is how are you supposed to handle door to door salesmen?

Well when i answer the door, My angry dog is usually right there trying to get to whoever is knocking so that usually intimidates them enough not to want to stick around lol
as someone suggested, get a no solicitors sign. It works except for JW's usually

[bear62]

To the OP: I carry in my home ........ as well as out and about...

[Redheadhunter21]

Originally Posted by FifthFreedom

Well when i answer the door, My angry dog is usually right there trying to get to whoever is knocking so that usually intimidates them enough not to want to stick around lol
as someone suggested, get a no solicitors sign. It works except for JW's usually

Who opens for the JWs anyways, I don't care if it's all women around here they come in groups of 4+ up to around 10. Those odds are not good, even a stupid criminal could figure out that's a good cover.

[ithaca_deerslayer]

Always carry a gun on you

When cleaning, carry the spare.

[wjv]

Originally Posted by FifthFreedom

Well when i answer the door, My angry dog is usually right there trying to get to whoever is knocking

Same here. . .

Unfortunately. . He doesn't intimidate. . But he can scowl real good. .

[bustedknee]

At the Gate:


At the door:


After I open the door I yell back into the house, "Yes dear, I know I'm running out of places to hide the bodies but I know a good spot for two more!"


Watch the Movie Second Hand Lions.
Hub and Garth are my heroes but they are a little too friendly toward salesmen.

[Snapper2]

Originally Posted by FifthFreedom

Well when i answer the door, My angry dog is usually right there trying to get to whoever is knocking so that usually intimidates them enough not to want to stick around lol
as someone suggested, get a no solicitors sign. It works except for JW's usually

Howdy Arik, this gives me an ideal. I can open door and ......say allo to ma lil fren.........she's my first line of defense.

[Snapper2]

Originally Posted by bustedknee

At the Gate:


At the door:

You do know you could put someone's eye out with that dont you?

[Jason D]

Every time someone comes to the door I have to answer it.
I don't like the idea of not answering and someone getting the idea to break in thinking no one is home. I send everyone packing and never answer the door without being armed and blocking the door as best I can with my foot.

Anyone that gets the bright idea of rushing me is going to get hurt.


I hate that I have to do that, but I am not a trusting soul.

[RetailNinja]

Originally Posted by ithaca_deerslayer

Always carry a gun on you

When cleaning, carry the spare.

Next door neighbors of a good friend's parents learned this the hard way. Home invasion while the husband was cleaning ALL of this guns and had them all disassembled. They were almost killed. This was in the evening.

LINK...

[STUCKINNY]

Originally Posted by racer88

Cardinal rule in my house: We don't open the door for anyone we aren't expecting or personally know. EVER. Period. It doesn't matter who they are, what they look like, gender, age, or uniform. We open for NOBODY... unless we are expecting them or know them.

+1
Don't call me... Get no answer

I always have a gun on me in and around my home

[ithaca_deerslayer]

Originally Posted by RetailNinja

Next door neighbors of a good friend's parents learned this the hard way. Home invasion while the husband was cleaning ALL of this guns and had them all disassembled. They were almost killed. This was in the evening.

LINK...

Brutal ordeal. Too bad that shotgun wasn't blasting the bad guy's face off.

[eccho]

I've never heard of someone offering a "free home cleaning". That sounds incredibly sketchy.

Why on earth would someone want to clean my house for free? either they're looking for tips or seeing if I have anything worth stealing. I wouldn't call 911, but I would call the local non emergency number and ask to file a report.

Would be willing to bet the police would find it sketchy too.

[wprebeck]

Originally Posted by RetailNinja

Next door neighbors of a good friend's parents learned this the hard way. Home invasion while the husband was cleaning ALL of this guns and had them all disassembled. They were almost killed. This was in the evening.

LINK...

I've gotten to the point in my life where there's not enough room to take down all the guns at one time for cleaning. Hell, there's not enough room to break down the Glocks, much less the rest of them. That gives me a warm fuzzy feeling.


Concerning the OT - I don't answer the door if I don't know you, for the most part. If I do, there's a gun in hand. Oh, and eight large dogs barking from various spots around the house. And, a marked car out in the driveway.