Do You Carry At Home?

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Moonglum

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Old topic, I know.

I just read a discussion on Glock Talk in which the poster asked "Where Ever You Are, Are You Armed Right Now?"

Based on the follow up discussion I assume what he was really asking is "Do You Carry At Home?"

I am currently sitting in my living room in Gym Shorts and a T-Shirt. That won't support a gun so my Glock 26 is sitting on the coffee table right in front of me, in a holster of course.

I don't walk out the door unarmed.
 
I try to be prepared.

I keep things I think I might need on me all the time so they are immediately available if the need arises. That includes, among other things, a mini Swiss Army Knife, a $20 bill, a magnifying glass, a gun, a flashlight, my keys, and a locking blade knife.
 
No, I dont.

I simply will not live "that way" in my own home. My general impression is that [if] someone feels like its something they simply must do, they have likely ignore many associated security issues already.

If people can suddenly appear in your home, some of your most important security efforts, suck.. sorry.

My goal is to:

create the sort of anti- curb appeal that suggest that someone is home, being spotted, seen or recorded is likely and getting into the house will be a real pain. Thats is what I want them to think. If they decide to try it anyway, I want to: detect danger early and hinder their efforts to enter in a very meaningful manner.

That means security rated storm door, good solid main doors, good locks, security strike plates, hardwood or metal jambs, reinforced hinges. It means ornamental iron on several windows, storm windows and 3m security glazing on the ones that dont.

If they get inside they will have to contend with 86 pound doberman. If they get past all of that, I will have already walked casually to my nightstand, armed myself and called 911.

I am NOT going to wear a gun in my home, period. Thats just me
 
I simply will not live "that way" in my own home. My general impression is that [if] someone feels like its something they simply must do, they have likely ignore many associated security issues already.
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Not sure what "that way" means or why one would assume that carrying at home is only done if someone feels that they "must do" it.

It's way easier to carry at home than elsewhere. The laws about carry and use of deadly force tend to be much less restrictive, carry methods can be simpler/more comfortable since concealment isn't a big deal.

Also, the things and people at home tend to be more important to us than the things and people in other buildings that we spend time in. And if something does happen in one's home, the odds of someone else noticing and calling the police or coming to help may be less than if things happen in public. It's not hard to imagine that some folks might think it actually makes more sense to carry at home than in public.

For me, being prepared is just something I try to always do. Everywhere. Not because I feel I must do it or worry if I don't, but because I think being prepared is better than not being prepared. I don't feel freaked out or scared if I don't have a gun or a flashlight on me. I don't feel like I "must" have a locking blade knife or my keys on me at all times, I just think having them at hand is better/simpler than having them anywhere else.

These discussions are always interesting. Responses generally seem to break into two categories, both based on each category making assumptions (often incorrect) about the other's motivations and mental state.
 
Outdoor security cameras aimed at point of entry. Mainly because I am too deaf to hear the doorbell, but does multiple purposes. We can watch the critters come to eat the cat food, keep an eye on the outdoor cats. Watch for the frequent deliveries, etc.
So, with "staged" guns (we live in the country, was broken into years ago when no one home) just in case. Therefore, I think there would be ample warning so I don't carry in the house. Nevertheless, I always carry a .38 snub in a pocket holster when outdoors...use it on targets of opportunity...one racoon, one woodchuck. I also killed two different foxes over the years while they were attacking my poultry...but used a shotgun (3 inch 12 gauge, #2 lead.) when we observed them after the chickens. Lost a beloved pet goose one night to coyotes...so I carry that snub whenever outside with the off-chance I will be able to get revenge (but not likely...trail cam only shows them around at night).
 
Not really. They're close enough nearby. Even people who are invited and have my address have a hard time finding the property, it's not easy to get here. I don't anticipate a situation where carrying my gun around the house makes the difference.

I do carry it outside though. We have animals (goats, chickens) and just enough land that it's very feasible to walk up on a hog, coyote, rattlesnake, even the odd black bear out here.
 
Not really. Perhaps if I've just returned home and am doing something other than immediately returning my retirement weapon to its normal resting place in the home. In that case my pocket or belt holstered weapon might remain on me for a little while, until I have time to go put it up.

Every once in a blue moon I might have the urge to slip something small and pocket-holstered on me.

Mostly, however, I always try to have a folding knife and a small flashlight on me. Both are far more useful, in a very practical sense, virtually every day/night, even around the house. Light can be good-to-critical, and there's not shortage of practical uses for a sharp edge in the world.

Leaving the property? Aside from a retirement weapon, I like to have 1-3 folding knives on me, and at least 1 small light. Sometimes 2, because the small ones only run for up to an hour at the brightest settings. I spent enough of my career having to navigate through darkened buildings and areas to ever want to be without a light again. Not even at 'high noon'.
 
Not sure what "that way" means or why one would assume that carrying at home is only done if someone feels that they "must do" it.

It's way easier to carry at home than elsewhere. The laws about carry and use of deadly force tend to be much less restrictive, carry methods can be simpler/more comfortable since concealment isn't a big deal.

Also, the things and people at home tend to be more important to us than the things and people in other buildings that we spend time in. And if something does happen in one's home, the odds of someone else noticing and calling the police or coming to help may be less than if things happen in public. It's not hard to imagine that some folks might think it actually makes more sense to carry at home than in public.

For me, being prepared is just something I try to always do. Everywhere. Not because I feel I must do it or worry if I don't, but because I think being prepared is better than not being prepared. I don't feel freaked out or scared if I don't have a gun or a flashlight on me. I don't feel like I "must" have a locking blade knife or my keys on me at all times, I just think having them at hand is better/simpler than having them anywhere else.

These discussions are always interesting. Responses generally seem to break into two categories, both based on each category making assumptions (often incorrect) about the other's motivations and mental state.
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Brother, you seem oddly defensive about what I said. If you truly do not know what I am referring to when I say "that way", its simply pointing out that carrying a gun inside your own home is rather fringe. When I carry a gun, I am ON.. some people know what that means. I have no desire to be ON when I am at home in my easy chair.

There is a reason I placed the word [if], in brackets. I used the word "if" to highlight the rather obvious possibility that not all people feel as if they MUST do it. I also said it was a general impression which tends to suggest that its not something I consider absolute in every circumstance.

There is plenty of room for other possibilities and I purposefully left room for them. If you want to carry a gun inside your home, I have no gripe about it. I do however feel that your desire to be "prepared" would probably be better served by taking steps to keep people out to begin with rather than preparing for failure. The best possible condition is probably avoiding the fight altogether. I would start by insuring that people cannot immediately enter my home to threaten or harm me.

Being prepared doesnt necessairly mean that you must carry everything on your person. Do you carry a fire extinguisher on your person while inside your home. If your answer is [no], then why not? Your level of preparedness if often reflective of you overall safe/secure status. I am simply suggesting that if you adopt that (gun in your pocket) level of preparedness while inside your home, you might examine why. If you do not carry a fire extinguisher because you feel more secure from fire vs some armed intruder, why is that? A fire can spawn from darn near anywhere without warning. Why not carry a fire extinguisher. Just speaking for myself, I do not carry a gun inside my home because I feel that my secure condition is robust enough to allow 10 seconds to retrieve a weapon should I need it. I feel the same way about fire and most other conceivable potential threats inside the home. I feel that way because I have taken numerous steps to construct my current condition. I would not trade that for guns in my pocket.

Everyone knows people who are prepared to deal with danger as an occupation. If you were to ask them if they carry a gun in their pocket while at home, you would probably be surprised what they say.

Again, you know what is best for you and I have no problem with it. I am simply sharing my opinion and view on the matter. - best to all
 
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FireForged said:
No, I dont.

I simply will not live "that way" in my own home. My general impression is that [if] someone feels like its something they simply must do, they have likely ignore many associated security issues already.

If people can suddenly appear in your home, some of your most important security efforts, suck.. sorry.

My goal is to:

create the sort of anti- curb appeal that suggest that someone is home, being spotted, seen or recorded is likely and getting into the house will be a real pain. Thats is what I want them to think. If they decide to try it anyway, I want to: detect danger early and hinder their efforts to enter in a very meaningful manner.

That means security rated storm door, good solid main doors, good locks, security strike plates, hardwood or metal jambs, reinforced hinges. It means ornamental iron on several windows, storm windows and 3m security glazing on the ones that dont.

If they get inside they will have to contend with 86 pound doberman. If they get past all of that, I will have already walked casually to my nightstand, armed myself and called 911.

I am NOT going to wear a gun in my home, period. Thats just me
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It seems somewhat odd to me to take all of the mentioned security measures, but then to say that someone carrying a firearm in his/her home is living “that way”. It’s not that I disagree with the mentioned security measures, it’s just that I have little doubt that to some people those measures by themselves would be seen as living “that way”. That carrying a firearm inside a home is a step too far and makes someone “fringe” seems contradictory to me.


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Brother, you seem oddly defensive about what I said. If you truly do not know what I am referring to when I say "that way", its simply pointing out that carrying a gun inside your own home is rather fringe.
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So "fringe" is a neutral/positive term, in your opinion? Ok, so no reason to be defensive. :D
When I carry a gun, I am ON.. some people know what that means. I have no desire to be ON when I am at home in my easy chair.
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When I carry a gun, I am carrying a gun. Sort of like when I'm carrying a flashlight I'm carrying a flashlight. I guess if you feel different when you are carrying a gun and it's an unpleasant feeling, it makes sense that you wouldn't want to do it any more than you have to. I don't feel different based on whether I'm carrying a gun or not, so carrying at home doesn't bother me at all. If by being "ON", you mean paying attention to what's going on around you, I find that I don't enjoy life as much if I don't pay attention to what's going on around me. Some people find it to be a chore, I find it to be interesting and pleasant.

As far as it being unusual, that's probably true. There are probably many other things about me that are not average or mainstream. I'm ok with that--I've never aspired to be either, nor considered either to be worthy goals.
Being prepared doesnt necessairly mean that you must carry everything on your person.
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Sure. I don't carry everything on me, not by a long shot. :D But you knew that.

I do carry more things than most folks, I suppose, and I find it amusing how often I use the things I carry, and also how often folks are surprised that I have them--when THEY need them.
Do you carry a fire extinguisher on your person while inside your home. If your answer is [no], then why not?
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No. Because they don't make any that are small enough for me to conveniently carry, in my own estimation of what it means to carry something conveniently, and because it's not possible to carry everything. I have to prioritize based on my own ideas of what I consider to be useful and worthy of being carried. You might prioritize differently, and if you feel that carrying a fire extinguisher is worthwhile and it makes your list of things to carry at home, why would that be any concern of mine? Do you think I would post that carrying a fire extinguisher was "fringe" behavior and state that I refuse to live "that way" or ask you why you don't also carry tourniquets at home? If you do, you'd be wrong.

It doesn't bother me that I make different choices than other people do--in fact, just the opposite tends to be true.

Now, if someone tries to justify their choices and the reasons aren't logical, I might point that out because logic isn't the same as personal preference. It follows the same rules for everyone.

But it's unreasonable to assume that everyone is going to make identical decisions to everyone else or that the only reason they wouldn't is because of some deficiency or problem they have.
I am simply suggesting that if you adopt that (gun in your pocket) level of preparedness while inside your home, you might examine why.
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Didn't you read my first post? I provided a number of reasons why some people might find that it makes sense to carry at home--maybe even more sense than carrying elsewhere.
 
I don't get around as well as I did, so there is no running to my gun happening here. Get up put on pants w flashlight, knife, keys & gun. Go to bed everything goes back on the nightstand. Have you ever seen me without pants? You've never seen me without a gun (at least @ home)
 
First, I didn't start this discussion to question anybody's life choices. If you choose to not carry a gun at home that's on you. If you choose to carry a gun at home that's still on you.

Whether or not I carry a gun in my home is mostly dependent on whether or not I'm wearing street clothes. If I'm wearing street clothes I have a gun on me.

It just seems that the older I get the less I want to wear street clothes in my house. I mean, if I'm going in and out or if I know I'm going to be leaving home that's one thing but when I'm home for the day I want to relax. And if something should come up where I need to leave home I have a pair of pants hanging in the den that already have the bat belt on them. All I have to do is put them on and go.

So most of the time I'm not actually carrying a gun but I keep the one within arm's length of me at all times.

As someone said earlier, I also do everything I can to deselect myself from the victim pool. First and foremost I lock my damn door.


I think it was two summers ago there was a rash of home invasion burglaries in my town and every single one of them that made the news had one thing in common. Either the homeowner opened their front door without knowing for sure who was on the other side of it or the burglars walked right through an unlocked door. So, my doors and windows are locked and reinforced.

Second, we practice OPSEC. I don't mention new purchases on social media. I don't leave the box from my brand new TV on the curb. I don't talk guns with the neighbors. If workmen come to my home I don't draw attention to my valuables and I don't allow them into areas of the house they don't need to be in.

I used to have a job as a service tech that required me to go to people's houses and I was always a surprised by the number of people who went out of their way to brag to me about all the nice things they had in their house. I had people that would go out of their way to show me their high end gun collection or they'd leave me alone in the master bedroom and never give a second thought to the gun sitting on the nightstand. It's a slightly different topic but I was also amazed at the number of times I would show up at somebody's house and their children (specifically their teenage or younger daughters) would answer the door and let me in to do the service call because Mom and Dad weren't home.

So I said all that to say that I try to make my home undesirable to break into in the first place and difficult to break into in the second. I can access my gun without taking a step.

That said, I absolutely DO prepare for failure. It doesn't mean that I think failure is likely, it means that I think that the consequences of failure are unthinkable. I also do have a fire extinguisher hanging on the wall right next to the stove.
 
I live in a "good area" and do not expect to "need" the pistol I've got IWB.
Same could be said for the grocery or a restaurant, I don't expect to "need" a pistol there either, yet I carry one.
"Bad" / psycho people are mobile and not completely nocturnal ;) may show up at the grocery, restaurant, or just possibly my house.
Whatever pistol is carried to an area of perceived greater threat, is getting carried everywhere because "bad" / psycho people are mobile.
If a 1911 or Glock 19 (whatever) is carried in "bad area" it should also logically be carried in "good areas" at the store, restaurant, ...

ETA: having a German Shepherd and Bullmastiff in my home is in addition to the pistol IWB that I don't expect to need but carry anyway.

Edit, because wording was not PC in order for some to get my point (not that it will impact them anyway), I've rephrased it to be more PC
 
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These discussions are always interesting. Responses generally seem to break into two categories, both based on each category making assumptions (often incorrect) about the other's motivations and mental state.
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That's a VERY astute observation and I think demonstrated above in this very thread.

Note: I've found almost every thread on this site interesting and I was the one that added the bolded to the part of the quote I wanted emphasized---not the writer of post #4.
 
It seems somewhat odd to me to take all of the mentioned security measures, but then to say that someone carrying a firearm in his/her home is living “that way”.
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making sure that you have good doors, locks and barrier protection is considered rather benign.. plug and play.. do it and forget about it. These sort of efforts are not in the same universe as carrying loaded weapons. Every traditional home in America has doors and windows, they do not all have armed occupants.

If you are drawing some sort of equivalence between have a solid door and quality locks and carrying a j frame in your pocket. I am not really sure how to address that. Making sure that a persons doors, windows and locks which you are bound to have by default are actually up to the task of access control is really a fairly passive effort. Being armed with a handgun is rather Active and far from benign. The two are not very similar on a physical level, psychological level, emotional, moral or ethical level. They are really quite different and hail from completely different layers of security.

I say all that in an attempt to try and highlight the difference between "that way" and other ways.
 
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FireForged said:
making sure that you have good doors, locks and barrier protection is considered rather benign.. plug and play.. do it and forget about it. These sort of efforts are not in the same universe as carrying loaded weapons. Every traditional home in America has doors and windows, they do not all have armed occupants.

If you are drawing some sort of equivalence between have a solid door and quality locks and carrying a j frame in your pocket. I am not really sure how to address that. Making sure that a persons doors, windows and locks which you are bound to have by default are actually up to the task of access control is really a fairly passive effort. Being armed with a handgun is rather Active and far from benign. The two are not very similar on a physical level, psychological level, emotional, moral or ethical level. They are really quite different and hail from completely different layers of security.

I say all that in an attempt to try and highlight the difference between "that way" and other ways.
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Every home in the US does have doors and windows. Not every home in the US has doors and windows with the specifications that were laid out. In fact other than a home where the owner added those specifically I’ve never encountered an older production or newer production home with all of those features. I’d add that those living in apartments and condominiums may not have the luxury of making those modifications (or having a dog for that matter).

In both cases, whether active or passive, the user is making efforts that go above the “norm”. They may not be in the same universe from your point of view, but I can’t say the same for myself. I think there is more overlap in the mentalities of those two camps than is being credited. As for the moral and ethical implications, to my knowledge all of us here do at least own if not carry firearms. We’ve all made that decision already. If we were debating a purely defensive standpoint versus one that is not then I might agree that there is a dichotomy, but that isn’t the case here.

All of this is in essence part of my point. Declaring what is or isn’t “fringe” seems much more subjective than objective. All of us being on this forum in the first place and having this discussion is no doubt “fringe” to a number of people. Maybe there are levels of “fringe”, but idk where we get the measurement device for those designations.


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It was a simple, Yes / No question. All that's called for is a simple Yes or No for an answer.

It certainly doesn't call for getting into a debate with any member whose answer is opposite to yours.
 
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