Firearms Expert: 7 Steps You Can Take to Protect Your Family

During the July 16, 2018, episode of Bullets with AWR Hawkins, firearms expert Baret Fawbush listed seven steps that mothers and fathers can take to protect their families.

Fawbush shoots a variety of guns on his Instragram page, @truexodus, demonstrating carry tactics, various shooting stances/positions, and broad knowledge of firearms.

We asked him to list steps that can be taken to protect one’s family and he listed the following seven:

1. Check Windows and Doors–“The first think I think about is just, can people get into the home? So I think about doorways and windows, things like that. Essentially, the average home intrusion happens in less than two seconds, so it doesn’t take a lot to get through most people’s doors or windows. So I like the idea of making sure  you have really sturdy doors–reinforced doors–things like that.”
2. Have a ‘Lock Plan’–“Making sure that the family has a ‘lock plan.’ That is, my son knows … that he’ll shut the door and lock it even though I’m outside. So my wife and children know that when a door shuts, it’s locked.”
3. Have a Weapon Readily Available–“Ensuring that you have a readily available weapon. We tend to keep our guns in a safe … so, if the gun is in a safe I would recommend carrying a firearm on you in the home or I would recommend having a gun stowed away that is easily accessible.”
4. Keep Round Unchambered in Home if You Have Small Children— “I have a three and five-year-old and my children know that you never touch a gun … [but in addition to that] we don’t carry a round in the chamber in our home. I carry a round in the chamber on my person, but when we come home the magazine comes out, round comes out, round goes back in to the magazine, and the magazine goes back into the gun and the chamber’s empty. We do that for conscientious awareness that … the gun can quickly be put into the loaded position but it’s relatively safe and inaccessible for our family.”
5. Ideas for Firearm Locations–“Remember, kids have a very limited perception of their surroundings, because they are smaller and they can’t see over things, things like that. So having a weapon on top of the refrigerator, that they don’t know is there, may be something good to do if they can’t access that point. Or up in a cabinet somewhere, if you’re always in the living room or kitchen … maybe a firearm that’s stored up and out of reach on a top level shelf or when you open up the pantry it’s on a top level with the things you don’t often use. And I always sleep with a bedside gun and I have a shower gun too.”
6. Have More Than One Family Member Trained in Firearm Use–“Have more people in the home trained (with firearms). Often times we think about the just dad being trained but really the dad goes off and he works every single day. And most home invasions happen in the middle of the day, not at nighttime. Because most happen in the middle of the day … mom, especially since she spends most time around the children, she’s going to have to know how to use a firearm, she’s going to have to know how be able to shoot a gun properly and work a gun.”
7. Have a Plan for Where to Go if a Home Invader Strikes–“Have a plan. We, at our house, we have a very loose plan so that we can stay and remain flexible. My children and I always play a game; we play a ‘Hide and Go Seek’ game and we incorporate this ‘Hide and Go Seek’ game into a little bit of safety when say, ‘Hey, we want you to go run and hide. It doesn’t matter if we call for you, it doesn’t matter what, unless we physically see you and touch you, you are not to get out of that hiding spot.’ We have that right there, by which we communicate that if you hear someone else’s voice in the house, and you don’t know where mommy and daddy are, go run and hide and mommy and daddy will come find you. We’ve never had to implement that–nothing like that has ever happened–but that’s something else that we consider.

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News, the host of the Breitbart podcast Bullets with AWR Hawkins, and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.