Nightstand gun with a sleep walker...help!

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Nigelcorn

New member
So, I have a bit of a problem.

I would like to have a gun by my nightstand just in case. I also sleep walk on occasion. I currently have the gun in a hard gun case, inside a drawer in my dresser. It seems like this would be enough to make sure that I wake up before actually getting to the gun, but the other night I "came to" walking into the front room with the gun and a flashlight.

So, here is my question. What would you all recommend that would require enough thought to make sure I am awake before I get to the pistol, but still be quick enough that I could use it if I ever needed it. Everything I can think of is either too easy (and could thus be used in my sleep) or would require me to be awake to get to the pistol, but by that time I might as well not even have a gun in the first place (like putting it in the closet or something).

Does anybody have any ideas? Maybe something like a finger combination keyed safe, but that gives a small shock to me? I know that product doesn't exist, but I am trying to think of something that ensures I am fully awake while still allowing quick access to the gun.

Thanks for the help.
 
A keypad lock... and a hypnotist to give you the suggestion that awake or asleep, every time you use that keypad, you will wake up... feeling fully refreshed, etc etc.

Don't laugh... it works.

C
 
One thing at a time!

You have a sleeping disorder and need to seek medical help for your condition, especially if you keep a loaded gun in your house. Only after you get this under control should you think about how to store a loaded handgun in your house for defensive purposes. Until you do, you are a danger to yourself and possibly others especially if you don't live alone.

Please, for your own safety, seek medical attention.

Scott
 
What scottaschultz said. Until you get mediacl attention you should not own a gun. The Mods should close this thread too IMHO

WildgethepdudeAlaska TM
 
I don't know how this would work but I think If you had your gun stored in a place where you had to lift something heavy before you got to it that would wake you up. I used to sleepwalk but my family said (at least for me) that it was more like a zombie thing, I think any stress on you or your muscles would wake you up. Maybe put a heavy cage on top of a handgun safe?
 
Until you get mediacl attention you should not own a gun.
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By that logic, no owning of guns, knives, forks, automobiles, chainsaws, or fire and electricity. Is this really an issue of gun ownership or is it an issue of gun access?

Those engaged in somnambulism and less often in automatism have been documented performing fairly complex tasks ranging from things like preparing meals, driving vehicles, yard work, and even murder.

Check out this guy...
http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=2918781

More fun reading...
http://www.sleepreviewmag.com/issues/articles/2003-09_03.asp

And so...
lock that thing up! Sleepwalking with a loaded gun is NOT an option.
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may not be a completely viable option. It would require that somebody else do it such that the person with the disorder either does not actually know the combination to the lock or know the location of the key. Somnambulics are able to use information from their brains to complete tasks and so if the sumnambulic knows the combination to a lock while awake, s/he may be able to work that combination whilst sleepwalking.
 
well. which is more of a concern for you? sleepwalking and shooting someone in your sleep, or a night time intruder? because I don't want to downplay the dangers and risks of night time intrusions, but if you have already caught yourself sleep walking around the house with a loaded gun...well....i worry for your wife and kids. because reality is "hey dad! what are you doing walking around with your gun" but in your dream you might imagine a bad guy.
 
Let me clarify just a little.

I don't just wake up in the middle of no where and realize that I have been sleep walking. It is difficult to explain, but going from sleep to awake is more of a process where I slowly realize that I don't have a logical reason to be doing what I am doing. It usually happens in a matter of seconds, but sometimes is a little longer. I have yet to DO anything while "sleep walking" that I wouldn't do while awake. For example, I will slowly realize that I am looking for a spider that I thought I saw, but realize that I must have dreamed about the spider. I don't wake up spraying bug spray, or throwing shoes, I wake up confused about where the spider could have gone.

When I said that I had woken up with a loaded gun, I probably really did hear something. I am conscious enough that I would not just shoot because I hear a noise. Again, it isn't that I just walk around and have actions that are illogical, it is that in my dream I hear a noise, and don't know if it was real or not. Then again, I am not 100% conscious, and I'm not willing to take that chance with kids and a wife in the house.

Having something heavy on top of a safe would probably work, I will have to try that.

For those that suggest medical treatment before owning a gun, or keeping one in the house, I appreciate the concern, sincerely. I am not taking any sleeping pills. I am somewhat familiar with the treatment for sleep walking, and I am not interested. I have never tried hypnosis, but don't think it is a bad idea, I just have never done it. As far as taking a sleeping aid, I am pretty confident that I am more in control of myself while slightly asleep than somebody who is trying to wake up while under the influence of a sleeping pill. At least with how those things affect me, I am WAY better off just sleep walking.

WA, why do you think this thread should be closed? I think it is a sincere question, I am trying to find a good balance between having something available if necessary and having something secure enough to require logical thought to access it. Maybe I should invent some sort of safe that requires completion of a math problem or something before it will open?
 
I am conscious enough that I would not just shoot because I hear a noise.
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I don't know. You aren't conscious enough to know if a spider is real or not so how will you be conscious enough to know if an intruder or "noise" is real or not? This sounds a lot like a drunk who says he is sober enough to drive.

I have yet to DO anything while "sleep walking" that I wouldn't do while awake.
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How do you know? You just don't have any evidence. Then again, you don't have any recollection either. I have known drunks who managed to drive for years without an accident...until it happened.

When I said that I had woken up with a loaded gun, I probably really did hear something.
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You probably did? You mean like you seeing the imaginary spider?

Come on. From your descriptions, you seem to be having numerous episodes and some involve some fairly complex tasks.

Having something heavy on top of a safe would probably work, I will have to try that.
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Just make sure it is something that requires two people to lift. If you can accomplish a mechanical task yourself in real life, you can do it while sleepwalking, including lifting heavy objects.

Check this out...
http://thescitechjournal.blogspot.com/2008/11/reason-for-sleep-walking-and-cases-of.html

A girl in Kentucky State of the USA dreamt that thieves had broken in the house. So she opened a drawer and took out two revolvers. Still asleep she fired haphazardly from the revolvers killing her father and six years old brother.
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Did you really hear that sound? Are you sure?
 
I currently have the gun in a hard gun case, inside a drawer in my dresser. It seems like this would be enough to make sure that I wake up before actually getting to the gun, but the other night I "came to" walking into the front room with the gun and a flashlight.
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I don't just wake up in the middle of no where and realize that I have been sleep walking.
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You're back-pedaling now, because you didn't like the responses. You need to speak with a medical professional, not a firearms forum. Some of us (and I don't include myself) are experts at hardware, but yours is not a hardware problem.
Do it for the people around you.
 
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Yea the keypad barrier seems to me like it might work. I cannot see how you can be unconsious of your surroundings and manipulate that correctly, but it does sound like you need more done than simple treatment of the gun. Like, if you accidentally shoot it off, and something terrible happens, you got to convince them that you were not actually awake when you did it or the like, a very difficult sell to try to get a reduced charge or aquittal, even if something occurs that you can live with, not a tragedy.
 
i do not agree a keypad would help in the least bit. your body will remember the keypad sequence press, so you dont need to think about the numbers you are pressing, you just need to press the keys in a right order. like my gate code to get into my complex. i dont think about the numbers. i just press the buttons in the right order without thinking about it.

maybe if the box had a digital display that changed the 4 digit combination every day, or hourly and displayed it on a lcd, you would have to be awake to read the daily, or hourly code, and input that in. and your body could not muscle memory the keypad sequence. that would take a fully conscious person

but seriously. if you imagine a spider there or not, or a bad guy there or not, when it was someone who wasnt a bad guy, the sleepwalking defense wont hold up in court.
 
Seek medical advice about the sleep walking.

Only after you have that problem solved load your gun. Until you solve the problem lock up your empty gun and store the ammo in a different room.

You can't trust yourself to be able to determine reality from dream until you get the sleep walking solved.

I have read of a case where a mother was found not quilty of murder for killing her daughter while the mother was asleep. Yes she was sleep walking.
 
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