Steve_in_PA
Member
About a month ago there was a new article of a house near me that was burglarized while the family slept! The burglary even went into their sleeping daughters room and stole a laptop and cell phone I believe.
Loaded on the nightstand?
- Thread starter dieseldan71
- Start date
About a month ago there was a new article of a house near me that was burglarized while the family slept! The burglary even went into their sleeping daughters room and stole a laptop and cell phone I believe.
If a person's house is that easy to get into while they are asleep, then they are partially responsible. But nooooooo! They want the police to protect them.
Many of you know what I do for a living. And you know I push home security. Matter of fact, I would rather have a secure home than a firearm if I were forced to choose between the two.
I have been awakened from a dead sleep more than once. I know what it's like to wake up and try to clear my head. I remember trying to stand up, grab a flashlight and a firearm.
My point is, why do you think my home is so secure? Because even in the dead of night I will have plenty of time to clear my head, grab a gun and light and prepare to defend myself.
Though the course of my job, I have helped countless people who didn't properly prepare and became victims. These events changed their lives forever.
Doesn't matter how and where you keep your guns. If you don't have time to react then you have lost. And you have lost because you didn't prepare yourself properly. That's the harsh reality of it.
I have been awakened from a dead sleep more than once. I know what it's like to wake up and try to clear my head. I remember trying to stand up, grab a flashlight and a firearm.
My point is, why do you think my home is so secure? Because even in the dead of night I will have plenty of time to clear my head, grab a gun and light and prepare to defend myself.
Though the course of my job, I have helped countless people who didn't properly prepare and became victims. These events changed their lives forever.
Doesn't matter how and where you keep your guns. If you don't have time to react then you have lost. And you have lost because you didn't prepare yourself properly. That's the harsh reality of it.
Front toward enemy.But in lieu of claymore, I sleep in the comforting glow of Siglite. DAO, condition two.
The reciprocal of this position is inane --- I once sold residential alarms systems, usually, to people who had already been burglary victims, and were locking the barn door after the horses were out. They of course routinely felt violated, and angry at the loss of their "stuff", especially if it included heirloom jewelry or the like, but mostly they were frightened at the prospect of another intrusion while they were home, asleep, in Condition White (the routine condition for most people, by my observation) or otherwise insensible to impending danger. Every one of these victims wanted as much perimeter protection as they could afford, and some also wanted interior zone protection, but I can't recall any of them (there may have been a few... I just don't remember any) who mentioned having any tools or plan to repel invaders, after having been alerted by the alarm system. Most were counting on the police to charge in on white horses and slay the dragons just in the nick of time.
One middle-aged matron actually asked my advice about what to do if alerted by the alarm to a breach in her home's perimeter. I pointed out that in her precinct, high-priority call response time was on the order of three minutes under ideal circumstances, far slower if any incident was already occupying police attention, and, given the typically cynical regard for inept-user-caused false alarms, probably much longer. So, she rightly gathered "I'm on my own?" "Yes, and were you me, you'd have a suitable weapon and the knowledge and skills to use it... "
Thus ended the conversation --- this woman was not mentally fit to accept the idea of assuming responsibility for her own and her family's protection, willing to abdicate to someone else's responsibility, an utter sheep among wolves.
Her expensive alarm was thus rendered pretty much useless, and her false sense of security, a sham.
I'm voting for fully operable, weaponlight-equipped nightstand guns...
kisportolt
Member
I keep a loaded Shield in my nightstand and a loaded 12ga in the closet, when possible I would grab the shotgun, but I like having the pistol close, or to arm my girlfriend
I am not sure of some of the trauma that has been suffered by some in their lives, but I can tell you I've never awakened in a panic, reaching for a firearm. I have ready access to firearms in, and outside of my home at any given time. That being said there are a few levels that have to be breached to gain access, and by that point I should have been fully alerted. People often forget that their most powerful tool is between their ears.
lhump1961
US Veteran
I'm with the nightstand. A defense gun sums up the old parachute/gun phrase, when you need one...you need it NOW!
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labworm
US Veteran
The alarm system, no batteries, pc boards, no electricity.
Just a intelligent ferocious little moving squirt that just doesn't understand the word retreat.
They are cool.
tom turner
US Veteran
Different strokes for different folks.
A friend's brother awoke about 20 years ago now, just before a silent intruder pounced on him in bed. His S&W .357 revolver was on his nightstand.
A frantic fight for the gun ensued with both men getting really messed up, for about 15 minutes. During that time, the wood S&W factory stocks got broken off the gun, to give you an idea of how desperate both men fought for the gun. To lose that struggle meant death.
Eventually the homeowner got enough control over his gun to fire the one fatal bullet. He lived to have nightmares forever.
ME . . .
My kids are gone. My wife and I don't ever sleepwalk. Our Boston Terrier sleeps hard and he'd die for us but wouldn't be much of a threat.
My holstered M37 "sleeps" under the sheets, with a custom short-barreled M25-2 nearby too.
The 25-2 has a custom front sight that is as sharp as a razor on that short barrel. If an intruder tried to grab it, his hand would be severely lacerated as it was yanked from him.
My wife's 3" M37 Airweight is holstered, but concealed nearby too. She would use it if she had to of course.
No exposed nightstand guns for me! If I awake with someone in my room I'm going to remain very still as I gain my bearings, then slip the handgun out of the holster when I decide the person is a threat.
PS: SOME GUYS SHOULDN'T HAVE A LOADED GUN NEARBY!!!
My dad kept his loaded Colt Detective Special under his bed. He DID have dreams though, and one night a year before he died, and now a widower, he told me he'd had a very realistic dream that someone was coming down the hall and about to attack him. So he rolled from bed, kept low and shot at the intruder coming through the open door. It was at this time that he woke up from the dream, but no one was there, so he went back to sleep.
Just after he passed away, my brothers gave me his well-worn Detective's Special. My wife and I were sleeping in his house waiting for the funeral, and I decided to check his gun . . . remembering his vivid dream. Hmm . . . I wonder . . .
ONE CYLINDER HAD A SPENT CARTRIDGE IN IT!
I got low to the ground on the side of the bed he used and got a sight picture vantage point . . . then went to inspect the door to the hall. I FOUND THE BULLET . . . embedded half-way into the wood doorjamb. Yes, in the dream, and like a lot of WWII vets, he'd rolled to the ground, looked up and fired as he'd been trained.
No, folks that have dreams like that don't need to have a gun within reach for sure!!! Different strokes for different folks!
A friend's brother awoke about 20 years ago now, just before a silent intruder pounced on him in bed. His S&W .357 revolver was on his nightstand.
A frantic fight for the gun ensued with both men getting really messed up, for about 15 minutes. During that time, the wood S&W factory stocks got broken off the gun, to give you an idea of how desperate both men fought for the gun. To lose that struggle meant death.
Eventually the homeowner got enough control over his gun to fire the one fatal bullet. He lived to have nightmares forever.
ME . . .
My kids are gone. My wife and I don't ever sleepwalk. Our Boston Terrier sleeps hard and he'd die for us but wouldn't be much of a threat.
My holstered M37 "sleeps" under the sheets, with a custom short-barreled M25-2 nearby too.
The 25-2 has a custom front sight that is as sharp as a razor on that short barrel. If an intruder tried to grab it, his hand would be severely lacerated as it was yanked from him.
My wife's 3" M37 Airweight is holstered, but concealed nearby too. She would use it if she had to of course.
No exposed nightstand guns for me! If I awake with someone in my room I'm going to remain very still as I gain my bearings, then slip the handgun out of the holster when I decide the person is a threat.
PS: SOME GUYS SHOULDN'T HAVE A LOADED GUN NEARBY!!!
My dad kept his loaded Colt Detective Special under his bed. He DID have dreams though, and one night a year before he died, and now a widower, he told me he'd had a very realistic dream that someone was coming down the hall and about to attack him. So he rolled from bed, kept low and shot at the intruder coming through the open door. It was at this time that he woke up from the dream, but no one was there, so he went back to sleep.
Just after he passed away, my brothers gave me his well-worn Detective's Special. My wife and I were sleeping in his house waiting for the funeral, and I decided to check his gun . . . remembering his vivid dream. Hmm . . . I wonder . . .
ONE CYLINDER HAD A SPENT CARTRIDGE IN IT!
I got low to the ground on the side of the bed he used and got a sight picture vantage point . . . then went to inspect the door to the hall. I FOUND THE BULLET . . . embedded half-way into the wood doorjamb. Yes, in the dream, and like a lot of WWII vets, he'd rolled to the ground, looked up and fired as he'd been trained.
No, folks that have dreams like that don't need to have a gun within reach for sure!!! Different strokes for different folks!
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I own firearms. They are loaded. Most are readily accessible. My wife and I know how to use them.
My house is locked down at night. Our alarm system is a chihuahua and a wienerdog. Both work without batteries, and are very light sleepers!
My house is locked down at night. Our alarm system is a chihuahua and a wienerdog. Both work without batteries, and are very light sleepers!
I see stories like this and wonder if it's an insurance scam. Pretty easy to say someone came in and took some valuables and walked off.
I really suspect this is the case when robbers steal only the odd stuff, and leave the easily pawned stuff sit. Like steal a 52" TV but leave the computer and two handguns?
I've seen this many times. They get in a hurry and miss the obvious. Easy to miss stuff in the dark. Even with a flashlight.
I keep my FS .40 Pro on my nightstand a chair in front of the bedroom door and have a Belgian Mal that will let me know if something is going on. I also have a Black Rain Ordnance AR in the closet condition 3 with 30 rounds of Hornady Tap. Pistol is loaded with Critical Duty.
Nimble Jack B.
Member
I must be the odd man out because I have (2) loaded secondary home defense sidearms in the top drawer of my nightstand that's just an arm length away: an 11-round 45ACP pistol with a light/laser combo rail-mounted and a 31-round 9MM pistol loaded with 147-grain Black Talons.
I'm also a light sleeper and I have K9s in house that sound bellowing alarms if a coon farts outside that awakens me. But when I think their growls and barks "sound" serious enough, I just take a few steps and grab my primary home defense tool: an 8-round 12-gauge pump shotgun loaded with Centurion buckshot that's equipped with a rail-mounted light, too.
I live in a rural area and the kids are grown and gone. I don't think I'd be a high valued target for a professional burglar, or some deranged serial killer or assaulter. But the backwoods rural meth-heads, well, they're the ones that cause me the greatest concern of late. Meth-heads seem to be growing in numbers everywhere daily...
I'm also a light sleeper and I have K9s in house that sound bellowing alarms if a coon farts outside that awakens me. But when I think their growls and barks "sound" serious enough, I just take a few steps and grab my primary home defense tool: an 8-round 12-gauge pump shotgun loaded with Centurion buckshot that's equipped with a rail-mounted light, too.
I live in a rural area and the kids are grown and gone. I don't think I'd be a high valued target for a professional burglar, or some deranged serial killer or assaulter. But the backwoods rural meth-heads, well, they're the ones that cause me the greatest concern of late. Meth-heads seem to be growing in numbers everywhere daily...
LimaCharlie
US Veteran
It is just my wife and me at home. At night, there are condition one guns, a flashlight, and phones within inches of me. There are condition one guns, a flashlight, and a phone within inches of my wife. Our top floor bedroom door is locked. There are two dogs sleeping with us for primary alarm. In over thirty years, we have never shot each other or one of the dogs. If we are dressed, we are carrying condition one unless it is illegal at that site.
Titan
Member
- Joined
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I use Gun Vaults and can get to my gun much faster than I can awake from a deep sleep.
I'd rather not give an intruder with an adrenaline rush, the first access to my defense gun.
I'd rather not give an intruder with an adrenaline rush, the first access to my defense gun.
team sidewinder
Member
Not telling what or where. But if they come in uninvited I will show them both.
