A Closer Look At Home Invasion Statistics

Crime reports and recently compiled home invasion statistics offer proof for the need to take home invasion prevention seriously.

There’s rarely a day that goes by that Americans don’t find their local news talking about another home invasion or robbery, a rape or murder; unfortunately that’s the sad state of society now.

That doesn’t mean we have to live in fear or lock ourselves in a cage. What it means is that we have to use common sense home invasion prevention strategies.

For example, homes are much more secure with a wireless alarm system and deadbolt locks, as well as good outside lighting.

I also always encourage people to take self-defense courses and to consider getting a firearm and taking proper training on how to use it (a CCW course will do it).

The number of people who use a firearm in self-defense, every year, is something you’ll never hear on mainstream liberal media. But it happens a lot!

Read my article on “Do Guns Save Lives” for more on the self-defense use of guns, but the bottom line is that every year somewhere between 1/2 million to upwards of 3 million American citizens use a firearm in self-defense, compared to about 300,000 crimes in which the criminal used a firearm.

What Are Your Chances Of A Home Invasion?

Looking at the home invasion statistics your chances are relatively small of having a burglar break in to your home. But so are the chances that you’ll be in a car wreck, need emergency medical care, or have a house fire, but you plan and prepare for those anyway… that’s common sense.

And just like those other types of incidents, a home invasion can be costly, and even worse, deadly or result in serious injury.

I have a wireless alarm system in my home and I truthfully cannot imagine anyone not having one. With technology advancing so quickly, the costs are so low that it’s silly to go without a home security system.

Some home security statistics indicate that homes without security systems are up to 300% more likely to be broken into.

To find the home invasion statistics by state you can use the Uniform Crime Reporting Data Tool of the DOJ.

FBI Home Invasion Statistics

While crime in general has been on the decline there’s still reason to take it serious and be aware, and take basic steps in burglary prevention.

To give you an idea of how likely you are to suffer a home invasion or other crime here are some FBI home invasion statistics.

The FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program defines burglary as “The unlawful entry of a structure to commit a felony or theft.” Most states have very similar wording for home invasions.

While it may not seem intuitive, entering a home in order to commit a rape, for instance, would also include the crime of burglary. People often think of burglary as only meaning that some items were stolen, when in fact you can have a burglary without anything at all being stolen.

FBI data from 2015 Crime Statistics on Burglary.

1. In 2015, there were an estimated 1,579,527 burglaries, a decrease of 7.8 percent when compared with 2014 data. The number of burglaries decreased 27.7 percent when compared with 2011 data and was down 28.0 percent when compared with the 2006 estimate. (See Tables 1 and 1A.)
2. The estimated number of burglaries accounted for 19.8 percent of the estimated number of property crimes. (Based on Table 1.)
3. By subcategory, 57.9 percent of burglaries involved forcible entry, 35.5 percent were unlawful entries, and 6.6 percent were attempted forcible entry. (Based on Table 19.)
4. Victims of burglary offenses suffered an estimated $3.6 billion in property losses in 2015. The average dollar loss per burglary offense was $2,316. (Based on Tables 1 and 23.)
5. Burglaries of residential properties accounted for 71.6 percent of all burglary offenses. (See Table 23.)

After having spent almost 2 decades in law enforcement three things are clear when it comes to home invasion prevention:

1. Criminals don’t like lights (they want to hide), so keep your home well-lit outside.
2. Criminal don’t want to make too much noise (a house alarm ruins their party).
3. They don’t want to get hurt, and armed home owners are proven to deter criminals. I’m not talking about shooting them, of course that’s a deterrence. I mean the fact that a homeowner is armed can alone prevent many home invasions. A sign at the back door warning that you’re armed is a cheap deterrent in some cases. Though don’t go wild and have signs that say crazy things like “Intruders will be shot. Survivors will be shot again.” Unless of course you just want to go to prison for a wrongful death or excessive use of force incident.

Home Burglary Statistics – DOJ

How serious a threat are home invasions, statistically?

According to the Department of Justice, reviewing data from 2003 – 2007, there were an average of 3.7 million burglaries every year!

In addition:

• A household member was present in roughly 1 million burglaries and became victims of violent crimes in 266,560 burglaries.
• Simple assault (15%) was the most common form of violence when a resident was home and violence occurred. Robbery (7%) and rape (3%) were less likely to occur when a household member was present and violence occurred.
• Offenders were known to their victims in 65% of violent burglaries; offenders were strangers in 28%.
• Overall, 61% of offenders were unarmed when violence occurred during a burglary while a resident was present. About 12% of all households that were violently burglarized while someone was home faced an offender armed with a firearm.
• Households residing in single family units and higher density structures of 10 or more units were least likely to be burglarized (8 per 1,000 households) while a household member was present.
• Damaging or removing a door was the most common type of entry in forcible and attempted forcible entry burglaries. Removing or damaging a window screen during a forcible entry was equally likely to occur whether the residence was occupied (11%) or unoccupied (9%).
• In 40% of unlawful entries to unoccupied residences, offenders gained access through an unlocked door or window.

Some home burglary statistics are frightening, such as:

• Households composed of single females with children had the highest rates of burglary while someone was present.
• Victims in 38% of households burglarized while someone was home were asleep at the time of the burglary, while 44% of households stated that household members were engaged in other activities in the home when the offender gained entry to the residence.
• In 7% of all household burglaries, a household member experienced some form of violent victimization. This translates to about 266,560 violent victimizations during household burglaries, out of about 3.7 million home invasions taking place each year on average.
• Serious injury accounted for 9% and minor injury accounted for 36% of injuries sustained by household members who were home and experienced violence during a completed burglary.

As I’ve mentioned previously, while the numbers from the home invasion statistics shown are large, and frightening, your chances of having your home burglarized are still small. But also as I mentioned previously, the risk IF you are the victim of a home invasion is too severe to overlook.

How Many Home Invasions Were Stopped by Guns

Woah, hold the presses. So the DOJ is collecting all of this data to compile home invasion statistics, spending millions and millions of dollars on research and not one time, I mean not one single, solitary time in that entire report is the words “defend” or “defense” mentioned.

Isn’t it relative to the discussion and doesn’t it provide a greater depth of understanding if you knew how many home invasions were prevented or stopped as a result of an armed victim? How many people were able to prevent burglary by being armed?

Of course, but as usual the politically motivated progressives cherry pick what they want their followers to have access to. You know, like Pelosi saying of ObamaCare, you have to pass it to see what’s inside it. Brilliant.

In fact, getting very much detail at all from the progressives on the defensive use of guns is somewhat of a classified endeavor. Someone doesn’t want something out.

In my article titled “Do Guns Save Lives” I discuss the most prevalent data we have. In particular a study ordered and conducted under President Obama, as shown below.

I’ll pull a quote from the article to save time.

“Priorities for Research to Reduce the Threat of Firearm-Related Violence“, and which was investigated, researched and written by the Institute of Medicine and the National Research Council under funding provided by the National Academy of Sciences and both the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the CDC Foundation.

Here’s an excerpt from page 15:

“Defensive use of guns by crime victims is a common occurrence, although the exact number remains disputed. Almost all national survey estimates indicate that defensive gun uses by victims are at least as common as offensive uses by criminals, with estimates of annual uses ranging from about 500,000 to more than 3 million, in the context of about 300,000 violent crimes involving firearms in 2008.“

Read my article for more on this, but the bottom line is that in comparison to 300,000 violent crimes in 2008, at LEAST 500,000 “potential” victims used a firearm in their defense by either shooting or brandishing it, and upwards of 3 million people used a firearm in defense.

Seriously, this type of data and information pisses me off because the liberal media lies and withholds and embellishes information to the point that what they’re doing to their followers is 100% brainwashing; these people are not informed and enlightened, it’s quite the opposite.

Also in that same President Obama sanctioned report, it was shown conclusively that progressive data is being manipulated on purpose, as in the most oft cited report from the National Crime Victimization Survey. Progressives cite is as evidence of gun crimes but there’s a fatal flaw. It’s not reliable, according to Obama research, because…

“respondents were not asked specifically about defensive gun use.”

They were not even asking about the defensive use of guns in a report on “gun crimes”? Right. And then they conveniently ballpark some random defensive gun use numbers and throw it out as fact, and little progressive minions around the globe use it as proof of gun crime gone crazy!

Actual Cases Of Home Invasion Gun Use

I wrote about a recent home invasion shooting in Oklahoma where the occupant of the home used a firearm in self-defense, read it to learn more about the Castle Law and Make My Day Laws.

I also highly recommend Gary Kleck’s book “Targeting Guns: Firearms and Their Control (Social Institutions and Social Change)” not because it seemingly supports a stance I have about gun control, but because he’s one of the foremost Sociologists on the subject and his studies have won him prestigious awards.

Granted, you won’t find him mentioned or discussed on your favorite liberal media channel or outlet, but I think we’ve addressed that already.

It is difficult in a progressive culture bent on weaving an anti-gun story at whatever cost (see Katie Couric’s lie if you don’t believe me) to get accurate firearms related information to progressives, because, well you know, they’re so enlightened.

It’s seen in the fact that they boycott and protest and even resort to violence to prevent someone with an opposing view from expressing it… that’s some freedom right there!

Here’s an anecdotal example of how progressives skew the data.

A NYTimes blog post about gun control goes like this:

“In other words, as Wayne LaPierre put it after Newtown, “the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.”

That’s almost as catchy as “guns don’t kill people, people kill people.” The problem is: The 2 million figure — often inflated to 2.5 million in N.R.A. literature — is bogus. Defensive gun use is actually quite rare.”

Oh, so sneakily interjecting that the actual “use” of a firearm is rare so that you can counter a valid argument made by the NRA, you side-step the real intention of self-defensive gun use in that you DON’T have to shoot someone to stop a crime. Using a gun also includes brandishing it.

Just criminals seeing the firearm in a holster or you pulling it out, that prevents crime. Or even in rare cases the firing of a warning shot… that’s not USING a firearm in self-defense according to these liberals.

Never mind that we know from the government research (listed earlier) that Obama ordered and we paid for makes it crystal clear that self-defensive use of guns ranges from 1/2 million to 3 million a year.

I mean seriously, how in the hell do these people get away with this skewing of data and misleading of people for so long? How can you be a progressive and not be pissed off?

How do you feel about these home invasion statistics and are you taking (or have you taken) steps to make your home more secure?