07:24 – Email from Jen, who happened to look out one of her windows Saturday and noticed a scruffy person trespassing in their yard. Jen went outside, carrying although not pointing her shotgun, and challenged the person. He told her he was looking for some people whom Jen had never heard of. She told him that he was on private property and to clear out. He left without incident, but Jen said she was still shaken when she phoned her husband at his office and the sheriff, in that order.
They already have an alarm system, and Jen is well armed and a competent shooter, but now she’s feeling vulnerable. She’s aware that if the guy was intending to break the law, his intent was probably nothing more than stealing something easy to carry off and resell, but as she said she doesn’t know for sure. He might have been a serial rapist or murderer.
So now she and her husband are talking about possible ways to secure their property. They talked about fencing the perimeter of their property, but doing so would be extremely expensive. And, as I pointed out, a perimeter fence provides no real security against intrusion unless it blocks the entire perimeter, including the drive, and is under constant watch. I suggested that a large male dog or two would do more to discourage intruders than spending tens of thousands of dollars on a fence.
I told her that if they want to limit access to their property, a living fence, AKA hedge, is much cheaper and much, much more effective than any affordable fence. Something like trifoliate orange or pyracantha, planted close together in a double or triple row, will stop just about anything, including vehicles. The only real downside is that it takes a while to get established and grow to a useful size.
The disadvantage of a hedge: once it reaches a useful size, you have to prune it. Otherwise, it will not only look shaggy, it will spread and take over a lot more property. Even if you don’t mind, your neighbors will.
We ripped out a hedge when we moved into new. Fences (and hedges) are like locks:they stop casual intruders only. In the end, her response was the only correct one:confront them and chase them off.
A pyracantha (AKA firethorn) hedge stops more than casual intruders, and doesn’t really need pruning. Three layers of closely-spaced well-established pyracantha will stop a charging tractor-trailer in its tracks. As to trifoliate orange, the US military uses it in permanent installations to substitute for barbed/concertina wire.
I actually suggested to Jen that she might think about putting down one spiral of concertina wire to serve as a trellis for the pyracantha until it gets established. In a few years, she wouldn’t be able to see the wire for the pyracantha. And that embedded wire would make the grown thorn hedge impervious to anything but a bulldozer or a tank.
@RBT,
Did you do the math? I’ve been looking at fence so I just did some quick price comparison.
6 ft chain link is about $24 to $45 per yard, without installation, and you have immediate effect.
Depending on density, but using the guidelines for an intruder defense hedge, the firethorn was $30-$60 per yard, again without installation, and that was for plants 1 1/2 foot tall. At 1.5 feet / yr growth, it’s 2-3 years before you have a useful deterrent.
Planting may be slightly more DIY than building the fence, but it’s no walk in the park.
Unless you have restrictions on chain link (CC&R or spousal) it looks cheaper and more effective to me.
Other, prettier/stealthier barriers and fences may cost more, but I don’t think you can beat the price/performance/time combination of chain link. That’s why it is so common.
nick
BTW, a spiky hedge fits my style more than chain link, because I tend to hide or disguise my preps.
The fence is just the first line, it needs to be monitored and that is very tough to do effectively.
Currently, video cameras with onboard or offboard analytics seem to be the best value vs false alarms.
nick
I’d just go with the dawg; doesn’t have to be that big as long as he’s got a good, loud, threatening bark on him. Meanwhile if they plan on staying in that house for a while or permanently, start the hedge.
Motion-detector floods at night and timers on lights, radios, etc., when they’re not home, with shades/curtains set up to look normal, like someone’s home.
Gotta say, though; it might have been better if she’d simply called the cops and kept the guy under observation from inside the house. He could have been carrying a weapon on him and/or been mentally unstable and hostile/aggressive. Let the paid costumed government drones handle it. Until such time, of course, as we don’t have them around anymore. And naturally if he’s trying to kick the door down or come through a window, by all means, light him up.
Funny boy. Call the cops. Yeah, that’ll do it for you. I don’t even go looking for stuff like this, I mostly read tech sites, and I still saw both of those stories today.
What kind of cops y’all got over there? Scared of a dog on a leash, totally freaking out over a guy with an injured arm wrapped in a towel. Both times the people called on the police for help, both wind up with the cops shooting at them.
If you’re gonna call the police for something really worrisome, you’d better climb into your APC first.
@OFD
Yes, that’s basically what I told her. Avoid confrontations with strangers, call the cops, and lie in wait while armed. (For the stranger, that is, not the cops.) Like me, Jen works at home, so she’s nearly always there. I told her I guessed that the intruder was expecting her house to be unoccupied and that a woman with a shotgun probably scared him a lot more than he scared her.
I did suggest a dog or three. Given that her husband’s a vet, that should be pretty easy to get done. German Shepherds and Dobies both make excellent pets, are very intimidating to nearly anyone, particularly if there are two or three dogs, and the males are particularly protective of female masters.
@Nick
Yes, I considered cost, but the only reasons chain-link is so popular are that it’s (a) cheap and (b) immediate. As a barrier, it’s pretty pathetic, even if you top it with razor wire. A thick thorn hedge, on the other hand, presents an almost impenetrable barrier, even if you hit it first with a flamethrower.
As to cost, I’d plan on planting babies rather than juvenile bushes, which cuts the cost way down at the expense of requiring an extra year to catch up. When we move, if I decide we need a thorn bush barrier, I’ll rent a trencher, dig three parallel shallow trenches a couple feet apart, and plant the babies. After putting down a coil of concertina, of course.
Talk about building fires this weekend reminded me of my Jack London reading phase…
http://www.jacklondons.net/buildafire.html
Practice sounds like a good idea, even if it will never get that cold here in sunny Florida.
Off topic, but am I alone in seeing the hypocritical insanity of the first half-black president of the United States COMPLAINING about how racist the US is? In any rational world, this would be a front page story with mocking editorial cartoons in every paper.
The world had gone mad. The proofs just keep piling up.
nick
What is Jen’s exterior lighting situation? A few strategically placed motion detecting lights will give the casual criminal the message to move along.
@RBT, I thought at one time you were recommending a mote with alligators?
Fortunately we have good cops in our town. There were two past incidents when I was out of town that some skells started pounding on the door in the middle of the night. Both times my wife dialed 911 and then got her shotgun. The police were there in less than 5 minutes (silent response) with the skells still on the porch pounding away (we have a very heavy duty steel reinforced door and steel frame). Both skells were drunk and had rap sheets so they got a ride to the station. The next day the police called and told my wife she did the right thing and that they would keep an extra eye in the area while I was away. I follow the police and court records so I later saw that the skells were back in prison for parole violations.
Actually, a moat filled with rusty concertina/razor wire and piranha.
I don’t know her external lighting situation, but they’re far enough out from town that they could install enough lighting to make the place look like a stadium without drawing any complaints. It’s something like a 15- or 20-minute drive to her brother’s house in the nearest small town.
Oh, and any self-respecting moat should also have water moccasins.
“Off topic, but am I alone in seeing the hypocritical insanity of the first half-black president of the United States COMPLAINING about how racist the US is? In any rational world, this would be a front page story with mocking editorial cartoons in every paper.”
Not only that, but for decades now, black cops, sheriffs, mayors, governors, representatives, senators, Secretaries of State, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, countless generals and admirals, and yeah, President of the most powerful and wealthiest nation-state in the history of the world.
And TRILLIONS spent over half a century to help them, with not much in the way of positive results.
Yet this p.o.s. has the unmitigated gall to stand there and lecture us on how rayciss we are, as does most of the MSM and online Maoists like Salon, relentlessly harping on it.
Blowback is already kicking in, and it’s likely to kick in a lot harder; what’s tragic is that the people who’re gonna get hurt are the moderates and innocents on all sides. Pretty much what happens when our chickenhawk sons of bitches send our children to attack other places around the world; their innocents get whacked and so do our children, while the main players skate, like always.
All the lights will do is attract attention and provide the criminals with plenty of light to see by while they decide what to steal.
Light do have an advantage of letting YOU see the criminal, but that only matters if you are looking.
From personal experience, they don’t worry about the light. These are not safe- cracking- advance -planning movie style capers. They are crimes of opportunity, poor impulse control, and laziness. They know that motion activated lights do not mean someone is watching. He was not “scared away”. He might have been surprised, but he made a decision to leave THIS TIME. NEXT TIME, he’ll be prepared and might bring help.
Deny them the opportunity by keeping valuables out of sight.
Make it harder for them, and easier to decide to pass you by, with strong obvious physical security measures.
Lights are an especially bad idea if SHTF. You better have some other defense for those times anyway, so why not get it in place now?
One thing I know for certain about this case, a bad guy now knows that there is at least one gun worth stealing and a woman who spends time alone at that (apparently isolated) location. She has dramatically raised her risk for attack by revealing those two things. When he talks to his buddies, when he’s been drinking, or when he’s desperate enough, those facts will come to the forefront and BAD things will follow.
She has now dramatically advanced her timeline to get some protective measures in place.
nick
For some real insight into how criminals act and think, one of the best resources around is
http://www.nononsenseselfdefense.com/
the website of Marc “Animal” MacYoung. The site is distracting and difficult, but the content could save your life.
This is a personal endorsement. I grew up with criminals, had them for friends and roommates, and spent some time in “the life.” Even tho Marc is often quite offputting, everything he says matches with my personal experiences and explains a lot.
He’s partnered with Rory Miller on Rory’s latest book, and between them you will learn a lot about real life crime and criminals. It’s not what you think, unless you’ve already been a part of the life.
nick
@Nick: Why do you think she has raised her risk? Surely he’s also going to realize that this is a place he could get himself shot? It doesn’t much matter whether its a man or a woman pulling the trigger on a shotgun.
Not saying you’re wrong, it’s just counter to my intuition.
I agree about the lights. One of the big issue for amateur astronomers is light pollution, and there’s been at least one study done to correlate rates of break-ins with the presence or absence of street lighting. The one I remember found that street lighting actually increases the rate of break-ins at night because the lighting actually makes it harder to spot people lurking near houses. (When one area is lit and an adjoining area is not, the contrast makes it extremely difficult to see anything in the area that’s not lit.)
The intruder doesn’t know she’s alone, merely that there was at least one person there at that particular time, which after all was a weekend. As to presence of firearms, given the area where she lives I suspect just about every home has firearms.
Good points about the lights; I see them as a basic deterrent for the casual punk B&E cretins we have around here for the time being; we’re working on other structural defenses meanwhile for larger threats. I realize if SHTF bad enough, lights are virtually useless inside and out and tend to draw unwanted attention and potential fire. At that point, we’ll all be faced with more drastic measures.
@Brad
I also disagree with Nick, and I knew quite a few bad people when I was in my 20’s. Bad as in one-percenter bikers, major drug dealers, and so on.
In my experience, pro burglars will do anything they can to avoid the homeowners. That’s why most burglars work during the day. And they really, really want to avoid armed homeowners at all costs. They’re just normal people who happen to make a living stealing stuff. They’re no more prone to harm people than anyone else is.
That leaves the junkie burglars and the rapists/killers, who are very bad people. In my experience, they value their skins as much as anyone else does and they’ll prefer to go elsewhere rather than confront an armed homeowner. I mean, why take on someone you know is armed when you can go after someone else who may not be?
German Shepherds and Dobies both make excellent pets, are very intimidating to nearly anyone, particularly if there are two or three dogs, and the males are particularly protective of female masters.
A good inside dog alarm is a Pembroke Welsh Corgi. They will bark and bark if someone is outside. And they sound big. When we last moved, we spent 2 months in a “corporate” apartment while renovations were being done on our new house. Our daughter’s bedroom had a queen bed in it, and she wanted a twin. We made arrangements to have it swapped out, and crated our Corgi that day before leaving for work. When we got home, there was a note on the door from the apartment manager saying they couldn’t go in because of the “large, dangerous dog” they heard.
Of course, once they got in, the Corgi would have come over and demanded to be petted and make friends.
I suggested that a large male dog or two would do more to discourage intruders than spending tens of thousands of dollars on a fence.
How about a hand-raised female foursome of Velociraptors: Beta, Charlie, Blue, and Delta?
http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2015/06/12/the_best_female_character_in_jurassic_world_is_a_velociraptor.html
Great movie!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40HDULbpvDE
I also depend on George and Martha. For some reason, most people seem to be afraid of 7-foot rattlesnakes.
She told him that he was on private property and to clear out. He left without incident, but Jen said she was still shaken when she phoned her husband at his office and the sheriff, in that order.
Always call the sheriff or the cops for trespassers. Sometimes you are in a race. One of my neighbors looked out his back window and saw somebody in the backyard. So he accosted the man who claimed to be searching for his dog behind my neighbors unlocked fence gate. His wife called the sheriff (we are outside of the city of Sugar Land in the County).
A sheriff’s deputy showed up while my neighbor was in front getting the trash can. She pulled up, jumped out, pulled her weapon, and yelled at him to get down. She proceeded to handcuff him, laying on the ground. In his front yard!
Turned out that the intruder had called the sheriff first and accused him of pointing a gun at him. The intruder turned out to be the neighbor around the corner. My neighbor had his tv remote in his hands when he went out to accost the intruder in his backyard.
My neighbor’s wife happened to look outside and saw her husband laying on the ground with a deputy standing over him. She ran outside and got them to release him. My neighbor is really torqued and is thinking about filing charges against his neighbor and the officer.
@Brad, I think she’s raised her risk because she removed any doubt.
This guy likely has friends who can join him or act on his experience. He may complain about the b!tch that kept him from scoring, he may stew over being ‘bested’ by a woman until he feels he has to act, he may owe someone money and offer up information as a way to deflect that, he may obsess about her sexually, he may need a gun to commit another crime and now he knows where to get one. He knows she is alone because if there was a man present, the man would have been the one to confront him. He knows there isn’t a dog.
Maybe he’s got a personality that lets him just move on. But it’s been my experience (YMMV) that these guys can not just let well enough alone. Sooner or later he’ll be back and that time it won’t be a surprise, and he might bring friends (or the friends might bring him.) “Hey I know where we can get a gun, and there’s a real sweet piece of @ss there too. It’s out in the country with no one around, we can take all the time we want, and I’ll teach that b!tch not to f#ck with ME. She’s probably got all kinds of good stuff there, the place was lit up like a f#ckin’ walmart.” “F#ck yeah, let’s go. F#ck this sneakin’ around in the dark, let’s go where we KNOW we can get some.”
@RBT, those heavy guys you knew are pros. They have risen to management in their chosen profession, and while they may have been hands on to get there, they are smart enough to manage others and let others do the hands on stuff most of the time.
The pro burglars are the same, able to make choices and act rationally. The guys who last are the ones who view it as just a day at work. Based on our local news, the people involved in B&E are much more willing to commit violence than they used to be and the age of the old pro seems to be past.
The guys skulking around looking for something to steal or someone to rape are not the same guys running criminal organizations.
The changes brought on by widespread drug abuse and use over the last 30 years cannot be overstated. It is a different world with a different type of person committing the crimes. There has also been a shift in society with a significant part of the population now CELEBRATING taking, hurting, killing, and destroying, in their popular culture. In the ’80s the chainsaw scene in Scarface was horrifying and shocking in its brutality. Now it doesn’t even raise an eyebrow, and MOTHERS have committed more horrific atrocities on their own children.
The people committing these low level street crimes are not smart. They have very little self control. They are often chemically damaged pre-natally or post. They live in the moment and don’t plan ahead. They are familiar with violence and are quick to escalate to violence. They are not afraid of getting shot, going to jail, or being killed. It either ‘won’t happen to them’ or they don’t see it as a big deal.
For references, please read Rory and Mac. Read Chris Hernandez’s blog. Read some of the ER doctor blogs. (It may take some time, as these are internet rabbit holes to fall into.) These people do not think like we do, and risk and reward are completely different for them. Their actions, motivations and beliefs are not ours and they might not make sense to us, but they make sense when seen within THEIR frame of reference.
Thinking that he’s been scared off, or at all worried about a woman with a gun is projecting an awful lot of stuff onto him. I find it just as easy to flip that and say that now he knows what the risks are and at least two of the rewards, if he’s THAT sort of guy and not your kind. All she may have accomplished is making it PERSONAL for this guy.
that’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it.
nick
@Nick: fair enough, there are certainly all types out there. Including the ones who are just plain crazy, and there’s no predicting what they will do.
Sheriff’s deputy handcuffing a guy on his on property, um, why? I don’t see him successfully filing charges, but that is just weird. What happened to talking to the guy first? Yet another cop out ruining their collective reputation with ordinary citizens.
Anyhow, even if the guy had pointed a gun at the trespassing neighbor, that that’s not exactly illegal if someone is trespassing on your property. The neighbor could have had the courtesy and common sense to ring the bell and ask permission, before tramping around.
@Lynn,
that story could have had a very different ending. Holding anything in your hands when the cops are around is a BAD idea. Confronting anyone with just a tv remote is a BAD idea. Running toward a cop is a BAD idea.
You are right about the race. You want to be on record as being “the complainant” especially if an encounter involves a firearm in any way shape or form. Criminals often consider themselves to be the victim, and will use a complaint to get back at you.
I’m glad to hear that no one got hurt in the story.
nick
Woman cops are bad news. They operate in the red zone most of the time the uniform is on. Never, never, never confront one.
My neighbor had nothing but his robe and his rolling trash can when the cop put him down in his front yard. He left the tv remote in his house when he went out front to get the trash can.
When he accosted the intruder in his back yard, he ran outside and forgot to drop the remote. And, IMHO, he could have been carrying, and pointing the weapon, and no one say anything. It is an extreme violation to enter an enclosed area without permission of the owner.
@brad,
Having listened to many hours of sheriff’s office dispatch radio, the initial dispatch to the deputy was probably “man with a gun” and then a follow up with additional info if available. If the deputy was close by, there may not have been time for any more info to reach her or none may have been given.
Upon arriving on scene, she sees a man, in the yard, and ‘takes control of the situation.’ She has no way of knowing that it’s his property.
It’s pretty unlikely that they guy who did call said something like “while I was trespassing in my neighbor’s back yard, he pointed a gun at me” which is why it’s important to have your version of the encounter on the 911 tape. That would have alerted the dispatcher that more was going on here than a simple ‘man with a gun’ call. He still may have been mistaken for the trespasser, and it would have been better for him to be waiting on the porch or inside.
This is why sharing these stories is important. It IS a prep. You need to think about what you would do in this situation, so you can make good choices. There is something to be learned from any event.
nick
On a lighter note:
‘Do you know what Obama coffee is’? Outrage as wife of Israeli interior minister posts racist joke calling U.S. President ‘black and weak’. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3133909/Wife-Israeli-interior-minister-writes-racist-joke-Twitter-Barack-Obama-saying-black-weak.html
I thought the joke was funny, as it plays on the old joke “How do you like your coffee?” ” — Like my men, strong and black.” (usually told so the response is from a white woman.)
I completely fail to see the ‘racism.’ Unless it’s calling him ‘black’ when only one parent was black? To my mind it’s only mildly funny because it’s too close to the truth, he IS black and weak. He’s certainly not white and strong.
nick
Had a really weird situation happen Friday night when the number one son and I went down to Port Lavaca to spend the weekend with my dear sainted mother and my dad. We were leaving SL and decided to grab a burger at the River Park Whataburger at 99 and 59.
I am driving down 99 (a two lane divided highway) when a car pops out of the turnaround just ahead of me. I slam on the brakes (am going 40 mph) and manage to avoid hitting the moron who rolls to a stop perpendicular to me and the road. He is blocking both lanes of the highway! There is a woman in his passenger seat and they are both screaming at each and she is bouncing all over the place. Meanwhile, I am blowing my horn continuously while they are sitting there for well over a minute, screaming at each other. I can see them well because my headlights are about ten ft away from the passenger door. I cannot backup because there are now cars coming up behind me.
So, the moron finally turns his front wheels and backs way from the curb. They pull into the strip center and go forward. I pull in and turn into the Whataburger parking lot. I see them after I park, about a 100 ft away, swapping so that she is now driving and then she drives away. We stayed at my truck until we verified that they were driving away.
Freaky! I was getting ready to pull my gun out of the console when they finally moved on. I have never seen anyone get so upset that they could not drive. It was also crossing my mind that this could be a setup so I was watching the cars behind me in my mirrors.
I’d say that he’s a weak mutt, but that would probably be a micro-aggression.
Definitely a yellow to orange situation.
One other thing I forgot to mention about Jen’s situation with the trespasser in her yard; she saw the one guy and came out with the shotgun; what if he had a pal cutting around to the back door or a window? Again, I say, stay in the house with the doors locked and call the local constabulary; be ready with the shotgun or whatever until they finally show up. But please don’t hustle on out the door when they arrive still holding the shotgun.
For Mr. Lynn’s situation on the highway: don’t sit there blowing your horn at them. Get on the phone and call the huckleberries for this one, too; let them deal with it. But don’t get in a tight box like that and potentially provoke the bastards. Maybe they’ll boogie on outta the way before the cops get there; meanwhile get the ID info, the plates, etc. And sure, keep the firearm handy.
I believe my recommendations here are reinforced somewhat by Mr. nick’s descriptions of the contemporary criminal minds we have out here nowadays.
“Summer only officially began yesterday. Fire up your air conditioners, because I have a feeling this one’s going to be long and hot.”
I sincerely hope this guy is wrong; but it sure plays right into the hands of the elites who would love to see us all at dagger points and who have sure done their best to foment tension and confrontations:
http://takimag.com/article/a_racial_fort_sumter_jim_goad
What scares me about that article is that, from the excerpts, this murderous punk writes much better than I would have expected. In fact, he writes better than probably the average college graduate.
So, he seems convinced that black people are the enemy, when in fact it’s government that’s the enemy. Government and their underclass dupes.
Trifoliate Orange is very susceptible to Citrus Blight, and if you live in a state like Florida, with a very active isolation and plant eradication program, years of carefully attending a hedge could be for naught if the Ag department finds Blight nearby.
Florida also has a lot of pea-brained transplants who believe that St. Augustine lawns are their God-given right. In addition to the water consumption issues with this kind of grass, the fertilizers used to knock back the weeds contain intense amounts of Atrazine, and this chemical will cause problems in plants/trees next to sodded areas. Make sure that you and the neighbors are on the same sanity page before embarking on a hedge project anywere that St. Augustine grass is the dominant sod type.
“In fact, he writes better than probably the average college graduate.”
I noticed that, too, but he mentions doing a lot of reading, much of it in history of one kind or another, and that, if he’s been doing it most of his life, lends itself to a decent level of writing ability. Also, he had a lot of truth nuggets in there, but the rest of it and him was haywire; he’s also a bit eerie as regards his resemblance to the kid in CT and some of the others recently. I’d be interested if he ever got any kind of psychiatric treatment and the medications he’s been on.
“So, he seems convinced that black people are the enemy, when in fact it’s government that’s the enemy. Government and their underclass dupes.”
There it is. And the truly scary thing here is that millions on both sides think the other is the Enemy. Tailor-made for another civil war, thanks to decades of manipulation.
Hoo, boy. I hope you’re wrong, but if you’re not I know which side I’d bet on to mop the floor with the other.
He’s half-white, so cafe au gay? Cafe au bray? Cafe betray?
I don’t think that the USA is going to have a civil war anytime soon. But, which side would have the USA troops with them?
“…I know which side I’d bet on to mop the floor with the other.”
Oh sure, but there would be a ton of pain and suffering during that mess and thereafter, and I would bet on mostly innocents being caught up in it and not the worst perps on either side. This sucks for the moderate working-class and non-violent folks in the cities; they can’t get out and they’re likely to be trapped in the middle.
“He’s half-white…”
We know where that half comes from, the radical commie mom. But where did the other half orginate?
This guy?
http://www.wnd.com/2012/04/film-presidents-father-not-barack-obama/
“…But, which side would have the USA troops with them?”
Now that’s a darn good question, Mr. Lynn.
About the list of shooters and the drugs they were on. I can’t find a definite source debunking all of it, but I can’t find a documented source for the data also. The origin appears to be a Scientology front website, with some embellishment by the anti-vaxxers. Take it with a grain of salt.
“Take it with a grain of salt.”
Agreed, but there are certainly enough common characteristics to warrant a closer look.
Now, like this kid in Boston, and the one out in Colorado, he’s in the hands of the authorities, who’ve not demonstrated to my satisfaction yet that they’re in the habit of telling the truth, sorta like those Scientologists.
After putting down a coil of concertina, of course.
Someone coming onto your property and cutting them self and you will be on the hook for several thousands of dollars, arrest and a civil lawsuit. Laying a booby trap for any reason is frowned upon by the courts, even on your own property. It does not matter about your intention or the intention of the intruder. You can shoot them, but you cannot lay a booby trap as that is considered premeditated intention to harm.
“…But, which side would have the USA troops with them?”
well, they will be either with the Queen or on the other side, with the North or the South with the Blacks or the Whites… One thing is quite a certain bet: they will split in two sides.
Barbed wire does not constitute a booby trap.
“Laying a booby trap for any reason is frowned upon by the courts, even on your own property.”
That’s right, because we of course have the costumed government thugs to protect us at all times. Why would we need booby traps? Or wire? Or guns?
You may rely on the State, citizen, now move along.
“…But, which side would have the USA troops with them?”
well, they will be either with the Queen or on the other side, with the North or the South with the Blacks or the Whites… One thing is quite a certain bet: they will split in two sides.
I think that in event of a guerrilla war in the form of a civil war, most of the troops will assault the base armories and take their weapons home. That home will be the spouse or the parents. The remaining troops will lock the base gates and ignore most upper commander phone calls to mobilize in the hope that things will blow over. Very few of them will take the field.
Barbed wire does not constitute a booby trap.
Tell the liberal judge and the schister lawyer that when you are standing on left side of a court room. Any time of fence that is intended to cut is generally not allowed without a variance from the city in residential areas of any city. Check the code before getting too ambitious in your defense perimeter.
Barbed wire is no more designed to cut than chain-link fence is. It’s designed to puncture. In no way does it constitute a booby trap. A trap does something physical when it’s triggered, like snap shut, fire a gun, etc. A fence just sits there.
Besides which, I can promise you without even looking that Jefferson will have no restrictions on barbed wire. We may end up buying a house that has cows in an adjoining field.
I have barbed wire on two sides of my office property. I’m not sure if I own it or the neighbors own it.
We’ll need barbed wire, too, if I can convince Barbara to keep chickens.
IIRC the ‘no booby traps’ came from our [petty criminal] ancestors’ hatred of British game wardens and their attempts to maim and murder poachers.
It also denies the victim his right to a trial by jury before being punished for his crime.
I haven’t seen a home in a residential area with barbed wire, or razor wire, although I see those on businesses located in and around residential areas. There are a great many laws about fences in most areas, and it wouldn’t surprise me if there were local, regional, or state wide restrictions on barbed wire. A local contractor has this to say
In unincorporated areas you probably don’t have any problem other than spousal…
nick
Speaking of chickens, that is a prep my wife has voiced her support for, but our CC&Rs prohibit livestock. That said, someone in our neighborhood has not just chickens but roosters, based on what I could hear in my front yard today.
nick
Who knew? Here are the barb wire rules for Houston, a city that famously does not have zoning rules, and only has FOUR regulations for fences.
I’d guess everywhere else would be MORE restrictive. (and would not consider concertina wire in a hedge to be a legal fence, or anything other than a liability.)
It’s a neat thought but if the hedge is so great, why the desire to add the wire?
nick
(or are we all taking your comment to literally?)
We’ll need barbed wire, too, if I can convince Barbara to keep chickens.
The number one problem with chickens is snakes. One of my wife’s cousins outside Breckenridge, TX keeps Guinea Fowl hens since they can eat rattlesnakes. They do hide their eggs though.
http://www.motherearthnews.com/homesteading-and-livestock/raising-guinea-fowl-zmaz92aszshe.aspx
“The number one problem with chickens is snakes.”
Up here it would be other birds, foxes, and coyotes.
“…someone in our neighborhood has not just chickens but roosters, based on what I could hear in my front yard today.”
That might generate a noise complaint from somebody eventually. Peeps in this area keep chickens but no one in this particular ‘hood so far as I know. Might look into it later.
I doubt barbed wire would be allowed here on this property; too small and too close to kids and pets and pedestrians. This is a lakeside village, not a farm or ranch.
I still would like to connect in some way with the nearest farmers who have farmland closest to this village, though; it may become critical at some point. Big cornfields just a quarter-mile up the road. And cows.
I’m not planning to install a fence. I may just store my concertina wire along the perimeter of the property. A fence, by definition, must have permanent supports.