A Pacific, Missouri man was surprised to find two burglars in his garage. He noticed them on a security camera he had installed inside the garage, grabbed his firearm, and went to confront them.

On suspect made a run for it immediately, while the other one drew a weapon as the homeowner entered the garage with his gun drawn as well:

While we fully support this homeowners right to defend his property, we suggest that he may have been a little too pumped up to consider his safety and the safety of his family inside of the home.

If you find someone trespassing on your property, especially if they intend to rob you or do you harm, by all means grab your weapon and confront them.

Like any emergency preparedness skill, home defense is one that should be practiced with some regularity. This includes heading to the range every couple of weeks to maintain the perishable skill of accurate shooting, as well as “war gaming” defense strategies for your home.

If a situation arises where you will need to take up arms to protect yourself or your family, it will be a high stress environment. Adrenaline will be pumping and normal brain functioning will likely shut down to compensate for the increased stress levels. The symptoms you may experience are similar to those of anxiety and may include heart palpitations, sweaty palms, tunnel vision, physical body shakes and panic. These are normal bodily responses to external stressors. You need to be aware of them because they can save your life – or they can kill you.

One of the keys to compensating for the increases stress levels during far-from-equilibrium events is to plan and practice ahead of time. This will train your brain, over time, to respond almost automatically. Your planning and practice should include family members who may be on the property or in your home if such an event were to unfold.

• Call the police. Yes, it is going to take them a couple of minutes, perhaps much longer, to get to your home. However, if the standoff were to be for an extended period of time, it’s always good to have backup on the way. A responsible adult or child should be immediately tasked with contacting local law enforcement.
• If your family is in the home, especially young children, consider the possibility that you may be wounded or killed during such a confrontation. This means before you engage in such a confrontation, there needs to be a backup for protecting those who can’t defend themselves. Is there a “safe room” of some sort in the home where the family can retreat until law enforcement arrives? If so, make sure you barricade yourself inside. Your safe room is your Alamo.
• If you plan on engaging the perpetrator(s), it is always good to have backup. Do you have a second weapon in the house. And are you willing to bring a second person into the mix while leaving your unarmed family in the “safe room”?
• Take into consideration the layout of your home, property and any external buildings, as well as barriers, brush, large trees and other places inside and outside of your home that could be used for cover (by you or the perp). You will certainly have the tactical advantage. Why run into a garage when you know that there is only one entry/exit point and the perps who are inside are going to have to come out eventually?
• If a burglar enters your main living area in the middle of the night, when your family is asleep, one important aspect to consider is the trajectory of bullets that may be flying. While you may be using hollow-points or safety slugs, the armed perpetrator may not be. This means that your bullets may not penetrate dry wall, but theirs will. If you take a defensive position near a child’s bedroom, stray bullets may become deadly. When building your defense plan, consider the positions from which you will be defending your home, and even train children old enough to understand where they should evacuate if they hear a confrontation erupt.
• If time allows, and you have surveillance throughout your property, take a quick look at your video monitors to get an idea if you are dealing with one individual or multiple people.

Always consider your options, if your mental state allows, before engaging in armed confrontation. Would-be robbers, especially those with violent histories, are willing to kill you and your family – and they may have others with them.

Ideally, you’ll want to take a defensive position, protect your family, and let the police sort it out.

But this is not always possible, so be prepared to use deadly force when necessary. Sometimes a good defense requires the implementation of a powerful and unrelenting offense. If it comes to that, keep shooting until nothing is left standing.

And remember, if your home has been invaded and you’re not sure how to respond: it’s better to be judged by twelve than carried by six.