Roger Eckstine - Shooters Bible Guide to Home Defense

A Comprehensive Handbook on How to Protect Your Property from Intrusion and Invasion

Roger Eckstine

SKYHORSE PUBLISHING

Copyright 2013 by Roger Eckstine

All photographs Roger Eckstine unless otherwise noted.

All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without the express written consent of the publisher, except in the case of brief excerpts in critical reviews or articles. All inquiries should be addressed to Skyhorse Publishing, 307 West 36th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10018.

Skyhorse Publishing books may be purchased in bulk at special discounts for sales promotion, corporate gifts, fund-raising, or educational purposes. Special editions can also be created to specifications. For details, contact the Special Sales Department, Skyhorse Publishing, 307 West 36th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10018 or info@skyhorsepublishing.com.

Skyhorse and Skyhorse Publishing are registered trademarks of Skyhorse

Publishing, Inc., a Delaware corporation.

Visit our website at www.skyhorsepublishing.com.

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

ISBN: 978-1-62873-539-0

Printed in China

M uch of the information in The Shooters Bible Guide to Home Defense can be organized into one of three categories. These categories include preparation, taking action, and preparation for taking action. Preparation focuses on preparing your home with devices, such as key-operated dead bolts, double doors, alarm systems, and other precautions. Taking action deals with weaponry and how to use them, especially in the home environment. Preparation for action focuses on personal conditioning. If an expensive alarm system wakes you with blaring concussion, it wont do you any good if you are too rattled to remember where your gun is or where you planned to take cover.

So much of what it takes to surviveor better yet wina confrontation has to do with mindset. When I was a Little League baseball player, my father coached me to start playing my position before the ball was hit. I was trained to think and decide, before the pitch was thrown, what I would do with the ball if I got it. But playing second base is a lot simpler than defending your home. While an infielder might face a line drive, pop-up, or bouncing ground ball, the person or persons you are likely to face in a home invasion are far less predictable.

Many people make the mistake of thinking, If I were a criminal, I would... If you are a law-abiding citizen of scruples and rational thought, you probably do not have the innate capacity to think or plan like a criminal. Relying upon a prediction instead of being fully engaged in the moment can cause you to zig when you should have zagged and take you out of the fight, rendering you unable to defend yourself or others. Even if you could predict the behavior of a criminal when theyre sober, that same person could commit criminal acts against you and your family while under the influence of drugs. Not only can certain drugs unleash a psychotic sense of entitlement, they can also give an individual boundless energy, increased strength, and an elevated pain threshold. Also, some people are simply non responders. That means even in a relaxed, sober state their senses do not register pain in response to injuries that would bring most people to their knees. This can mean defensive maneuvers that rely on pain compliance such as an arm lockmay prove ineffective. So dont expect to know what an aggressor is thinking or capable of feeling.

Not all non responders are criminals. One of auto racings most successful champions, Richard Petty, credits much of his success to an ability to get into a race car and concentrate on driving no matter what his physical condition. For some reason I was fortunate, Petty said in an interview aired as part of A Racers Life: Richard Petty (Speed TV, 2013). Ive got a threshold that pain dont bother me like it does some other people. Petty may or may not be a non responder in the clinical sense, but he was known to have never used Novocain at the dentist. Richard Pettys son, Kyle, explained, Its just an exercise for him to outthink the pain.

While this should be taken as inspiration for anyone determined to defend home and family, it should also be a warning not to underestimate or try to predict someones capabilities.

Another common mistake is having too much faith in a particular type or caliber of weapon. Several years ago, I had the privilege of writing an article for American COP Magazine that profiled a small municipal police department as it began issuing Springfield Armory 1911s chambered for .45 ACP. Before beginning drills and instruction, we were treated to a demonstration of penetration and expansion of the hollow-point rounds that would be standard issue. The wound canal was impressive and so were the training sessions that followed. Before I left several days later, the assistant chief of police told me a story of a man with a gun who came out of his house, engaged police, and was shot by a .45 ACP round in the torso. The ammunition proved to be a fight stopper but should probably have killed him. After the man was taken into custody, police discovered that he survived because his liver was so hardened by years of consuming alcohol that it acted as a shield. The late Jim Cirillo tells a tale in his book, Guns, Bullets, and Gunfights: Lessons and Tales from a Modern-Day Gunfighter, (Paladin Press,1996) about a man he shot in the head at close range with a .38 Special revolver who nevertheless survived. A .38 Special is not renowned as a one-shot fight stopper, but the bullet was fired just inches from the mans forehead and should have proved fatal. Instead, the man was merely knocked unconscious by the impact as the bullet traveled under his scalp, following the circumference of his skull, and exited at the rear of his head.

The point is that whichever method you use to stop an act of aggression, the result is the only thing that matters. Think of your weapon as an automobile speedometer. Say you are on a racetrack and your speedometer reads 140 mph, which is faster than youve ever gone before. Then, another car sails right past you. Now your concept of 140 mph is in perspective. Actually, your concept of speed is irrelevant. At that moment there is no telling how fast is fast enough. You must keep going faster until you pass every car. In terms of a home invasion, lets say youve fired two high-velocity hollow-point rounds of .40 S&W ammunition at close range into the midsection of an intruder, but he continues to race toward you. In your mind, you know this should have been enough to stop the fight. To continue the racing analogy, your speedometer is telling you that you are going faster than youve ever gone before, but you are not catching up to the car in front of you. You expected the aggressor to drop because you thought the shots you fired were enough to stop him, but hes still coming. The question remains: What does it take to stop the aggression? The answer is that you dont know. The point is that nobody knows until it happens. A famous broadcaster at ringside for a heavyweight fight once said of a fighter who was losing on all scorecards, He needs to stop thinking about punching and just punch.

I will present in this book information garnered from the knowledge, wisdom, and personal experience of outstanding law enforcement personnel and personal protection specialists. But note that self-defense is an art form. It continues to be shaped by experience. This book is not perfect. It does not guarantee. It only seeks to point the reader in the direction of more knowledge and better preparation.