Clearing the House

-by @Gun_Carry

One of my best friends just had a power outage. She left the house to go to a local store and when she got back she noticed the side door to her garage was open. For some reason she still went inside, whereupon she discovered the door to the main house was also standing open. By the time this fact sank in, she was standing at the entrance to the house looking across the kitchen at her puppy who was locked up in the living room. She went inside, retrieved the puppy, came back out and while driving away called her husband who was eight minutes away with me. We immediately went to the house to determine if someone had broken in.

This is not the first time I’ve had to clear house. My first question to my friend’s husband was are you armed?  He said no. My second question to him was do you have a tactical light? He said no. When we got to the house the first thing I did as I got out of the truck was hand him a spare tactical light and my backup gun. I explained to him there is no safety there are six rounds loaded, if you pull the trigger it goes off.  I told him in all likelihood there is no burglar.  If someone were in the house to steal or do something else they wouldn’t have left obvious signs like two doors standing wide open.  Because there had been no signs of forced entry and his wife had not heard or seen anyone actually in or around the house I felt it was most likely empty.  Therefore I felt comfortable going ahead clearing the home.  Knowing he hasn’t cleared a home before and not knowing his level of nerves, I decided he should go first because I don’t want him accidentally barrel sweeping me from behind.

After determining the house was clear and that my friend must not have secured the doors properly on her way out in the dark, things calmed down a bit. There were a few lessons to be learned this evening.  The first that everyone should take away from this is to call the police and have them do this for you.  There is no reason to put yourself in danger.  If there had been signs of forced entry we would not have entered. The second is the one that I want my friend’s husband to take away, why didn’t he have a weapon and or a tactical light? He owns several handguns yet was unarmed when he potentially needed a weapon.  Further, I think it is inexcusable for anyone to be without some sort of decent light source.  When there are great bright little options like the Nightstick MT-210 there is no excuse not to have a light.  Lastly, for my friend don’t ever enter a home unarmed when you see signs that someone may have broken in. If someone had been in that home, her puppy simply isn’t worth her life.

It’s been a wild night.

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