Insignificant bill
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What works for me is a shotgun and handgun next to my bed
Panic at the gun locker in the night
- Thread starter Arcticfox
- Start date
I've had all day to think about it, and I have two places to relocate said items (that are not safes).
old lady new shooter
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I use a bed holster for my handgun. I don't like the idea of leaving it on the nightstand because in a moment of stress I could end up knocking it off. The bed holster keeps it accessible and in the exact right position for drawing.
Amazon SKU: B00POOTWYW
That said, my house is very well hardened, a garden-variety burglar would most likely go look for an easier house after realizing that breaking in would be noisy and time-consuming. Observing the 2020 riots I decided I needed a home-defense weapon better suited to multiple intruders, so I went to an AR. I have it in a wall safe in my defensive-position room (from which I can see all likely points of entry and have at least some concealment), it's a simplex push-button lock so no electronics to fail or key to fiddle with. My fingers know the combination by heart. Given the hardening features, I have a MINIMUM of 1½ minutes to get there and get ready.
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guyfromohio
Member
Some very good ideas on this thread. I have a similar setup. Mini vault at bedside with a pistol/light in it. I, too, have had those moments when I found the battery dead…..fortunately not at a critical moment. If I didn’t have kids in the house, I may just leave it out. However, frontal lobes aren’t yet fully developed and kids do dumb stuff just like I did as a kid. My solution is to set a recurring alert in my Outlook to change the batteries quarterly. I’m sure it’s too often, but better safe than sorry. Not fool-proof, but better.
armoredman
Member
That is exactly what the Left wants. Too much of a pain in the tushie, so why bother?
Choctaw
Member
When I get home my service weapon goes on my nightstand and there it will remain until I leave again. I then go into the closet and unlock my safe, Within the safe are multiple firearms but only one, an AR, is ready to go. It is loaded and equipped with irons in conjunction with an optic with a shake awake feature. The safe is equipped with a red light so I can see what I'm doing without ruining my night vision.
When I had small kids at home, I had one or two guns. I kept then locked up at night, and carried then in the morning. Never had an issue with the battery or forgetting a code like I would if I didn't touch the safe for a month. You really should be in and out of it every day.
Nowadays, no small children, so there's a gun that just sits on the nightstand.
Nowadays, no small children, so there's a gun that just sits on the nightstand.
bassjam
Member
The nice thing about those simplex locks is they're almost more "programmable" than an electronic safe because you can use 2 or more button presses together as part of the combination and I think that makes them easier to get into half asleep. I have mine set up like that so it's just a 2 step combination, for example:
Press buttons 1&2&3 together, and then press button 5 and unlock. Easy to remember, and easy to do in the dark by feel, and just complicated enough to keep a kid out.
JeffG
Member
Locking up "Go" guns doesn't make sense to me.
Mine are on magnets, I control the people access to them.
MacAR
Member
If they get past the dogs and the reinforced doors, which I consider highly unlikely, a handgun on the night stand and a pump shotgun between nightstand and bedpost ought to stop whatever decides to come in. If 8 shots of 9mm and 6 of 00 buck don't take care of the threat, the next nearest guns are 357 and 30-30 lever actions, an assortment of shotguns, and several single action revolvers. All my guns are loaded, we don't have any kids at home and the only people that are in our house have been invited. We are very rural, so if someone's banging on our door in the dead of night, they either know us, are lost, or have less-than-noble intentions.
Mac
Mac
I should add that I have the rest of my guns in a safe. Only two guns are at the ready. Gun safes are good. I don't have any little kids around these days. I don't have grand kids yet.
When I was married we raised two sons. When they where too young to know better we had those plastic (or metal) drawer stops where the "At the ready handguns" were.
We had two identical nightstands with a top drawer on either side of the bed. I had a 357 Mag revolver in mine and she had a 38 SPL in hers. The drawers would only open about 2.5" so the kids couldn't get into them. You had to know exactly where to reach and how to manipulate the drawer stop to get the drawer open far enogh to get anything out of it. Those may be an option for people with or without kids around the house.
Jeff62
Member
There are no little ones at our house so I don’t feel the need for a quick access type safe. I keep a 1911 on top of my gun safe six feet from my side of the bed.
I used to keep one on the night stand until I woke one morning to see my pistol on the floor. I had apparently knocked it off the table during the night. It bothered me that I had had my hand on my pistol while asleep. Not cool.
I used to keep one on the night stand until I woke one morning to see my pistol on the floor. I had apparently knocked it off the table during the night. It bothered me that I had had my hand on my pistol while asleep. Not cool.
Southerner up North
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No kids, just wife, one kitty and I upstairs. At night the EDC comes off, in the holster and goes on night stand by my head. I have it, a flashlight that is half on so all I have to do is push a button and a pair of jeans within reach. It will take me longer to get CPAP gear off than to get my hand on the light and gun.
vanfunk
Member
This is a great thread and I love the ideas and “reality testing” being expressed. It’s also a testimony to the thoughtfulness and professionalism of this great forum that throughout 3 pages of dialogue, no one has gone off the rails. I have given this subject a great deal of thought but hardly consider myself to be some sort of home defense swami. We live in a “safe” area but the neighboring town has had a number of thefts and home invasions, at times involving multiple actors. We live on a cul-de-sac which is not ideal for malefactors, as there is only one outlet by car and it’s a half-mile from the house. We may be a “desirable” house in that it is large for our area and we have nice cars in the driveway. I have hardened our house to include an alarm and motion-sensing lights around our property (1 acre, lakeside). We have three large Labradors who are sweet as can be but are LOUD and have distinctive barks when there’s a perceived threat. Our master bedroom is now on the 1st floor , down a long hallway from the front door. Intruders coming through a door would come either through the front door or through the basement. The master hallway presents a line of fire 60 feet long and covers the front door and the door from the basement stairs. I can control the lights in the house from the bedroom while keeping the hallway dark. I keep my Benelli M4 locked during the day in the closet but now I have it cruiser-ready at night, 3 feet from the bed. I’ve patterned it extensively and know that Federal flight control 00 buck will hold a tight pattern out to 60’. I’ve had a Glock 21 under the bed in a biometric safe for ages but I think I may move that to the nightstand now for the sleepy-time. Is all of this impenetrable? Not at ALL. BUT i do think it’s good for now.
I have to share a scary story now. 25 years ago I was going through a divorce and was living alone in a 2br ground-floor apartment in a so-so urban neighborhood. I had a door to a fire escape in my bedroom, which led out to a small yard between apartment buildings. One night I had had my usual divorcee dinner of cornflakes and scotch and had gone to bed pretty “tipsy.” Around 2AM I was awakened to a loud, strange sound I couldn’t identify. My bleary eyes made out the beam of a flashlight on my fire escape on the other side of my bedroom exit door. I still couldn’t identify the noise I was hearing. Trying to clear my head, I heard footfalls on the fire escape and then heard and saw someone turning the doorknob on the door! Finding the door locked, someone outside turned to his pal and said “If it’s locked, we’ll have to break it down.” Holy Hell, the balloon was going up! In full panic mode, I sprang into action and retrieved the loaded Colt Trooper from between my mattress and box spring. I was petrified, a little buzzed, had just been awakened and had an annoying, repetitive and loud sound ringing in my ears! What were these guys going to do and what was that SOUND? THANK GOD what finally broke through was not the two men on my fire escape, but the realization that the sound I had been hearing was the building’s fire alarm. The “intruders” on my fire escape were firemen. It chills me to this day to imagine that I might have fired on a first responder trying to save my life had they breached the door. As it happened, it was not a grave emergency, only a flight attendant on the third floor who had torched something in her microwave. But a cautionary tale, yeah, you bet!
I have to share a scary story now. 25 years ago I was going through a divorce and was living alone in a 2br ground-floor apartment in a so-so urban neighborhood. I had a door to a fire escape in my bedroom, which led out to a small yard between apartment buildings. One night I had had my usual divorcee dinner of cornflakes and scotch and had gone to bed pretty “tipsy.” Around 2AM I was awakened to a loud, strange sound I couldn’t identify. My bleary eyes made out the beam of a flashlight on my fire escape on the other side of my bedroom exit door. I still couldn’t identify the noise I was hearing. Trying to clear my head, I heard footfalls on the fire escape and then heard and saw someone turning the doorknob on the door! Finding the door locked, someone outside turned to his pal and said “If it’s locked, we’ll have to break it down.” Holy Hell, the balloon was going up! In full panic mode, I sprang into action and retrieved the loaded Colt Trooper from between my mattress and box spring. I was petrified, a little buzzed, had just been awakened and had an annoying, repetitive and loud sound ringing in my ears! What were these guys going to do and what was that SOUND? THANK GOD what finally broke through was not the two men on my fire escape, but the realization that the sound I had been hearing was the building’s fire alarm. The “intruders” on my fire escape were firemen. It chills me to this day to imagine that I might have fired on a first responder trying to save my life had they breached the door. As it happened, it was not a grave emergency, only a flight attendant on the third floor who had torched something in her microwave. But a cautionary tale, yeah, you bet!
br549arkie
Member
I live back in the middle of 30 acres and have a very alert protective German Shepherd that lives in the house with us. She can hurt you a little just playing and if she were serious she'd do major damage. Most likely she would have us alerted and awake as their vehicle nears the house before they ever got to a door or window. I could probably just stand in the bedroom doorway and watch the show as they came in and were greeted by her.
Of course they'll have to cut the lock/chain or tear down the gate at the end of my drive or walk the 3/8 of a mile from the county road to get up near the house.
Of course they'll have to cut the lock/chain or tear down the gate at the end of my drive or walk the 3/8 of a mile from the county road to get up near the house.
That is a nice safe! My locker has a similar lock. In my incoherent state with a sudden wake up, I could not remember the code, nor remember to reset it after every bad entry, even though I have opened it for 10 years. I have now rectified the accessibility of my back up.
Ks5shooter
Contributing Member
My EDC is on nightstand or in drawer at night and on me all day.Same EXACT routine everyday.Gun is never left unattended and always at the ready.
JTHunter
Member
Old Hobo
Member
Re: plastic encased weapon in shower
Some might make fun of you ... but then they might not understand where it is you live.
A white farmer in South Africa kept a firearm in his bathroom. Problem was that it was out of reach when in the bathtub. Invaders kicked-in his bathroom door and slaughtered both him and his wife. Gruesome details NOT included.
I'd be willing to bet that a bunch of us out here keep stainless steel or nickel-plated handguns within reach of the shower.
I keep an old nickel plated revolver on a shelf 4 inches from the edge of my shower curtain (Buffalo Bore wadcutters in it). As I leave the bathroom, I take my revolver with me. My hearing is kinda-sorta shot-out as it is -- add constant tinnitus. In the shower, I can't hear what's going on in my house unless the event generates low frequencies. I'd hear the dog barking, that's good. Our dog bites. That critter could hold-off somebody long enough for me to arm (3 seconds or so). At night, we turn-on the electronic security system (battery-powered).
For survival reasons, always keep batteries around. One of my gun safes uses a 9V battery just like all of our fire alarms. Continually change batteries in electronic devices. How much is your family's safety worth?! And, buy quality batteries.
In several rooms, we keep candles and in one room we store the kerosene lamps. We store sealed boxes of kitchen matches. Also store blocks of paraffin & wicks for candle-making. Bad winters = power outages. Have a candle and matches in the shower. Thinking ahead keeps you from banging your head.
Always have a means to backlight any intentional invaders. When some drunk tried to get into our house one night, I turned on the outside light and turned off all of our indoor lights (yes, I did have my shotgun with me; kept all outside doors locked; had a little discussion with the drunk through the locked door; he got religion and left out'a there).
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230RN
2A was "political" when it was first adopted.
Well, special circumstances, senior apartment, no kids around, borderline boonies, so... special. But I leave loaded guns all over the apartment,
lightly concealed.
I can't wait for "them" (city-bound legislators in Denver) to start requiring lockups for guns "for the health, benefit, and welfare" of the citizens of Colorado..... which in reality too often works "for the health, benefit, and welfare" of the crooks and crapheads of Colorado.
As in your case of not being able to immediately and instantly avail yourself of personal protection devices, live or dead batteries notwithstanding.
Of course, having kids around requires solid gun security, but you didn't mention any kids.
Terry, 230RN
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When I was a kid I learned to stand in the dark and throw out into the light when I was fishing at night. Gun mounted lights are great, but if the area outside my room is lit, I don't need one. And there's no light showing where I am.
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armoredman
Member
I'll be honest - if I had to react to a break-in from the shower, I don't know if the firearm or the sight of a wet, naked, fat old guy will be more lethal to the intruder. I mean, he might die laughing. Legally, could I be held liable for that...inquiring mindless want to know... 
You have nailed it. I am about to reply to all with my resolution.
After considering all the great replies, I have now rectified this situation. The gun vault under the bed is now defaulted to the "open" position, with the option to close it if I want to secure it. The back up is now out of the locker, and in a well hidden, but unlockable, location. After this very unnerving situation (albeit, a false alarm) I am considering a tertiary item in a similarly available status.
Ironically enough, last night my fire alarm went off at 4:30 AM! Up once again to a sounding alarm. Walked the house, and there was no smoke. I am beginning to think my house is suddenly possessed, lol.
Thank you all for the wisdom imparted.
Arcticfox.
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