Defense
Home hardening, shelter and the law. Evidence about how homes are actually entered, and the unglamorous measures that work. Nothing here is about confrontation.
8 published guides.
Start with these defense guides
What Burglary Data Actually Says About How Homes Get Entered
Most home security advice is built on a picture of a break-in that happens at night, by force, while the household sleeps.
Home Hardening: What Actually Stops a Break-In
Most residential break-ins are opportunistic, fast, and decided in under a minute from the street. The intruder is not defeating your security; he is…
FEMA Safe Room vs Storm Shelter vs Basement
Compare FEMA safe rooms, ICC 500 storm shelters, ordinary basements, best available refuge areas, and community shelters using FEMA criteria.
The one to read first
What Burglary Data Actually Says About How Homes Get Entered
Most home security advice is built on a picture of a break-in that happens at night, by force, while the household sleeps.
Read thisVerified 29 Jul 2026
Most home security advice is built on a picture of a break-in that happens at night, by force, while the household sleeps.
Explore defense by topic
What the data says
Read this first. It decides which of the measures below are worth paying for.
Law and less-lethal options
What is legal to own and carry varies enormously between states.
Related problems
The same guides seen from the other direction: what has actually gone wrong, rather than what the guide is about.
All defense guides
Every published guide in this pillar, newest first. 4 of them are not yet placed in a topic group above.
Carrying Less-Lethal Where You Actually Go: Federal Buildings, Schools, and Interstate Travel
A device legal in your state is still restricted in federal facilities, on school grounds, in airports, and the moment you cross a state line. State-by-state tables cannot show you this layer.
Pepper Gel, Spray, Foam, and Stream: Where Each Delivery Format Fails
The active ingredient is the same across formats. What changes is range, wind behavior, blowback risk, and how much of it ends up on you instead of on them.
What a Stun Gun Actually Does, and What a TASER Does Differently
A contact stun device causes pain. A probe deployment causes loss of muscle control. These are different physiological effects, and the marketing for the cheaper category depends on the confusion.
When Less-Lethal Doesn't Work: The Failure Rates Nobody Advertises
Every less-lethal device has a documented failure rate against real subjects. The category's marketing never mentions it, and the failure modes are specific enough to plan around.
FEMA Safe Room vs Storm Shelter vs Basement
Compare FEMA safe rooms, ICC 500 storm shelters, ordinary basements, best available refuge areas, and community shelters using FEMA criteria.
Home Hardening: What Actually Stops a Break-In
Most residential break-ins are opportunistic, fast, and decided in under a minute from the street. The intruder is not defeating your security; he is…
Pepper Spray and Less-Lethal Laws: What Varies by State and How to Check Yours
Pepper spray is legal for self defense in all fifty states. That sentence is true and it is also the reason people get into trouble, because legality…
What Burglary Data Actually Says About How Homes Get Entered
Most home security advice is built on a picture of a break-in that happens at night, by force, while the household sleeps.