[Vito]

Always, even though my wife thinks I am paranoid. She has no trouble with locking up at night, but during the day the door that connects our garage to our house is unlocked if she is home alone. If I am home, or when I leave through the garage, I will lock the steel door on my way out. Our front door stays locked, and the sliding glass doors stay locked because to leave them unlocked also means that they are not always fully closed and sealed to keep in or out the outside air. My garage door is never left unlocked unless I am in the garage or in the front yard. And while I did not do so in the past, I stay armed while at home about 90% of the time. I am sitting right now at my PC in my bedroom, still in my pajamas, and not armed. But I am within a few feet of an easily opened GunVault with loaded firearms waiting until needed.

 

[snappy]

Yes. I live in a pretty safe area, but it is Richmond, after all.

Speaking of Richmond, isn’t that where Bryan Harvey and his family were killed years ago? Seems the killers came in through an unlocked door. That was a terrible crime.

 

[John Watson]

I was born in 1952, but it isn't 1952 any longer . Bet your bottom dollar my house is locked up tight.

 

[Valmet]

Speaking of Richmond, isn’t that where Bryan Harvey and his family were killed years ago? Seems the killers came in through an unlocked door. That was a terrible crime.

Yes. It wasn’t far from my house.

 

[railfancwb]

Always. Dogs really aren’t that much of a deterrent for someone absolutely intent on doing you serious harm IMO. Guns and being well trained with them aren’t much good if you are caught completely off-guard.

Cops breaking into homes routinely shoot dogs - even tiny ones.

 

[railfancwb]

Nope.

As I sit here typing this:
- My front door is unlocked.
- My back door is unlocked.
- My garden/tool shed is unlocked.
- My Toyota SUV is unlocked.
- My Ford pickup is unlocked.
- My mountain bike is unlocked.

The only thing that is locked:
- The safe that my G19 is stored in.

Edited to add:
In my 7+ decades around the sun . . . I have never been:
- Robbed.
- Burglarized.
- Vandalized.
- The victim of a home invasion or a car jacking.

Law of averages...
One car stolen at work
Two cars broken into in my driveway
House burgled twice

 

[wprebeck]

Anyone who does not keep their home and vehicle secured is a fool, plain and simple.

I lock the vehicles overnight, since it might not be too hard to sneak up and break a window on one of them. I also don't leave guns in them overnight.

That being said, I couldn't care less if the doors to our home are locked at night, during the day, whatever. Unless there's no one home, which is rare these days, I leave them unlocked.

There are a few things that would occupy a burglars attention, should they try and enter the house. One is a 120 pound German Shepherd. There are a few other dogs that might present a challenge to those with bad intentions, as well. We have nine pups in the house and a Great Pyrenees outside that keeps an eye on the livestock.

The doggies are a good alarm system. Three of us are quite competent with firearms and there are more than a few of those around, as well. Living at the end of a dead end one-lane road with only two immediate neighbors limits the traffic. The gravel road makes it easy to hear people and we generally sleep with a window open in the bedroom - even in the window. Wife's getting those hot flashes, lol, and likes it colder than me now.

Yeah, someone could always break in, but our lifestyle makes it very difficult for anyone but the most determined to do so. If we are up against folks like that, a simple dead bolt won't matter anyway.

 

[inthefrey]

Yep...

 

[arkdweller22]

There are locks on the doors for a reason. :dunno:

 

[Lowcountry_Glocker]

I lock up when leaving for extended periods of time. if I am just running out for a can of dip or to my girls house sometimes I do sometimes I dont

my vehicles are never locked but if you went into it to steal something you'd get my registration and insurance card and maybe a bottle of no gnats bug spray. if you intend to steal it I'd rather no windows be broken, so it is less to deal with when it is recovered. oh, I have a stone temple pilots CD in the Jeep. that'd be a good haul.

the only time my vehicles are ever locked is if I am out in town and the gun is staying in them. further both are manuals which as we know these days serve as an anti theft device in and of itself. both 4x4 as well. On the rare times I am staying at a seedier hotel or a rougher area, especially with the top down on the jeep I have been known to put the xfer case into Neutral. many factors working against some thug trying to get in and out in a hurry. and the truck, a one ton dually diesel, you're gonna cause quite a scene trying to get that thing moving if you ain't used to driving one.

 

[Vito]

My vehicles are insured as well, but I still don't want them to be easily stolen, so I keep them locked unless inside a locked garage. My older car, a 2011 Subaru Outback runs as well today as the day I bought it new over 9 years ago, but if stolen I would likely only get the Kelly Blue Book value, minus my deductible. So that means I would get about $4,000 for a car that is worth a lot more than than to me. Maybe because I grew up in NYC, locking EVERYTHING, ALL THE TIME is just a habit of life that I developed as a kid. And I never leave a firearm in a vehicle, unless it is in the daytime when I am parked in a secure area and going into someplace like the courthouse where I have to go through a metal detector, so carrying concealed is not an option even if I were willing to break the "rules".

 

[Trucker3573]

Doors to house are always locked when not at home. I can’t say that when we are home though. My car is literally and I reiterate literally never locked. There is nothing of value inside and I don’t want people busting stuff up to find that out. Only problem I ever had in my life was when I used to lock my doors and some asshat punched out the lock on my trunk to figure out there was nothing inside. No more have free reign to look. If someone really needs a 12 impala with 200k on it enough to do whatever it takes to start and steal it, well I guess they need it pretty bad.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Desert Kraut]

Since we moved into our condo, we have one door and one window that need to be secured and we keep those locked. Being on the second floor, anyone breaking in any other way would need a long ladder to access our slider or the other 4 windows. We keep firearms handy throughout just in case.

 

[pizza_pablo]

Pretty much and my neighborhood is fairly rural. I don't like surprises.

 

[pizza_pablo]

Yeparooni!

When I was a kid, watching that, I didn't think about the back drop.

 

[pizza_pablo]

27/7/365.

Alaska?

 

[JohnnyE]

Law of averages...
One car stolen at work
Two cars broken into in my driveway
House burgled twice

You conjured up old memories.
Mom's car was stolen out of our quiet, peaceful suburban home's driveway one night on a flat bed. Windows were wide open yet we didn't hear a thing. The car battery was punctured and drained so the alarm was disabled.

One of our retail stores had an apartment in the back. That location was burglarized twice ON THE SAME NIGHT, hours apart, by different perps. Crazy.

Another concern arose a few years back when a state PD helo was orbiting my neighborhood one night. It appears a robber's car broke down while he was eluding capture. He was afoot and local news broke in to advise residents to hunker down and be alert. While it's one of those million-to-one shots, we actually had a desperado looking for cover/sanctuary/arms/vehicle/whatever who may have crashed my door.

 

[bayerta]

Car locked and alarmed. Solid core exterior doors locked and door armor installed. 4" screws 3" into the windowsill just because. IMHO just as important as a smoke and carbon monoxide alarm. Keeping the threat outside is much better than taking care of the threat inside. And fwiw I have many things that I can use to go through a window if need be. My favorite is my halligan tool.

 

[sourdough44]

Not here, but good luck.

 

[9jeeps]

Sure! Why not?