properly prepaired is having a gun accessable in every room in the house,yet you still must carry in case your attacked in the hallway.
Mavracer, beg to disagree here. I do not think it is particularly smart to have guns hidden all through your house. Yeah, I'll get flamed for saying this on this board, but ... it's true anyway.
It's really short-sighted and foolish to rely on "but it's hidden" to keep his firearm out of the hands of children, visiting guests, or hurried thieves. Want to tell me all these "readily available" guns people are talking about are in a safe? Somehow I doubt it. Nobody with normal income levels purchases a separate quick-access safe for every room of the house.
Now, of course, the "but I really am a hermit" brigade is going to speak up: "
Nobody ever visits me. I don't let
anyone into my home. My home is my castle!" Sure, guys. You're not married, don't have a girlfriend, never have a one-night stand, don't have any kids, don't have any relatives with kids, don't have any relatives period, don't have any neighbors that ever come visit you, don't have any friends, and certainly have no friends-of-friends ... Sheesh, people, with a life like that, why do you need a defense gun? Nobody's ever going to notice when you're gone anyway!
Proper preparation is having a gun where a home intruder
cannot get his hands on it before you, yourself, are properly armed. If he comes in the front door, knocks over the plant stand and a gun falls out, guess what? You've failed to be properly prepared.
Meanwhile, a buddy of mine who lives in a "low crime" rural area had a bunch of guns stolen last year just before deer season. He left the house for fifteen minutes. Stupid neighbor kid saw him go, rushed into the house, grabbed an armload of guns, and ran off. Buddy got home within 15 minutes, but did not notice the missing guns until a couple hours later. He knew instantly who the thief had to be, lots of circumstantial stuff, but no chance of proving that in a court of law. The guns were gone beyond retrieval by the time he'd realized they were gone, since the kid (probably, based on the one recovered gun) had played it smart and taken them to the big city to sell almost immediately.
Never happen to any of you guys who hide guns in your houses, I know. You've hidden yours better than that. And you don't have any idiot neighbor kids. And a hurried thief will never break in while you're at work. Besides, you've got a dog (who cannot be bribed or poisoned). And if a thief does get in, you would not regret that it was
your gun that got into the hands of a criminal. And you don't actually care one whit that your personal favorite gun might end up getting used in a murder. And you won't be sad if your firearms are stolen, even if they are never found and returned to you. So it's just silly for other people to tell you how to store your guns -- you're a free man, doggone it, and this is still a free country!
Some predictions:
- At least one person on this thread has a gun "hidden" in the pouch-pocket of the recliner. Nobody will ever look there.
- Or under the couch cushions. Nobody will ever look there. (Well, not for a gun anyway ... change, anyone?)
- Someone else has a gun hidden in a brown bag in the freezer. Nobody will ever look there.
- Someone else blinked twice when I mentioned knocking over a plant stand & a gun falling out -- but he's sure his plant-stand gun is secured well enough that it would not simply fall out. Anyway, nobody will ever look there.
- At least one person reading this has a gun hidden under the mattress on the far side of the bed. And in the underwear drawer. And in the laundry hamper. (Ewwwww! Who's going to go through the dirty underwear in the laundry hamper? Just every thief who's ever ransacked a house ...) If anyone does look there, the odor alone will drive him off!
- Someone else has one hidden on the top shelf of the bedroom closet. Nobody will ever look there.
- Someone has one hidden underneath the kitchen sink. Nobody will ever look there.
- Someone reading this just thought, "Under the sink? That's stupid! Mine is inside the oven I haven't used in three years! Nobody will ever look there!"
- Someone reading this thread has a gun in a hollowed-out book (on an otherwise-empty bookshelf, no less!). Nobody will ever look there.
- One of the people reading this is rolling his eyes and thinking, "Well, a thief would never think to look back & above to spot the one I've got hanging inside the closet above the door..." Nobody will ever look there.
- Finally, at least one person reading this is upset at me for giving away his personal secret best gun-hiding place. No thief would have thought of it before I put it on the Internet!
Proper preparation involves having a gun accessible to you, but
not accessible to children, visitors, or hurried thieves. Wear 'em or lock 'em up...
pax