I used to think this way once, until I got some education on how Law Enforcement will operate after a shooting.
If you ghost a perp in your living room police may decide to confiscate your entire gun collection . If politics aren't in play they'll do this to verify that the gun you said you used fired the lethal rounds.The cops may not take you at your word on the scene that the gun you used is actually the one fired,especially if there are no witnesses besides you and the dead crook.
That's the investigative reason.Sometimes the watch commander or head of the police agency will make a decision to strip a homeowner of arms to prevent the "possibility" of violent action during the course of the death investigation.
The stickiest wicket is the politically motivated seizure. Sometimes the DA, the police cheif, or a responding officer-and perhaps all of the above-may decide to take the entire Winchester safe out the door just because the occasion legally allows them to do so. In California if one is involved in a defensive shooting authorities as policy take every gun regardless of whether it was used or not in the incident. Some jurisdictions have state or local laws which mandate that holding a ccw or ownership permit require a clean record-and using a gun , even for self defense , can put someone in a legal spot where their ownership permit or CCW is revoked,resulting in confiscation of the entire collection until the case is settled.
Its not something that can be put to a hard and fast rule:but note that in Massachusetts, there's a case ongoing now of gun owners who are suing police departments and third party storage warehouses because the warehouse company would cut a deal to sell guns the cops took in DV seizures, self defense incidents, etc. Reportedly one department called the warehouse firm begging them to take a certain citizen's guns out of their locker ASAP because the owner had filed papers with the court to order his property returned.
Sad as it is to say it doesn't matter whether your nice guns are on your hip or on your holster. The Man will get your guns if he wants them-either as evidence in an incident whether it was used or not, or via a search warrant ordering seizure of your gun collection.