defensive measures and bus security

[bapos]

9mm, 40 caliber, or 45 caliber seem to work well for my 8 acres and unwanted people at the door?

[GreyEagle]

Just remember whenever you shoot..... you are responsible for the bullet ...where ever it goes.......
Maybe a shotgun would be better, no aim, just point and shoot with a much larger scatter pattern just in case you miss........
and shotguns and rifles are legal in most states..........

[browncrown]

Originally Posted by bender477

Just wondering what you guys do for security. Anyone use a lojack or anything like that? What about motion detectors or alarms? With times getting bad I worry someone will try to target my precious bus and ruin what I have worked so hard for.

My mother, because the bus is currently parked at her house...Even at 82, I pitty anyone that tries to mess with her or the bus

[gbstewart]

for a defensive measure while inside the bus, I have 2 cans of wasp spray. once you hit them with that, I have a baseball bat as a follow up, this steps are only needed if someone gets by my 70 pound shepperd and my 98 pound rottweiler. My bus has a handle with the lock in it once you lock it it just spins and the front doors dont open(most blue birds have them) I always lock ourselfs in at nite, It will take someone a lot of work to break in those doors, smashing glass out and pring open to get themselfs in, this is where the bat is handy we park in our yard so theres no problem with security, just locking the from and back doors seem to be ok, it would be a lot of work to open the back door too, and the windows are high enough you would a boost up to get in.

gbstewart

[bapos]

<------------------- is a CHL holder so Im good with the 9mm. No issues there. If it comes out... some one will make a transition.

[Redbear]

Originally Posted by bender477

. . . . . Anyone use a lojack or anything like that? . . . . What would you do?

Neat idea I found on a van dweller's pages - he had a cheap pre-paid cell phone hidden in his "home," in addition to the cell phone he actually used. The hidden phone was charging off the van battery 100% of the time.

The idea was if his home "wandered away," he could give the responding cops the number of the stashed phone to ping and locate . . .

[GreyEagle]

OR...Just a 110 volt AC hot wire to the bus skin/frame....... When they touch it they will complete the circuit because they are on the ground side......
don't ask me how I know...ouch!

[GreyEagle]

I still like the 110 volt AC hot wire system..... Even if he broke the front window he would still need to climb up onto the bus creating a live show of sparks.....

[ol trunt]

At one point I had to leave my car parked in a public lot for a week at a time. Fuguring that a car thief would notice that, I added a home made security device. I placed two car alarm horns inside the passenger compartment and rigged several tiny spray jets to a windshield washer pump and aimed them at the drivers position---I filled the washer bottle with household ammonia. I wired the whole thing to the ignition through a hidden shut off switch. My Skoolie will have some sort of theft determent (yup that's how it is spelled--I had to look it up)! Jack

PS No one tried to steal the car---shucks

[travelinwithus]

Originally Posted by ol trunt

At one point I had to leave my car parked in a public lot for a week at a time. Fuguring that a car thief would notice that, I added a home made security device. I placed two car alarm horns inside the passenger compartment and rigged several tiny spray jets to a windshield washer pump and aimed them at the drivers position---I filled the washer bottle with household ammonia. I wired the whole thing to the ignition through a hidden shut off switch. My Skoolie will have some sort of theft determent (yup that's how it is spelled--I had to look it up)! Jack

PS No one tried to steal the car---shucks

That is great! Kind of off subject but reminds me of when I was a teenager and I had a Pontiac Grand Prix with a V-6. Couldn't burn the tires with it so I filled up my washer fluid bottle and ran a hose to the back wheel (yeah, wheel, one wheel wonder). Push a button, had all the power in the world, lol...

[ol trunt]

I know, I know--its kind of off topic but you started it! HA! When I was in Jr Hi, I'd wash and wax a car for $4.50. My science teacher had a "58 Olds 88 coupe and she turned the keys over to me for the good deal. Knowing the wet tire trick you used I figured that using the garden hose for the source of water would allow me to see how fast an Olds would go sitting still. 80 MPH but then it crept foreward and ran over the hose---and took out 100 feet of redwood grape stake fence! I caught HELL for that one! Jack

[lapeer20m]

Where do you guys live that you have so many problems with theft?

I rarely ever took the keys out of the ignition of my bus(s), and never actually had a way to secure the doors.

I always kept an aluminum tee ball bat near the driver for the purpose of thumping on the rear dual tires. Now i almost always carry a glock .40, and if i still had a bus i think i would mount a pistol grip mossberg 500 in the area above the drivers head utilizing one of the mounts typically used in a police car, (and only in Michigan, as Michigan has special "pistol" laws that consider any gun less than 30 inches in length to be a pistol, even if it is federally a shotgun or a rifle.) Firearms are not to be utilized to protect the bus or property, but only in the most dire circumstances where there is an immediate threat of great bodily harm or death.

I would not advocate fabricating some sort of booby trap device that would automatically harm a person as mentioned earlier in this thread.

[crazycal]

I think people were just blowing off steam.

[ol trunt]

Thanks CC but I wasn't blowing off steam. Lapeer20m, I'm not sure what you were refering to but if it was my contribution I strongly disagree with you. Household ammonia and a horn are not life threatening --just agrivating enough to coax a thief to give up his attempt. We may just have to agree to disagree on this one.

[GreyEagle]

Probably referring to the 120 volt wire........

If they don't mess with the bus they won't get shocked..........

[lornaschinske]

We have an old wireless security system that I took out of our last house. I hope it still works. If it doesn't I will most likely either get a new one (new one can dial out on a dedicated pay-as-you-go cellphone for when we aren't home) or go the really cheapo route and get some of those little battery operated door/window alarms from DollarTree. I would also print up security signs on my computer along the lines of "Protected by AC Mobile Security Systems"(A Cheap Mobile Security System) . Signs like "Protected by Smith & Wesson" simply means... "Wait until you see them leave and go steal their guns".

David used to sell Home Security Systems & got an industry magazine. Magazine said #1 deterrent is a sign stating you have a security system. #2 is a home security system that is turned on with loud alarms. #3 is a motion activated exterior lights. Thieves do not want attention focused on them. But the biggest thing to remember is that almost nothing, including guns & dogs, will prevent a determined thief.

In addition to the security system, we do not leave our curtains open at night to show everyone what stuff we have inside the bus. Our goal is to look poor enough that hopefully no one would think we got anything to steal.

[Bullwhacker007]

I have cameras on my bus and when the alarm is tripped it calls me and I look via internet what is going on with my phone.

I have a friend in Law enforcement and they told me about some person that had gotten sick and-tired of their car being stolen.
So they did something about it.

My friend's as was told their people had gotten a caller about a man wildly moving around in a car and screaming.
They responded and what did they find?
A car thief had set off this guys "alarm".
They called for a supervisor and when they arrived he found allot of cops there laughing and crying so hard at the same time. He asked WTH is going on. He was told and he broke up also and when some one could called an ambulance for the car thief.. I can imagen what the Ambulance crew thought as well as the ER people when told of the injuries and how they were sustained.
What the car owner did was use a door locking actuator where they had soldiered a very very large rug needle to the end and installed it under the driver's seat with a pressure switch in the seat.
When the alarm went off the "system" would activate and every time the thief's butt would hit the car seat it would trigger and stick him in the butt
So everytime he came back down from the first stick he would hit he seat again and the situation would start all over..
I tired to find out about what I was told and couldn't; BUT it does give me some ideas..