5 Tips to Survive the Night!

You wake up startled in the middle of the pitch black night to the sound of shattering glass and a small thump breaking the stillness of your home. Through a haze of sleep you hear the faint thud of boots on your hardwood floors down stairs drawing your attention and sending a chill down your spine. Your adrenaline surges and your heart starts to slam against your chest as panicked thoughts fill your mind. Quickly you shake your partner next to you to get them awake as your mind hurriedly races through what to do next. What do you do?

 

There are an estimated 850,000 to 1.6 million attempted or successful home invasions and/or burglaries in the US in 2023. When facing home invaders, the situation’s chaotic and unpredictable—your survival hinges on split-second choices. Here are five things that to help you survive if someone breaks into your home:

Tip 1: Wake up aware! If you’re jolted out of sleep by a crash or footsteps, don’t brush it off as the cat. Your brain’s foggy, but you’ve got to push through that and go from sleep to fight or flight mode in second. Sit up, listen—hard. Is it one voice or three? One or multiple people walking? Was that a creek on that one step on the stairs? Get your bearings—where’s the noise coming from? Downstairs? The back door? Knowing that tells you where they are and where you need to be. Don’t yell out ‘Who’s there?’ Silence is your first shield. Second is you know the layout of your home better the intruders do. Stats say most break-ins happen between midnight and 4 a.m., so if you’re awake now, assume it’s real until proven otherwise. Awareness isn’t paranoia; it’s your edge. Don’t lay in bed and continue to listen. 

Tip 2: Don’t be a target! Follow your plan… don’t have one then that is tip 6, have a plan for emergencies in the home to include fire, home invasion, etc and share it with everyone you live with. Back to Tip 2, You’ve got maybe 30 seconds before they figure out the general layout of the home. Confronting them head-on sounds brave, but if they’re armed and your outnumbered, it’s a losing bet unless you absolutely have to. Hide, wait, watch, and fight if you must. Get low, get quiet, and move to the safest place like a barricaded bedroom, closet, bathroom, but don’t trap yourself and leave an exit if possible. If you’ve got kids, train them to hit a designated spot—like behind toys in their closet, stay silent, and don’t come out except for your voice. Noise is your enemy—step soft, avoid creaky boards. FBI data says 60% of burglars want in and out fast; if they don’t see you, they might not search. 

Tip 3: Prep your castle ahead of time! Surviving starts before the glass breaks. Lock your doors—deadbolts, not just knobs and windows too.  Keep a phone charged by your bed; 911’s your lifeline, even on silent mode. Have a weapon—baseball bat, kitchen knife, firearm, bear or pepper spray—within arm’s reach. I recommend a 5.56 or 300 blackout AR pistol, pistol caliber carbine, or shotgun if at all possible. Ahead of time, walk the house thinking through the scenario and think about firing lines, bullet passthroughs into neighbors or kids rooms, and how you can get from your room to the kids.  Reinforce your bedroom door—a $20 door jammer bar can buy you minutes. Point is, you don’t need a fortress, but do what you can ahead of time to slow them down and make it harder to get to you and your family. Most invaders aren’t pros; they’re opportunists so make your place a hassle and as unfriendly as possible.

Tip 4: Fight only if you must to defend you and your family! Assume they’re armed; 30% are, per crime stats. If you’ve got a bat, crowbar, or similar strike using short fast movements, weapon between you, and on balance, NO homerun swings. If it’s a gun, know your state’s laws on self-defense and castle doctrine. Aim for center of mass and one shot to the chest might end it; miss, and you and your family are toast. None of us EVER want to be in this situation or have to unalive someone, but you didn’t ask for this and you and your family are at stake. Real story: woman in Georgia last year fired a warning shot from her 9mm—guy ran, didn’t look back. Do not actively seek them out—fighting’s last resort, not first choice. Get to a position you can protect your family and hold up. Remember, survival is your goal, not winning a gunfight.

Tip 5: Escape if you must! Know your house blind—back door, basement window, even a second-story drop if it’s not a neck-breaker. If you’re upstairs and they’re down, crack the window now—quietly—and listen. No voices? Maybe exiting the house now is perfect. The highest value rooms to robbers are the master bedroom, living room, kitchen, home office. Consider these likely targets in your plans. If you decide to run, slip out, stay low, hit the neighbor’s or a dark corner to call for or wait on the cops. Don’t grab your wallet or shoes—stuff’s replaceable, you’re not. Real case: family in Ohio climbed out a kid’s window during a 2022 break-in, hid in the shed—cops nabbed the guy 10 minutes later. 

 

A couple gotchas to consider… How do you keep a loaded firearm by your bed, quickly accessible, but also safe if you have kids or laws require it? If your bedroom is on the other side of the main floor from your kids rooms requiring to go through the likeliest robbery targets… how do you get there without confronting the intruders? We have a lot we have to consider, but think through it now and make a plan!

 

Anyway, these are your five tips to survive a home invasion. A home invasion is chaos, but these steps stack the deck in your favor. You’re not invincible, but you’re not helpless. Test this—walk your house tonight, spot your weak points, stash a weapon, and make a plan. Next time you hear a bump at 3 a.m., you’ll know what to do.