Keep Criminals Out of Your Home

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Do you feel safe inside your house?
If the answer is no, what are you going to do to ease those fears?
While there are different options on the table, one such possibility would be buying a gun.
Even though many people do not like the idea of such a weapon in their homes, it can provide you with a sense of security. As such, you can have a deterrent in the home should someone try and break into your house.
If you decide to buy a gun, making sure to store and use it in a safe manner is of the utmost importance.

Get Trained on Using and Storing Your Weapon

In owning a gun, it is imperative that you are as safe as possible with it. This rings especially true if you have children in the home.

Among the safety factors to take into account:

· Operating the gun – Above all else, make sure you and anyone else in your home authorized to use a gun knows how it works. From cleaning it to loading it, you want to know any and all possibilities of it firing. Always assume you have a loaded weapon when you or someone else in the home handles it.

· Storing the gun – When it comes to storing your weapon, look at the best available gun holsters. Place your weapon under lock and key, especially when there are children in the home. Accidents do occur, something that you could end up regretting for years to come. Along with holstering your gun, be sure it is in an area of the home where kids can’t access it.

· Registering the gun – It is also important to register your gun. If stolen, you want to have it registered so it will be easier to track down.

How to Lessen the Odds of an Attack

While there’s no guarantee against a break-in, you can lessen the odds.

First, don’t make you and your family targets by doing the following:

· Leaving doors and windows unlocked, thereby allowing for easier entry into the home

· Putting a spare key under a mat outside the front door or in a flower box. These are usually the first places a criminal will look to in trying to gain entry

· Announcing on social media when you will be away from the home for vacations and other matters

· Giving out personal information that can lead someone to your home

If you feel as if someone is casing your home or has followed you home on an occasion or two, be sure to alert the police.

How to React in an Emergency

Even with all the training in the world, how you will react to a break-in at your home is not easy to predict.

That said be sure to not fire your weapon and then ask questions.

You also need to be aware of where everyone else is in the home at the time of such an emergency.

The last thing you want is to know you injured or even killed a family member by firing your weapon.

By taking the proper amount of weapons training, you can lessen the chances of an accident.

With that in mind, are you doing all you can to keep criminals out of your home?

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Does Someone Else Know Your Identity Too?

Tech

Does Someone Else Know Your Identity? Some shadowy hacker might...
Photo by CC user YBS 999 on Wikimedia Commons

Your personal identity information (especially as it pertains to finances) should be one of your most closely guarded secrets, yes? Having said that, does someone else know your identity?

While most consumers take this question to heart, others are not quite as thoughtful. In fact, some prove to be downright careless.

In a day and age where identity theft can set you back for a number of years, avoiding it should always be a high priority.

Even though there are certain events you need to put in motion to best protect your identity, much of it centers on having the right identity theft protection in place. When you have that, you are already a step ahead of the criminals.

With that in mind, how will you go about making sure someone else (notably online criminals) does not know your identity?

Take a Stance Against Online Criminals

So that you can decrease the chances you will become a victim of identity theft, start out by making sure you have a reliable defense against these criminals.

That all starts by finding the best identity theft protection service out there, one that will have your back from the day you begin using the product.

Finding such a service can be a little tedious, but the time and effort you invest in doing just that will ultimately prove well worth it.

Whether you are swayed to go with LifeLock identity protection or another such provider, make sure you vet each and every company you consider.

For starters, look at how long they have been in business?

While there is absolutely nothing wrong with considering newer companies on the market, those having been around for a number of years tend to be a better bet. The experience, plus learning what does and does not work over time, typically adds up to a better result for the consumer when all is said and done.

Secondly, never underestimate the importance of customer service.

As great as a company’s product may be, it is an even better overall brand when its customer service is as good as can be.

Once you have a provider selected, you may have simple questions or possibly even run into a snafu or two at some point and time. This is why customer service can never be taken for granted.

One of the ways to better determine how stout a company’s customer service is will be by asking family members (outside your home), friends, even co-workers, about which I.D. protection service they opted to go with.

In today’s business world, most companies know that wasting the time of customers is a sure ticket to ultimately losing their business. Find that provider willing to go the extra mile for you without hesitation.

You Must Be Responsible Too

With the right provider on your side monitoring your financial details, the rest pretty much all boils down to you.

Even with a solid identity theft monitoring provider backing you up that does not mean you are 100 percent immune from those wishing to do you harm, notably in terms of your finances.

Make sure you do not voluntarily give out any personal information, information that could easily come back to haunt you.

Just as you would not leave a credit card, your bank account number, your Social Security I.D. etc. sitting around in public places for the entire world to see, it is imperative you cover your tracks online too.

If you plan on traveling over the summer or at any point during the year, be careful when using computers in public places, places including hotels and libraries.

Since it is hard for you (or any traveler for that matter) to know with 100 percent certainty as to whether or not the server you are on is totally safe, err on the side of caution.

In the event you need to do any online banking or other personal financial matters while traveling, do them on your mobile device (assuming that is that it is already protected).

Keeping identity theft thieves and other online criminals with ill intent at bay can be tricky, but it doesn’t have to be a losing proposition.

Just remember that there are services out there to assist you, services to keep someone else from knowing your identity.

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