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Serious question for gun owners...

BigJim13

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The mall shooting thread got me thinking (dangerous). Then I watched the news tonight, bad idea. There has been a steady increase in crime, drug related, over the last year or so and we are starting to see more break ins and trouble in our area. I had a thought of getting a gun for home protection but here is my dilemma.

We have a 5 yr old so the gun would stay locked up. If someone were to break in and threaten my family, how would I possibly have time to wake up/get up, get to the gun, unlock the case/cabinet, get to the bullets and load the gun in time to actually make it worth while?

This is a serious question. Those who read the mall shooting thread may think I am anti gun, I am NOT. I have owned in the past several guns and may in the future. We have some real die hard gun owners here and I want your opinion. What would/do you do?

Thanks!
 

TheTrueReview

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It's a practical & quite obvious question Jim. To me, the answer is self evident. Perhaps to you too. You'd need to sleep with it under your pillow & wear it otherwise when you were inside the house. But in all seriousness, if it got to that I'd be looking for another country to live in. There are plenty of other western democracies out there.
 

eclark53520

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Serious answer to a serious question. The answer, even as tongue in cheek as TTR said it, is basically the truth.

A locked up or unloaded gun is worthless. You would be better off spending the money you would've spent on that gun in upgrades to your door's/windows/security system.

The only time my gun isn't on my hip is when i'm in the shower, or in bed. 100% of the time i'm not doing one of those two thing's it's in it's holster on my hip. That's where it is right now for instance. You may think this is an inconvenience. It's far from it. With a good setup even with a very heavy carry weapon i have chosen, I typically forget it's there. Actually during the outing on Sunday I had forgotten about it completely until when sitting down int he cart, i sat too close to the handle on the seat. The gun jabbed me in the ribs...that hurts...bad.

When I go to bed, it stays in the holster. I take the entire holster/gun off of my belt and place it next to me on the nightstand. My daughter is 6. She knows what guns are, she understands what they do and I have full confidence that she would not touch my gun if she happened to come upon it without me next to it. I still don't leave it alone. I am always within arms reach of it when it's not on me.

Another option is to keep the magazine loaded and inserted, but nothing chambered. Not my personal choice for a defense weapon since you never know how quickly it will be needed. You may not have time to rack a round into the chamber. However, it's far more accessible than locked up no doubt about that. No possible way my daughter could rack the slide on my Glock. My wife has a hard time with it sometimes.

It's a tough question with no true perfect answer that fits everyone. My solution fits me, but i know a lot of people think i'm nuts for having a loaded handgun within arms reach 24 hours a day 7 days a week. You have to decide how much risk you are willing to accept and mitigate as much risk as possible. There's always risk associated with having a weapon in the house...but then, there's risk not having a weapon in the house as well.

I wish you luck and pray you never have to be in a situation where you need it. I also pray you never find yourself in a situation where you need one, but don't have one.
 

MIKE1218

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Dec 21, 2006
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http://www.gunvault.com/handgun-safes/biometric-gun-safes.html

There are several manufacturers of biometric safes. Hand on the top, front pops open, you grab and go. As clark said, an unloaded gun is worthless - this way it stays loaded and ready, but only YOU can possibly access it.

A novel concept - teach your kid about guns and gun safety. I started shooting when I was six, that's when I got a .22 pistol. Have always - always - had loaded guns in the house. Make it part of the culture and it's really not a big deal, right?

An interesting idea for a dedicated nightstand gun I heard recently was to get a nightstand with a drawer, but turn the drawer backwards toward the wall with enough space to grab it. Nothing else goes in there and it's hard to get to unless you are laying in bed.
 

VtDivot

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get a big ass dog that will bark at everything that moves
 
OP
BigJim13

BigJim13

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get a big ass dog that will bark at everything that moves

That's what we did! He's crazy, you should see him when the mail comes. He acts like he's going through the door! And when new people come to the house, he doesn't let them out of his sight. Its kinda funny and cool to watch actually.

He's as gentle as can be with us though and people he knows. Don't throw a ball for him though-you won't get a break again until you leave!
 

eclark53520

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Dogs are great alert systems and a fantastic part of a security plan. I wouldn't rely on them for actual physical defense of the house unless they are actually trained for it.

99% of dogs are all bark very little bite. Even if they do attempt to attack, a good swift kick in the throat pretty much takes them out of the fight.

The good thing is 99% of home invaders won't bother if there is a dog in the house.

But there's always that 1% chance...
 

sssmokin

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Keep it loaded, put on a trigger lock. Practice unlocking it as fast as you can, over and over until it's automatic. Then keep the gun next to you and the key close by.
 

azgreg

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DWG1.png
 

eclark53520

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Keep it loaded, put on a trigger lock. Practice unlocking it as fast as you can, over and over until it's automatic. Then keep the gun next to you and the key close by.

STRONGLY disagree with this method. This violates one of the rules of gun safety. You don't want anything in the trigger guard of a loaded gun unless you are ready to shoot. This is absolutely an accident waiting to happen.
 

limpalong

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get a big ass dog that will bark at everything that moves
NO!! Dogs eat. Big dogs eat a lot. Big dogs eat up money that could be spent on golf. Get a large dog bowl. Get a LARGE dog chain. Get a large "Beware of Dog" sign. Put them all near your front door. Get another LARGE dog chain. Get a couple of large chew toys and just riddle them with a hammer and chisel. Put them, another dog bowl and another "Beware of Dog" sign by the back door. If you want to, connect a motion sensor switch to a recording of a large dog barking. Have that recording on LOUD and inside your home.
Cheaper, easier, no doggie doo to clean up......
 

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