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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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Old April 16, 2014, 09:06 AM   #151
veamon
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No, if I have to carry a gun in my own house just to feel safe it's time to move. That's not to say I don't have easily accessible yet safely secured guns near by in the event of a break in.
if you move from one nice area to another, and have a nicer car/home/etc, you still have a good chance of a home invasion. Criminals arent going to rob places that don't look like they have nothing to offer.
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Old April 16, 2014, 09:19 AM   #152
Glenn E. Meyer
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How many safely secured gun folk have actually run a drill to see if they could get to the gun in real time from various places in the house?

Compare it to draw time from a carried gun?
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Old April 16, 2014, 10:11 AM   #153
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The time difference factor doesn't bother me none. I cannot change the minds of others who have decided to try to harm me or my family...but I damn well can prevent my child from accidentally harming herself by keeping my firearms safely secured. Nor I do not feel it necessary in my current situation to 'stack the odds' by carrying 24/7.
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Old April 16, 2014, 10:39 AM   #154
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Skadoosh, previously in this thread you stated in two different posts that you don't carry in the house because you don't want your 5-year-old to gain access to your firearm. You never directly answered this question: How exactly is your 5-year-old going to gain "uncontrolled access" to your firearm when it's in a holster on your body? Is your child going to wrestle the gun away from you?
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Old April 16, 2014, 11:23 AM   #155
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Nor I do not feel it necessary in my current situation to 'stack the odds' by carrying 24/7.
How exactly is your 5-year-old going to gain "uncontrolled access" to your firearm when it's in a holster on your body? Is your child going to wrestle the gun away from you?


I guess you missed that part of my post.

I do not carry at home. Because I do not feel the need to do so. Which means my weapon is not under my direct control 24/7. Nor do I 'stash' any weapons in hiding around my home, thus all of my weapons are secured in a safe under lock and key.
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Old April 16, 2014, 12:15 PM   #156
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Have them staged around the house. Never more than a couple of steps from steel.
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Old April 16, 2014, 12:22 PM   #157
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Originally Posted by Skadoosh
I guess you missed that part of my post.
No, I was referring to your previous posts in this thread. Here's your original answer to the OP's question, "Do you home carry?"
Quote:
Originally Posted by Skadoosh
Nope. I have a very curious and smart 5-year old.
Then when I pointed out that carrying on your body is a good way to keep children away from your gun, you said:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Skadoosh
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.
It's fine if you don't want to carry in your house, but I find it hard to understand how a five-year-old is going to gain "uncontrolled access" to a firearm holstered on your body.
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Old April 16, 2014, 05:33 PM   #158
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Posted by skadoosh: the time difference factor doesn't bother me none. I cannot change the minds of others who have decided to try to harm me or my family...
You certainly could if you were equipped to do so, and the "time difference factor" could be the deciding factor.

Quote:
....but I damn well can prevent my child from accidentally harming herself by keeping my firearms safely secured.
Certainly. Or by keeping one directly under your control.

Quote:
Nor I do not feel it necessary in my current situation to 'stack the odds' by carrying 24/7.
That's a judgment call, but in my case, I want the best odds I can get.
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Old April 16, 2014, 06:51 PM   #159
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That's a judgment call, but in my case, I want the best odds I can get.
So do those that break into houses for a living, that means you will not be home and a police car will not be near. Neighborhoods are scouted over and over for patrol patterns as well as signs of vacant houses (owner away). Most professionals are caught be recovery of stolen goods, not by police seeing them carrying your TV out the front door. So any unsecured firearm you have in the house is an opportunity for a big payday for a crook. You may think that you have hidden that pistol well, but don't believe it these people do this for a living and can bust your hideouts in no time flat.

Unless they are locked in a large safe that can not be moved, your firearms are at risk. It is interesting one of our forum members "Pond, James Pond" lives in a Country (Estonia I believe) that unless you have a safe, you can not obtain permits to own multiple firearms.

You stand a much greater chance of being car jacked than of having someone break into your home while you are there.

Quote:
.but I damn well can prevent my child from accidentally harming herself by keeping my firearms safely secured.
That's the real concern of parents with children, do the children need to be exposed to Papa and Mama totting 1911's or 44 Mags (put in what ever caliber you want) on their hips and brought up in an environment of paranoia.

(that's a topic for a different thread)

So no, I agree that the kids welfare is more important than being able to instantly draw and shoot it out with some bad guy while my children are present. And yes the family is completely protected in our home, just not with guns lying around or on my hip. There are other ways of doing that.

Jim
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Old April 16, 2014, 07:40 PM   #160
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Posted by Jim243: So do those that break into houses for a living, that means you will not be home and a police car will not be near.
While burglars may generally prefer to enter unoccupied structures. there are enough cases of break-ins of occupied homes in our suburban area and elsewhere in the country to render that assertion incorrect.

A police car may or may not be near, but unless its presence deters the crime, that won't matter very much.

Quote:
So any unsecured firearm you have in the house is an opportunity for a big payday for a crook. You may think that you have hidden that pistol well, but don't believe it these people do this for a living and can bust your hideouts in no time flat.

Unless they are locked in a large safe that can not be moved, your firearms are at risk
True.

Quote:
You stand a much greater chance of being car jacked than of having someone break into your home while you are there.
No.

Check your facts. This has been covered here numerous time over the last few years.

You have a significantly greater chance of being violently attacked somewhere other than in your home, but that includes attacks in parking lots, in parking garages, on sidewalks, and everywhere else. And many attacks do occur in the home.

Quote:
So no, I agree that the kids welfare is more important than being able to instantly draw and shoot it out with some bad guy while my children are present.
Agree.

But---in the unlikely event that "some bad guy" (and there rae usually more than one of them) should enter your home with criminal intent, with a risk if not a likelihood of committing crimes against persons, wouldn't it be a good thing to be able to do something effective to attend to the "kids welfare" at that time?

Quote:
And yes the family is completely protected in our home, just not with guns lying around or on my hip. There are other ways of doing that.
It is always a good idea to look to home security in the context of an overall systemic solution, but I respectfully submit that nothing will ensure that the family is "completely" protected.
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Old April 16, 2014, 08:32 PM   #161
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It is always a good idea to look to home security in the context of an overall systemic solution, but I respectfully submit that nothing will ensure that the family is "completely" protected.
Completely???? Hard to say, very well protected, yes. I am more concerned for their safety outside of the home than at home. For that I have a firearm that goes with me all the time.

Let me relate a little story for you. My dad's brother during WWII served in the Air Force and was a Commandant of a US prisoner of war camp in the southwest. Not one time did he ever carry a pistol or rifle during that time inside or outside the camp. Not once was his orders to the prisoners ever questioned. He did carry a 150 lbs very well trained German Shepard that went everywhere with him. We had two German Shepard's but had to get rid of one of them, he was my wife's favorite, but I was the only one that could get near my wife without him attacking. On an occasion her brother went to give her a hug goodby and was promptly bite in the butt without warning. My wife still misses him. But:

When we adopted our daughter (4 years ago), Henry had to go just for safety's sake. I still have my Shepard but my wife has her Pekineses who is an utter terror and sets off our Shepard into attack mode every time someone comes by.

Both are great dogs with the children, but I would hate to be a stranger braking into our house.





Stay safe and shoot straight.
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Old April 17, 2014, 12:31 AM   #162
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Originally Posted by Jim243
Both are great dogs with the children, but I would hate to be a stranger braking into our house.
Okay, let's run a scenario. Home invasion. Three armed attackers. We'll be optimistic and assume no guns, so a just couple big knives and a club (tire iron, baseball bat, whatever). 7pm, everyone is home and the kids are up.

Bad Guys kick in the front door. Your dog immediately jumps in, grabbing one of them by the arm. Unfortunately for the dog, the other two BGs jump him in turn.

The dog is now dead, but he bought you 20 precious seconds. Since your firearms are locked up in a different room, you are now faced with a choice. Herd your (screaming, terrified) children to a safer location and then try to access your weapon before the BGs finish with dog and come after you, or abandon your kids in a mad rush to arm yourself as fast as possible and get back before the invaders kill your family.

This is a lose/lose proposition.


Now, let's run this again, but this time you have a nice subcompact concealed on you (so as not to mentally traumatise your children with the reality that there are bad, evil people in the world).

Bad Guys kick in the front door. Your dog immediately jumps in, grabbing one of them by the arm. As the other two BGs try to go to #1's aid, you clear Kydex and dump 3 rounds center mass into BG #2. He goes down.

At this point, you pretty much own the scenario. BG #1 is busy getting mauled by the dog and is out of the fight. BG #2 is unconscious and bleeding out: he's now longer a threat, either. As for BG #3, if he runs, you win. If he doesn't, you still have 4+ rounds in the mag to put him down.
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Old April 17, 2014, 09:20 AM   #163
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You stand a much greater chance of being car jacked than of having someone break into your home while you are there.
No.
posted by OldMarksman: Check your facts. This has been covered here numerous time over the last few years.

You have a significantly greater chance of being violently attacked somewhere other than in your home, but that includes attacks in parking lots, in parking garages, on sidewalks, and everywhere else. And many attacks do occur in the home.
And what number, based on statistical analysis, constitutes enough of a real and present danger in your mind to warrant being armed 24/7 even while at home? A 50% chance?..a 25% chance?..10%?...1%? Less than 1%??

Because if you're referencing the FBI Uniform Crime Report, we all know that the chances of being a victim of a violent crime are extremely low. I'm in VA, so for the entire southern quadrant of the US in 2009 the chance of property crime (which includes some crimes other than home invasion) was 3.61%, while the chance of violent crime (one in which needing a gun to protect yourself and/or family might be necessary) was less than one half of one percent. If you reside in the other three regions delineated in the report, your chances are significantly lower.

If you look at the 2012 data, you will see that violent crime is trending down.

I find it rather sad that there are so many on this thread who are paranoid enough to feel compelled to be armed all the time...including always carrying while at home, doing so under the guise of constant preparedness against imminent catastrophic harm being done to them in their home despite the data about crime doesn't really support the perceived requirement to do so.

I find it further disturbing that some people seemingly feel it necessary to attempt to convince others that choosing not to carry while at home is borderline irresponsible.
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Old April 17, 2014, 09:41 AM   #164
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Skadoosh, I don't understand why you still won't answer the question that I've asked you several times in this thread: How is your 5-year-old going to gain "uncontrolled access" to a handgun that you're carrying on your body?
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Old April 17, 2014, 09:55 AM   #165
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I have answered your question already. I do not home carry. Nor do I stash loaded firearms around the house.

This is not avoiding the question. You are avoiding understanding my point.
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Old April 17, 2014, 10:04 AM   #166
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I think it's time to put this one to rest.
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