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View Poll Results: Do you carry your handgun on you at home? | |||
Yes, all the time. | 102 | 36.69% | |
Sometimes. | 101 | 36.33% | |
Nope, not at all. | 75 | 26.98% | |
Voters: 278. You may not vote on this poll |
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March 26, 2014, 12:53 PM | #51 | |
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March 26, 2014, 01:10 PM | #52 | ||
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If you want to be prepared for a home invasion, you need to have a gun readily accessible, not locked upstairs in your bedroom safe. Therefore, many people stash one or more guns in various locations around their house. But there are several problems with that: 1) It requires you to always be aware of which gun is the closest depending on where you are in your house. In an emergency it's just one more thing you need to think about. 2) Unless the gun is right next to you, it's a heck of a lot faster to have the gun on your body. 3) Many home invasions are begun by a simple knock on the door. Are you going to answer every knock by retrieving your gun first and then having it in your hand while opening the door? It makes a lot more sense to simply have the gun concealed on your body: If the person at the door is just a normal visitor, then you're not brandishing a firearm at an innocent person. But if it turns out to be someone with bad intentions, you're still prepared. 4) Most importantly, it's a lot safer for kids: Stashing guns around the house is a bad idea if you have children. Even if they're all locked up in various lock-boxes, there's still a chance that you'll forget to lock them up properly the next time you take them out. Also, small gun safes can be notoriously easy to get into. But the gun in a holster on my hip is in my control at all times. There's no worry that my kid will get ahold of it.
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March 26, 2014, 01:11 PM | #53 |
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A little background...
I live on acreage. I'm married with four kids ages 11, 9, 4, and 2. I carry from the moment I'm awake the the moment I go to sleep. Home invasions are on the rise in my region, and to me, it doesn't matter how fast I can get to a gun or how many seconds it takes for me to run through my house. What matters to me are the wife and four children. When an attacker comes through that door, I want to be able to respond immediately and stop any threat without having to leave the room and abandon my family, even for a moment.
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"Those who were rebuilding the wall and those who carried burdens took their load with one hand doing the work and the other holding a weapon...neither I, my brothers, my servants, nor the men of the guard who followed me, none of us removed our clothes, each took his weapon even to the water." Nehemiah 4 |
March 26, 2014, 01:49 PM | #54 |
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I live on a small farm thats set a little way back from the road.My doorbell maybe rings 3 times per year needless to say I always have a gun on me when I answer the door.I also have 4 little girls in my house so most of the time that I'm at home I usually try to keep one on me.Not to say i don't get lazy sometimes and just leave it it the safe..Gotta work on it some more......
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March 27, 2014, 01:12 AM | #55 |
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I just leave them on the table in full view with extra ammo right next to it and a large Maglite or Stinger Streamlight type flashlight
makes it easy to find if the power goes out and Im in the dark |
March 27, 2014, 04:40 AM | #56 | |
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I've noticed in Florida residential doors are out swing and north in ky & Ohio they're all in swing.( except commercial buildings) Much easier to kick in. The only disadvantage of out swing is that hind he's are on the outside. One thing that can prevent hinge pins from being knocked out is dowel pins on the hinge side drilled. This locks the door to frame even if hinge pins removed. Most residential break ins are in middle of the day from my experience. They knock on door... No answer= break in. Usually the front door. |
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March 27, 2014, 07:08 AM | #57 | ||
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Surely you can understand that the risk of a home invasion is far outweighed by what could happen if my curious 5-year old gained uncontrolled access to my firearms.
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March 27, 2014, 08:05 AM | #58 |
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All the time. Way better than having guns stashed all over the house. Way better than fumbling with the safe when someone is trying to get in. Way better than trying to run upstairs to your nightstand when you need it. Way better than worrying about that toddler or kid who may find your loaded gun.
It is there when you need it. It doesn't have to be a full size piece, although that is what I carry these days. All it has to do is buy you time to get to the good stuff.
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March 27, 2014, 08:12 AM | #59 | |
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You know those FBI crime stats that they publish every year? Well, one of the few areas where crime is increasing is home robberies. NOTE: they don't officially have a home invasion category. Home robbery is when stuff is taken by force when someone is home.
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Simple as ABC . . . Always Be Carrying |
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March 27, 2014, 10:33 AM | #60 | |
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Re the issue of kids in the house: I have no sympathy or tolerance for having unsecured guns in a house with kids. All those sorts of accidents are preventable. My wife and I have an empty nest, but we had two younger friends over the same night this week, each with a kid around three years of age. They were good kids, already polite and respectful (there are folks still raising their kids to be so); they were never unsupervised, they were never in the same room with the guns, but the guns were locked up in advance of their arrival anyway. To do otherwise just plays into the hands of gun control activists, because their alternative solution is to not allow any guns in the same building as children. |
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March 27, 2014, 11:42 AM | #61 | |
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I'm really at a loss here. How in the world is your 5-year-old going to gain "uncontrolled access to your firearm" when it's holstered on your body? Is your child going to wrestle it away from you? And at that point how is the child "uncontrolled"? Are you then going to sit back and just watch your child play with your gun? I simply don't understand your logic here. Guns stashed around the house can be found. And kids are smart; given enough time (and tips from the internet) they could manage to get into many of the small gun safes on the market. These are some of the reasons I carry my primary home-defense gun on my body; I don't want children to be able to gain uncontrolled access to my firearm.
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March 27, 2014, 11:56 AM | #62 |
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The logic here is, it's Skadoosh's home and family! I think he may know his particular situation better than the rest of us do.
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March 27, 2014, 12:14 PM | #63 |
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Thanks, Guv.
I do not want nor do I need to carry all the time...and certainly not in my home. All of my guns are securely locked up. In more than one place in my home. Of course, in the event of a home invasion, I would likely be screwed. But I am willing to take that risk. I am not, however, willing to take the risk of my inquisitive child finding a unsecured gun if I chose to stash one at the ready...despite my educating her at every opportunity on the dangers of a unsecured gun. My child seems very understanding of the danger of firearms, but I remember just how inquisitive I was as a child. And despite the being exposed to guns my whole life and knowing the risks, my curiosity more often than not got the better of me on a great many things...including guns. Heck, I have even had a negligent discharge in my own home due to inattentiveness and lax safety precautions as an adult with a lot of firearms training and experience. More than once. And smart kids do stupid things all the time. I will never admonish anyonefor choosing to carry while in their home if they feel that they should. But I don't feel that it is necessary or appropriate for me to carry in my home. Just like I don't carry a fire extinguisher around with me wherever I go.
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March 27, 2014, 12:48 PM | #64 | ||
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It's your choice to not carry inside your home, and that's completely fine. It's not for everybody. But if someone wants to be prepared for a home invasion while also keeping their gun away from their kids, I think carrying at home is the best way to do both.
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March 27, 2014, 12:52 PM | #65 |
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If I'm understanding him, Skadoosh doesn't carry in his house because he doesn't WANT To carry in his house. It has nothing to do with his child taking it from his person. He was just saying he locks them up, even if it means difficult access in an emergency, because of his child potentially accessing it.
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March 27, 2014, 12:55 PM | #66 | |
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March 27, 2014, 01:01 PM | #67 | |||
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March 27, 2014, 01:08 PM | #68 |
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I didn't really go back and read all the posts. Yeah I can see your confusion on his initial response. I do agree that carrying is the best way to prevent a child from accessing that particular weapon. However, unless you just have the one gun, you surely can't (or don't) carry all of them on you, do you? So in terms of keeping firearms from your children, you're really only keeping one of them safe from them. But...maybe you just have the one gun, I don't know.
Which, I know, the others you likely aren't storing loaded, but I'm just playing devil's advocate. Last edited by JLL; March 27, 2014 at 01:21 PM. |
March 27, 2014, 01:29 PM | #69 | |
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Stashing guns around the house is a bad idea in my opinion, even if you have them in small safes or lock-boxes. When I was a kid, I figured out that it usually only took a few hundred tries before I could get the combination right on a trigger-lock or a lock-box. And some of those small digital gun safes are ridiculously easy to break into if you know how to do it, and the internet makes it easy to find that information. Or you can just find the back-up key. My point is that many of the ways people stash guns "securely" around the house are actually pretty easy for a smart kid to figure out how to defeat. Unless every gun is in a good, solid gun safe, they're probably not as inaccessible as many people think. And, with enough guns stashed in various places around the house, it's a good possibility you'll eventually forget to lock one of them up. But the gun on my body is under my control at all times. I don't need to worry that my kid has been trying different combinations on the various lock-boxes or trigger-locks. I don't need to worry that my kid will find the extra key to my digital GunVault. I don't need to worry that I forgot to lock up one of the various guns I have stashed around the house. I just need to make sure I keep my bedroom gun safe locked and that my kid doesn't somehow manage to wrestle my carry gun away me.
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March 27, 2014, 01:32 PM | #70 |
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Ah, the old fire extinguisher analogy Sooo many holes in that chestnut: I'm amazed people still use it. But, sure, why not. I'll bite.
For starters, a fire extinguisher is not typically capable of lethal injury if mishandled. They aren't particularly desirable targets for thieves, either. Therefor the need to control access is entirely different from a firearm. Second, while you obviously would not want to body carry a fire extinguisher, a prudent person will absolutely keep them readily accessible in fire risk areas of the home (kitchen, fireplace, backyard grill, etc) and mitigate that risk by not leaving heat sources unattended. Because you have no control over where you will be in your home if a break in occurs, nor any way to control when one may occur, you cannot mitigate your risk of a break in a similar manner to a fire. These things being true, the analogy fails to hold water. Body carrying a firearm in your home gives you reliable access to a weapon and provides you with direct control over who has access. Since the core reason for keeping a SD weapon is the same inside the home as it is outside, if you carry outside then it logically follows to carry inside as well. Yes, the risk of an attack inside your home is low. So is your risk of attack outside. So is the risk of a fire, for that matter. But the smart man still keeps that extinguisher handy. Just in case Murphy comes calling. |
March 27, 2014, 01:43 PM | #71 |
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Yeah, I don't think leaving loaded weapons stashed in various locations is a good idea, so I can go with the idea that if you're going to keep a loaded gun, keep it on your person. For that reason, my one gun that I would have readily accessible is not kept loaded, nor is it stored in the same location as the loaded magazine. One might call that unsafe, but at this stage in my childrens' lives, it would be 100% impossible for any of them to gain access to both the gun and the loaded magazine. Hypothetically, if they did, it would be 100% impossible for any of them to chamber a round. In other words, my kids are very young and weak. Now, at later stages in their lives, I might have to reconsider my stashing of the firearm.
Like I said, I simply have no desire to keep a gun on me in my home. I do realize, if I needed the gun, it's going to take me...from doing dishes in the kitchen sink to retrieving and chambering a round...10-12 seconds, but that's just a risk I choose to assume. |
March 27, 2014, 01:54 PM | #72 |
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My LCP is always in my back pocket, from the time I get up, till the time I go to bed.
During the day away from home I carry a snub on my belt, or an automatic IWB. When I get home, I may, or may not leave the one on my hip, but the LCP stays where it is. Oh... and no kids in the house. |
March 27, 2014, 02:13 PM | #73 | |
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I decided to start carrying a gun in my home specifically for accessibility and convenience (at the time my wife was only pregnant so kids weren't an issue yet): We moved into a rental home that would be very easy to break into (heck, both my front and back doors are mostly glass). My two large dogs would definitely alert me if someone broke in, but I can't rely on them to do anything more than slow down a determined attacker. So I originally kept a few guns located in various places around my house. But I got tired of having to constantly think about where the closest gun was and the fastest way to get to it. I got tired of trying to figure out the "perfect" place to keep a gun near the front door in case a casual knock on the door turned out to be a home invasion. I have a bad memory, so it always helps when I simplify things; so I just figured I'd greatly simplify things and just carry my gun on my body at all times. It just makes things a lot easier for me.
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March 27, 2014, 02:47 PM | #74 |
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I would not carry a firearm around the house. If I was concerned keeping easily available would be good enough. I would see the house as somewhere to put your feet up and relax not sit armed . If I could not feel safe in my own house without being armed I would be looking for a new house in a different area.
Last edited by manta49; March 27, 2014 at 02:55 PM. |
March 27, 2014, 03:13 PM | #75 |
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^^This is how I feel about it but it is a fact that not everyone can live in an area that they feel this secure. Also things happen and the more ready you are the better you may respond to the situation. I don't carry my Beretta around my house but it's not too far for me to access either, besides I have 2 attack cats in the house. Any one remember the days when people could have a nice gun case as a piece of furniture? Seems almost fictional any more.
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