Can you reasonably get to your HD gun in an HD situation?
- Thread starter Skribs
- Start date
I carry at home and have several firearms staged throughout the house. If there is a home invasion it can be so quick that your brain won't function as you think it would and are caught totally off guard. By the time you can make sense of it, it is to late for you to go get your gun, or it can be very delicate and you won't hear a thing. I have motion sensors in the hallway leading to my bedroom and alarm systems wired throughout the house.
Under 21 doesn't have right to self defense in the home?
Under 21 has a much higher liability when it comes to unsecured hand guns. Whether guardians want to assume this liability is their choice.
My 18yo daughter has pretty much no interest in guns and I trust her. I still keep my guns secured because she has friends that come over. That is my choice.
I submit that if one can not, then the gun, whatever else it is, is not really a home defense gun.
What is nice is that it's not terribly complicated to think through the possible ways someone might break into the house and how the defender would access (or fail to be able to access) a gun stored in various locations. Then make adjustments. The key is thinking through things before the emergency actually happens.
AND in having realistic expectations. If you use a walker, sprinting to get a gun in the next room isn't realistic. If you wake up slowly, then a nightstand safe that isn't super-easy to open might be a show-stopper. If you have to go through a hypothetical home invader to get to your gun, the plan needs to be revised. If the gun isn't stored loaded, one needs to make sure the plan includes time to load the gun. etc., etc.
Is this just asked in general? My living arrangements haven't changed.
You can modify that approach to include hidden safes around the house, depending on your budget.
I appreciate that you have taken your situation into account and made what is most likely the appropriate choice.
However, there are plenty of stories of teenagers being home alone when folks break in, who do use their guns to defend themselves. I am not going to demonize their parents for making what was the appropriate choice in their situation.
lightman
Member
I'm a #3 guy. My house is pretty much divided into 3rds and I keep a loaded handgun in each area. We have no young children living with us but when we have young visitors I put them away. Also, I put them away if we are going to be gone for very long, (vacation, ect) except for the ones that go with us.
JTHunter
Member
Skribs - I'm kind of a #3 guy. While I have some handguns secreted around my house, I also have a large chef's knife (blade is 2" high at the heel and 12" long) in the kitchen as well as some "unconventional weapons".
As I currently live alone, I (thankfully) don't have to worry about kids getting into my guns. But all are loaded and ready at a moments notice. I don't have a CCP as IL-ANNOY is too expensive and I don't particularly care for it. And, the legal "climate" in this area is such that it is sometimes called "Chicago South".
As I currently live alone, I (thankfully) don't have to worry about kids getting into my guns. But all are loaded and ready at a moments notice. I don't have a CCP as IL-ANNOY is too expensive and I don't particularly care for it. And, the legal "climate" in this area is such that it is sometimes called "Chicago South".
I'm a #2 and #1 kind of guy who lives in a border county on a retired ranch with the Mrs and a pair of GSDs...since January 2021 there have been 'several' attempts by others to gain entrance into our home. The last attempt was very well organized, involving multiple people, front and back doors, and a large toy hauler trailer pulled by a pickup. These 'dry runs' reinforce the first two choices more than the third for me, I always carry OWB, often .357mag with speed loaders, while working outdoors or inside...very bad 'things' escalate very quickly.
For those of you who have been in a dwelling during a burglary/home invasion- did you have a dog? Did the dog give you any warning?
I've always felt like I would have time to get to a long gun in a situation like that, because the dog alerts me any time someone pulls into the driveway.
I've always felt like I would have time to get to a long gun in a situation like that, because the dog alerts me any time someone pulls into the driveway.
.38 Special
Member
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I used to keep shotguns leaning in a few corners. Since the boys got old enough and strong enough to use them - and more importantly, old enough to have unsupervised friends over - that has come to an end. These days, if I am awake I have a gun on my person, and while sleeping it lives on the nightstand next to me.
My wife is mildly anti-gun, but is in the habit of asking me to show her how to use the shotgun every once in a while - usually after seeing something horrific on the news. She now is moderately familiar with the hammer double 12 gauge, and has memorized the combination for the safe where it lives. If it really came down to it I doubt any of it would do her much good, but it makes her feel better.
My wife is mildly anti-gun, but is in the habit of asking me to show her how to use the shotgun every once in a while - usually after seeing something horrific on the news. She now is moderately familiar with the hammer double 12 gauge, and has memorized the combination for the safe where it lives. If it really came down to it I doubt any of it would do her much good, but it makes her feel better.
Coyote3855
Member
I am seldom if ever out of reach of a defensive firearm. Either carrying or stashed.
One thing I wonder, and maybe this deserves another topic, is why we spend so much time worrying about locks for our guns, when we leave kitchen knives right out on the countertop.
Some dogs are great at this. Others are horrible, or inconsistent.
Old Hobo
Member
Yes, same here. At home, I drop a small revolver or auto in my pocket. These I'd not call "carry weapons" -- too small / not enough power. Their ONLY purpose is to allow me to touch-off a few rounds as cover as I run to get a REAL weapon (shotgun). Don't get me wrong, I'd not want to get hit with one of these "little" weapons (.22 mag; .32 with Buffalo Bore ammo loaded), but one needs more and I just don't want to carry around too much weight around the house. A polymer chopped 9mm of mine is no real burden to carry either.
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Under 21 doesn't have right to self defense in the home?
When I was 16, somebody opened the screen door of our back door off from the kitchen (5am in the morning). They didn't try the main back door. I went to the gun cabinet at the foot of my bed and got out my double-barrel 12 ga & went to see what the dickens that was about. Stood at port arms in the living room looking into the kitchen -- clean view of back door. There was no further activity. Car drove up the road. I went back to bed. Had they broken the glass and reached in, I'd have hamburgerized their hand -- I used my 20 ga for squirrels (little damage, more meat to eat). A human hand is a much easier target to acquire than any jittery squirrel running around up in a tree.
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I would take this question of being able to get to a gun inside the home one step further. Can you get to the gun on your person if you are in a physical confrontation? If you are on your feet and someone is throwing a flurry of haymakers, any one of which could knock you out, can you defend yourself well enough to buy time to be able to draw your gun without letting a punch slip through? How about if you are on the ground and someone has you in mount straddling you, can you draw your gun from that position if your adversary is blocking it with his legs or body while punching your face? How about if they take your back?
These are good questions to ask oneself. Having a gun on you doesn't mean you can necessarily access it during a violent confrontation. Assess all possibilities and counters and then train.
These are good questions to ask oneself. Having a gun on you doesn't mean you can necessarily access it during a violent confrontation. Assess all possibilities and counters and then train.
I really don't think that makes sense at all.
JTHunter
Member
There is something you might keep in mind - the face from ear to ear and chin to forehead are the weakest points on the head. If at all possible, while your attacker is throwing those haymakers, tuck your chin towards your chest as this not only protects those vulnerable areas as well as your throat, it presents the top of your head (the strongest area) to those blows. Yes, you might get a skull fracture but it is more likely that the attacker's bare fist will be hurt & damaged by hitting such a strong area. That will also give you a couple of seconds of looking down at your holster and getting a good grip on your gun.
Can the passive defenses slow a person down in time for you to get to a firearm? Can you really get to the gun in time.
Here's a test I heard of in class. Now obviously, you don't want folks to break your door and windows. However, get some folk. Outfit them with airsoft guns or even water guns (you can get cheap airsoft at the toy store, even if they are single shot spring, the shoot out is not the point). Put your airsoft where you would stash your SD guns. Now have a seat (even on the pot), lay down in bed, in places you might be. Have the friends enter the house at speed and go for you. Can you get to your gun before they get to you and shoot a pellet?
You really need to see the times involved.
Also, check out videos of SD dogs fleeing in terror or just sniffing the bad guy. You supposed terror pup might not appreciate the situation. If it is an automatic attack a stranger dog, that has its own risks.
Here's a test I heard of in class. Now obviously, you don't want folks to break your door and windows. However, get some folk. Outfit them with airsoft guns or even water guns (you can get cheap airsoft at the toy store, even if they are single shot spring, the shoot out is not the point). Put your airsoft where you would stash your SD guns. Now have a seat (even on the pot), lay down in bed, in places you might be. Have the friends enter the house at speed and go for you. Can you get to your gun before they get to you and shoot a pellet?
You really need to see the times involved.
Also, check out videos of SD dogs fleeing in terror or just sniffing the bad guy. You supposed terror pup might not appreciate the situation. If it is an automatic attack a stranger dog, that has its own risks.
beeenbag
Member
My bedroom arrangement is similar to yours, however most of the time my nightstand handgun is my carry gun and I have it on "most" of the time I am at home. In the event that I am lounging around early morning before getting dressed or something of that nature, I do have a j frame hidden behind a picture frame above my TV in the living room. We also have a 22lr rifle by the back door, not specifically for defensive uses, but more so for dispatching rabbits and such from the garden, but it could be pressed into a defensive role if it were absolutely necessary.
The pattern is much larger at hunting distances than across a room.
beeenbag
Member
I forgot to mention earlier that I also have ADT security system. This allows me to set an "arm stay" feature which arms everything except the motion detectors inside. We also have a dog but I wont include it in this for anything other than maybe a deterrence because she would not alert or attack, at best she might knock something off the porch table trying to get petted.
At which time it could be too late,
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