DOs and DON’Ts for Your Home Defense

There are many ways one could prepare for a SHTF scenario and one obvious concern for every prepper is the safety of his own home. We all know horrific stories about robberies from our friends or our neighbors; burglars and looters are not mythical creatures that exist only in nightmares, unfortunately.

Some people choose to install a professional security system. But not everyone can afford such a high-tech system; therefore one could try to improvise a DIY home protection system. If this idea appeals to you, read this article.

I bet you enjoyed the “Home Alone” movie series, but keep in mind that using booby traps to catch burglars in the act only works in movies. If you’re considering building booby traps for your home protection, you should consider a few things before doing so.

Firstly, a homemade booby trap may injure or even kill an intruder. And if it works, you can go to jail; it’s as simple as that. Even if this may sound strange to you, there are some legal issues you must be aware of before going full speed ahead with your DIY home protection system.

DOs

Here’s a short list of what you can actually do, legally speaking, about home protection:

• You can build yourself a surveillance system, by turning your computer/web camera into a “Big Brother” kind of device, or a surveillance station.
• You can install motion sensors that trigger motion lights or an alarm.
• You can install security cameras in vulnerable areas.
• If you’re not tech savvy, you can consider getting yourself a dog as a mean of discouraging burglars. There are even electronic dogs available, i.e. alarm systems that sound like a dog bark.
• You can use pepper spray systems for protecting your house. They work just like a regular alarm, but instead of triggering a loud noise when a trespasser is detected, the potential thief will be sprayed in the face with a pepper solution, which is very unpleasant, to say the least. The good thing about such a pro-active mean of defense is that it’s a non-lethal one; hence it’s perfectly legal to use.
• You can use a silent alarm system that will send you an SMS or it will call you when an intruder is detected on your premises. These types of (cheap) security systems work by detecting motion or body heat and since it’s silent, you can alert the police or you can catch the thief in the act.
• You can install tripwires in sensitive places. This is the low-tech solution for an early warning system. Attaching a noise-maker device on the tripwire (like a chime or a bell) will warn you in advance about an intruder.
• If your property is protected by a fence, you can try to make that fence hard to scale by planting nails on top of it, or broken glass; something that will hurt the intruder. Of course, all fences can be breached, in final analysis, so don’t bet your life on it! Also, if somebody is injured on your property, even scaling a fence, you’re legally liable if you can’t prove that he was committing a crime.

DON’Ts

Now, read carefully what NOT to do, when building yourself a DIY home-defense system.

DO NOT build actual booby traps inside of your home. They can kill or cause severe injuries to innocent people and they’re actually completely illegal. Yes, you will go to jail for booby trapping your home. There are countless unfortunate stories about when booby traps harmed family members or friends.

DON’T install booby traps that work by triggering a shotgun, or any other weapon for that matter. Even if you’ll manage to stop a burglar in that way (maybe even kill him), you’ll be held accountable for manslaughter, not to mention that you could accidentally kill a child or the cable guy.

Basically, any artisanal devices that can severely injure or kill a person are to be avoided. They are way too risky and work indiscriminately and you’re legally responsible if anything bad happens.

You might end up killing yourself by mistake if you’re booby trapping your own house. This scenario has actually happened more than once and it’s maybe the most ridiculous way to die.

This article has been written by Chris Black for Survivopedia.

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