Keeping a gun at the ready?

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Years ago I also subscribed to the "gun over there in the closet" theory of sufficient nearby protection. Time and again there has been local media coverage of unprovoked break-and-entry. Within five miles of my home. Even imposters pretending to be utility workers pushing their way into OCCUPIED homes.

That is just plain nuts. Seeing that ongoing craziness influenced me to entirely recalibrate my plan. Daytime and nightime get slightly different approaches. Heck, working from home a firearm is literally on the desk so I would not even need to stand to effectively bring a firearm into action. Life comes at us fast sometimes.

I believe @GEM and others who suggest "putting ourselves against a stopwatch" are entirely correct.
Reclined on a nice sofa or relaxing at the dinner table…it takes us way, way, way longer than we think.
 
GEM said:
I don't trust any electronic device and I go along with the the discussion of how long does it take you to get to the gun from boxes, drawers, under your underwear. Again, I offered a test of those concepts. For example, we have kitchen that opens to the 'great run'. Do I have a gun on the kitchen island and one of the coffee table. If I have to get from the kitchen to the great room coffee table and open some electronic vault - time that. You might be able for the noise in the yard but we are talking about the rare, hi-speed, door kick in or window shatters.

We mock safe guns because we think their electronics will fail in a crisis, so why think that your 'safe' is guaranteed. Anyone remember when Uncle Mike's proposed a biometric holster for cops? That seems to not have made it.
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As a responsible gun owner, I want to keep the guns in a safe place where my young grandchildren cannot get "curious" and handle a firearm before they are "properly & safely" taught under adult supervision. I live in a small community of less than a thousand folks. There have been some breaks ins and theft's of guns and other items. The other items I have no control over but the guns I do. Both of my sons know about the biometric safes hidden throughout the house and are happy they are. The biometric safes also have special keys just in case the biometrics fail. I have used them many times just to make sure they are still working properly. If not I have the master key hidden.

If they do not work for you then I hope you eventually get something more secure than your underwear drawer. As far as getting it out of the biometric safes, I can retrieve a gun is roughly 3-5 seconds once I touch the safe. The safe I use is the GunVault SV500 SpeedVault Series Heavy Gauge Steel Handgun Safe. Setup is the key to making it work. If I remember correctly, they recommended touching the touchpad at least 150 times to give the safe a chance to read every variable of the finger.
 
bigmike45 said:
If they do not work for you then I hope you eventually get something more secure than your underwear drawer.
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My OWB holster works for me.

bigmike45 said:
I can retrieve a gun is roughly 3-5 seconds once I touch the safe.
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That plus the time it takes to get to the safe is too long for me--and that's without having a home invader between the safe and me.
 
5 seconds is an eternity. Try the test. Have someone at the door, you being not on top of the safe. I have no trouble with having guns in safes. Scattering safes all through the house seems not optimal as having one on you. Having to find the key in case of failure seems a rather slow process.

BTW, watch some competitors and how many shots on how many targets they can hit in 5 seconds.

Of course, you don't want guns out for kids to get to. That's why you have them on your person in a way that is safe to carry.

But whatever, no one will ever accept when their plan for their territory is critiqued.
 
My handgun safe is bolted to my bed frame, so there isn’t any getting to it involved if it’s needed in the middle of the night.

It uses a Simplex lock and 3 seconds would be about the longest it takes me to access it. I do get a lot of practice with this lock so I am probably faster and more consistent than most would be. My concern is that I would try the default combo out of habit instead of mine.
 
If you saw some of the scum that drive down my street looking for fun you would keep a gun handy also. One fine day I had a carload of them park in my driveway and start to get out of their car. Smiling and laughing. I turned so they could see the large revolver on my belt. They suddenly remembered they had to be somewhere else. They never came back. But I'm watching for them.
 
Have most of the good stuff locked up in three safes but have others scattered throughout the house on magnets on the recliner, under the entertainment center at the main entry, in one of the bathrooms, no kids around so no worries. Have yet to add a shower gun but that may be next being an old Boy Scout that likes to "Be Prepared"
https://thinktacticalnews.com/tag/waterproof-shower-gun-case/
 
My 11 year old only recent became interested in guns, shooting, and the 2nd Amendment. Of course this has lead to answering all his questions about carrying, rules/laws, the choices I've made, etc...
You know, all the stuff that gets discussed here.

We were leaving the house one day and he asked if I was carrying. No likelihood of any neighbors overhearing but I wanted to get a point across because asking in the wrong place could be troublesome. Simply put, If I'm not inside the house, I'm carrying 100% of the time. If I'm inside the house, it's more like 98%.... depending on if I'm sleeping and if I have clothes on. I told him I'd prefer he not ask again.

I don't have guns scattered throughout the house, but I have a couple that are stashed for easy(relatively) access on the way in or out.
 
cd4337 said:
"…I started to carry a LCP in my pocket or a P365 and find it very comfortable…"
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I do love my assorted IWB/OWB holsters for my semi-autos. There is something comforting about being able to unobtrusively have a full grip on a pocket pistol or J-frame revolver. You can just be casually standing there like Johnny-On-The-Block and likely 99.98% of the time you'll be the only person who knows a firearm is present.
 
House is well fortified in layers and always lit up outside. They wont get through the doors without a lot of tools and noise. Before that they have to get through security gates in front of the doors. Windows are break proof security filmed with mechanical locks and also framing. Getting through those wont be easy or quiet either. Easiest thing to do would be chainsaw through the wall or drive a car into the house. We all keep an eye on each others houses in the neighborhood and have neighborhood watch signs posted all over. Wife has some sort of alert system app thing on her phone if anyone sees anything strange in the area (I dont own a phone). Pretty much everyone has firearms. LE that live in the neiborhood let me know about newcomers.

I dont carry at home. Sometimes if I am out walking with the kids. If we leave our neighborhood I carry most of the time. At home I really dont worry about having a gun at arms reach all the time. If someone tries to breach the house its going to take a lot of work and time. I also make it a point to not have enemies or piss people off. Dont like unnecessary drama.

Probably put some glowing crucifixes around the property this spring. Keep any demons away.
 
I rarely wear a sidearm while in the house. Sometimes in the daytime I do, if I'm dressed and armed for the day and am in and out. Once I'm home for the day though I rarely wear the gun, but I always have one within a couple steps, sometimes closer. It's hard to explain the layout of my place but given the hardened doors, etc it would be very hard for someone to kick a door open and be on me quickly; if they had tools (eg a ram, a vehicle, etc) maybe but likely it will take quiet a few kicks or strikes, plenty of time go reach over for a firearm. Of course, as the occasion warrants I might be wearing one, it just depends.
 
Phaedrus/69 said:
I rarely wear a sidearm while in the house. Sometimes in the daytime I do, if I'm dressed and armed for the day and am in and out. Once I'm home for the day though I rarely wear the gun, but I always have one within a couple steps, sometimes closer. It's hard to explain the layout of my place but given the hardened doors, etc it would be very hard for someone to kick a door open and be on me quickly; if they had tools (eg a ram, a vehicle, etc) maybe but likely it will take quiet a few kicks or strikes, plenty of time go reach over for a firearm. Of course, as the occasion warrants I might be wearing one, it just depends.
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Doors are easy. Windows are tricky. Euros do better than we do. Their doors typically open outwards and are reenforced. Your average door in the US can be breeched with one kick if someone knows what they are doing. The real fun is trying to figure out how to outsmart a good lockpick artist.

Everyone worries about having a gun at arms reach or a safe to protect from theft. Meanwhile most houses can be compromised in a few seconds. Better to never let them get in IMO. Throwing a dog bowl and leash by your entrances is a good practice as well even if you dont own a dog. Theives/ criminals dont like dogs. Its like holy water to them. They will move to the next house.
 
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My place isn't impregnable by any means, but a would-be home invader won't get in quickly or quietly. That's about the best one can expect with most American residential construction. As long as my physical security measures can buy me a little time I should have a pretty good chance. FWIW, a carrier with rifle-rated ceramic/PE plates is sitting by my HD carbine.
 
357smallbore said:
I'm sure this has been discussed, cussed and chewed up before. When I am home in my house, I keep a handgun next to me when I watch TV, read or just relax. Bedtime I have one in my nightstand. When I am outside doing chores or just being on my porch, I am carrying on my person.
I'm not weird, just wanting to be prepared for that unexpected.
Fellow gun enthusiast out there do the same?
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Doesn't everyone?
 
I used to, then I retired.

About a year ago there were several home invasion robberies in my town. According to the news reports the common denominator in all of them was that the robbers either walked right through an unlocked (in one case standing open ) door or the home owner opened the door without verifying who was knocking. There's a lesson there if you look for it. I decided to put the effort into making my home difficult to enter.

I don't care to wear street clothes and certainly not a gun belt at home I did that at work for 15 years, no more. I have a Glock26 sitting on the end table right next to me (all the other firearms in my home are secured), if I move it moves with me.

If I'm actually leaving my home I get dressed. I carry a Glock 19 and two reloads.

You do you Boo.
 
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