Home defense is a serious concern for most Americans…even more so with the decrease in officers on the job, increase in prison releases, and overall violence in general that we’re seeing. But there are myths about home defense—dangerous myths—that just won’t die that we’re going to cover today.
Myth #1: “I load my home defense gun with birdshot because it doesn’t over penetrate.”
Truth: Range is a huge factor here. At contact distances, birdshot works to stop threats. The problem with bird shot is that at close, but not contact, in-home distances, the shot hasn’t had time to spread out very much and it goes straight through sheetrock. When birdshot hits fluid, it tends to slow down very quickly and may not penetrate deeply enough to stop determined threats.
On the flip side, at some close distances depending on the home, there is a chance even birdshot could take off small body parts. This can be seen as excessive force depending on the prosecutor/solicitor for your area.
Side note: If you’re wondering, rock salt has the same under-penetration problem. Don’t use it on humans. Ever. It’s not predictable enough to use to stop a lethal force threat and it’s still legally considered lethal force in many, if not most jurisdictions, if you use it on a less-than-lethal threat.
The counter to this is oftentimes something along the lines of, “I’ll just shoot them in the face…that’ll stop them.” That takes aiming and brings us to Myth #2.
Myth #2: “You don’t need to aim a shotgun.”
Truth: I have shot pumpkins and watermelons. For watermelons and fresh pumpkins, I just shoot them. If the pumpkins been sitting around as decoration, I will put a hole in the top and fill them with water. When I shoot them with a shotgun, it’s amazing how small the entry hole is with birdshot when shooting past a distance of 7 yards. You still have to aim, and a glancing blow doesn’t do much. If you don’t think you need to aim a shotgun, I want to challenge you to pattern your shotgun at different distances from 5-10 yards…and see what it looks like.
On the flip side, when you get inside 5 yards, no you would not have too necessarily aim. Now I challenge you to take birdshot in your shotgun and move inside 5 yards and shoot a watermelon or pumpkin and see what happens. This is a distance that you might end up shooting at inside your home.
Myth #3: “If you want to keep someone away from your house, just shoot through the door.”
Truth: I won’t embarrass the person who said this by naming them…but they’re pretty famous and influential. This is a HORRIBLE idea, and in some states can be illegal depending on your self-defense laws. So, make sure you know your laws and do your research. Now one big reason, one of your safety rules, is that you need to know your target and what’s beyond it. Are you shooting at a lethal threat or just a stranger? A loved one? A pet?
You don’t fully know because you have not addressed the threat. Now let’s say you have cameras, and you see that it is a threat, especially in South Carolina, fear for your life doesn’t start until they are in your home. Now that doesn’t mean 5 feet inside, but that must cross the barrier from outside to inside.
There’s another layer to this that’s a very old piece of bad advice and that’s…And this leads us to myth 4.
Myth #4: “If you shoot an attacker outside of your house, drag them inside before you call the police.”
Truth: To begin with, you need to prepare yourself that shooting someone may stop the threat but not cause them to die. If they run away and if the blood trail only leads to your door but not into your house, you may have some explaining to do. Just like what we talked about in myth 3.
They may also stop being a threat but not move until the police arrive. DO NOT DRAG them inside. But the big thing is, you want to plan do defend yourself LEGALLY…not pre-plan scenarios where you are disturbing evidence and making yourself look guilty to any prosecutor/solicitor with more than a week or two of experience. In your mind, you only want to plan to shoot someone who is posing a clear and present threat to your life or to the life of another innocent person in your home.
Myth #5: “Night sights are all I need.”
Truth: This may or may not be true, but in general you want to plan on having the ability to visually discriminate between threats and non-threats as well as the ability to aim in all lighting conditions. This means not shooting at something/someone unless you are positive that it is a threat…and, in general, that means using a weapon mounted light or a handheld light. There are many different options like Streamlight, Surefire, Nitecore, and much more. Make sure you select what you need it for and do your research to make sure it is a good light. Last is made sure to understand the difference between lumen and candela, lumens is how bright it will be up close and candela is how far the light will project down a hallway or into a room.
Conclusion:
There are a dozen more similar myths surrounding home defense…as far as cover vs. concealment, proper use of light, interacting with law enforcement, providing medical care, citizen defender tactics vs. police and military tactics, tactics when you’re only wearing underwear vs. tactics in full kit, etc. This is also where training will help you understand what myth is and what is real.
Some of these myths get spread by “counter intelligence” at gun stores, some by gun writers and personalities, and some by busybodies answering questions online that they don’t have the expertise or knowledge to answer.