Empty chamber in a safe.
But my situation is a little different than any I read above.
The Kids: Boy 8 and a girl 11, both are familiar with my pistols and I've taught them gun safety. They sit with me sometimes while I clean. As my boy hasn't had an interest yet, neither shoots or has access to the guns.
The Wife: I love her, but prone to panic and not great in an emergency. She has access to the gun and knows how to use it in the event I wasn't home and there was a break in ... but no 'immediate' access like in the nightstand with one in the pipe. [/shudder]
A paperweight? You're entitled to your opinion but this setup is a happy medium between safety and defense for our family.
My wife can't wake up, see a dark shadow, panic and shoot my ass. If she has to enter a safe code and rack a round, she's awake enough not to cap me. And my kids can't have an ND 'showing off' to their friends.
The home is alarmed and we have a dog that sleeps downstairs. I expect a little notice and I, from a sound sleep, can have the gun out of the push button safe and a round chambered in less than five seconds. I know that to be true because I had the wife set off the alarm at 3am one morning to see how I'd do.
I couldn't agree more with the suggestion of an emergency response plan. We practice ours once every two months. There's a "Dad Home" version and a "Dad Away" version. In the event of an alarm, we scoot!
There is, I suppose, a trade-off for the security of the safe. A BG could bypass my alarm, sneak past my dog, float up my creaking stairs and be in a bedroom without waking me.
In which case it wouldn't matter if I had a round in the chamber or not.
Fire away with the what-ifs if you wish but you're pissin' in the wind. This is the deal that works best for us in our situation. I'm completely comfy with it.