Home defense storage question

[kilogulf59]

How do you keep your HP's, or 1911's, for home protection, what I mean here is in what condition?

I used to keep my Colt MkIV S70 in condition 1, in a cheap IWB holster attached to the bed frame. My hand could grasp it easily and it was ready to go.

With the addition of wife and family I switched to DA revolvers for ease of training and potential multiple users.

Lately, with the family getting much more "trigger time" and that CDNN is selling HP's for $399, I've been contemplating going back to SA semi's and was a little concerned with the effects on the spring of being cocked, in the long term.

Take care and have a nice Thanksgiving,
KG59

[Mikeyboy]

Condition one in a holster attached to your bedframe...OK...And you have kids??? Do you use it for your CCW or do you just leave it there when you leave the house???? What if somebody breaks in when your gone??? What if your wife and kids walks in on the guy after he finds your weapon??? What do you tell them after it's over???? Invest in a keypad lockbox.

[Ares45]

I don't keep anything in condition 1 unless it's on my person. All my self defense sidearms are all SA/DA, so hammer down is not a problem as long as you train that way. My HKusp45 is in the bedside table hammer down & safety on. The HK is for piece of mind only, hopefully its just temporary while I'm in-route to the 00buck Pez dispenser. Makes a nice BUG if I run the shotty dry.

I don't have any small children running around either. I lock everything in the safe when the nieces and nephews visit. Other than that, outta sight is outta mind.

[Musketeer]

1911 in condition one either on my person, in the top dresser draw while I am in bed next to it, or cleared and in a locked fire safe in the bedroom.

Remginton 870 with 18 1/2 barrel with 4 in the magazine and none in the chamber on the top shelf of the closet under multiple comforters and next to the wife's side of the bed. If needed we can pick up the fallen comforters later! I'll be getting the extended magazine for it shortly.

I have a four year old daughter and even with a chair she cannot reach the top shelf of the closet.

[Mikeyboy]

My house I have a knife and a 17 round magazine hidden in my night stand. I have my Taurus pt92 in a keypad lockbox under my bed. I have a Remington 870 unloaded with a cable lock hidden in the closet. My wife has the shells hidden in her nightstand, with the key to the lock hidden in another spot. I have an alarm system, a dog and I am a very light sleeper. In less then a second I can have the knife and clip in my hand, in less than 3 seconds I'm loading my handgun, in 10 seconds my wife has the shotgun loaded. Actually in a month or so I'm buying another handgun so in 3 seconds me and the wife will have pistols loaded. My kids will never find an unlocked loaded weapon, nor will someone robbing my house. Even if someone finds the lockbox and prys it open with a crowbar...no clippie, no shootie. Odds are your house will be robbed while your away, instead of while your home sleeping. Odds are if you have kids, especially boys, they will find and play with your weapon at least once in their lifetime. Condition one better be put away when your not around.

[RevolverLover]

Odds are if you have kids, especially boys, they will find and play with your weapon at least once in their lifetime.

That only happens because of bad parenting.

[Mikeyboy]

That only happens because of bad parenting.

You never, ever touch a gun without your parents permission??? You cannot watch over your kids like a hawk 24/7. I'm not taking about the toddler wandering aimlessly into your room and finding your handgun while the your smoking crack. I'm talking about parents at work, kids are older and home from school, maybe they hear that parents like to hide the christmas presents in the bedroom closet...Did we get an Xbox??? No but check this out.....I will be the only honest guy here....even though my parents where the best parents in the world (much better than I am now)...and my father threatened to beat me if I touched his guns....I touched them about 2 or 3 times without his permission. My friend in High school would handle his father's pistol all the time when he wasn't around. Thankfully nothing happened. His dad was a good man also and work part-time so he was around a lot, and honestly we were the good kids, you had to see the kids I went to school with. Good parenting means keeping your weapons out of your kids hands. LOCK and KEY. If your kid shoots someone YOUR RESPONSIBLE. Don't be Naive.

[losangeles]

You cannot watch over your kids like a hawk 24/7. Good parenting means keeping your weapons out of your kids hands. LOCK and KEY. If your kid shoots someone YOUR RESPONSIBLE.

I'm with you on that. I have a couple kids and there's no way to be on them 24/7. Lock and key is the way to go!

I can have my weapons ready to go in under 30 seconds from my locked storage. A choice of handguns, Remington 870, a choice of long knives, pepper spray.

To mitigate the need for instant access to firearms, I've done some things. Firstly, I live in a remote, secluded community, plus I have a security system with armed response. Most importantly, I moved to a city where there usually is zero homicides, zero violent crimes each year. (Yes, these places exist, although it takes a bit of a budget.) You're not likely to have a BG killer who is a resident (unless he's a psycho, which is possible, and has happened in a prior year). And a BG killer non-resident will have to go through guarded security gates to enter the city. And most everybody is armed or can easily call for armed guards at a moment's notice around here.

[chrisandclauida2]

dont take this wrong but you are ignorant if you think kids cant get to damn near any place you hide a weapon.. just a friendly reminder

[jarhed]

Condition one and on me until bed then next to me on the night stand. All others (except my wife's CCW gun) are locked in a safe. My last kid at home is 13 and has been shooting since age 5. He knows exactly what to do (or not do) with my 1911 or XD40 carry guns or anything else I own. (He also knows he can't come in my room without waking me.) Older children must demonstrate proficiency and judgement with firearms through training AND handling. My son (and his sisters before him) are a part of my home defense plan-not a hindrance to it. A gun you can't use is no gun at all. In a few years I'll have to trust him with a 2500 pound weapon. Should I be scared? Should he be prepared? Semper Fi & Molon Labe

[springmom]

If you have children, keep your guns in your safe unless each gun is on your person or under your direct control. If a child is old enough to walk, he/she is old enough to get all kinds of places they shouldn't. (Voice of experience here: children are now 32, 22, 20, and 17). Usually that means they find their Christmas presents; but if what they find is a handgun or a long gun, it can be tragic.

Even though my youngest is 17 and therefore an adult, legally speaking, any gun that is not in use as a CCW or on my bedside table is IN THE SAFE. Aaron does not know the combination. The combination is not written down anywhere in our house. Nowhere.

My youngest has asked me to get "his" new shotgun (birthday present) out of the safe to show his friends; I did so, stood there while they ooohed and aaaahed and gave one of them a sharp lesson on the four laws of gun safety when he swung the shotgun (which I knew was empty because I myself had checked it twice) toward me NO WAY can Aaron, even at 17, be allowed access to those guns without parental oversight.

Keep the guns on or right next to you; or put them away under lock and key.

Springmom

[jarhed]

Springmom,you are a "10". Ditto,on gun safe,on combo,on care,control and custody. Ditto on training and access. Even my 20+ and 30+ kids have no access to my guns. (They have their own.) When my son (13) wants to see "his" guns I always let him-right then-no waiting. It helps make them his without the access. Thanks for passing on the 1st freedom to your kids. Semper Fi & Molon Labe

[kilogulf59]

OK....slow down here...someone's had way to much coffee.

If I were to explain everything I did with my pistols, or the conditions under which I live, the simple question that I asked would've turned into a novel the size of War and Peace.

ALL...repeat....ALL I wanted to know was "How do you keep your HP's, or 1911's, for home protection, what I mean here is in what condition?" I included a BRIEF explanation of what I did/do with regards to my own weapons for clarity.

I did not say nor ask anything about small children in the home or the guns being home alone or, for that matter, smoking crack.

Funny, I posted the same question on several other forums and got straight answers directly related to the topic.

A sincere thank you to those who gave intelligent replies related directly to the topic.

Have a safe and happy Thanksgiving.

[Weeg]

For the "nightstand gun," I thought that most firearms educators advocate "some type of cognitive requirement" to put a gun into action from a dead sleep (IE: Home invasion)...This way you are awake and you are "firing on more than a few cylinders"...

A couple of notables from the last round-up...

- guy is startled in the middle of the night by a shadow hovering over his bed...It was his wife...Shot her...

- "answered" his M1911...Instead of his phone...


A simple case of having to rack the slide would help in this cognitive requirement, yes?

.

[springmom]

Ah, c'mon, kilogulf. You know better. Post something and we'll do it to death. Who needs guns... we can drown people in email posts!!!!

Seriously, though, I think we just tend to springboard off each other, and so the thread that starts isn't the thread that ends. Sort of like playing "telephone" when you were a kid, only wordier

Springmom, the VERY wordy

[springmom]

Ah, c'mon, kilogulf. You know better. Post something and we'll do it to death. Who needs guns... we can drown people in email posts!!!!

Seriously, though, I think we just tend to springboard off each other, and so the thread that starts isn't the thread that ends. Sort of like playing "telephone" when you were a kid, only wordier

Springmom, the VERY wordy

[gddyup]

Springmom's so wordy, she sometimes posts twice!! LOL!


I carry my XD9 loaded and ready. "Condition 1" if you can call it that for a DAO semi. It always sits in the Desantis holster I carry with. If it's not on my belt, then it is up high away from my 3 year old son, like on top of the fridge in the kitchen if we are all downstairs. It's NEVER out of site if it's not on my person. The only time I lock it in my safe is when my wife and I are at work. I can't carry at the FD and my wife currently works in MA and can't carry there.