Helping your customers with home defense tactics

Shooting Industry, May, 1994 by Massad Ayoob

First-time gun buyers always are loaded with questions on how a firearm works, its safety features, proper ammunition and shooting techniques. They, and long-time gun owners, also are overloaded with images of how best to use the firearm in defending their homes and family. Unfortunately, too much of this information comes from the entertainment industry. The gunfighting tactics portrayed by Hollywood are foolish at best.

This month Massad Ayoob presents sound advice on how best to defend a home against intruders. As a gun dealer, providing such information to your customers is another aspect of being a "full-service gun shop." It says to your customer, "I'm not just here to make a sale. I'm interested in the safety of you and your family."

One of the main reasons a gun dealer feels so good about selling a defensive firearm to a law-abiding citizen is he's done his good deed for the day. He's kept a decent person from becoming a victim in their own home, or at least, he has given that citizen the wherewithal to carry out a successful defensive action.

But is the gun by itself all that's needed to survive? Frankly, no, or there would never have been a loser in a gun battle. Strategy and tactics are far more important than whether the gun is a .38, a .45 or even a 12 gauge.

The first vital tactic, of course, has been articulated by Mark Moritz. "Rule one of gunfighting is: Have a gun," says Moritz. Because you've done your job -- you've sold your customer a firearm he can handle -- we're ready to discuss how to use it to defend home and hearth.

After a lifetime of study in the matter, I am a firm believer in the "safe room" concept. It follows the principle of the ensconced defender. This is a basic rule of small-arms conflict in a MOUT (military operations in urban terrain) environment. The principle says, depending on the layout of things and assuming conventional weaponry, it will take an invading force up to nine times larger to dislodge the defenders. In doing so, however, the invaders will suffer terrible casualties.

In explaining this tactic, there are a couple of military battles you can use as examples. This will help even non-military customers understand the importance of a safe room. Most people remember the battle for the Falklands. Why did the Brits prevail? Their numbers were thin and they were 6000 miles or more from their base of supply.

For one reason: The defenders were wimps. Had the Argentines been resolute, they would have pushed the Brits into the sea, just as their fathers and grandfathers had been pushed by a much superior force at Dunkirk. The Brits in the Falklands were tough and professional fighters, as were their predecessors at Dunkirk. The difference was, the Argentine defenders were weak bullies who couldn't stand up to being challenged -- and didn't.

Now that you've reminded your customer why it is so critical to resolutely defend home and hearth, let's look at another example. Consider the battle for the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas, in 1836.

Picture approximately 188 raggedy freedom fighters who were nearly out of food, water and ammunition. Only a few of them even had rudimentary training in military tactics. For nearly two weeks, this motley crew stood off 6,000 of the most highly-trained, battle-hardened troops in the Western Hemisphere!

Why? They were solidly ensconced. They also knew from where the attack would come. The attackers, with their primitive artillery, couldn't pinpoint the defenders behind those adobe walls. Instead, the Mexican regulars of Santa Ana had to charge unprotected into an open field of fire where the rifle sights of the Texans and Tennesseans were zeroed.

At about this time, a customer may say, "Wait a minute! You want me to defend my home using a plan where all the defenders are killed?"

If that comes up, remind your customer of the following:

* The Alamo's defenders lasted for 13 days before they were overwhelmed. It shouldn't take that long even in the remotest county for a response to a 911 call.

* At the Alamo, the defenders faced odds of roughly 32 to one. If 32 armed scumbags laid siege to your house, they might get you, also, but it'll take 'em a while, and most of 'em will be sorry they tried.

* Probably the main reason the Mexican regulars continued to attack was they feared the devil they knew worse than the devil they didn't. General Santa Ana had been known to "decimate" his own troops. He had one of every 10 soldiers in a unit executed at random, as an example to the others when he felt they hadn't worked hard enough to achieve his military objectives. Even the Manson Family didn't have that kind of motivation. If Sharon Tate had started shooting, it is doubtful that Manson's followers would have continued the assault.

* History shows that by the time the last of the Alamo's defenders died, they had killed -- not just shot, not just wounded, but killed -- eight and a half men apiece. Remind your customer that long before the eighth intruder goes down in front of the gun you sold them, it is likely to occur to the invaders that crime is not paying nearly as well as they thought it would. In other words, it's an excellent time to -- mixing our Western metaphors -- "Get outa Dodge."