A group of young men were seen in my neighborhood on at least three days last week. They were walking up to houses and knocking on the front doors. On the first day, if the homeowners answered, they would ask them a series of (in my opinion) intrusive questions, like how many people lived there, how much they made, how much they paid for the house, those sorts of thing. The second time they were seen, they were acting like they were selling solar systems, and when they came by yesterday, the same guys were selling home improvement supplies. Each time, the cops were called, but twice the guys were gone when the cops got here, and once the cops talked to them but they left- only to return the next day.
I was at work for the third day, and I told my wife not to open the door, and to tell them through the video doorbell that they were trespassing. She knows how to shoot, and I told her to then call the cops, and if the person tried to enter the house, to defend herself.
This is sketchy as hell. A bunch of us talk, and we have pictures of the three men involved, pictures of the two vehicles they were seen driving, and pictures of license plates. I will be keeping an eye out for those guys. Our neighbor’s husband works during weekdays, so I will keep watch over the house and wife while he is off at work.
I also pulled an outside the pants holster and mag holder out of the closet and will be wearing a larger firearm than my usual EDC whilst I am home. I will be open carrying an M&P 45, loaded with a 10 round mag filled with Speer Gold Dot G2 230grain +P hollow points while I am home (I got a great deal on a case of the GDHP last year from Lucky Gunner). Add a couple of spare mags to my belt, and I have 30 rounds of “you aren’t robbing MY fucking house without sustaining a sucking chest wound, asshole.”
Also available are shotguns, rifles, and other assorted mayhem should they give me a couple of seconds to get all of my shit in one sock.
I will keep an increased security lookout for the next few days.
Side note: The Speer G2 is a good looking load. 230 grains moving at 950 feet per second gives you 461 foot pounds of energy at close range. Expansion looks good. Check it out.
16 Comments
It's just Boris · June 2, 2024 at 6:32 am
I’m curious as to what you use as a training load equivalent?
Tree Mike · June 2, 2024 at 6:48 am
Good thinking. It wouldn’t hurt to have a Glock 19-26 ish type pistol concealed appendix ish.
Boneman · June 2, 2024 at 7:01 am
That IS sketchy as hell. Keep us posted. I’m down in N. Ft. Myers and I’ve not heard nor seen this sort of thing YET.
I _suppose_ some times there may be advantages to the gated HOA’s…
Michael · June 2, 2024 at 7:23 am
https://sondraksgulch.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/pback-lax-justice-death-penalty.jpg
Seems in the nature of real life lately.
Have you made realistic plans for the “temporary” removal of your firearms after a “Good Shoot”?
I’m aware locally of a second visit after the police disarmed the family in the past year and we’re very rural.
I hope you wife understand well what to say and not to say if she’s getting a Police visitor.
There are beer drinking friends and Real Friends.
Dick Tickles · June 2, 2024 at 7:30 am
There’s been a definite increase in door to door sales scams going on, the solar panel one is big, another one is electricity rate reduction.
I haven’t heard of anyone getting burglarized, so I think they’re trying to look legit and get people to pay upfront (in cash obviously) for some future contract work to be done installing stuff, which they’re obviously never going to do.
But, if they get desperate enough they may try a strongarm robbery, so definitely best to leave the micro .380 at home. IDK if I’d go to a full size .45 tho, a single stack 9mm is very svelte, easy to carry, and similar capacity. A subcompact .40 a bit thicker, but smaller than the .45 and similar power/effect.
Elrod · June 2, 2024 at 7:54 am
Open carry is legal in Florida on your own property. But wear a light cover garment anyway; they don’t need to know until it’s time for them to know, and you’re still “legal” if you step into the street.
Don’t know what county you’re in (I can guess…) but most counties in FL require Solicitor’s Licenses for selling door-to-door. If they’re legit they’ll have the license, if not, the local gendarmes can cite them (assuming you can get any of the Boys/Girls in Green interested enough).
nones · June 2, 2024 at 8:31 am
I life in a Florida east coast town. I occasionally get someone soliciting for a solar system, no business card, no brochure, they look like they just came off the beach in their manner of dress. I really need to get a video doorbell. Next time I will at least try to get a picture of them before I tell them to fuck off. Then call police.
D · June 2, 2024 at 11:04 am
Seems like a good plan all the way around.
Every few months I have the same debate with my wife:
You have never trained with your weapon.
Your weapon is a piece of crap–a tiny 380 with 5 rounds (plus one in the chamber).
Stop thinking you’re going to pull a magic gun out of your purse any everything’s going to be fine.
I was out yesterday with my EDC (Springfield XD 9) and was hitting a small moving metal plate at about 25 yards about 4/5ths of the time. Definitely not setting any records, but probably better than the average person who carries. With my 6mm and 7mm, I can bullseye it every time from ~100 yards (the longest cleared distance on my property).
Some day I need to go out to a range that has longer distances. I’d love to try longer shots. But then again, there really isn’t much property around here that has cleared areas. It’s mostly wooded.
Grumpy51 · June 2, 2024 at 1:11 pm
In the age of electronic surveillance, a friend’s MO is NEVER open the door unless they KNOW who you are. Salespeople can leave literature.
They also have redundancy on their systems, that are totally different from each other. And yes, their surveillance is multi-angle.
No Room For Yankee · June 2, 2024 at 7:30 pm
I can get off about 70 rounds before needing a reload with all the belt rigs.
Only four are 20 rounders though.
Burn it all down?
Your terms are acceptable, comrade.
Wild, wild west · June 3, 2024 at 7:06 am
Thomas Sowell, who as a young un’ taught pistol marksmanship in His Beloved Corps, once wrote that the first rule of pistol marksmanship is to shoot until it looks safe to stop.
Skeptic · June 3, 2024 at 10:46 am
I notice you didn’t give a description of the young men. The door-to-door sales scam is a favorite tactic of the diverse. I see it from time to time.
A couple of years ago, I’d been dating this woman who lives in a small town about an hour and a half from me. I was at her place and at about 6:30 a Negro rang her doorbell. She answered it (I was in the kitchen), and when I walked up behind her, he was laying his rap on her about saving big money on her Internet. She was not very flush financially, so she was tuning in, but it was obvious to me what was going on. I asked him for a brochure or a card, and (shockingly) he didn’t have any on him. I said that we weren’t interested and asked him to leave, and then I shut and locked the door, bolting it.
My new girlfriend looked at me and said, “Did you do that because he was black?” I said that, yes, that was part of it but not all of it. Anyone going door to door wasn’t up to any good. Well, I could tell that she was bothered by my ‘racism.’ But, we ate dinner and had just sat down on the couch an hour later when we heard sirens coming down her street. They stopped at a house three houses down from hers. We went out to see what was going on, and the cops were hauling the Negro out of the house and handcuffing him. He was in full Nignog “I didn’t do nuffin” mode. At that point, the ambulance pulled up, EMT’s went in, and in about ten minutes, her 35 year old single mom neighbor was brought out on a gurney, bloody and moaning and crying from her injuries. Turns out that her next door neighbor had heard screaming and called the cops. The negro had beaten and violently raped her. She was in the hospital for a week, I later found out.
Well, my date was crying and we went back to her house. I looked at her and said, “If I wasn’t here and so ‘racist’, that’s you on that gurney. Best case scenario. Of course, he might have killed her if the neighbor hadn’t heard what was going on and called the cops.” Her jaw dropped and she said, “You aren’t saying that your racism is a good thing, are you?” I grabbed my bag, told her it had been fun but it was over, and went home.
IcyReaper · June 3, 2024 at 1:36 pm
What did the cops says about their interview especially since they returned, did you try to get the Blue barrier to come out again?
Were they canadians or a south american variety? That sounds like a central america style group tactic.
Divemedic · June 3, 2024 at 2:10 pm
One white, one Hispanic. The cops made them leave the area because they didn’t have a solicitation permit.
I have been sitting here awaiting their return, but nothing.
I spoke with some people in the area, and the guys tried entering a couple of houses by asking to use the restroom, and in at least one case they told the female homeowner that they worked for the electric company and got her to give up her phone number.
Skeptic · June 3, 2024 at 5:46 pm
I’m honestly surprised that one was White. Still, they are absolutely up to no good. Best case scenario, they are casing the places for theft. But it could be worse.
IcyReaper · June 4, 2024 at 12:41 pm
FYI, these groups tend to also leave surveillance cams around when casing home..
https://ktla.com/news/local-news/hidden-cameras-found-surveilling-more-southern-california-homes-sparks-worry/
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