Paranoid About Security: Attempted Breakin

[kai38]

A can of wasp spray, and install a panic button alarm you can push to set of the alarm from the inside.

[john101477]

I decided to purchase a 130dB personal alarm, pepper spray, baseball bat, and pop-n-lock tailgate lock. Still working on how to secure the rear hatch. Thanks for all the suggestions.

How legal would it be to shoot someone if they're trying to break in to your car? Don't you have to try to flee first and only use deadly force if threatened with deadly force?

yes. 3 rounds to the head, and then run the son&%$#ch over

If you feel your life is in danger you have the RIGHT to shoot. period!

Southpier, dude I almost fell out of my chair!!!

[ujoint]

I like the alarm/lights idea. That should do it.

[BIGdaddy]

I decided to purchase a 130dB personal alarm, pepper spray, baseball bat, and pop-n-lock tailgate lock. Still working on how to secure the rear hatch. Thanks for all the suggestions.

How legal would it be to shoot someone if they're trying to break in to your car? Don't you have to try to flee first and only use deadly force if threatened with deadly force?

In California:

A house = domicile/residence. Within a domicile/private residence, so-called castle doctrine's apply where you are not required to flee. You can stand and fight, INSIDE your home, OR once you are off of a public right of way, which does NOT include an unfenced front yard.

This fight could very well include shooting to STOP an intruder from causing you or a family bodily harm. You have a right to shoot until the threat is no longer posing a GRAVE AND IMMEDIATE risk. if they are heading back out of your car or house, they are no longer a threat and you could totally be prosecuted if you shot them because technically they are disengaging and should legally be allowed to flee, or detained.

When staying in a hotel or sleeping in a tent in a campsite, those rules also apply.

In your situation, if they aren't inside the car with you and you shoot them OUTside the car, you likely be in hot water. (Not to mention you wouldn't be really be able to identify your target.

You need to look and see if a vehicle that is not registered as a RV (or even one that is) would be covered under California "castle doctrine" rules. My thinking, is that, no, it probably is not.

You'd likely be prosecuted for these misdimeanors/felonies among others:

-posession of a loaded firearm in a vehicle
-discharging a gun within city limits
-public endangerment
-manslaughter/murder/attempted murder, etc... for the person you shoot and miss, shoot and hit as well as any bystanders that are hit in the houses you're sleeping next to, once the pellets/bullets pass through the thin sheetmetal/fiberglass of your vehicle and continue on their path.


So yeah, your first ideas are better ones.

[dwh]

CCTVSign2-1218_167x250.jpg

[scrubber3]

I have a Great Dane AND a .45. Not to mention a Ka-Bar and 6'4" 220lbs of man to use it. I doubt I will ever have to use any of it though. At least I hope not. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Give the perp all the chance in the world to disengage. If he does not, shoot to kill. Though I will tell you that not many people will go near my dog if he even remotely moans in their general direction. Not sure why though..... Just so you guys know, he is very socialized and listens to his master very well. Couldn't ask for a better dog.

So long as you get a preventative measure and some protection just in case the prevention fails......

[SST]

In California:

A house = domicile/residence. Within a domicile/private residence, so-called castle doctrine's apply where you are not required to flee. You can stand and fight, INSIDE your home, OR once you are off of a public right of way, which does NOT include an unfenced front yard.

You need to look and see if a vehicle that is not registered as a RV (or even one that is) would be covered under California "castle doctrine" rules. My thinking, is that, no, it probably is not.

I think along with this "domicile/residence" classification, a vehicle does not fit this definition. I remember a Supreme Court decision about cops not required to have a search warrant to search a vehicle, whereas if it was a residence they would.

[robert]

I'm a fan of having a car alarm that you can trigger via key fob. You can get inexpensive ones off Amazon that should meet your needs. I tripped mine once while stealth camping in my old truck when I heard someone walking around my truck in the middle of the night and they left quickly. If you can't afford an alarm system, you can buy blinking LEDs that simulate an alarm. It would be pretty easy to mount a couple of those inexpensive motion detector lights also. Try to make sure there is nothing visible in the cab that would attract someone's attention if they glanced inside- that means nothing on the seats or dash that they could smash and grab. Cover up anything behind the seats with clothes/trash/etc. I know a lot of folks in cities will leave their glove boxes open so anyone walking by can see there's nothing in them; I do this myself when I'm in a city of when leaving my truck at a trailhead. I throw an old towel over the dash to protect it from the sun and it also covers the stereo.

There are plenty of ways to secure the rear hatch on a camper shell, in fact there was a thread on expo not too long ago about it (too lazy to search). Currently I'm just using a length of paracord. Anyone trying to yank it open is going to wake me if I'm in the back; I keep a Surefire flashlight in the back that should blind them as well as some other implements that could be pressed into service. While I'm an advocate of public hangings for thieves, shooting someone breaking into your vehicle is going to be a legal nightmare no matter how in the right you are. You could easily mount some metal bars or mesh to the inside of your camper windows to further deter someone from smashing a window and reaching in.

When I'm away from the truck I tend to leave the back kinda messy i.e. sleeping bag rolled out with blanket cast to the side covering my junk and clothes laying about (I use clean clothes but to the casual observer it looks like I just tossed my dirty clothes in and not many folks want to mess with someone else's dirty clothes). Don't put anything on your truck that might be considered advertising such as camera logos, gun stickers, expensive outdoor equipment, etc.

[RangeBrover]

At the end of the day my rule has always been I'd rather be judged by 12 than carried by 6. The laws very by state but protecting your life should always be priority number 1.

[corax]

In California:

. . . .
-posession of a loaded firearm in a vehicle

Would that apply to a flare gun by any chance? I remember an old trucker telling me years ago that since they were barred from carrying any kind of firearm, he carried a flare gun. He said on asphalt you could aim at the ground in front of a "perp" and get a nice splatter/ricochet of white hot phosphorous . . .