Mindfullness of where your guns are

What a great cross section of perspectives on this. I've had guns since before I got married & had kids. I stashed loaded and/or unloaded gun all over the house (loosely speaking) the whole time raising the kids. I couldn't afford a safe then, so I had to be safe. Leaving all my guns in a nice pile all together seemed like a bad idea so they get scattered.

The key to making it work is a layered approach. I always walked hot, and I Gunproofed my children (Ayoob), and wife, always own a dog, and be careful who you let through your door.

I do not think that I "must" be armed at home either...I like it. I grew up with guns handy. Rifle by the window perhaps? We used to shoot groundhogs in the pasture from our bedroom window back on Cherrybottom Rd in Gahanna Oh., and I think that was super cool and very natural thing for me. Mom wouldn't get mad until we started shooting dads AR out the window.:cool::D
 
As to home invasions: It seems that one will never know what he/she is doing or where he is when some bandit kicks in the door. Are you setting on the couch watching TV, are you in the kitchen making a sandwich, are you setting at the desk doing taxes????

Just how many guns do you need to scatter about the house to be prepared????
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Enough so that if intruders get between me and my safe room, I'll still be armed. That means one gun. I don't have grandchildren and no visiting children will be running around my house out of sight.

As for those who suggest the woman should have "kept the gun on her", there are people on this thread who think it's silly to be armed at home, and remove their weapon and lock it up the minute they get home---kinda like, "whew", I'm safe now--no danger of intruders in my home. Well, I hope they're right, but this woman saved her life by having a second gun for just that kind of emergency--more likely during the night. :cool:
 
I live alone. I keep a few of my guns hidden around the house and don't feel the need to carry. To each his own.
If the young relatives visit I put them up, well, all but one.
 
Regarding the "If I feel like I need to carry in my home, I'll move/(other)" outlook:

1st, that's your call. I respect your right to have your own opinions, and your right to express those.

2nd, Moving to a great area doesn't ensure that the desperate, unstable, irrational, or evil elements of the world will not find you. Moving to nice communities can certainly minimize your chances of being victimized, but living in a great area isn't a form of self defense.

I live in a great part of a quiet suburb, and a couple were murdered at their dinner table, about 2 blocks away from my place, 2-3 years ago. Why? Because an unstable man who worked with the wife had become fixated on her, and flew into a rage after he stalked her home, and saw her with her husband.

As HIGHLY unlikely as it is that something similar will happen to me, I have seen and experienced 'highly unlikely' things happening, far too many times.


I will not rebuke or belittle anyone who disagrees. Your life is yours to live. I hope that each of us is allowed to live a long, happy life, free from the intrusion of dark elements.
 
Regarding the "If I feel like I need to carry in my home, I'll move/(other)" outlook:
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Not to be taken as critiscism, but this is a way of thinking I don't understand.

To "not feel the need" seems to be a prediction of the future in which no need to defend yourself in your home will arise.

I'm not an expert on the subject, but it's my understanding that there often isn't advanced warning of such attacks, and that they happen in "good neighborhoods"--- where things like that just "don't happen".

About the only time I hear about things like that never happening in the spokesman's neighborhood, is right after it happens.
 
Kraigwy,

I think it's more like saying, "If I feel the need to wear a seatbelt in my car, I'll get a new car".


There are countless examples of people being attacked in places where they feel safest, and least likely to need a weapon. Home, church, local parks, work, etc.
 
Leaving aside (for the moment) the discussion about stashing guns around the house being a good or bad idea, I'd like to point out something from he OP.

..but because she had a gun in her purse, and left her purse downstairs, she inadvertantly armed the intruders:....
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The language used is indicative of the thinking here. "inadvertanly armed the intruders"? Where the heck does this idea come from? They STOLE it.

If someone steals your money, are you inadvertantly enriching the poor? Inadvertantly redistgributing wealth (yours)?

I could give dozens of examples of this kind of thing, and while grammatically correct, they would each and every one, be wrong. Unless, of course, you believe that the actions of others are your responsibility. I do not.

Yes, the result was not what was intended, so technically the language is correct, but it gives an extremely slanted impression. Unfortunately, this is the society we live in today. And one of the reasons we have many of the problems that we do. Everything is always our fault, never the fault of others, the ones actually doing the deed. Its our fault, because we let it happen.

I, for one, am sick of this kind of thinking. It only focuses on what we do or don't do to prevent or make a crime more difficult, never on the simple fact that if the people who commited the crime had not done so it would be a moot point.

"Oh, you let them get a gun! The HORROR!" Bushwah! They stole it! Anytime anyone takes your property, without your permission, you are not "inadvertantly gifting" it to them, they are STEALING it!

Now, if you are a journalist (or anyone else), with an agenda against personal firearms ownership, saying that you "inadvertanly armed criminals" focuses blame on the gun owner, NOT the criminals. It becomes our fault, not theirs. After all, if we hadn't had the gun in the first place, they never would have gotten it, right? So it must be our fault. Right?:rolleyes:

Fine language for someone with an anti-firearms bias, but why do we repeat it?

Seems to me that if that poor woman hadn't had more than one gun, should would be considerably worse off today. She shot one of the thugs, did she inadvertantly let the others escape?

Might as well go and arrest the parents, after all, if they hadn't inadvertantly procreated, their little darlings wouldn't have grown up to be ciminals! Makes as much sense to me....
 
44Amp you make a point. But and you had to know that was coming if you have not done everything you can to prevent the loss of a firearm, you have not done enough. I have had weapons stolen from me and there is nothing worse than going to the police station and reporting the weapons as stolen. I had nothing to do with the loss of the weapons they were stolen but I did not do everything I could do to prevent it either. If you place them around your home do you put them away when you go to work? to the park or to the store for a gallon of milk? How long do you have to be away before its too long?

My guns are in the safe when I'm not at home, period. That's the best I can do. But how many pickup and pack up before running out for a minute?

I have friends that are cops and I would feel awful if one of the was injured or killed by a weapon that I bought. Again I did not ask for them to be stolen but it happened. So up to 5 criminals may have guns (4 now I did get one back),crook went to jail.
 
Whenever I leave my house I take my 2 guns, ammo, money, narcotic medicines, etc with me in a nondescript bag and stuff 'em in my trunk. The electric latch is disabled and only a key will open it.

In a way you can call it my bug out bag. ;)
 
44 AMP said:
Unfortunately, this is the society we live in today. And one of the reasons we have many of the problems that we do. Everything is always our fault, never the fault of others, the ones actually doing the deed. Its our fault, because we let it happen.
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rtpzwms said:
44Amp you make a point. But and you had to know that was coming if you have not done everything you can to prevent the loss of a firearm, you have not done enough. If you place them around your home do you put them away when you go to work? to the park or to the store for a gallon of milk? How long do you have to be away before its too long?

My guns are in the safe when I'm not at home, period. That's the best I can do. But how many pickup and pack up before running out for a minute?
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I have to go with 44 AMP on this. If you lock your house when you leave and your guns are stored willy-nilly around the house, are they locked up? The answer is YES! Any other attitude simply empowers criminals and helps enact useless laws that do nothing but protect only them. Sure, many of us have safes or RSCs, mostly because we want to protect our investment, but remember, a safe salesman will be glad to tell you how many seconds it will take to open that RSC. Safes aren't the be all end all of security, either. Security in layers, folks.
 
I have to go with 44 AMP on this. If you lock your house when you leave and your guns are stored willy-nilly around the house, are they locked up?
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StevieRay, you've taken some liberty with certain statements re: having guns placed in the house. Mine for sure, and others as well.

Any gun stored for tactical reasons in my house is not stored "willy-nilly". It's put where it is for a reason, with forethought, to give me a tactical advantage under extreme circumstances.

Lastly, if they're stored "willy-nilly" then they wouldn't be locked up--would they?:cool:
 
Question for those who carry in their homes: Do you also carry a first-aid kit and fire extinguisher on your person at all times?
 
There is a significant first aid kit in my car and house. Also fire extinguishers on each floor.

The thrust of the question ignores the time constraints of a violent attack vs. the time constraints of getting the kit or extinguisher. Yes, you might be faced with a sudden fire or bleed out wound but that's probably not the same temporal course as a home invasion, part of which separates you from the gun you have stashed away from you.
 
StevieRay, you've taken some liberty with certain statements re: having guns placed in the house. Mine for sure, and others as well.

Any gun stored for tactical reasons in my house is not stored "willy-nilly". It's put where it is for a reason, with forethought, to give me a tactical advantage under extreme circumstances.

Lastly, if they're stored "willy-nilly" then they wouldn't be locked up--would they?
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I've taken NO liberties. I really couldn't care less how they are placed about the house. I've used the term willy-nilly to explain that even if they are placed in the absolute most careless positions, if your house is locked up-your guns are locked up. Or would you rather give criminals even more excuses in court?

Your honor, if I hadn't seen that beautiful handgun laying on that table while I was looking in their windows, I swear I never would have broken in. So you see, it's actually their fault.

Clear now?
 
Seeker Two,

I have 2 first aid kits in my apartment, and a fire extinguisher mounted in the central area.

Fires and home invasions are similar in small ways. I carry in my home because of the differences. If a fire erupts in your kitchen, it won't shoot or stab you, if you make a move for an extinguisher.
 
I think stashing guns significantly changes the dynamics of home defense in a number of ways.

There are people who plan to go to arm themselves, go to a defensive position and "hunker down" - wait for police. How does it affect things knowing that while you're hunkering down the home invaders are discovering your stashed weapons?

I'm perfectly OK with the theives taking my home electronics and stuff while I'm hunkered down. I know they're not going to take my wide screen TV and kill someone with it.

Even though tactically I know it would not be smart to leave my defensive position to confront home invaders, I personally would have a problem standing by while burglars walked out with my weapons - not so much in just losing them, but feeling responsible for them.

It also raises the potential of upgrading the weaponry of the assailants - as it did in this case when the woman left her handgun in her purse downstairs.

I know criminals carry all sorts of different weapons, but I believe that they gravitate toward lower-priced, lower valued firearms, and possibly lesser quality.

I just think if a thief had stolen some beautiful gun that is worth $2,500 - he's more likely to sell it for the money than to keep it as a burglary/mugging tool. He can get a $200 handgun that will do most everything he needs it to do and the extra $2,300 buys a lot of dope.

If I ever do get in a shootout I am hoping that I'm only facing a .32 or something.

Not that a .32 caliber bullet won't kill you, I know a .22 will kill you too.

But the thing about stashing a gun, it raises the potential that I'm significantly upgrading the armament of a home invader from a knife or .32 pistol to a quality high-capacity nine.

I have kids so stashing guns around the house is just not an option. But I think if I didn't have kids and I were to stash guns, that automatically requires that I have an alarm system and a dog, because besides just protecting my house I've now added the element of racing against time to prevent the intruders from procuring my stashed weapons.
 
It's true. Sometimes trouble just walks up to the door and knocks. You will not have time to walk across the room and pick up a gun. If you're one that doesn't believe that these things happen because it's never happened to you, good for you that it hasn't happened to you.

Being in denial about it doesn't change the possibilities. It just means you'll be caught in condition white and unprepared if something happens. Being armed at home is not some big dramatic event, it's very casual.

There is an incredible amount of satisfaction that goes along with successfully repelling invaders at the front door. It wouldn't have been possible without the pistol.
 
On stashing guns around the house: It's your house, your rules ..... but they are also your guns, thus your responsibility. If a kid or pet finds one and something bad happens, you'll have to live with that.
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That does it. I'm selling the dogs.

I can tell you I grew up in a house where the guns where stashed and so did my kids. There were absolutes of behavior and dire consequences for ignoring them, in both cases.

As noted this is a personal choice for each of us to make and since everyone's circumstances are different regarding children, etc., no pat answer is going to work for everyone.
 
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