Are you concerned about you and your family's safety?

[Floyd Fisher]

This is why guns are legal in America. Get you some.

[Bruce4573]

Hi I have not thought much of this living this far north but I am kind of careful about things and worry more about someone hijacking my profits. I do not have home defense weapons but my seven mm did a three shot group at a thousand under six inches. I also killed a bull moose at over five hundred. I guess at the door its the first guy and whoever is the unlucky next two. O and I sell reloading equipment with Sinclair International so I have to know. But an ounce of caution is the best defense.

[discrat]

Im sorry but IMO only an idiot would put their actual physical address where they live on Autoresponder, Landng Page etc..etc...

[Dennis Gaskill]

Originally Posted by CDarklock

The best burglar deterrent on the planet is the POW/MIA flag, because it means you probably own a lot of guns and are almost certainly crazy. Hang the American flag on one side of the door, and the POW/MIA flag on the other... burglars just look at your house and go "yeah, I don't think so."

Doesn't matter whether you're home or not, either, because these are the kind of people who set traps...

I know a few guys in that group. Most are well adjusted, but one guy is definitely scary. Not someone to mess with, for sure.

Originally Posted by Daniel Brock

I watch that show too.

That's a pretty sad story.

Did they catch the bastard?

Makes me not want to do business online.

Yeah, he was caught and convicted. That kind of stuff is pretty rare, I'd guess. You can't live your life in fear. Take reasonable precautions, of course, but live your life confidently. As I recall, the guy was furious about having a lower quality CB substituted for the one he ordered. If the kid would have given him his money back it probably would never have happened.

[FrankBowman]

Originally Posted by Dennis Gaskill

I forget where I read this, but ya know how some people put a "Protected by Smith and Wesson" sticker on the storm door of their home to intimidate people? I don't know if this is true, but I read that sticker just tells criminals which house to target for a burglary when you're not home.

Advertising some types of information may not be the best thing to do.

The best bumper sticker I ever saw was........

"Insured by Mafia Mutual......You hit us .........We HIT you!"

[Kay King]

I have a gun and a pit bull.

Of course, the gun is probably buried under about 10 books and the pit bull would lick the person to pieces.

I'm toast.

[binjai15]

I'm afraid of fraud through emails...

[BIG Mike]

I use my office address, but it wouldn't matter - Google Street View is still banned in Greece. I'm not too concerned about anyone stopping by though...as long as they bring a six-pack.

Brick and mortar businesses have it a lot worse than we do online - if they start getting harrassed by someone, they can't exactly block them (as on Skype) or ignore them (as in forums) and report them for spam (email). They can't just pack up and move easily like we can.

Honestly, I don't think the risk is any greater than owning a business offline...and it's probably far less.

[entrepreneurjay]

Thats a good point maybe I should switch mine too you never know it could be Jeffrey Dahmers cousin carrying on the name lol. Im not worried about it nothing really private anymore anyways especially in the digital age!

[discrat]

Originally Posted by Daniel Brock

Scenario:

Crazy dude cases your house for 2 weeks and studies your habits to find out when you are watching TV in your living room.

Crazy dude enlists 2 other crazy guys. All three have guns.

Crazy dudes rush your front door, bust it down and rush you.

Even if you have your gun in a holster all day long, it wouldn't take much to get the jump on someone with 3 people and 2 weeks worth of stalking.

Hell they could wait for you to go take a shower.

This is exactly why in my family we have NOTHING to do with Guns.

The fact of the matter is you are more likely to have an 'in-family accident' (especially with curious children) than an incident where you shoot the bad guys to save your family.

Just do your homework and read the Stats on it !

IMO its not worth the Risk !!

Anyway, please please dont get me on this Rant about Guns and why you dont need them. This East Tennessee Redneck dont want to spend an hour putting some of you Gun lovers to shame !!

[MichaelHiles]

Originally Posted by Daniel Brock

Scenario:

Crazy dude cases your house for 2 weeks and studies your habits to find out when you are watching TV in your living room.

Crazy dude enlists 2 other crazy guys. All three have guns.

Crazy dudes rush your front door, bust it down and rush you.

Even if you have your gun in a holster all day long, it wouldn't take much to get the jump on someone with 3 people and 2 weeks worth of stalking.

Hell they could wait for you to go take a shower.

The thing about security is that you cannot totally eliminate all threats 100%. The moment you believe that you're totally secure, you're at your most vulnerable point. You aim to eliminate as many as possible with reasonable precaution, covering the broadest range of possibilities with a reasonably balanced effort and budget.

It would be the most extreme, slim chance scenario that someone would have the committed motivation to act upon the impulse to stalk and kill a target after two weeks of recon. That's not a random criminal act, and one that even the Secret Service would have difficulty in protecting against. A truly "crazy dude" wouldn't have the focus to sustain that kind of hunting effort. A team of operatives would - and that's a different league. In that case, you're done no matter what you do.

The more likely profile of scenario that you've posed for home invasion would be robbery.

A robbery perpetrator isn't very likely to drive past 50,000 other potential targets an hour out of the city, down a random road in the middle of a 12,000 acre forest, ignoring the "Beware of Dog" signs and sounds of barking (because they WILL be heard by the dogs), to crash through steel doors to find me sleeping.

When the dogs alert, I'm already waiting for you.

(TAKEAWAY: A good dog is one of the best things you can have for security. It will eliminate the element of surprise in almost all cases.)

Originally Posted by discrat

This is exactly why in my family we have NOTHING to do with Guns.

The fact of the matter is you are more likely to have an 'in-family accident' (especially with curious children) than an incident where you shoot the bad guys to save your family.

Just do your homework and read the Stats on it !

IMO its not worth the Risk !!

Anyway, please please dont get me on this Rant about Guns and why you dont need them. This East Tennessee Redneck dont want to spend an hour putting some of you Gun lovers to shame !!

You also don't have a sign out in your front yard that says "We're an unarmed house, please take whatever you want."

You rely upon the possibility that you DO have guns in your house as a potential deterrent. It's the random chance that you might have guns that already plays a factor in a potential criminal's mind when weighing the risks. That being the case, you can go thank your armed neighbors for providing you with that protection.

And since you threw out the challenge, I'd be happy to discuss this with you. I've spent many years debating the issue as a moderator for the largest firearms forum on the internet and haven't lost one yet.

It's well documented that every state that has passed a concealed carry law has experienced a drop in violent crime rates. In places where firearm ownership and legal concealed carry has been compromised, the reverse has happened - violent crime has increased. Chicago, DC, and the entire UK are evidence to this.

John Lott and David Mustard, in connection with the University of Chicago Law School, examining crime statistics from 1977 to 1992 for all U.S. counties, concluded that the thirty-one states allowing their residents to carry concealed, had significant reductions in violent crime. Lott writes, "Our most conservative estimates show that by adopting shall-issue laws, states reduced murders by 8.5%, rapes by 5%, aggravated assaults by 7% and robbery by 3%. If those states that did not permit concealed handguns in 1992 had permitted them back then, citizens might have been spared approximately 1,570 murders, 4,177 rapes, 60,000 aggravated assaults and 12,000 robberies. To put it even more simply criminals, we found, respond rationally to deterrence threats... While support for strict gun-control laws usually has been strongest in large cities, where crime rates are highest, that's precisely where right-to-carry laws have produced the largest drops in violent crimes." http://www.guncite.com/lott.pdf

Dr. Gary Kleck, criminologist at Florida State University in Tallahassee states that 2,000,000 crimes are stopped by guns each year. Other studies, including one by the Department of Justice, concludes that 800,000-2,500,000 crimes are averted per year from DGU (defensive gun use).

GunCite-Gun Control-How Often Are Guns Used in Self-Defense?

http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles/165476.pdf

In 2006 the CDC reports 642 deaths for firearm related accidents. This is contrasted with 2,704 deaths in residential house fires, 3,579 accidental drownings and 27,531 poisonings.

The fact remains that your family is at greater risk of your backyard pool than a firearm in the home. Look it up at the CDC site...
Injury Mortality Reports

I've done my homework for years, and I have provided you with the stats and the sources that refute your claim that you're more likely to have an "in-family incident than shoot the badguys to save your family". In fact, the statistics overwhelmingly demonstrate that your family is exponentially at more risk for not owning a firearm.

This is why the gun control lobby has, and continues to fail miserably. The statistics do not support their emotional claims.

[WD Mino]

Some trust in horses, some in chariots but I trust in the name of the Lord my God.
all you do is put up a big sign that says property protected by the blood of Christ

Of course if someone actually did break into my house when I am at home well then they would have the opportunity to meet God before I do

-WD

[MichaelHiles]

Originally Posted by WD Mino

Some trust in horses, some in chariots but I trust in the name of the Lord my God.
all you do is put up a big sign that says property protected by the blood of Christ

Of course if someone actually did break into my house when I am at home well then they would have the opportunity to meet God before I do

-WD

We've debated many times on the gun forum, What Would Jesus Carry?

[Ryan700]

Originally Posted by discrat

Im sorry but IMO only an idiot would put their actual physical address where they live on Autoresponder, Landng Page etc..etc...

IMO there are some IM'ers that aren't idiots that do publish addresses that can be found on Google Street view.

[Traffic-Bug]

Yes I have heard discussions about this also. My stand is not to worry about the physical address that appears in the autoresponder emails, but if it makes you sleep better, why not go for a PO box address... But I woould say it is a matter of personal preference.

[Lance K]

Originally Posted by discrat

Anyway, please please dont get me on this Rant about Guns and why you dont need them. This East Tennessee Redneck dont want to spend an hour putting some of you Gun lovers to shame !!

I think it may take more than an hour to shame those living in accordance with the Bill of Rights.

[shaunjamie2005]

I haven't yet entered the world of email marketing. I still work my 9-5 job as a customer service rep for an insurance company. I will say that every week I speak to at least a handfull of creeps. I have worked for a handfull of customer service jobs over the years and have had people threaten to come to our business and do stuff b/c they were unhappy with the littlest things.

People are crazy when they are unhappy. I would probably go to the length of getting a whole other phone number to list in my emails. I am trying to get away from talking to crazy people on the phone so I don't want people calling me AT ALL. I know people may not call all that much. If they want to reach me they can email me.

Maybe it is bad customer service on my part to not want people calling me, but unless you have ever had a call center job where you talk on the phone to psycho people cursing you out then you would understand why I would rather communicate via email.

[Louise Green]

I employ a private security firm to protect me, my family and our home.

It probably isn't needed but better safe than sorry as they say.

[pavionjsl]

Being from WV , now living in Pa. Home security has never been a problem.

[Steve Mount]

I use a P.O. Box, and a Google Voice phone number. 100% safe!

[valerieSONORA]

Becky scared me, she needs an infraction

[Yankabilly]

It does make one think, we have given this a lot of thought and came up with an Idea that being where we are and How The World Is... You are Never Safe Know Matter What You Do... Just watch the News... It's A Crazy World We Live In!

JM

[EndGame]

I worked for an Internet marketer last year who had a fairly "relaxed" approach to product quality and customer service. There was a lot of hate mail for the customer support team to go through, and occasionally I got a look at some of the more interesting emails.

There was threat after threat (I am not the kind of guy you mess with, etc) and even one person who lived locally who threatened to pay us a visit. Another from the US said he was in the UK in the next month and would "pay us a visit and kick down the door". During my tenure as the affiliate manager, I had one very well known IM guru threaten me in an email as well. I wrote about this incident on this forum at the time.

One incident that sticks out in my mind was when one particular idiot sent a message to us saying he was going to (and I paraphrase here) "rape your children". This was a message directed at the marketer and I felt this was totally out of line. The email was given to me and conjuring up the best legal language I could recall from University I told them this was going to be a police matter for whatever jurisdiction they belonged to and I told them I had passed their details on to their local police force, internet provider and email provider.
Their response was instant, making up some story about how they were "so sorry" and their brother had picked up their iphone and decided to send the message for a joke.

Whilst this behavior may seem alarming, my broad-brush assessment of the type of people sending in the emails described above is that they were simply doing this to make themselves feel "big" and help them feel good about themselves so they can sleep better at night and go on deluding themselves that they are some kind of "Tony Soprano" figure. Generally speaking, in my experience, if some nutter is going to do something "serious" then they won't telegraph it or give you any advanced warning, it will just happen. I guess what they is true and it is the quiet ones you should be watching.

Fortunately these nutters are rare, but they are out there. I guess it's just human nature.

Although I do business online, I am fairly confident I have done right by my customers and readers, and would always strive to do right by my customers and prospects if they got in touch. I don't feel like I have wronged anyone to the point where they would feel so aggrieved as to do something dangerous. I could be wrong though, everyone has different opinions and perspectives.

I am confident in my life and business and comfortable with what I do. If I was ripping people off, I'd live in constant fear.

As far as concern for safety, I take reasonable and sensible precautions and think no more of it. If I dwelled on it, I might not come out the house. Being alive today is a risk in itself, no matter where you live.

At 10.30am on a sunny Sunday morning I was walking in the centre of Sheffield to a really nice park where I knew I would find a good bench next to a pond to sit down at so I could read a book. I packed a small back-pack and set off on my way (pretty impressed I was up at 9.30 on a Sunday as well). I was meters away from the park when some lunatic drugged-up pyscho walking past me took a swing at me and tried to attack me. It was pretty intense for a few seconds and pretty scary.
I still like my walks and reading though, and I love walking through cities, I never let that event turn me off "living" it just keeps me on my toes a bit. A subtle reminder to be careful because people out there will try to harm you for no reason.

I approach my business in the same way, I take sensible precautions but don't go overboard. I am of course concerned for my family, but don't feel like I have out them in harms way, and have taken deliberate precautions to remove as many threats as possible to them. Of course, I can't cover all the bases, but I can take sensible steps. Thats all anyone can ever do.