Replies

The .mil docs are pretty much identical to the NRA docs and I will give you credit to what you've said. I still think it is stupid for anyone to keep a loaded firearm under their pillow. Side drawer, cool, under the bed, cool, but under a pillow- something that shifts around at night and could reveal the gun easily to someone lurking around the house if the pillow moves just a little or could fall behind the bed or get tangled in the covers just when you need it most? Stupid.

Okay that's fair. I admit I jumped to a false assumption when I stated that you meant magazines, not clips. In my experience, firearms neophytes often must be corrected when they refer to magazines as clips. Same thing on the push-button lockbox. I assumed it was key or dial-combination operated (as most lockboxs are). By the way, I also have a push-button lockbox (from a different manufacturer). It does not require batteries or electricity and I can open it in the pitch black since my fingers have memorized the combination.

As an adult, with no children in the home, on a weapon with a manual safety, and without a round in the chamber, I don't see any problem with sleeping with a firearm under your pillow. There are actually some products sold that allow you to attach a holster to the side of your mattress (so you can quickly draw and fire at an intruder that has made it into your bedroom without prior detection). There are some people that think about these types of scenarios way too often. But it's still worth considering: What is your home defense strategy? How quickly can you really access your weapon in an emergency? There has to be a proper balance between safety and usefulness.

The way the MSM and various anti-gun organizations would have it, your firearm isn't safe unless it is unloaded, integral lock engaged, trigger lock in place, and locked inside of a safe (with ammunition locked in a seperate container). It's just become such an absurdity. You can understand how pro-RKBA people react with such scorn to these types of stories. Think about what life was like 300 years ago. People had muskets, rifles, etc. unsecured around the house. Ammunition unsecured. The world didn't come to an end. There wasn't an "epidemic" of children being killed by unlocked firearms. The modern day fear of guns has just gone way too far. Guns are not alive. They are not evil. If you see a gun on a table, you don't have to be scared. It isn't going to just fire all on it's own.