If you’re a homeowner, you have a deed. For most people, that deed is in the slimy hands of their mortgage lender. But, on that deed, there’s usually a description of the plot of land that a home rests upon. And at the town officer, that deed lines up with a plot of surveyed land.
That’s yours. Well, the bank owns it for the moment but for all intents and purposes it is yours.
Now we don’t always get to pick our neighbors — or even know who they are — prior to moving in. This can be a situation that either develops over time or explodes all at once.
There’s one simple truth: whoever said love your neighbor as yourself clearly hadn’t seen the variety of neighbors out there.
As a gun owner and a home owner, the chances you’ll ever need to deal with a bad neighbor with a gun are negligible. In fact, in this article, we’ll explain precisely why it’s probably always better to use alternate methods if you can help it.
And then there’s always a chance you could find your neighbor slithering on his belly through your basement with a knife in his teeth. A far less dramatic but equally scary scenario played out for one homeowner when he discovered his neighbor in his home with a knife. Not the norm by any stretch.
Hippy Dippy Non-Violent Intervention Is The Way, Man
You don’t get to pick your neighbors, usually. Because we live in a world with complicated family situations, drug use, drug dealing, loud music, loud cars, trash, raging bonfires, and the sorts of drama that could fuel day-time talk shows for millennia-to-come, you can bet that the people who enjoy propagating all the aforementioned live somewhere.
Hopefully, it’s not next to you.
If it is, there’s quite a few fine lines that need to be crossed before the guns come out.
- There’s no immediate violent threat to you or those on your property.
Burning heaps of trash in the front yard, while likely against local city regulations, is something more in line with a call to the police.
- The problem can be solved by calling 911.
If there’s something seriously wrong going on next door and you’re worried about it , your best bet is to hunker down and call the police. That said, if you see it’s your neighbor that’s the victim of violence, sometimes we all get by with a little help from our friends.
Depending upon where you live, this may take awhile. That’s why we own guns. If the police can’t or won’t arrive in time to stop something truly bad and dangerous from happening on your property, you’re there to defend yourself and your family.
The big one that will usually throw chances of resolving things peaceably right out the window is when you’re dealing with neighbors intruding onto your property. And then there’s weird exceptions, like this one, where the neighbors ended up getting into a shooting match while both were out mowing the lawn.
When In Doubt, Document And Record
Obviously, if you’re fired upon or threatened while you’re on your property, you should defend yourself. That’s why carrying a concealed handgun is such an awesome idea. You should do it literally every single moment you’re able.
However, just because the neighbors decided to farm out their methamphetamine lab production to their garage doesn’t immediately give you casus belli. Illegal? You bet. Opens up your home to unwanted attention and potentially criminal activity? Yep.
That’s why we have this amazing thing known as modern technology. We can set up cameras and accrue evidence which we can then hand right over to our friendly neighborhood policeman. So long as evidence clearly shows some illegal activity taking place, charges will be pressed and you can guarantee you’ll never get a Christmas card from that family ever again.
While that sounds well and good, there may be a heck of a time proving anything. Even with a multi-thousand dollar surveillance system set up, monitoring what goes on may prove difficult.
Use your best judgement. It’s always good to document stuff. You never know what may end up being the piece of evidence that helps you out in court if things go truly sideways.
In general, neighbors can be ignorant, annoying, and horrible — but they’re rarely violent. Whenever peace may prevail, let it.
