Joan and Tim R. are both in their 60’s and live in Highlands County, Florida.
Joan is a notary and people often come by the couple’s home – even late at night – to have documents notarized.
Around 8:30 one evening, a man stopped by the couple’s home and used a “ruse” to get inside the home.
He claimed he needed to have something notarized, but once inside the home, the man shot Joan in the face.
After the shot rang out, Tim started fighting with the intruder.
There was a struggle, and at some point, Tim produced a knife.
According to police, the intruder was “cut to pieces” by the time deputies responded to the house.
Police couldn’t say if the intruder knew the victims, but they said he had an extensive criminal history including robbery and burglary.
A police official said, “We don’t have a lot of home invasions in the Highlands County area, but when we do, they’re usually pretty gruesome crime scenes, and we don’t have a lot of them where the suspect is killed on the scene and the victims are both alive.”
Both the victims suffered serious injuries but were expected to survive.
After the incident, Tim was able to answer questions and told police that he killed a man inside his residence.
While a firearm would be my first choice in a home defense situation Tim did exactly what he had to do to save his life.
As you know I love knives and always carry at least one (often two) as part of my EDC gear.
But there’s one blade that I’m asked about for home defense (as strange as it might sound)… a bayonet on your rifle.
Here are a few reasons why a bayonet might be useful:
A bayonet can be an ideal close-quarters weapon.
It can be used as a last resort when you have run out of ammunition and don’t have time to reload, or when your rifle malfunctions.
Even better, modern bayonets are more like utility knives, so you can use the bayonet for more than just self-defense.
They can be used to cut rope, dig, or other survival tasks.
If you consider adding a bayonet, make sure to find one with a serrated edge or saw on the blade.
Finally, a bayonet can have a psychological impact on a bad guy who might think twice about running toward you.
On the other hand, bayonets have some problems:
We are not living in older times where people would line up and slowly advance toward threats.
Modern combat or even home defense is fought at distances, so a bayonet isn’t useful in most home defense scenarios.
Another issue is the added weight and bulk that a bayonet will bring with it.
It will make the rifle longer and can even throw off the balance that you are accustomed to when shooting.
If you are clearing your house in the middle of the night an intruder might see the bayonet coming around the corner and have even more time to react.
If you choose to have a bayonet on a rifle you would need to train with it as well.
This would include shooting with it and then engaging the threat at close quarters as well.
