Forced to Condx Red at home..

[SxRacer108]

(Background: at my girlfriends place, she just moved into temple not too long ago and well its the outskirts of reading...)

Last night while asleep at about 3am I was awaken by my girlfriends 5yo daughter who alerted me to a bangin at the front door of the apartment. I woke my girlfriend up and told her to stay with her daughter in her room and lock the door and if she hears gunfire or a struggle to call 911.
I proceeded to grab my Taurus 24/7 and move toward the front door to which i hear the handle on the door being jiggled and more banging.
I look through the peephole in the door and ask "who is it!" while the taurus is at my side in my right hand ready.
It turns out to be the neighbor, to which i told him to back away from the door as i was going to open it. (it opens inward).

He proceeded to ask me what he wanted (there was music loud coming from somewhere and the lights were flickering on and off in his apartment and was wondering if we had the same problem, thought the music was coming from us) then asks why i have a gun. To which i told him for self defense and i didnt know who was at the front door at this INSANE hour of the morning banging and jiggling my handle. asked him next time to please call first and not to jiggle the handle.

Went back to the room and told them everything was ok, put the kid back to bed and put the firearm back in the bedside table drawer.

What would you have done? thoughts? criticism? what is my legal obligation if say this was an attempted home invasion? Could i shoot upon entry? since its an apartment and i am not the owner of the building do i have a duty to retreat? This kinda got my brain tickin' incase this would ever happen.

Thanks!

[4XLT]

you did ok.. only 2 things i noticed..

1 with a 5 year old in the house find someway to better secure your pistol.. im not a fan of lock boxes ( takes too much time) but they have ones out now that are pretty simple and fast...

2 never open the door at that hour.. even knowing it was your neihbor, simply say through the door what you need to say. that way if he is being forced by someone they cant get in and he also would have never seen your gun..

my main door you can see out easily ( 9 panes) so i look around the corner to see who it is and talk from there.
otherwise good job!

[Brillfan]

(Background: at my girlfriends place, she just moved into temple not too long ago and well its the outskirts of reading...)

Last night while asleep at about 3am I was awaken by my girlfriends 5yo daughter who alerted me to a bangin at the front door of the apartment. I woke my girlfriend up and told her to stay with her daughter in her room and lock the door and if she hears gunfire or a struggle to call 911.
I proceeded to grab my Taurus 24/7 and move toward the front door to which i hear the handle on the door being jiggled and more banging.
I look through the peephole in the door and ask "who is it!" while the taurus is at my side in my right hand ready.
It turns out to be the neighbor, to which i told him to back away from the door as i was going to open it. (it opens inward).

He proceeded to ask me what he wanted (there was music loud coming from somewhere and the lights were flickering on and off in his apartment and was wondering if we had the same problem, thought the music was coming from us) then asks why i have a gun. To which i told him for self defense and i didnt know who was at the front door at this INSANE hour of the morning banging and jiggling my handle. asked him next time to please call first and not to jiggle the handle.

Went back to the room and told them everything was ok, put the kid back to bed and put the firearm back in the bedside table drawer.

What would you have done? thoughts? criticism? what is my legal obligation if say this was an attempted home invasion? Could i shoot upon entry? since its an apartment and i am not the owner of the building do i have a duty to retreat? This kinda got my brain tickin' incase this would ever happen.

Thanks!

The neighbor is banging on doors at 3 AM, then he wonders why someone is holding a gun?

[renegadephoenix]

i would have kicked his ass up to his shoulders

[SxRacer108]

you did ok.. only 2 things i noticed..

1 with a 5 year old in the house find someway to better secure your pistol.. im not a fan of lock boxes ( takes too much time) but they have ones out now that are pretty simple and fast...

2 never open the door at that hour.. even knowing it was your neihbor, simply say through the door what you need to say. that way if he is being forced by someone they cant get in and he also would have never seen your gun..

my main door you can see out easily ( 9 panes) so i look around the corner to see who it is and talk from there.
otherwise good job!

I agree on the lock box, other than sleeping the pistol is on my side, we've sat her down and talked to her about guns and NEVER to touch them until she is much older. I do not sleep there every night so i havent put one in her place yet. BUT today i do believe we are going to as she finally see's the need to have a firearm in her home (the event got her thinking). so we'll be pistol shopping this evening. She's never been opposed to carrying and understands but never felt the need to herself....She's been converted!

[Nic]

First, I would not have opened the door. That being said, do you know the neighbor? Does he know you sleep at your girlfriends place? He asked if you had the same problem, and then asked if you were the problem. Did you actually hear the loud music? Jiggling a door handle is an attempt to enter in my book. I'd keep my eye on him.

I agree with renegadephoenix. Anyone banging on my door at 3am better have a great explanation or great dental insurance.

[son of the revolution]

Yea the " jiggling the handle " thing is setting off major alarms for me, like many others. There's simply NO good reason for anyone to try jiggling the door handle unless they're actually testing to see if they can get in. Would the guy have let himself in if the handle worked ? Seems to have been his intent to me.

As to your other question IANAL but your apartment is your residence , just like any other domicle you have every legal right to defend yourself with deadly force if required. Your rights aren't restricted one scintilla simply because your renting as opposed to owning.

[pedaler73]

Other than opening the door to him, I think you handled it just fine. I have to agree with everyone else about that "jiggling the door handle" thing. He had to come up with a fast and lame excuse about loud music when he was basically busted trying to get in. I think now that he knows you're there and you're armed, he will think twice about trying that again. Might I suggest you have your girlfriend speak to the apartment management about what happened? Maybe they could do something about this guy.

[pa350z]

I have a couple of thoughts. First, presuming you are trained and know what you are doing with a pistol, you did the right thing by taking your weapon. Second, you did the right thing by having the others in the apartment move to a safe area. Third, you should have turned on the porch light while keeping your background dark. This would have allowed you to better assess the situation through a window or peep hole. Fourth, I would not have opened the door unless I knew that there was absolutely no threat. Hard to do at night with limited visibility. Fifth, if I did open the door because it was safe, I would have assumed a relaxed yet tactical stance. That is, weak side toward threat, legs at shoulder length, pistol in strong hand at my side toward the rear shielded from the threats view. I would not let him know that I was armed. Fifth, after the person left, I would have left the porch light on locked the door and remained vigilant for a few minutes. Last, I would have returned the fire arm to a readily accessible place but under at least one locking mechanism due to the child in the home. Just my opine.

[Kaos]

You handled it well.

I might have called the police first and probably wouldn't have opened the door even if he announced himself as who he did (though I know all the neighbors and their voices here).

That's why I really like those floor mounted door stops, you can open them enough to see who's there but they aren't a joke to break through like the chains are.

Securing a gun for quick deployment in the middle of the night is always a touchy/difficult subject as well.