[kcrazorbackfan]

Originally Posted by cj1040

Are all of these gun remarks serious? A gun is the last thing on our minds...you are not living out in the middle of the woods somewhere or in an inner city area. The houses here look so much alike that your chances of inviting a break in are very low. There are way too many guns and way too much drinking and that is a bad combination. We have motion lights, sturdy rugs that dont slip or bunch up and we lock up whenever we leave.

Are you being serious when asking the question on gun remarks? Do you think all the homes in The Villages are owned by “Ward and June Cleaver” types of people. There are too many of the “want to hurt you over any little thing” types and also too many adult kids living with their parent(s) that don’t think twice about breaking into homes.

My wife and I both will be the survivors if someone does their best to harm us. And, for your info, we don’t drink.

[Tsalla Apopka]

I need help all the time in moving safely.
Grab bars are very useful. I have one beside commode and both at the entrance to the shower and also inside the shower. A portable shower chair goes in with me.
Furniture placement in the house is also important. I lose my balance while walking through the house so it's important that a piece of furniture, chair, couch or sturdy table, is in reach if I start to topple.
Never thought I'd need this kind of stuff but not too proud to use all tools available.

[GrumpyOldMan]

Originally Posted by kcrazorbackfan

Are you being serious when asking the question on gun remarks? Do you think all the homes in The Villages are owned by “Ward and June Cleaver” types of people. There are too many of the “want to hurt you over any little thing” types and also too many adult kids living with their parent(s) that don’t think twice about breaking into homes.

My wife and I both will be the survivors if someone does their best to harm us. And, for your info, we don’t drink.

Well, if it makes you feel safer, go for it.

"For every time a gun in the home was used in a self-defense or legally justifiable shooting, there were four unintentional shootings, seven criminal assaults or homicides, and 11 attempted or completed suicides."

nih.gov

[GrumpyOldMan]

Originally Posted by Tsalla Apopka

I need help all the time in moving safely.
Grab bars are very useful. I have one beside commode and both at the entrance to the shower and also inside the shower. A portable shower chair goes in with me.
Furniture placement in the house is also important. I lose my balance while walking through the house so it's important that a piece of furniture, chair, couch or sturdy table, is in reach if I start to topple.
Never thought I'd need this kind of stuff but not too proud to use all tools available.

Good for you, dealing with reality and not denying it.

All this and more is why we moved to The Villages. We are not golfers, we are not very social people, but we are getting older and lived in an older home full of issues, 30 minutes from the hospital, and 1/2 mile from our nearest neighbor on some acreage. We came and researched here, and found 5 minute EMT response times, we found Urgent Care facilities in every villa, the new homes with wide doors (wheelchair accessible), grab rails, walk-in showers, neighborhood watch patrols, and neighbors that pay attention to each other. All that makes us feel safer - so, my answer to this thread is we bought a new home here, to make us feel safer.

[sheralcaswell]

I installed mini led nightlights everywhere. My house is never dark

[JMintzer]

Originally Posted by haysus7

You should refer to your Tom Petty quote

Yeah, no...

I have a fire extinguisher... Do I worry about a fire?

I wear a seatbelt... Do I worry about an accident?

[JMintzer]

Originally Posted by cj1040

Are all of these gun remarks serious? A gun is the last thing on our minds...you are not living out in the middle of the woods somewhere or in an inner city area. The houses here look so much alike that your chances of inviting a break in are very low. There are way too many guns and way too much drinking and that is a bad combination. We have motion lights, sturdy rugs that dont slip or bunch up and we lock up whenever we leave.

Here's a novel idea...

If you don't want one... Don't buy one!

[GrumpyOldMan]

Originally Posted by JMintzer

Yeah, no...

I have a fire extinguisher... Do I worry about a fire?

I wear a seatbelt... Do I worry about an accident?

Excellent post!

So often it seems everything here has to be black or white. But, the reality is most things are gray. There are many things we each do every day that doesn't guarantee anything, but help. And I expect most people don't sit around fretting (worrying) over all of them...

I don't worry about people breaking into my house. (I did move to the villages with neighborhood watch and lots of nearby neighbors)

I don't worry about the water supply becoming contaminated (but I do have a whole house filter)

And on and on. But, I guess it is just too much "fun" to argue about everything - LOL

[JMintzer]

Originally Posted by cj1040

Are all of these gun remarks serious? A gun is the last thing on our minds...you are not living out in the middle of the woods somewhere or in an inner city area. The houses here look so much alike that your chances of inviting a break in are very low. There are way too many guns and way too much drinking and that is a bad combination. We have motion lights, sturdy rugs that dont slip or bunch up and we lock up whenever we leave.

I currently live in one of the safest suburbs of DC, yet this happened... Two of the murdered girls babysat for my kids...

We were friends with the parents...

No one thought it could ever happen here... Yet it did...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archi...-95665e8ded88/

[JMintzer]

Originally Posted by GrumpyOldMan

Interesting thread.

My first thought was home modifications that apply to growing older, grab bars, non-slip driveway, walk-in showers, etc. All of which I see and most of which I agree with.

Then along came the "guns" and security systems. That is very interesting to me, how some of us consider home safety to be things like slipping and falling, and others think of someone breaking into their homes to do them harm.

It is sad to me that so many feel so insecure that they feel more of a need for guns when growing older. I am NOT saying you should not have guns if you want them, I am not saying you should not be allowed to. I just think it is sad that so many feel they need them.

My personal answer to home security concerning robbery has been, "My plan is to ask if they need help carrying anything out, or if I can get them some refreshments while they are looting". My life and their lives are worth more to me than stuff. But that is just my opinion, I expect everyone else disagrees with me.

Well, my home came with grab bars, non slip garage flooring, a walk in shower...

I have an alarm system up North, so why wouldn't I get one for the Southern abode?

My alarm also has a panic button in case of medical emergencies, so there's that...

I've seen too many videos of people being assaulted in DC, at restaurants I patronize to think the police will protect me on my wife, so I choose to take on that responsibility myself.

If you feel otherwise, that's certainly your choice. I have no qualms with that...

[LianneMigiano]

We forgot to remove a battery in an extra smoke detector that we had in the garage and then totally forgot the fact that we actually had the extra. More than two years later we started having a strange annoying, intermittent beep. After more than a few weeks we discovered the extra in it's box that was pushed way behind other stuff and finally removed the errant battery! This getting old is for the birds!!!

[JMintzer]

Originally Posted by GrumpyOldMan

Well, if it makes you feel safer, go for it.

"For every time a gun in the home was used in a self-defense or legally justifiable shooting, there were four unintentional shootings, seven criminal assaults or homicides, and 11 attempted or completed suicides."

nih.gov

That stat does not include the use of guns that were never fired...

Per the FBI, guns were used in 800K-2 MILLION times/year when not a single shot was fired...

[rjm1cc]

I would not leave the door unlock but you are correct. For my house it would take you an extra second to break the window in the door and reach in to unlock. I have seen key boxes you put a door key in and the emergency personnel can open to get the key to your home. Similar to what Realtors use for showing a home. Check your local county to see if they do it. A compromise might be a digital lock or a lock you can operate over wifi from you phone.

[SacDQ]

If you can accomplish all those outlined steps you most likely don’t require an emergency responder.

[GrumpyOldMan]

Originally Posted by sheralcaswell

I installed mini led nightlights everywhere. My house is never dark

Yup, we got those and plugged a couple into every room. Works great costs almost nothing.