If you have a home or an apartment, you will need to protect it. The most significant difference between the first Great Depression and the economic chastisement we might be about to enter will be the potential for organized violence.

Whether you agree with me or not, I believe that our culture, so filled with violent television programming, blood and guts movies, and even children’s “entertainment” in the form of chilling video games has created a generation that has become numbed to human decency. Even before the crisis is upon us, the news is filled with stories about home invasions that are too numerous for comfort. It will get worse when the numbers of criminals and people who are just desperate swell to the uncountable, and there will be the additional element of blood lust.

You will have to decide how you are going to handle it. 

Be aware that you probably won’t be getting much support from the local police. They’ll have their hands full. And I wouldn’t rely on those popular alarm services either. If there’s a power failure or all out rioting in the streets, no one is going to show up.  Even people in posh gated communities with guards shouldn’t rest too easy. Guards can be easily overwhelmed, and they don’t make a lot of money and may join in the looting themselves.

Some people will recommend that you install steel doors, pull down shutters and even bars on your windows. I’ve even heard recommendations that you line your interior walls with steel to make your home bullet proof. If that’s what you want to do, fine. But turning your home into a steel encased fortress makes it a target. People figure you have something awfully good inside besides human life. If they can’t tear down the shutters (And believe me, they can. I’ve seen it happen during a blackout in Brooklyn) your home will be set on fire. And all that nice steel encasing means that you’ll be trapped inside.

One blogger even suggested that there will be roving gangs with high tech cameras that can see inside your home. He had this method to stop them: 

”Paper the walls against the outside of your home with mylar, then put the steel plates over them and paint them, then put aquariums along those walls. This will block most of the invasive cameras so potential home invaders can’t see into your home.”

Um, I don’t think so.

Arm yourself with the rosary. Gather together and pray it each day. Encircle your home with blessed salt and sprinkle holy water throughout the house. Place a St. Benedict medal over each door and window. Don’t do any of this with a superstitious attitude, but in complete faith.

Practically speaking, you may want to borrow an idea from my father who loved gardening. As the parent of four attractive daughters who balked at their very strict curfews, he planted an abundance of very thorny rose and quince bushes under our windows.  Discrete, but they did the job.

Make sure you have fire extinguishers, sand, and hoses on hand in the event of arson and riots. If something burning lands on your roof, toss up a hose with a sprinkler attached to it. The fire fighters will be too busy to show up if there is chaos in the streets.

If you are going to make some attempt at barricading your home, perhaps with plywood, do it behind interior curtains to make your home look as “normal” as possible.

In the event that someone does gain entry or if you are threatened, first PRAY. We have heard more than one story of individuals who somehow became “invisible” to intruders by the power of prayer. Allow the Holy Spirit to guide you completely. You may need to hit someone with a shovel or bat or whatever is on hand. You might want to keep a bucket of rocks or bricks handy to hurl from the windows, or down the stairs. I hope not.

If you choose to keep firearms in the house, make sure everyone knows how to use them and keep them away from small children. Certainly no one wants to take another’s life, but often just hearing the unmistakable ka-chunk of a shotgun being readied can be enough to change the mind of a would be burglar. And sometimes, a little “posturing” doesn’t hurt either. 

A few years ago a few young thugs were visiting the house across the street for the summer. As the weeks went by, the tension was palpable and I sensed that soon the loud and unpleasant comments were about to cross the line into outright threats. The mounting pressure-cooker atmosphere evaporated promptly when I decided to clean my shotguns, seated in the rocking chair on my front porch one summer evening. Just like that. I’ve heard similar stories from the women in my Shot Gunning for Home Defense Class.

A good friend, Belinda, who lives in Louisiana, is the Queen of Posturing. No one bothers that “crazy woman” with the big dogs and bigger guns.

Like Belinda, I am certain that I could never shoot another human being.  And also like Belinda, I am pretty darn good at posturing, so I guess that takes care of 95% of it.

Copyright 2008 Christine Hirschfeld Catholic Home and Garden All Rights Reserved