You need to move to AZ. A CA jury have your ass in a sling.

I keep my Beretta Tom Cat under my matress. Not the most power but fits nicely in the pocket of my robe,, so I still have some discussion time without anyone knowing I've got it ..
I"m trying to figure out what would be a quicker death sentence, breaking into Seahawks place or Snipers ?? hmmmm

Mine are all locked up in a 2 ton 1930's four tumbler safe (seven feet tall) that I pulled out of an old clients building. It's in the garage and takes forever to open. I live in a gated community, admittedly not guarded, with a 300 foot driveway and a motion sensor 1/2 way up the driveway that rings in the house. If you're 1/2 way up my driveway in the middle of the night, I'll know about it.

I've always thought the sound of a pump shotgun being cocked was......purposeful.

Truth be known I had to give my rifle away.... just way too many nights thinking about firing warning shots at people that pi$$ed me off.

Then I kept a Louisville Slugger in my car and at home; you know, as an equalizer, until I almost killed those three guys. One of them gave me the bird and I followed them until they pulled over, they thought they were tough guys being 3 against 1 'n all. Louis equalled up the party nicely, but all that blood freaked me out.

I've got Louis a safe distance away still, just not as readily available, blood stains and all.

(2) safes with digital 1.2 second entry on them. .45 next to bed. big ass wolf/weimereiner outside at night.

never leave home without my amex card and a pistole.


after my summer camping experience will never go camping again without .308 socom and a pistol.

i get bored carrying same pistole everyday so i mix and match some weeks and take a 9mm instead. but most of the time its a .45.

girlfriend wants me to move both safes out of living room and into garage. when we move we will rotohammer some redhead bolts into garage concrete so safes cant walk away.

i personally believe a shotgun is little much unless its a .410 and even then at night a long gun is cumbersome to weld in the total dark. very comfortable with using dive flashlight with weapon perched on top to go investigate noises in the night. i thought about a surefire forend light on my hk/benelli 12 gauge but finally nixed that idea.

tonight im tearing apart my new hk4 and will carry that lil .380(9mm kurz) around for awhile and see if i like it .

always buy a safe WAYY BIGGER THAN YOU THINK YOU NEED! ASK ME HOW I KNOW! no better feeling slamming those puppies shut and leaving on vacation. if it aint in the safe insurance will cover it.

if i am lucky enough in 4 months after all my paper is completed, i will be getting possibly an HK MP5-SD in 9mm. yep semi-auto suppressed and SBR.

break into my house ....................YOU NEVER HEAR A THING BUT PFFFFFT x 40!!!!

this juan i'll hang the surefire lighted forearm on for sure.

Where do we hide the home defense weapon?

Are you kidding?

RED HAIR AND ESTROGEN - I AM THE HOME DEFENSE WEAPON!!!!

Ok, all teasing aside, with teenagers in the house all the guns are locked up and the ammo locked in a seperate place. Seperate meaning not even at the same address.

So the home defense is an aluminum baseball bat and it is under the bed.

angela

If you come across an intruder whose gun fires baseballs, I want to hear that story! Maybe you should add a catcher's mitt and facemask to that arsenal.

Golf Clubs are about 5 feet from my bed

never ever leave a gun at home unsecured that can be used against you. amazed at how many people leave guns under their beds. first place i would look if i was a bad guy after reading these.

so ya got a bad guy who breaks in. bad guy now finds your weapon or weapons if your not there. now YOU and THE COPS HAVE AN ARMED BAD GUY TO CONTEND WITH! not good at all.

the day you buy a big ass safe and slam that door shut you will thank me in spades. no better feeling ever. .45 on mky bed side leaves with me everyday. never leave a weapon unsecured or at least disabled.

Same thing, no kids, no visits from kids, and have all of the same stuff. Antiques, high end watches, firearms, etc.

I keep a 9mm carbine, and Browning Hi-power, for home defense one hidden on each side of my house. Don't really want to say where, but there pretty much "hiding out in the open". Just look creatively around your place.

I was also thinking of a .357 or that taurus handgun that uses 410 shotgun shells for ammo.

Yep, nothing scares intruders like venomous snakes, let me tell you!
Well, anacondas come pretty close.

Interesting, in that I have a far different approach. Not saying yours or mine is the supperior or inferior, just different.

I have two sons at home; one is now 21, the other 18. My job has, at times, required I be away from home for extended periods. I keep a home defense gun handy at all times when I'm there. Guess who keeps it when I'm gone? It's not my wife, and it certainly does not get locked up. Yes, one of my sons assumes responsibility for it. They have both done so since they were young teenagers. One or the other had been gone away at boarding school over the course of about six years, so it was often the younger of the two that wound up with the gun while myself and big brother were gone.

Some folks would, undoubtedly, think I'm nuts for leaving such responsibility in the hands of teenage boys. I have actually never thought twice about it. Both have been shooting and handling firearms since about four years old. Both have been gun owners since six, and I'm not talking BB guns. Both have killed things with firearms, right up to and including big game (before they turned 13). They know how that works. They are both very comfortable and competent around firearms of all kinds. They know how to use them, when to use them, and what happens when they do. They have seen it first hand. They also know enough to keep their friends away from them, fully understanding the potential consequences of "showing one off". They just don't do it.

My wife, on the other hand, is no shooter. Oh, she knows how - about at the level she "knows" how to drive my early 911 hot rod. She could get by in a zero pressure situation - shooting at the range or putting down some back road with no one around. Under any kind of pressure, any kind of fear, if anything went wrong - in a home defense situation or driving at speed on the track - she would undoubtedly just freak out and lock up. She is not the one I want protecting hearth and home when I'm gone. Or driving my car, for that matter...

Anyway, you can see where my approach has been markedly different. No better, no worse, just different. It works well for me.

Before the kids, we did keep accessible loaded firearms in the house. Our daughter (16) has no interest at all in the guns, but does know how to shoot. Our 13 year old son is a HUGE interest in the guns and very regularly shoots with us.

But here's the issue... We usually have anywhere from 3 to 5 teenage kids at our house. Whereas I wholly trust my children to completely leave these items alone when I'm gone (briefly or a few hours, etc), I do not trust someone else's child to do the same. Not sure if my son in particular would pay enough attention to keep his friends out of trouble. I can pretty readily picture two of them playing a video game while the third one wanders off to the bathroom (sees the open bedroom door...etc).

Nothing loaded or with accessible ammo in the house with children. Not worth the risk for someone else's kid to get "curious"... I carry regularly (w/permit) and when the kid are grown out of the house, then a loaded firearm can stay accessible.

In the meantime, the lack of a fire arm does not make me defenseless. Nor should it make anyone else feel that way. The home is full of dangerous items. Knives are obvious - but think outside the box. Cast iron frying pans, golf clubs, baseball bats, wine bottles, that operative VHS player, iron doorstop, etc.

You guys are a creative bunch. If someone entered your home to do harm to you and yours, they would "pay" dearly with whatever readily fell to your hand.

angela

Never get between a mother and her cubs!

+1

Unless you live in a terrible neighborhood, it is much more likely you get shot with your own gun than being ahead of some intruder that decides to rob an occupied home.

While everyone generally trusts their families with guns - who says that someone in the family can't have mental issues you don't know about? Jealous wife? Troubled teen? Depressed brother in law?

Who says a gun in the safe is not a home defense weapon? In a scenario like Katrina, you have plenty of time to realize it is time to open the safe.

George

I agree; in a pinch, just about anything can become a weapon. When pressed, it's human nature to find one in a big hurry and fight back. The range of choices in the home clearly vary in actual effectiveness, however. Swinging a bat or a golf club in a hallway does not work very well. My wife swinging a frying pan at multiple fit young burglars won't end well. For her.

The idea in home defense is to have what Donohue termed "the unfair advantage". The idea is to decisively end the fight. Right now, before the "fight" even starts. While exposing yourself and family to as little risk as possible.

Home defense is not a sporting event. There is no reason to be the least bit fair or reasonable about it. Breaking into my home, while my family and/or I occupy said home, is an unreasonable thing to do and will be met with "unreasonable" force if I am at all able. That means flying lead, not wine bottles.

No, we are never completely defenseless in the absence of a firearm. The effectiveness of our defense goes up significantly, however, when we are properly armed and trained. That is how I choose to be, and how I choose to leave my family when I'm not at home. Not everyone is comfortable with my choices, and I appreciate that. As long as I'm free to make my own choices, and everyone else is free to make their own, we're all good. There is no universal answer; all of our situations differ in some way. We are the best judges of that, and the best qualified to choose what is right for us individually.

We have a pistol grip 1300 and a ruger 44 my side of the bed.
A smith and wesson "ladysmith" 357 and a 38 wifes side of the bed.
Super redhawk alaskan short barrel in the office.
Red rider bb gun in the garage.
2 90lb dogs to keep all that stuff safe.

Nonsense. You just made that up. Care to cite any sort of recognized study that arrived at this conclusion, using real world data?

I hear this one brandied about ad nauseam. There is absolutely no truth whatsoever to it; no data to back it up. Unless, of course, you buy into such "data" espoused by organizations such as the Brady Campaign. They have a wonderfully developed ability to "interpret" data as no others, and to arrive at such conclusions.

Anyone with these issues won't need a gun to achieve their goals. I can't imagine going through life hiding or locking up any and all dangerous objects in an effort to save these people from themselves.

Yes, that is one scenario. Hell, in that one, you don't even have to start out as a gun owner. Assuming you can beat the rush, you would have plenty of time to run on down to the sporting goods store and simply buy a gun. Is that a suitable approach in every home defense scenario?

Somewhat related story. I used to work with this girl, her boyfriend got her pregnant and was then not happy that she was going to have the baby, so one night he came into her apt while she was sleeping and tried to beat her up with an iron (you know, the kind that flattens clothes). She wasn't a big girl, probably 5'7" or maybe a little more and thin, but she ended up putting him in the hospital and had the baby.

Under the right circumstances things can work out alright, but still, if I was in a situation, I'd want the odds to weigh heavily in my favor.

Even so, I don't have a gun. I'm not against, or afraid of them. I just don't feel like I need one. I guess that it's fortunate that I live in a neighborhood where I often see kids bikes laying in front yards when I take my dog for a walk. It's a pretty safe place.

I do not read gun studies in my spare time. I did not know we had to back every opinion up with data? ;) The above is just my opinion. I may have pulled it out of a dark place in your eyes, but I like to think of probabilities.

I like my guns locked up - this way it is highly unlikely I will stare down the barrel of my own gun the wrong way. If someone in the family goes postal, I prefer them not to use my guns. If they find another method or weapon, I would feel a lot better about it.

I feel perfectly safe with locked guns at my house. I would feel very unsafe with loaded guns spread throughout the house. Especially when coming home. Again, this is my opinion. Everyone should keep the guns the way they like them at their house. This thread asked where you keep your piece - let's not drag this into the political OT. I do not read threads on that side.

Cheers,

George

Just a couple of points to ponder:

I'm not so paranoid that I MUST have a firearm available within seconds, and figure no one could enter my house without giving me ample time to grab one.

One of my best friends took a shotgun blast to the face when he was 16 many years ago (he should not be here). He doesn't talk about it, but a few months ago, he was showing me the gun (along with his new safe), and I asked him what happened. "Just a couple of kids fooling around...:("

Many years ago, a co-worker had to come into work for a few hours on a Sunday evening. When she went home, she discovered her 14 year old had taken his life with a shotgun, and she found him. I played volleyball with her (and her son), and NO one had any idea...simply tragic.

I don't have kids, but my neighbor's boys (5 & 3) are sometimes in my house alone (go in to use the bathroom, etc.).

When my "spidey senses" go off, or I'm in certain scenarios (like out in the woods, desolate boat ramps, etc), or see dogs "packing" in my neighborhood, I make one readily available, but not all the time.

I'm like Higgins' boys...I've had guns since I was 9, but most kids aren't exposed to them and kid's are VERY curious creatures, watch too much fantasy TV and video games, etc. and have NO clue.

BE CAREFUL!!!

as everyjuan knows times is tough and probably will be for awhile. and just like the depression crime goes up. example this am news a guy dressed as a chick robs the M&I bank just north of me on scottsdale road. this is happening more and more. here in arizona home invasions are up, vehicle theft always rank high here due to border being close etc. my suggestion to everyjuan who can.........get your CCW permit and buy a safe......or two. safe stores always have trade ins of various sizes, big and small. cheap insurance.

since i live alone with my younger son sometimes spending time here, whenever i go out to garage at night to work on something, i always pack a pistol. whenever i go on a "add a part" gun spree or "clean various guns spree: and have a weapon apart in garage i always pack another pistol and no ammo for the gun i am werking on. makes simple sense not to allow anyone even the slightest chance to use it against me or someone else.

very common crime here is the old run into the garage or defeat the garage door entry and grab whatever they can crime. or people leaving garage doors open at night.

at night all my doors and windows are locked. have security door front and rear.

as far as my safes........well im the only juan that goes in and out of them period. everyjuan of my guns in either safe ARE ALL LOADED or mags right next to them. i do not leave rounds in the pipe ever. no guns are loaded in my house EVER! ie. one in pipe. ALL MY WEAPONS HAVE YELLOW NRA BOLT OPEN SAFETY INDICATOR FLAGS ON THEM to indicate a clear chamber. and in a crisis situation these can be removed in a heartbeat and the weapon brought to battery if need be.

when im out in the garage i always lock the laundry room door when werking on weapons that way nojuan can dry gulch me. i take it dead serious and take all precautions to avoid any problemos. most people set themselves up for problems by being careless. some incidents are unavoidable. but for the most part inattention to surroundings is what gets people into a crisis situation.

the smartest thing any of you can do is train family members proper firearms handling. ie. show the newbees the differences btwn a wheel gun, a semi, a shotgun, a bolt action and get them familiar with how they werk. train all of them to consider every gun ALWAYS LOADED and how to DISABLE weapon when weapon is handed to them. ie. CLEAR WEAPON!

on any semi ALWAYS REMOVE MAG/CLIP then RACK ACTION BACK AND LOOK IN CHAMBER! this is where bolt open safety flags come in handy. no dorking around. YOU KNOW CHAMBER IS CLEAR WITH FLAG INSERTED!

a little time spent now can mean lots of safety down the road. most accidents (AD's) are because someone is not familiar with weapon and how to clear it.

My appologies, George. That first statement just strikes a raw nerve with me. You presented it as a fact, not your opinion, so my first thought was "here we go again..." Like I said, I just see these kinds of statements coming from the anti-gun side of the argument all too frequently. Sorry I jumped on you about it.

You are absolutely right in that we should all do whatever makes us comfortable. Some of us find it unthinkable to have a loaded, readily accessable gun in the house. Some of us find it unthinkable not to have one. And everything in between. Without pushing this even more towards the political, as long as we are all free to make these choices for ourselves and our families, everything is good. There are, however, folks that would dearly love to make these choices for us. They often lead in with precisely the kind of statement you made, so I tend to be a bit sensitive to such. Maybe too sensitive.

At some point in the near future I would like to get a gun to take to the range and shoot just for the sheer fun of it. Maybe I am just lucky, but at no point in my life have I ever been in a situation where I have wished that I had a gun on me or have ever thought that I needed to have a gun in arm's reach while I slept for the night. Or maybe I am just naive.

It's like a fire extinguisher. You hope you never need it and most people never will. But if you ever find yourself in a situation where you do need one, you'll be AWFULLY glad you had one.

YES YES YES!

This is the bit the non-gun folk don't understand.

Even if you don't NEED a gun it's fun to take a gun to a range and shoot holes in paper.

Nobody NEEDS a television either.

Oops, off original topic. As you were.

I use a Gun Vault in the bedroom that contains a Glock 17 with a light on it. Only my wife and I can get to the gun. Access is very quick and possible in the dark due to the design of the Gun Vault key pad.
Downstairs I store my long guns and a few pistols in a large, fire resistant gun safe. Access to these guns is limited to my wife and me but is fairly slow because of the conventional key pad combination entry. I intend to get another Gun Vault downstairs and possible one for long guns that they offer.

We have three young children and often have visiting children in the house. I rest easy knowing nothing is left out and available to be discovered.
Troy