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Critical Items You Must Have in Your Home Defense Bag to Stop an Intruder

A home defense bag is designed to have everything ready to go if an intruder should break into your house or apartment in the middle of the night. It’s also great to have a bag like this prepared if your neighbor calls with an emergency situation and you have to run out the front door at a moment’s notice to help. Every night before you go to bed, you simply check the bag and keep it close at hand. This can give you a tremendous tactical advantage if you ever need it, because you don’t have to go stumbling around in the dark wasting precious seconds to find anything. It’s all right there in the bag and you can find a pretty nice one for as little as $20 online.

So, what goes in the bag? A home defense bag is not intended for an extended survival situation; it’s a short-term item designed just for defense, so you should stock yours with that in mind. There’s probably no need for food or water in this bag, but you may want to pack those depending on your situation. Here are some suggestions for what you should be keeping in a home defense bag.

1. A Tactical Sidearm Plus Ammo

When something goes bump in the night, you should be able to grab your home defense bag, slip it over your shoulder and immediately find your sidearm. Preferably, a sidearm with a tactical light.

How many spare clips should you have? The correct answer is: “Just enough to hold someone off until you make it to your Mossberg.” Actually, the answer to that is up to every individual and is a common source of debate in firearm forums. Feel free to leave your opinion on how many you should have in your bag in the comments section below. One to four clips are usually enough for most folks.

2. A Tactical Flashlight

A home defense bag is usually intended for use when it’s the dead of night and the lights are out. A tactical flashlight with fresh batteries is a must. While you’re at it, store a set of fresh batteries for the flashlight in your bag. It’s better to have them and not need them, right?

3. Combat Tourniquet

You can pick up a Combat Application Tourniquet (C-A-T) for as little as $30. It requires only one hand to apply it to an arm or leg and this is another item that is great to have on hand. Hopefully you’ll never need to use it, but these have been proven to be 100 percent effective in stopping blood flow to the upper or lower extremities. Every US Army soldier now carries one of these into combat zones because they’ve been proven so effective. It’s cheap and it works, so throw one in your bag!

4. A Phone

Yes, a phone. Stick your cell phone in one of the pockets every night when you go to bed. This will get you in the habit of using and checking the bag on a daily basis. Land lines can be cut before an intruder breaks into your home, so the cell phone is a backup. Another option is to buy a cheap burner cell phone and load some minutes on it, but if you go this route, you have to be sure to keep it charged up on a regular basis.

5. Additional Medical Supplies

This will vary based on your comfort level and how much you think you’ll need in your home defense bag. Again, it’s better to have some of these things and not need them. An Israeli bandage won’t add any unnecessary weight to the bag and is great to have in an emergency, along with a package of Quik Clot.

6. Cuffs

What happens if you get the drop on an intruder and he surrenders? You need some way to subdue him, so a set of plastic cuffs, zip ties or another means to restrain him are a must.

7. Tactical Folding Knife

A good carbon steel knife has too many uses to list, so keep one in your bag at all times.

Extra Goodies

The above list covers the basics that most people will want to keep in a home defense bag. Anything else that you throw in depends on personal preference. You might want to keep some additional goodies like a length of paracord, some light sticks or a couple of energy bars. Other folks will keep an AR clip or two in their bag or some shotgun rounds, depending on their overall home defense plans. The important thing is that you get one started and stocked before you need it.

So what goes into your bag? Let us know in the comment section below.

~ American Gun News


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11 Responses

  1. Always have ZIP Ties, (4)24 inches, ( 4)12 inches, 1Liter of water, ( clean blood to check wounds, or just drink after action), space blanket,( small packet, to keep warm, out of rain), small rain or wind breaker. And a light 100% wool sweater. After action, when adrenaline wane off, cold always takes over, even in 100 degree temperatures. So you can talk with the police at length, or patrol the property without having to get back in and leave the action unprotected.

  2. Regarding item number one, which includes a handgun and extra clips, wouldn’t it be better to carry magazines? I don’t know of a handgun in the world that uses a clip. Seems to me the author needs to be a bit more knowledgeable.

  3. they are magazines not clips…………….hello
    and your american gun?

  4. of course , the bad guys will always have guns ! the good guys that don’t have guys are what these bad guys prey on If you cannot defend yourself then you are in their sights and may be gone ! all that for the anti gun idiots

  5. Clips? Clips? Most pistols need magazines, not clips. Clips are for M1’s.

  6. Let’s get some definitions straight! A magazine is a device that holds ammo to feed a weapon. A clip is a device usually a strip of eight or more that feeds a magazine.

  7. I keep two clips handy in my room. One should do the trick but two makes me feel more secure.

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