Breaking and entering is not a capital offense, so you can't just shoot someone with a shotgun for that. You have to confront the intruder and give him a chance to surrender. Now, if he flees at that point, let him go and call the police. If he is armed or lunges at you, shoot.
What happens if the intruder surrenders? You have to call the police. If you were alone in the house when he broke in, you would be in a position of holding the gun at the intruder with one hand and calling the police with the other. Can you effectively point a shotgun at the intruder with only one hand while you do this? I can't. Handgun is better than a shotgun for home defense for this reason.
You already have a jittery expatriate community residing within the RD. Some afraid to drive. Some afraid to walk at night. Some afraid to leave their walled compounds, and walk at all. Some just, afraid. Is it logical to arm these people with weapons of death as well?
Dogs are great, but bad guys just poison them. You don't have to be a great shot with a shotgun. Just sort of point and shoot. You will have to fix things afterwards.
For those that do opt to have a shotgun and also have dogs to alert you to the presence of intruders as well as bars on all windows and doors to delay entry that will give you time to react, one blast of that shotgun out the window will be all the intruders need to hear and they'll be gone. The last thing they want is an armed confrontation.
You must have missed the question:
It's late at night, you are in bed. You awake to the sound of glass braking. You hear the thud of feet hitting your kitchen floor. You leap out of bed, lock your bedroom door. Grab your cell from the night table, call 911 and request help. Help is on the way. You know better than to ask how long? There is a 50/50 chance of help arriving before the summer solstice.
Now what do you do? Grab your machete and wait for the door to swing open? You can assume whomever will be standing there has a weapon of some type. Or do you grab your shotgun and position yourself to send the person standing in your now open bedroom door 15 feet backwards before they can focus and locate you crouching and firing from cover behind your bed?
That's not being afraid. That's being prepared to defend your life when there is no one else around to do it for you. It's not like variations of this scenario do not play out with some frequency. Unfortunately the very same foreigners you suggest should not arm themselves are primary targets of opportunity because they are foreigners and assumed to have good stuff.
I do not expect to ever have to face this situation because I take steps to make it difficult to get into this predicament. However, I am not so naive as to assume that the police can or will arrive in time to save my wife or me. There is a real and quantifiable possibility of facing an armed intruder where I live now and where I will be moving to shortly. I cannot leave the final determination of my fate solely in the hands of an intruder or the police (who not be around at the precise moment their intervention is desperately needed).
This country allows law abiding citizens and legal residents to arm themselves for protection. In part because that is an individual's responsibility when the system cannot provide an alternative resolution in a timely manner.
If the cops can get it done on their own, great. If they haven't arrived yet, well I've got better tools than the ladrones. Just in case.
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Of course it is if the person wants to own such a weapon. That is their choice.
One of your biggest vulnerabilities and threats to your security is someone breaking into your house while you're not there. This happened to a friend of mine on Calle Motocross outside of Cabarete.
He and his wife were gone for the afternoon and, when he returned and went into his house, they were greeted by two thieves at gunpoint waiting in their living room as they opened the door. They had pryed off the bars on a rear window while they were gone. They were forced to open the safe and robbed of their valuables. Fortunately, that's all that happened to them.
Get vibration detectors and mount them by all windows and doors. There are systems that, in addition to setting off an alarm which, in this case, would have probably scared them off since there are houses nearby, will also alert your smartphone of a breakin. This way, you won't walk into your house to be greeted by unwelcome guests by surprise. Don't solely depend on a shotgun for your security.
Do you keep a shotgun in each and every room? The scenario provided is ludicrous. If the same invasion occurred as you were washing dishes in the kitchen, what would happen? Ask the invader to please wait while you go into the bedroom and grab your shotgun? More than likely, you would be standing there with steel wool and a caldero of concon to fling at him. Better yet maybe a chancleta or two.
Dogs over a shotgun for a " well rounded " security system.
Of course dogs + house shotgun+ out-and-about hand gun is even better.
In the above situation, if i cant hear my dogs climbing over each other behind the gate to greet me, i aint even openning the gate. ( until i return with a bunch of neighbours with pitch forks and a can of gasolina, that is ).
Do you keep a shotgun in each and every room?
