Why I carry at home, and why I wish my wife would........

[Heepstress]

RR,

You're right, Pax offered invaluable advice. I have another suggestion or two to add, or more support for a couple of her comments.

1. Try the splatter targets at the range. Wally World sells them, Dicks (and I'm sure other places) sell Dirty Birdies - those are really cool because the rings are different colors - lots of options. I love using splatter targets at the range. Helps me see where I'm really hitting (my progressive bifocals don't help!), and it's kinda fun to get the immediate feedback. (Not to mention, when I'm "on", it's a rush to show off a little. )

2. Ask your local range if they would consider special shooting days, times, contests, pricing, classes, etc for women. One of our favorite ranges has different, fun activities all the time. Valentine's Day was a CCW class for women only. They offer the "girlie colors" (I don't like em, though) for firearms, safety equipment, carry options, etc. It's fun. We've asked them to add a couples' shoot. My hubby (better half on the range ) and I love to go shooting together. It's one of our favorite shared hobbies, and we think a couples shoot would be a blast.

3. WHEN she decides to take the next step toward CC, follow all the suggestions from the previous "what gun for my wife/girlfriend/sister/mother/fillintheblankwoman" threads - covertly guide her to all the right places where she can pick out her choice.

Good luck!

[Re4mer]

The dog was the best idea I read besides the obvious gun. I would love a big German Shepard but both the wife and I are allergic.

[KingEdward]

if she will not "carry" at home, what about this...

if she can shoot a shotgun, then she should be able to shoot a 4" barrel revolver loaded with .38 special ammo.

my mom was 78 yrs old and could shoot my smith model 19 with standard
.38s all day.

as opposed to "carrying" one, you could get a couple of blue steel used smith model 10s at a gun show and keep each loaded in areas of the house where she stays or just two good locations (maybe one in kitchen and one in living room).

These weapons can sit in a gun rug in a drawer and can be quite handy.

[anythingshiny]

i think i posted up our story of my wifes 'interview' at crabtree mall this past holiday season...

opened her eyes a little but she just generally is not the watch dog type. granted she would tear your eyes out with her thumbs if you threatened the kids..but her own protection is something i have to continue to gently work on.

i was able to 'trade' the 5 weeks of salsa lessons i took 'for her' and hooked her up with fighting pistol at Tactical Response in TN in a few weeks...one of the frequent flyer gals there is gonna work with her and hopefully it will be a fun weekend and she will get a lot of trigger time and a great mindset speech.

ill post up an AAR on the experience after class

[LordofWar]

Leaving a shot gun with her is a good idea. The best thing for a female alone at the house is to let the BGs have what they want and just get over with it but you dont know what their intention is these days.

I'd say leave a Glock 26 with Speer Dot HPs as well. Keep it somewhere it can easily come in handy.

[MikeGoob]

RE: Lock Bumping--I spent about $100 for a Medico deadbolt. The newest generation is as close as you can get to 'bump proof'. Some claim to be able to do it, but only after having access to a high quality scan of the key first. Blank keys for this kind of lock are useless.

You talking about your wife recovering from surgery while at home reminds me of this terrifying video of a break in. The woman had no real defense and the cops took way too long to get there. She was at the guys complete mercy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jd3vWsa4ags

[rantingredneck]

Some updates.

I've installed a quick access safe with keypad in a location that she chose.

She's faster into that safe than I am. We had a little competition.......I lost.....

The gun in the safe is not what I would have chosen for her, but what she chose for herself. I basically opened up the gunsafe and asked her what she'd rather have in the quick access safe. She handled and fondled the various revolvers and semi's and dryfired them. She settled on the Ruger P90 because it has the best trigger and a safety. She doesn't like the trigger on the GP100's (surprising as she'd never said that before, but oh well........P90 it is......)

She's shot it before and did well with it, but I never thought that would be what she would have chosen. Live and learn. 9 rounds of .45ACP beats 6 of .38 SPL.

I've also added some exterior lighting and we are using the masterlock door bars at night or when I'm away from home.

[pax]

rr ~

What a great story! Glad things are working out.



pax

[rantingredneck]

Funny from my perspective I would have chosen the P90 for the extra capacity and .45ACP oomph over the revolver shooting .38's (.357's indoors is not my cup o tea). I was too busy trying to think of it from her perspective instead of just leaving it up to her............Men..................

Thanks again Pax for all the help........

[Dismantler]

I have had the gun talk with my wife and have had mixed results. I do not carry in the house, and I am sure that she will not. We have no children, and she knows where the guns are.

Problem is that we live in a small town/wooded area. We have had men on our property and she just struts up to them and asks them to leave. I have asked her if she took a gun and she never does. I keep telling her that she is going to regret this at some point, but she blows me off. So this is a closed subject between us.

Now, before you all tell me how to best communicate with my spouse...save your time. She has made her decision and will have to suffer the consequences if there are any to suffer. I don't like this careless attitude, but she reads the Armed Citizen every month and was once even on a jury that heard a home invasion case. Go figure.

[OldMarksman]

I've installed a quick access safe with keypad in a location that she chose.

Good start. Now, how about situations in which someone enters violently and suddenly and is then between your wife and that location?

I remember one writer discussing keeping guns in more than one location.

i thought about that but with our layout it would be problematical. If I were anywhere downstairs, and entry through the front would cut me off tfrom the stairs to the bedroom. If we were in the kitchen, any entry would be a disaster.

Unless of course we had comb safes in a number of places.

She's probably a long way from being ready for my solution, but you may want to think about the issue and discuss it with her.

My solution? A gun in a pocket holster. Never thought I'd and up doing that.

[KingEdward]

my mother and father in law are similar.

He is NRA life member, goes to range, has carry permit, has layers of security at home. wears either a John Deere or Remington cap, even in the house.

She could care less about guns. But she does realize there is danger and crime even in "safe" neighborhoods.

He does not "carry" at home. What he decided to do was arrange the house for defensive purposes as follows:

The Master bedroom has keypad which controls the security system. There is a Rem 870 in condition 3 along with a Taurus Tracker .357 and a mag lite should he need them in/around the bedroom. Also upstairs along with the master BR, there is a double barrel 20 gauge loaded in the guest BR which is the first room to the left up the stairs. It stays in the closet behind a garmet bag. Downstairs, he has reinforced all 3 entry doors with chain locks, extra deep dead bolts, and all the doors are solid (no glass).

Also downstairs in each of the main rooms (living room, kitchen, den, bath) he placed a Smith and Wesson model 10 heavy barrel revolver in a soft case in a drawer along with one reload each. The LR it's in the secretary. The kitchen it's in the china cabinet. The den it's in an end table. The bath room it's in the closet in a shaving kit case.

They are retired and keep the alarm on all the time. He figures if it goes off, he will retrieve an SD weapon where ever he is and go from there. They have been in the same neighborhood for 34 years and there have been two burglaries in the area over that time. One was in 1987 and one was in 2004.

My father in law is about the most practical man I know. Wouldn't hurt a fly either, but would protect himself and his family.

[Solvo Pium]

I think Pax is right. My wife is the same, she'll go shoot with me, but that is about it. She has even commented on "If something happens to me, then it is my time." Well, I promised my father-in-law to protect and take care of her. We have an alarm system, 2 dogs, good neighbors, put new deadbolts on the doors of the house when we bought it in December, with a rating, which I cnannot remember what it was, but it was a high rating in order for someone to beat he door down to get it open. We have a gun safe, shotgun loaded, 1st round bird shot, the rest of the 7 is OO buck. She has to rack it before she can fire. Pretty much I don't force it on her. She still shoots with me and a group of us in my unit. I do think that if the situation arises, and she makes it to the closet, someone on the other end of the barrel is going to have a surprise. We have a little one on the way , so I am sure I have another round of convincing to her pertaining to weapons in the home. Good luck to you. Keep it safe.

[Kyo]

Best convo ever I had a while ago.
"Listen, let me know when you aren't afraid of guns anymore, and I'll teach you to shoot the 45"
"Ok, that will be never"
"What about when you have kids? How are you gonna protect them if no one is there?"
"Then I would shoot the guy, those are my kids!"
Say the word kids and its over lol.
Won't touch the gun, but likes me having it.

[petemo]

Your wife is making decisions. I would worry about her safety too. I am not sure if this will help but my wife was resistent to shooting clay birds. She did not mind watching but she wold have nothing to do with the shooting part. I asked her why and she never really answered my question.
Since I reload all different types of ammo I loaded some Tripple A' with a lower charge of powder and shot and she loved it. It was all about blast noise and recoil of full power loads. After that she got pretty good with a shotgun. Did the same with several handguns backing down from bone breaking loads. Just a thought. Maybe this will help

[threegun]

Deadbolts are surprisingly flimsy. The weak point is the door frame, easily kicked in. You may want to reinforce that area and get a door brace bar.

Bingo! I had a burglar kick in my front door while the family was at school and work. My monitored alarm system did its job quite well as they ran when they heard the alarm go off stealing nothing. My neighbor heard a single bang (the burglars kick to my door). A single kick completely exploded my door frame instantly. This left us feeling unsure that we would have the time necessary to get to one of several guns around the house. Now we have installed iron bar doors similar to those sold at home depot for 350 bucks. Now we have time to react.

PS. The inside bar can do the same however the iron bars work while we are gone also.

[CorpITGuy]

I have a picture on my phone of my wife shooting an M60, so it's hard for me to "relate" on this subject; but, you've received some good advice here. Like they said, use psychology and make it about your kids... and make darn sure she is VERY well-trained. Make it fun for her to shoot. It probably is for you.

As others have mentioned, having her wear the gun she learns to use is important. It does no good sitting in a closet unloaded, or even loaded for that matter. You have a fraction of a second to react and clear leather in most instances.

[FyredUp]

My girlfriend has been home for about 9 weeks recovering from cancer surgery and chemo. I was very worried about her physical state and her inability to defend herself from attack. She is a shooter and I asked her which pistol she wanted set up for her and she picked the Springfield Loaded 1911 in .45ACP. I loaded it, cocked and locked it for her, and put it in the gun safe that way. She is very competent with this pistol and i felt good about her choice. Her first line of defense in her 2 dogs, a purebred German Shephard and a lab mix. Both are extremely loyal and very protective of her.

My choices for a woman for protection would be first a good dog, if she is not a shooter. Second, work with her on being comfortable with a gun. Practice, practice, practice, until it is second nature.

The dog is auttomatic, the gun is reactionary and depends on human intervention. People's reactions are different depending on mindset. The most important thing about having a gun for self defense is having your mind made up to shoot if you need to. If there is any question of that, forget the gun and buy a second dog.

[output]

I agree with Re4mer…

I’m a dog trainer…dog lover. I’m a firm believer that dog is mankind’s best friend without any doubt. Some people think that in order to have a ‘good’ guard dog, the dog has to be BIG and POWERFUL but that is not the case at all. A small dog is better then no dog at all, in fact some of the smaller breeds are some of the best ‘watchdogs’ because they hear everything, and are quick to alert. They aren’t much for protection, but they can let you know something is going on outside long before you would ever have known.

I have a two German Shepards that I would trust with my family’s life, and the same applies for the dogs. My dogs are protection trained, but if you treat your dog right and it comes down to it…it won’t need training to protect(some people might not agree).

I would rather be shot then attached by a dog that means business, or is protecting its family… If you have any questions about dogs just PM me, if I can I’m more then willing to give advise.

Here is a great quote…

I think we are drawn to dogs because they are the uninhibited creatures we might be if we weren't certain we knew better. They fight for honor at the first challenge, make love with no moral restraint, and they do not for all their marvelous instincts appear to know about death. Being such wonderfully uncomplicated beings, they need us to do their worrying. ~George Bird Evans

[J.Smith]

Holly Bushes under the windows are my favorite home defense mechanism. Even cut low having to walk through them is a painful experience. Secondly the HDTV security camera systems you can get through Costco and Sams club or security wholesalers online work great. On my town house I have the entrance door and the dowstairs windows and hall covered. Also going down the stairs. It is tied in via a cable tuner on my Computer so All I have to do at night is turn down the monitor light and leave the DVR recording.Third would be the shotgun. For someone like myself it is the perfect SD weapon for house close quarters. After that straight to 1911s and Speer and Double tap HPs. Also reinforced Steel doors and door frames are mandatory, along with Security monitoring. Have been considering when I build a house in a few years, of having a vault company come in and build a sliding vault door into my bedroom and using concrete block on that part of the house in order to create a bedroom with a walk in gun safe as well as turning my room into a safe room.

[TRX]

I'm going to avoid the gun/no gun issue for the moment and make a couple of different suggestions:

1) get some plastic squeeze bottles. Fill them with ammonia-based cleaner. With a little practice you can hit a face-sized target across the room, and you can practice with ordinary water.

2) I don't know the name of this thing, but I saw some elderly people carry them - they're an "emergency button" that hangs around your neck or clips to your belt. It's basically a cellphone. When you push the button, it calls a number and plays a message. Some call more than one number. They're used by people who have had strokes, and are likely to have them again. Stroke victims often lose the power of speech temporarily, and even if they can dial 911, the operator will give it low priority if nobody says anything.


If police response time in your area is poor - it is where I live - you might want to report a fire or heart attack instead of a burglary. Response time is usually much faster than police, and for someone unwilling to defend themself, they're probably going to need an EMT more than a cop anyway.

[JohnRaven]

RE: Lock Bumping

I've seen countless videos of so called ''bumping''. This technique has been around for over 30 years, it is just now coming to the surface. Also, the real term is RAPPING, not bumping.

Also, it is not as easy as so many videos make it out to be.

As far as bumping just about 'any lock'. B.S.

There are many locks out there that are simply impossible to bump.

If you want a REAL lock with REAL security, don't buy the worthless crap you can buy at wal-mart, home depot, lowes, menards, ect ect... If you think spending $50 on a lock is a lot of money, think again... So many people expect a $50, heck, even a $25 lock to protect every possession they own...
W.T.F.

If you are going to get a deadbolt for your home, and you want a GOOD one, you are going to spend WELL over $100, easily $200.

2 Suggestions, MEDICO & MUL-T-LOCK.

They are both VERY good locks, however, I prefer the MUL-T-LOCK over the MEDICO.

http://hackaday.com/2009/05/22/marc-...ias-vs-medeco/

I personally know Mark Tobias, he was at my house just last week. He was NOT able to defeat the MUL-T-LOCK Cylinder my dad and I gave him to test out and defeat. He had this Cylinder for 6 months. Mark is the best in the business, if he can't defeat it, no one can.


As far as kicking in the door and the frame giving way, sure it can be done... You have to have a good frame, good door, and even a better lock.

my 2 cents...

[FireForged]

Its all about time and difficulty... as we already know that any house can be broken into. My idea if to make it as difficult as possible so that I have time to react.

[rantingredneck]

We seem to have gone full circle here on handgun selection for the quick access safe.

She initially chose the P90 based on trigger feel alone. A couple weeks ago while on vacation we spent some time at a gun range (HER IDEA!!!, I couldn't believe it) with several of my toys. She did not like the recoil of the P90. It just doesn't fit her hand well and because of that the recoil was beating her up a bit. She also said that with brass flying while she was shooting there was just "too much going on at once."

On to the revolvers........

She spent about an hour (and a boat load of ammo) with my SP101 4" .22LR. She really enjoyed shooting it (and my 22/45, but she like the wheelgun better). She then shot the GP100 and my 2.25" SP101. She did great with both but the GP100's grip was just a bit too large for her hands.

In discussion afterward she asked that I move the P90 out of the quick access safe and put a revolver in there for her instead. I asked her to pick one and she picked the SP101...........oops..........that's MY favorite carry gun............uhoh......... But being the loving, dutiful husband that I am, it went in the safe........

Fast forward a week and long story short, another SP101 (this one a 3" .357) joined our family on Friday. We haven't been back to the range with it yet, but she's been dryfiring it (as have I). It's got a pretty good trigger out of the box, better than previous examples. I'll have it set up soon with a meprolight front night sight for her and we'll make a return trip to the range.

This 3" .357 will be loaded with 125 gr. .38+P JHP's or 158 gr LSWCHP's and stashed for her.