To best understand how to prevent them, you need to answer the question, "What IS a home invasion?" Understanding the home invasion process can help you to improve your strategies for preventing them.

Home invasions target you, your home, and your family and are sadly becoming more common. However, due to a variety of reasons, many of us don’t always take that threat as seriously as we should.

That Was My Situation When My Home Was Robbed in 2010

My home was burglarized, and here's a quick rundown of what happened. About a week before I returned from Baghdad in 2010, my roommate emailed me that someone broke into our house. The bad guy found the closet where I kept my gun safe. He then, due to the deadbolt lock that I installed, chopped his way through the door. Once inside, he found my gun safe, loaded with firearms and other personally valuable items. He then worked on the safe, rolling it out the front door.

So, with that in mind, you may understand why I was thinking about the true answer to the question of "What is a home invasion?"

I think it’s vital that we take a look at what a home invasion is. We also need to examine the statistics behind home invasions because it’s the numbers that often motivate some of us to take action. That is taking decisive action to make our lives,  homes, and futures more safe and secure.

Why Merriam Webster’s Definition of "Home Invasion" is Wrong

To begin with, let’s define what is a home invasion. For our purposes, I’ll go with the top-ranked definition on Google. Merriam-Webster provides the number one definition of a home invasion on Google. Merriam-Webster states that the legal definition of home invasion is:

“The crime of entering a dwelling and committing or with intent to commit a crime (as assault) while armed and while another is lawfully present.” ~Merriam-Webster

Sadly, Merriam-Webster’s definition of what is a home invasion is 100% wrong. Not only is Merriam-Webster’s interpretation of what is a home invasion wrong, but it's misleading.

Now, some of you may be saying, “Brian, you’re making a very bold statement when you say that Merriam-Webster and its definition of what is a home invasion are wrong.” After all, Merriam-Webster has been defining the English language since 1828! That’s almost 200-years of definitions.

Well, my answer to you is that you’re 100% correct. I am making a bold statement. However, please give me a few minutes to explain why Merriam-Webster’s definition of a home invasion is wrong.

What is a Home Invasion and Why Is Merriam-Webster Wrong?

To understand why Merriam Webster’s definition of a home invasion is wrong, we need to deconstruct its definition. Again, the Merriam-Webster definition of home invasion is, “The crime of entering a dwelling and committing or with intent to commit a crime (as assault) while armed and while another is lawfully present.”

For this purpose, I’m going to assume that we can all agree that Merriam-Webster’s definition of what a home is, is correct.

Merriam-Webster defines the word home as: “One’s place of residence. The social unit formed by a family living together.” So, home is both the physical structure of where we live, and it also has the greater meaning of our family living together. That’s something special and worth protecting.

Next, Merriam-Webster defines "invasion" as “An act of invading. The incoming or spread of something usually hurtful.” Even more to the point, Merriam-Webster’s definition of "invade" is “to conquest or plunder. To encroach upon. To affect injuriously and progressively.”

So, what do all of those definitions mean? Well, if we use the deconstructed portions of Merriam-Webster’s definition of home invasion to create a statement about home invasions, we come up with this definition:

“A home invasion is the act of invading someone’s place of reside...