The first question in all of this is, "What am I trying to protect myself from?" Is it a few passers-by who might try to break in? Is it an organized mob that is stripping the homes in the area bare? Or, what.

The second question is, "How far am I willing to go to protect what is mine?" Am I willing to kill potential intruders? What will I do if my warnings have no effect?

The third question is, "Could intruders exact retribution if they don't get what they want?" Could they, for example, burn my house down? Could they cut my power?

There are many more question that have to be asked along these lines and there are no easy answers.

Jim Rawles' book Patriots: Surviving the Coming Collapse has been mentioned before. One chapter has extensive information on what the fictional characters did to protect their house. Buy it and learn. You might also spend some time at his site: http://www.survivalblog.com

Todd

I think the more likely question to answer will be, "how do I keep my municipality from raising property taxes to the point where I lose my house?" Cause you know they will.

I forsee PO becoming an economic crisis, where debt and taxes wipe out 90% of the country. It won't be until after most people are destitute that government (local/state/federal) finally starts to whither and die.

It is a lot easier to fight off crackheads than it is the taxman.

I don't think you have to worry much about the taxman. We are the taxman. If it looks like taxes are going to drive a substantial portion of the populace to bankruptcy then the taxes will be lowered and city services will be lowered. California had its Proposition 13 (for good or ill). Michigan is now considering a tax moratorium of sorts. It makes no sense to bankrupt most of the citizenry. Especially since they will vote you out of office and the next guy will reverse that.