Posted on 06/03/2008 10:05:18 PM PDT by fred4prez
Have a question for all you personal protection experts...I live in Texas, and am trying to increase my handgun knowledge; I don't yet have a concealed license. Have a Ruger .22, and recently acquired a Sig P6 9mm, and have been doing a fair amount of target practice. I'm starting to feel comfortable enough to want to keep the Sig easily accessible at night (especially after a theft next door recently), and want to follow best practices.
Do I keep it under a pillow, or in the nightstand?
Stored inside manufacturer's plastic case?
Keep it loaded?
Bullet chambered?
Cocked?
Also, is it ok to leave the gun in that same state during the day, when no one is at home, or must it be secured/unloaded? Legal aspects?
Thanks in advance for your advice!
My son in law has one. They are excellent.
kids are the best reason not to.
mine sets full mag, empty chamber. assuming the kids somehow manage to get in my room, find the safe, get into the safe- they then get to deal with the fact that they just plain and simply do not have the strength to rack the slide of a compact 1911.
Exactly why I got a 9 mm Makarov. ;~)
This is my choice as a LEO with children...
I sleep soundly, having a multilayer security system. No one is coming through steel gates and window bars without alerting the two large guard dogs sleeping in my bedroom. I get to shoot the leftovers. I also prefer an uncocked, large caliber double-action revolver instead of a semiauto pistol for several reasons: 1) Fully compressed springs inside a magazine can fatigue over the years, leading to misfeeds. Leave out a couple rounds and also test fire the magazine once a year. 2) No safety or slide to fumble with. Just pick up and squeeze the trigger.
“Very thoughtful of you.
‘Go to the light .... Okay, stop right there. Lie down. Repeat after me: Our Father, who art in ....’”
Pragmatic and practical, actually. It’s been thirty years since I last had to shoot someone and I was better looking then. Now, even I don’t want to see me naked.
Cheeky comments aside, the light is to ensure I know who I am shooting.
When you've been there, call me.
I was broke into twice in Homestead, FL. The second time I held the perp for 20 minutes waiting for the cops. (You may ask why I didn't shoot. Because when I told him to hit the ground he complied immediately and didn't move until the cops moved him.)
Also, had some dude try to carjack me. If my weapon had been locked up or even just put away in the console the outcome would have been different.
I have a Browning wide body in my basement. Most of my arsenal is locked up nicely in it. However, if I'm going to take one out for possible personal protection reasons, it seems foolish to make it difficult to get to.
BTW, you might want to consider keeping a Louisville Slugger next to that safe................
Gives away your position and takes away the element of surprise.
If you're in an area where keeping a loaded gun at hand seems like a good idea, I would also keep my bedroom door locked. The extra few seconds that would be required to kick in the door would be enough to ensure you were awake
Do not keep a firearm under your pillow- toomany bad possibilities!
A nightstand drawer that is within reach but not too near the bed will suffice until you decide on the best place/manner to store your fully loaed home defense handgun.
Are there any chidren under the age of say, 12-15?
If yes, you should plan on purchasing a bolted-down bedside handgun box. Several makes are out there. Some open on a biometric lock (but require batteries/AC power) others are a simple key lock that you keep in a safe place, but can insert at bedtime and have your weapon at the ready with a turn of the key if the situation arises.
I would avoid trigger locks-they are too tedious to remove in a critical situation and should never be used on a LOADED firearm.
If no, I still recommend a lockable storeaa system to prevent having to continually move the defense gun from the main gun safe to the bedside every time you leave your dwelling (otherwise you are offering a house-breaker or other unauthorized person a free gun...).
Older kids and spouse of course must be given the same detailed instruction on home defense and proper firearms handling/operation. In many cases, the child/spouse defends themselves or the entire family when the need arises. You owe them the best training they can tolerate for thier age/interest.
I recommend two separte firearms; one for concealed carry (usually a smaller, more concealable model) and a larger, but exactly the same type for home defense.
For example: you may carry a Glock M27 40 caliber (9 rounds), and keep a Glock M22 with an attached combat light/laser (15 rounds) in the bedroom for home defense.
They operate exaclty the same, have almost identical ergonomics and sights.
Bottomline: Seek out and undergo a rigorous out-side the home CCW course AND do the same for inside the home (the scenarios are much different as are tatics, techniques and procedures). Usually basic CCW classes are not sufficinet-they only meet the state law requirements to get a carry permit, not a detailed training venue.
God Bless & Molon Labe
NRA Rifle & Pistol Instructor
MO CCW & Home Defense Instructor
On a good night three deputies patrol my county. If even in my zone from the far end of it can mean 15-20 minutes response time. One Weapon stays loaded. It's a revolver. It stays locked up daytime usually and with me at night. BTW if someone steals your weapon with you being at home then such a person is too dumb IMO to have one anyway. Naturally if not home either secure it or take it with you. A criminal is likely gonna be packing their own weapon anyway. Unloading it in case it gets stollen is silly.
If someone breaks into your house at night you have a common sense GOD Given Right to think they are there to harm you. Cali may be different but in my state no jury would convict and no DA wants their career ruined trying to push such a case in the first place.
The gun saftey frenzy is way out of hand and lacks common sense. Teach common sense instead to older children and a weapon is as safe in the home as the butcher knife, chemicals, and electricty. Teach the younger ones simply hands off. This worked in the USA for two centuries.
Do you keep a spare key around? How about a biometric lock?
ROFL! Yep, you've been there all right. That's exactly what happened to me. What chaps me is that it doesn't "count" as a successful employment of a firearm in home defense. But it does count as "gun violence." Is it any wonder the numbers are as skewed as they are?
Roger on the Louisville slugger, too. Any home defense system should be tiered. I have a neighbor (a very well-armed neighbor) who keeps geese. Hasn't had a break-in since he started doing it.
My real problem in SD was that the little SOB was a repeater. Couldn't get at the gun but he did manage to steal a knife I was very fond of (Gerber Mk II) that I didn't really want to see the business end of. Caught the guy red-handed. He was back on the street in 72 hours but he never bothered me again...
I perused some of the responses-
Loaded Chamber- Assume the worst and hope for the best. In a violent home invasion, you won’t have much time to do anything other than point and shoot. You may be wounded before you can acquire your weapon-and potentially unable to chamber a round. Do you know how to operate an unloaded firearms with only your weak hand? I do and I will never leave a gun I rely on unloaded-kinda like leaving your vehicle gas tank empty, but a full gas can in the garage when your wife is 8 months 3 weeks pregnant....
Do not worry about an AD if you drop your firearm. If it is a modern gun, it has a firing pin safety that prevents the firing pin/striker from moving unless the trigger is fully rear-ward-which will not happen if you drop it.
If your choice of weapon has manual safties, engage them. Just as you would while carrying (same drills to go from holster to shot as for home storage to shot. You do in combat only what you have dedicated to muscle memory, not necessarily conscious thought process-trust me on this.
Shotguns-are great for the trained and professional minded man. Not very good for close quarters combat w/o a LOT of additional training. The Handgun is the king of self defense at close quarters-again, trust me on this.
Again, get professional training! Gunsite or LFI or Front Sight etc. A local type like myself can get you pretty much what you need, but I even though I make money training folks, I recommend a top-flite organization to insure you get the best of what you need. They will often tailor a course to your ability levels and needs. I do the same, I just don’t have the visibility/facilities they do.
Get and read the Massad Ayoob Book “In the Gravest Extreme”, also his book on “Stress Fire” ( a shooting technique discourse).
Lastly, unless someone who comments is a trained professional trainer, I would avoid paying too much to what they say.
God Bless
When I was in Homestead my first line of defense, two big ass dogs, weren't with me. If they had been the break in's probably wouldn't have happened.
I'm glad to be gone from that high crime area but even here in rural SC I keep a handgun by the bed at night.
I've read that some of the distilleries in Scotland keep geese for security. They're guarding some of the most expensive whiskey in the world, and they say nobody gets in there at night without waking up the whole town.
You kinda sound like me but I keep a .38 in my night stand drawer. My .12 ga. is in the corner next to my night stand with the chamber empty.
I have a double barrel but as you know, no racking action. It's a daylight intimidator. Probable nothing so sure as losing your bowel control as looking down the barrel at a side-by-side.
Oddly enough, I’ll probably never have to use mine. The couple across the street are both police officers and work different shifts, so there’s always a fully marked police car sitting in the driveway. Only a blithering idiot would burgle a house across the street from a parked police car.
...not to mention the whole gun vault could be removed from your house. Mine has a small hole in the back for securing it by metal cable to whatever heavy non-movable objects might be nearby (bed frame, headboard, dresser, night stand, whatever). In my state, the law says that if any person under the age of 18 enters the house, my guns must be secured.
I keep my Glock 17 in my gun vault with a full mag but the chamber empty. After practicing opening it a few times in the dark I found that once or twice my trigger finger found its way inside of the trigger guard when removing the gun. I have the smaller model gun vault than the one pictured here and there is not a lot of room for my hand over and around the grip of the gun. My advice to the original poster is if you have an external safety on your gun and decide to buy a gun vault, perhaps consider keeping it chambered but with the safety on so that when you pull it out in a hurry you dont accidentally squeeze the trigger while removing it.
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