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.
4 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.
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.