Hollywood commits several sins against gunfighting. The one I want to talk about today is: what inside a home is actually bulletproof? For people who aren’t educated on guns and have only found their information from Hollywood, they might assume tons of things in homes stop bullet penetration.

A movie that comes to mind specifically is Live Free Or Die Hard. A personal favorite of mine in spite of its flawed logic. In the movie, John McClane (Bruce Willis) and the bad guys each use several things as cover that make absolutely no sense. Particularly in the apartment shootout scene.

McClane takes cover mostly behind plain old drywall, which won’t stop anything. One of the bad guys even takes cover behind what looks to be a small sofa. Bullets are flying, and as long as each man is behind at least something, no round ever hits them.

McClane even has a good shot at the villain, who is hidden behind the corner of a wooden cabinet and doesn’t fire. In reality, McClane's handgun rounds could have finished off the aggressor while he sat behind the cabinet had he fired into it.

Can a Bullet Go Through a Wall?

We see things like this in movies a ton. Now let’s explain how it really works. Nothing in your house, as long as you have an average modern built home, has any bulletproof surfaces. What I mean by bulletproof is that it will stop a handgun bullet dead in its tracks.

Homes are just made up of surfaces that will conceal your presence from threats but provide little protection from bullet holes. However, you can choose better concealment pieces over others. For example, don’t hide behind the couch. It’s true something is better than nothing, but the couch is pretty close to nothing.

Where is the Safest Place to Hide from a Bullet in Your Home?

Perhaps the best surface that every home will have is a door jamb. Door jambs are made of multiple 2x4” boards to support the weight of the header joist that is over the doorway. The multiple layers of boards could deflect a bullet away from your vitals or provide some bullet resistance as long as you have a good stand-off distance.

If your attacker is shooting a .30-06 round, then you don’t have much hope. In general, rifle rounds will shred an interior wall because of their high velocity. If you have a rock or brick wall in your home or as an exterior wall, they can provide great home defense protection as well. But more than likely, nothing in your home is bulletproof and especially won’t stop a rifle bullet. But this can be good news.

Before You Buy Bulletproof Drywall, Consider This.

Here’s the good thing about the lack of bulletproof surfaces. Most of the people that are dumb enough to break into someone’s house have no concept of cover vs. concealment. But if you apply yourself to training and tactics, you will. In the case of forced entry or other threatening situations, bad guys will often do things like the movies, hiding behind couches or doors, thinking that will protect them from a bullet.

With your knowledge, you can place some strategic rounds into that item and end the fight early. The bottom line is it pays to be the smartest guy or gal in the room in a gunfight, those who aren’t often pay with their lives.