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Being prepared and "mentally rehearsed" for bad things that may happen in your own home could save your life.

This morning, approximately forty minutes after I left for work, my wife sat working at her desk at home when she heard our front door rattling vigorously. Normally, she can hear the cats playing and romping around, but this sound was not made by a cat. Instead, she realized someone was trying to shake the front door open. Alarmed, she grabbed her .45 caliber Colt 1911 and proceeded cautiously down the hall toward the front door where the noise came from.

Through our front door's stained glass window, she could see someone's silhouette.  I don't know if you have ever heard up close what it sounds like when you rack the slide on a 1911, but it's very distinct, and it's not quiet. My wife racked the slide and said in a very commanding voice, "If you come through that door I - WILL - SHOOT - YOU!" She meant that by the way.

I write and talk about my exploits with pistols all the time and frankly, I am a pretty good shot. I'll give you three guesses who is a better shot than me in my house. If that door would have opened, you can be sure there would have been one dead man on my floor. Luckily for him he chose wisely today and ran, very fast. That was a good choice.

She called the police of course and they showed up very quickly, took all the information and were very helpful and encouraging, telling her she did exactly the right things. The police know they can't be everywhere at once, and even if we were lucky and they were only 60 seconds away, that may have been 30 seconds too late.

Texarkana's finest have been patrolling our street more than usual today and I hope they will continue to do that, but the bad guys have to know that hitting my house at any time day or night is a really bad idea. In fact you might want to re-consider your line of work because there are over 80 million gun owners in this country and you don't know which house they're in. I personally know concealed handgun instructors who tell me all the time how amazed they are at the number of women that are taking their courses these days. That's right bad guys, more and more ladies are packin' every day, and they're refusing to become victims.

I was a little hesitant about writing this, but I gave it some more thought and realized that my fellow citizens here in Texarkana need to know what almost happened today. Most important, I want to remind you that recognizing dangers and preparing for them is not crazy. My family and I have actually run drills a couple of times so that everyone knows what to do if there's a break-in, home invasion or fire. This doesn't mean that we've thought of everything, but I guarantee you that we are more prepared than most people are.

I shudder to think what might have happened this morning if we lived in a country or state that did not allow us to protect ourselves according to the 2nd Amendment to the Constitution. You know, like living in Illinois or Washington D.C.? Just saying.

Of course, I do know what would have happened had she not had a gun handy this morning. She still would have kicked his ass since she's a 3rd degree black belt, but that's not the point. Not everyone has those skills, but everyone can and should protect themselves in their own home. You have to think it out though. Ask yourself: What would I do if this happened to me? How can I protect myself in the case of a home invasion? How can I escape if there's a fire in one part of the house, and what about the other part of the house? How can I teach my family to protect themselves and escape from bad situations? If you live in a two-story home, how are you going to get out if you can't go down the stairs? Think it through and have a plan.

Get armed and get trained. With any luck, you'll never have to use it, but if one day you do need that training, you will sure be glad you had it.

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