Last night I learned a valuable lesson. My family and I slept on the couch on the first floor of my house. At 4 am I awoke to what I initally thought was someone knocking on my door but I quickly figured out that it was actually shots being fired. Just a few rounds at first and then a sudden burst of rapid fire lasting 5 to 6 seconds. This happened twice within a 25 to 30 second period. I estimate approx 40 rounds were fired and that it was about 50 yards away. The first thing I did was wake my girlfriend up, I told her to take Kade (our 4 month old) up stairs to our bedroom and stay there until I told her otherwise. I reached under the couch to grab my S&W model 60 that I keep in a concealment book wherever I sleep but it wasnt there, I had left it upstairs beside my bed. My next reaction was to grab my 12ga coach gun that I had sat just inside my front door after coming in from a little weekend outing but then I remembered that ALL of my 12 ga shells were in the back of my vehicle
I thought about running upstairs to grab my S&W but I wanted more firepower than just 5 rounds of 357 so I ran to my dining room and opened my safe. I grabbed my beretta 96d since I knew that it is the only firearm that I keep loaded in case of emergency and proceeded to load 3 more magazines. I looked out all of my windows for the next hour trying to find out what was going on but I saw nothing due to the surrounding houses. I heard on the news tonight that it was a cigarette store robbery attempt gone wrong and that the suspect had opened fire on officers while fleeing which resulted in a massive shootout.
I always thought that I would be prepared in a situation where I would have to protect my family but last night I wasnt. This fella could have easily seen my house as a place to hide from the police and if he had.... I most likely would have been in the process of opening my safe or asleep unarmed on the couch. From now on, I'll be prepared