Lets talk about the safe room. Most safe rooms are the master bedroom. That’s due to the fact parents usually reside there and most attacks occur at night. The best way to set up a safe room is to actually consider options when you purchase a house. Assuming you already have a house this is just information to be used at a possible later date. Make sure you have safe fields of fire. If you need to shoot an intruder it will usually be in a hall or doorway. Ensure incoming or out going bullets won’t hit family members.
The safe room should only have one door. This is easier to defend. Since internal doors are quite flimsy this door should be changed and the frame should reinforced. Steel reinforced plates can be purchased at any home improvement store and are readily installed. It’s not as good as the previous option but it is cheaper and quicker. I advise a longer deadbolt and latch plate. The safe room should also have a window. This would make it easier to contact police when they arrive.

A cell phone should be kept in the room. Old cell phones that are no longer active will still call 911 so one of them and a charger is not bad to have. A firearm and ammunition kept for personal protection should be available and stored in an appropriate device. A whistle would be a noise maker used to alert other family members of danger. I prefer an air horn, it will warn the family and startle the snot out of an intruder. There should be some packaged food and water, a first aid kit, a fire extinguisher, and a good flashlight. This room may also be used in a natural disaster or other crisis. These are common things. Let’s look at other items that aren’t so well thought of. If you are threatened and you retreat to your safe room you are going to notify the police. They need to get into the house. If you don’t give them a key they may have to break down the door. This will also make it more difficult to enter the house. You should have a house key on a big stick or better yet a glow stick. In the night you can throw it out the window so the police can get in.

If you woke up startled and are thinking you heard a noise you might not want to move to the door to close it right away. Make sure you have some method of defense immediately available while you are assessing the situation. If you place decorative mirrors or pictures in strategic places, along with placement of a night light or two you can use these items to see reflections around corners or along halls. If you are in the dark or not backlit someone won’t be able to use these devises to find you.
If the master bedroom is on one end of the house , with the living quarters in the middle and other bedrooms on the other side this is called a split floor plan. Split floor plans are very difficult to defend. Intruders frequently are between you and members of your family. Code words or sounds are needed to direct occupants on how to react in a life threatening situation. Fields of fire are more difficult to establish.

If there is an altercation use every tool at your disposal to win!