The step after developing a home-defense plan is testing that plan to determine if everyone understands assigned duties and will react in the proper manner. In fact, to truly test your defenses, multiple tests should be conducted, but the most illuminating is the one held in the middle of the night.
That is when you will discover any deficiencies and where extra discussion and planning is required. The problem is creating a test that tests everyone, as one person always knows. The other night I discovered how to conduct that drill, though I’m not sure I would recommend this method.
A little after midnight, my security alarm activated, awakening the entire family with a piercing siren. Within seconds I was pulling my home gun from my small safe and checking the monitor to find out that the front door had been breached. From there it was a two-person sprint as my wife headed for the kid’s room while I took up a post at the top of the stairs.
Once the family was safely in the bedroom, I determined the front door was open with light streaming through and revealing nothing. I ended up searching the house and determining that either the front door lock was picked and the alarm scared off the burglar, or I forgot to lock the front door and the wind blew it open. I’m leaning toward the wind theory.
This mistake of mine did reveal that my home-defense plan worked and I couldn’t be prouder of my wife and daughter who both showed a lot of courage in an unknown situation.
