To stay or to go?

onthejon55 · October 26, 2009, 02:59 PM

ZeSprectre recently posted a video Im sure most of you have seen:
http://s17.photobucket.com/albums/b6...meinvasion.flv

Along with his topic, I think this vid raises another good question. If you are with your family in the the living room/kitchen of your home and your home defense gun is in the upper level/different room of your home, would you stay and attempt to fight off the intruders or leave your family and retrieve the gun?

MTT TL · October 26, 2009, 03:06 PM

Keep your gun on your hip?

I keep guns of some sort in most rooms of my home. The farthest I would have to travel would be one room, so I would get the gun.

Brian Pfleuger · October 26, 2009, 03:22 PM

In vague generalities it's simple. If you can't "win" without a gun then why would you stay and fight? If you can win without a gun then why risk leaving?

Of course, the real, dynamic, violent situation is changing instant by instant so any specific answer is going to depend on an untold number of assumptions on the part of the answerer.

#18indycolts · October 26, 2009, 03:51 PM

if those are the only 2 choices then I'd stay. That just sounds like a bad situation altogether.

markj · October 26, 2009, 03:52 PM

Not enough info to make a judgement.

StiveC2007 · October 26, 2009, 04:06 PM

If you think about theres plenty of information. Ok this is how i see it, Person breaks in and say your making dinner/watching movie and firearm is up stairs(nightstand) whole family is downstairs. I would want to stay downstairs instead of leaving my family, this is where training and preparing comes in. Now some people just cant leave loaded firearms laying around in drawers or other places. so you have to find another weapon be it a knife from the kitchen or a maybe a chair small enough to wield. anybody see the ads in the back of american rifle man with clint smith holding a red fire extingusher saying "squirt with the white stuff then hit'em in the head with red thing" but you gotta work with whats available, it also helps if you have older male childern who arnt small and have bad attitudes

and anybody what about a Dog?

BuckHammer · October 26, 2009, 04:07 PM

1) Carry at all times. Problem solved.
2) Bring the whole family upstairs with you to get the gun.

pax · October 26, 2009, 05:07 PM

That exact question was one of the driving factors in my decision to purchase a handgun for home defense, and to wear it every waking hour even at home.

With the handgun habitually on my hip, I know where it is at all times and I know the little darlings aren't getting into it in the next room; it's immediately available wherever I happen to be in the home and I needn't leave my children with a predator in order to retrieve it; and it's a whole lot simpler to simply get entirely dressed in the morning and stay dressed all day than it is to obsess over "should I or shouldn't I?" all the time. (Of course, the children are older now, so access concerns are nearly gone -- but the other points remain.)

pax

Deaf Smith · October 26, 2009, 06:43 PM

I'd simply say....

"If you want to go...

...go.

If you're going to stay...

...relax."

As I reached for the hidden gun in the living room.

**Tom Servo** · October 26, 2009, 08:46 PM

Recent conversation with a guest a friend brought to my house:

"Is that a gun?"

"Yep. It's a Garand."

"Why is it on the kitchen table?"

"In case somebody starts thinking National Socialism is a good idea again."

"You think Nazis are going to break in?"

"That, or for Gozer."

"Gozer?"

"He lives in the refrigerator."

I don't go as far as carrying all over the house, simply because it's uncomfortable. I have a few placed strategically, and my carry gun is generally within ten feet of wherever I am.

Plain fact is, you're already at a disadvantage if you don't have a gun in your hand when danger presents itself. If you have to leave the scene to get one, you're most likely out of luck.

Beentown71 · October 26, 2009, 08:52 PM

Original poster: Tom Servo

Quote:

"That, or for Gozer."

"Gozer?"

"He lives in the refrigerator."

ROTFLMAO!!! Great Ghostbusters reference!

Now back to our regularly scheduled programming

Thanks I needed that,

Beentown

Lee Lapin · October 26, 2009, 08:54 PM

Someone once said something about guns being comforting, not comfortable... a little ol' airweight J frame in a pocket is pretty much no problem to carry. And that's where mine stays... from pants on till pants off.

lpl

Greg_TX · October 26, 2009, 09:55 PM

First, I don't think you'd have enough time to get to another room, let alone upstairs, before someone gets shot. Second, you'd have to improvise a little - if they're close enough, an 8x10 picture frame thrown hard enough (think Frisbee) with a good hit might give you time to rush the intruder and attempt to disarm or incapacitate him somehow. If there's more than one, all armed, you're pretty much screwed if you don't have a weapon within arms reach and ready to go.

Lots of things can be used as a weapon - got a pool table?

"Death From Above"

**Tom Servo** · October 27, 2009, 12:55 AM

Quote:

ROTFLMAO!!! Great Ghostbusters reference!

Lady didn't get it. I guess Bill Murray's too "low brow" for her crowd.

After talking a bit, she mentioned that her posh, metropolitan apartment's been broken into twice. Fortunately, she was not there either time.

Long story short, rather than arm herself, she chooses to live with the fact that stuff gets broken and disappears from her home from time to time, and doesn't seem to believe that she may ever be in danger.

While she's willing to admit that I'm not completely Burt Gummer, she sees no need to take such precautions for her own safety.

mrclean77 · October 27, 2009, 08:23 AM

If I were to be present during that conversation, I think I may have hurt myself laughing.

Letting you know up front, I am using that next time I am questioned about my "need" for a firearm.

At home, the pistol goes back to the closet where it spends the night, but after reading this, and a few other, threads, I may start wearing it in the evenings as well --- doesn't really make sense not to, now that I think about it.

**OldMarksman** · October 27, 2009, 08:43 AM

BuckHammer, pax, and Lee Lapin nailed it.

I "suddenly" realized some time earlier this year that the gun that had been on the second floor for decades would be completely useless to me should someone force his way in through the front door while I was in the first floor, and that even if the intrusion had came from the back while my wife was upstairs, I'd have a foot race to win.

Why it took the greater part of five decades to figure that out, I do not know. Gives one a little humility.

I can laugh at it now, and also at my first thoughts about placing a gun or two in other places as a solution.

An Airweight in a pocket holster creates no discomfort, it is by far the most effective strategy, and it presents none of the risks attendant to placing guns here and there.

markj · October 27, 2009, 03:27 PM

No second floor, bedroom is a short hallway away, shotgun is behind a door, in my kitchen I have a wide array of knives at my disposal. One in particular is for piercing the heart of pigs after I shot him in his head. It is long and strong from the packing house.

I dont worry much about this type of event. Country living and the preparations I have made to the place will alert me to any stranger long before he can get to my house. I recommend you younger folk do the same.

Glenn E. Meyer · October 27, 2009, 03:34 PM

Tom - you are the Gatekeeper!

Is a proton pack an NFA weapon - sorry, Pax - for being silly.

**Tom Servo** · October 27, 2009, 05:59 PM

Quote:

Tom - you are the Gatekeeper!

Is a proton pack an NFA weapon

If someone comes breaking in, they better be the Keymaster!

I don't know if the proton pack constitutes a Destructive Device, but you definitely don't want to cross the streams.

javabum · October 27, 2009, 06:26 PM

aily.

javabum · October 27, 2009, 06:27 PM

If you have a pistol carry it all day every day.Uncomfortable you say not this day and age....with all the choices we have not a good excuse.
Then i here i have guns strategically placed in my house...if that works for you great but nothing takes the place of the one you should have on you.If you have the money to place guns all over your house then you obviously have the money to purchase a weapon capable of stopping a predator but small enough to carry daily.

just my 2 cents

Beentown71 · October 27, 2009, 06:37 PM

Per Tom Servo:

Quote:

While she's willing to admit that I'm not completely Burt Gummer, she sees no need to take such precautions for her own safety.

Come on, you are at least a Tackleberry

Sorry guys couldn't resist.

Beentown

wally626 · October 27, 2009, 07:09 PM

Quote:

Quote:
ROTFLMAO!!! Great Ghostbusters reference!

Quote:

Lady didn't get it. I guess Bill Murray's too "low brow" for her crowd.

Best miss of a Bill Murray reference was by the Fox morning news team. I was watching the Groundhog's Day event one Saturday morning a couple of years back. This guy goes up and starts this elegant but long winded ode to GHD, I'm sitting their going this sounds really familiar, then I see it's Bill doing his speech from GHD the Movie. One of the Fox news guys says (paraphrasing) "That was a bit over the top wasn't it"? none of them noticed it was Bill doing his spiel from the movie.

On the OP, i would fight and send the wife for the gun, she is a better shot anyway. Actually in our case our "retreat to" room is on the first floor and is where the guns are stored. So we would all retreat with me buying time if required.

CARGUY2244 · October 27, 2009, 07:59 PM

If I was unarmed, family and I were under attack, I wouldn't have the chance to get upstairs to retrieve the weapon, unless I presume I'd be granted safe passage by the invaders. The choice would be made for me based on the hypothetical situation. Stay and fight.

October 26, 2009, 03:22 PM	#3
Brian Pfleuger Moderator Emeritus Join Date: June 25, 2008 Location: Austin, CO Posts: 19,578	In vague generalities it's simple. If you can't "win" without a gun then why would you stay and fight? If you can win without a gun then why risk leaving? Of course, the real, dynamic, violent situation is changing instant by instant so any specific answer is going to depend on an untold number of assumptions on the part of the answerer. __________________ Nobody plans to screw up their lives... ...they just don't plan not to. -Andy Stanley

October 26, 2009, 04:07 PM	#7
BuckHammer Senior Member Join Date: October 15, 2008 Location: Indiana Posts: 286	1) Carry at all times. Problem solved. 2) Bring the whole family upstairs with you to get the gun. __________________ Luck runs out. Boiler Up!

October 26, 2009, 05:07 PM	#8
pax Senior Member Join Date: May 16, 2000 Location: In a state of flux Posts: 7,520	That exact question was one of the driving factors in my decision to purchase a handgun for home defense, and to wear it every waking hour even at home. With the handgun habitually on my hip, I know where it is at all times and I know the little darlings aren't getting into it in the next room; it's immediately available wherever I happen to be in the home and I needn't leave my children with a predator in order to retrieve it; and it's a whole lot simpler to simply get entirely dressed in the morning and stay dressed all day than it is to obsess over "should I or shouldn't I?" all the time. (Of course, the children are older now, so access concerns are nearly gone -- but the other points remain.) pax __________________ Kathy Jackson My personal website: Cornered Cat

October 26, 2009, 06:43 PM	#9
Deaf Smith Senior Member Join Date: October 31, 2000 Location: Texican! Posts: 4,453	I'd simply say.... "If you want to go... ...go. If you're going to stay... ...relax." As I reached for the hidden gun in the living room. __________________ “To you who call yourselves ‘men of peace,’ I say, you are not safe without men of action by your side” Thucydides

October 26, 2009, 08:46 PM	#10
Tom Servo Staff Join Date: September 27, 2008 Location: Foothills of the Appalachians Posts: 13,059	Recent conversation with a guest a friend brought to my house: "Is that a gun?" "Yep. It's a Garand." "Why is it on the kitchen table?" "In case somebody starts thinking National Socialism is a good idea again." "You think Nazis are going to break in?" "That, or for Gozer." "Gozer?" "He lives in the refrigerator." I don't go as far as carrying all over the house, simply because it's uncomfortable. I have a few placed strategically, and my carry gun is generally within ten feet of wherever I am. Plain fact is, you're already at a disadvantage if you don't have a gun in your hand when danger presents itself. If you have to leave the scene to get one, you're most likely out of luck. __________________ Sometimes it’s nice not to destroy the world for a change. --Randall Munroe

October 26, 2009, 02:59 PM	#1
onthejon55 Junior member Join Date: October 23, 2008 Location: Evansville, IN Posts: 411	To stay or to go? ZeSprectre recently posted a video Im sure most of you have seen: http://s17.photobucket.com/albums/b6...meinvasion.flv Along with his topic, I think this vid raises another good question. If you are with your family in the the living room/kitchen of your home and your home defense gun is in the upper level/different room of your home, would you stay and attempt to fight off the intruders or leave your family and retrieve the gun?

October 26, 2009, 03:06 PM	#2
MTT TL Senior Member Join Date: October 21, 2009 Location: Quadling Country Posts: 2,780	Keep your gun on your hip? I keep guns of some sort in most rooms of my home. The farthest I would have to travel would be one room, so I would get the gun.

October 26, 2009, 03:51 PM	#4
#18indycolts Junior member Join Date: January 3, 2006 Location: Indpls Posts: 1,159	if those are the only 2 choices then I'd stay. That just sounds like a bad situation altogether.

October 26, 2009, 03:52 PM	#5
markj Senior Member Join Date: October 27, 2005 Location: Crescent Iowa Posts: 2,971	Not enough info to make a judgement.

October 26, 2009, 04:06 PM	#6
StiveC2007 Senior Member Join Date: April 17, 2009 Posts: 237	If you think about theres plenty of information. Ok this is how i see it, Person breaks in and say your making dinner/watching movie and firearm is up stairs(nightstand) whole family is downstairs. I would want to stay downstairs instead of leaving my family, this is where training and preparing comes in. Now some people just cant leave loaded firearms laying around in drawers or other places. so you have to find another weapon be it a knife from the kitchen or a maybe a chair small enough to wield. anybody see the ads in the back of american rifle man with clint smith holding a red fire extingusher saying "squirt with the white stuff then hit'em in the head with red thing" but you gotta work with whats available, it also helps if you have older male childern who arnt small and have bad attitudes and anybody what about a Dog?

October 26, 2009, 08:54 PM	#12
Lee Lapin Senior Member Join Date: September 7, 2004 Location: SE NC Posts: 1,239	Someone once said something about guns being comforting, not comfortable... a little ol' airweight J frame in a pocket is pretty much no problem to carry. And that's where mine stays... from pants on till pants off. lpl __________________ Mindset - Skillset - Toolset. In that order! Attitude and skill will get you through times of no gear, better than gear will get you through times of no attitude and no skill.

October 26, 2009, 09:55 PM	#13
Greg_TX Member Join Date: March 2, 2009 Posts: 69	First, I don't think you'd have enough time to get to another room, let alone upstairs, before someone gets shot. Second, you'd have to improvise a little - if they're close enough, an 8x10 picture frame thrown hard enough (think Frisbee) with a good hit might give you time to rush the intruder and attempt to disarm or incapacitate him somehow. If there's more than one, all armed, you're pretty much screwed if you don't have a weapon within arms reach and ready to go. Lots of things can be used as a weapon - got a pool table? "Death From Above"

October 27, 2009, 08:23 AM	#15
mrclean77 Member Join Date: January 22, 2009 Location: Alabama Posts: 81	If I were to be present during that conversation, I think I may have hurt myself laughing. Letting you know up front, I am using that next time I am questioned about my "need" for a firearm. At home, the pistol goes back to the closet where it spends the night, but after reading this, and a few other, threads, I may start wearing it in the evenings as well --- doesn't really make sense not to, now that I think about it.

October 27, 2009, 08:43 AM	#16
OldMarksman Staff Join Date: June 8, 2008 Posts: 4,022	BuckHammer, pax, and Lee Lapin nailed it. I "suddenly" realized some time earlier this year that the gun that had been on the second floor for decades would be completely useless to me should someone force his way in through the front door while I was in the first floor, and that even if the intrusion had came from the back while my wife was upstairs, I'd have a foot race to win. Why it took the greater part of five decades to figure that out, I do not know. Gives one a little humility. I can laugh at it now, and also at my first thoughts about placing a gun or two in other places as a solution. An Airweight in a pocket holster creates no discomfort, it is by far the most effective strategy, and it presents none of the risks attendant to placing guns here and there.

October 27, 2009, 03:27 PM	#17
markj Senior Member Join Date: October 27, 2005 Location: Crescent Iowa Posts: 2,971	No second floor, bedroom is a short hallway away, shotgun is behind a door, in my kitchen I have a wide array of knives at my disposal. One in particular is for piercing the heart of pigs after I shot him in his head. It is long and strong from the packing house. I dont worry much about this type of event. Country living and the preparations I have made to the place will alert me to any stranger long before he can get to my house. I recommend you younger folk do the same.

October 27, 2009, 03:34 PM	#18
Glenn E. Meyer Senior Member Join Date: November 17, 2000 Posts: 20,064	Tom - you are the Gatekeeper! Is a proton pack an NFA weapon - sorry, Pax - for being silly. __________________ NRA, TSRA, IDPA, NTI, Polite Soc. - Aux Armes, Citoyens

October 27, 2009, 06:26 PM	#20
javabum Senior Member Join Date: July 6, 2009 Location: Californication Posts: 264	aily. __________________ Stupidity Should Hurt.....Immensely NRA Life member Last edited by javabum; October 27, 2009 at 06:28 PM. Reason: double post

October 27, 2009, 06:27 PM	#21
javabum Senior Member Join Date: July 6, 2009 Location: Californication Posts: 264	If you have a pistol carry it all day every day.Uncomfortable you say not this day and age....with all the choices we have not a good excuse. Then i here i have guns strategically placed in my house...if that works for you great but nothing takes the place of the one you should have on you.If you have the money to place guns all over your house then you obviously have the money to purchase a weapon capable of stopping a predator but small enough to carry daily. just my 2 cents __________________ Stupidity Should Hurt.....Immensely NRA Life member

October 27, 2009, 07:59 PM	#24
CARGUY2244 Junior member Join Date: December 4, 2008 Posts: 119	stay/go If I was unarmed, family and I were under attack, I wouldn't have the chance to get upstairs to retrieve the weapon, unless I presume I'd be granted safe passage by the invaders. The choice would be made for me based on the hypothetical situation. Stay and fight.