How often do you get out your gun during the night?

[Uncle Ben]

Might seem like a strange question, but I'll explain...

In the past year alone, I have probably gotten out of bed with my gun at least 3 times or more. To me this seems like a lot, especially since no one has ever broken into my home. My wife and I simply heard "something".

So I'm curious as to how often this happens to others. Ultimately I think you have to be ready even if you are not sure about what you heard. In my case, I'm in an apartment (hopefully moving to my first home sometime soon!) so noises overhead are abundant and can be very misleading. I will also have a dog once in a home, so I look forward to that also.

Thanks for your input.

Side note: We did have someone steal our chained-up bikes several years ago that were chained up right outside our bedroom window, and that really awakened both of us to the reality of potential danger. This was before I even owned a gun and (I'll admit, stupidly, full of adrenaline) I ran outside with an aluminum baseball bat, but they were already gone)

[moccassins]

my garage door opener went on the blink about 6 months ago, I checked it out with a shotgun in hand

[45Gunner]

I have been in my current house for 10 years and remember going downstairs twice with a gun. Ironic that the first time was an alarm magnetic sensor that came unglued from a picture window and came crashing on the floor. That woke both of us up with a start. That was before I had my dog.

Last year, the dog was barking like crazy in the middle of the night. She is a very quiet dog so we knew something was wrong. She was barking at the back door. Turns out that a possum and an armadillo were locked in deadly combat out by the pool. The noise was absolutely scary and they fought until they both dropped dead on the spot.

Both incidents I had my .45 in one hand and my flashlight in the other. Both are nightly residents on the nightstand.

[Pyzon]

Luckily I have no small kids in the house anymore so a pistol is usually pretty close at hand most nights. We have two pretty vigilant dogs in the house and when they get loud I usually get up and scout around, maybe half the time with a gun.

[BurkGlocker]

I have three dogs, two little Chihuahua-mix yappers, and a 6 month old pit puppy. They are my sercurity system, and couldnt ask for a better one. In the last year I have pulled my gun three times to check out what they were freaking out about. Thankfully, it has only been something minor, i.e. cats fighting in the bushes, one was a squirrel that somehow got in between the screen and front door (that was a fun night, chasing down a squirrel in the house at 0400.) and the last was a friend that showed up later than we were expecting and actually gave up on.

[Mr. James]

I'm aghast when I tally the number of times this has happened; I had not given it any thought before now. I really need to re-locate. The worst was a night about four months ago. I had trouble sleeping and happened to be up at 0200 reading, when I heard truly hair-starching screams coming from behind my house.

I mounted up and ran to the rescue without even grabbing a cell phone, let alone calling the police. Turned out it was a neighbor's adolescent daughter having a pretty monumental emotional melt-down; she had, in fact, attacked her mother with fists and feet, and wound up spending the night in the county jail.

I was sorely disappointed in this woman's neighbors; they knew it was just mom and the daughter living there, yet when the screaming started, not one could be troubled to check if they were alright, or even pick up a phone and summon help.

[pacerdude]

Last year when my car was broken into, while at home from college, and other things occurred over the following months at my mom's house (ie. people still messing around the house) the gun came out on several occasions after dark.

[xplosion]

For me probably about 3 times last year as well.

One of them had me pretty nervous. My wife heard noises coming from outside our basement window one night and woke me up.(we sleep on the main floor but have daylight window in the basement) So I went gun in hand and cracked open the basement door and the light was on we hardly ever go in the basement. Even our dog who very rarely barks started barking at the basement door. Finally after waiting at the top of the stairs for about 15 min and hearing nothing I ventured down the stairs to find that it was only a dove hanging out under the deck next to the window. Best we can figure is I had left the light on 3 days before when I went to grab something out of storage.

I did think about calling the police but didn't want to feel stupid if it turned out to be something like it was.

[DRice.72]

If a sound wakes me up I usually try to just be still and listen and wake up before I go stumbling around in the dark. Most of the time its an animal making an attempt on my garbage can. The sound of claws on plastic is unmistakable if you listen to it. sometimes its a coon and a possum fighting, or two stray cats. Those are pretty obvious too. I do tend to get up and watch the fights tho. Those can be rather interesting.

[DanimalFL]

I had no idea Coon's and Possums fought to the death, both of them dead so often. Would love to see that on Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom.

[rickyjames]

i have 2 big airedales and when they bark i listen. lately i think a cat is coming to my back door just to **** my dogs off. it happens a couple of times a week. when they bark i grab my handgun and go see whats the matter. i suppose i could just tell them to shut up or leave my gun in the bedroom and see what they are barking about but that defeats the purpose of the whole gun and dogs thing. so when they bark i will continue to get up and take a look around with my gun in hand, i figure it's good training and better safe than sorry. i hope it's never anything more dangerous than cats

[DiscoRacing]

I have nine handguns easily within arms reach of the bed... two or three are always fully loaded... I sleep very easy and hear most anything that goes on around... I have never felt the need to pick up the closest gun....which lays atop of the nightstand.

[biohazurd]

Came down stairs with my G17 to a possum that had chewed through a window screen one night, the thing tried biting my dog, Id rather not shoot in my house if i could avoid it so i put the glock down and grabbed my machete, Im sure ya'll can imagine the rest...

[shooter_john]

As many times as I've thought I may need it... Doesn't add up to many, but I have done it. My pair of shepherds serve as a pretty good early warning system, and they rarely joke.

[Dwight55]

Worst scare was a few months ago (worst in last 40 years anyway), . . . I was dead asleep, . . . heard a man's voice hollering "Help, . . . help, . . . somebody help me". First time woke me up, . . . second time I'm up on one elbow when I hear it, . . . not a dream or nightmare.

Got up and looked out the front windows from where the sound came, . . . nothing. Woke up # 1 son and we went out side, . . . back to back so to speak, . . . flashlights & shotguns at the ready, . . . after of course calling local sheriff and arming my wife and locking her in the house.

After 45 minutes searching my 10 acres and some surrounding areas, . . . we called it off, . . . figured it was just a prank from a bunch of drunks up the road. Never found a body, . . .

Probably used up at least a 10 year normal supply of adrenaline.

May God bless,
Dwight

[CarterMccoy]

What makes you think I put it away?
Hell, I watch TV with it in my hand some nights.......

How do you spell KICK IN....

[Skans]

I'd say that I had 5 occasions where I had to get my gun and check things out in/around my house over the past 10 years. So, I guess that's about once every couple of years on average.

On two occasions, it was because a police heliocopter was hovering right near my house and the police were looking for suspects who fled into the wooded area nearby. The other things were just attributed to things that go "bump in the night".

[Ronbert]

I can't even remember.

Maybe once in 25 years?

(We lead a very quiet life in a pretty nice place with good neighbors)

[MTT TL]

In the city maybe once a year, if that? In the country maybe once or twice a month (we have bears).

[tlm225]

Counting someone knocking on the door when we don't expect visitors? Maybe 7-8 times in 17 years. Strange noises? Twice in the same period.

[Uncle Billy]

Once I was woken up by a very loud thump from downstairs (my bedroom is on the 2nd floor). The handiest gun was my Ruger Super Blackhawk .44 Mag which I grabbed and went on the prowl. I leave a lot of lights on inside and outside the house all night (these new low-watt but bright florescent bulbs keep the electric bill within reason) so it was easy to see it wasn't an intruder- the noise, while pretty loud, would have to have been a lot louder if someone broke through a door or a window, so that wasn't the cause- I looked the place over for about 20 minutes but found nothing that would account for the crash I heard. That sort of disturbed me, but I could see nothing amiss, so went back to bed. A few days later I discovered that one of two small lead ingots I taped to one of the weights in my grandfather clock to make it chime faster had come loose and fallen inside the clock which accounted for the noise. The ingots are now wired in place instead of taped to prevent adrenalin and Blue Dot being mixed behind 240 grain jacketed hollow points, to the possible detriment of the clock and/or my nerves.

[jtc2162]

I live with 3 other roomates in a pretty good area of the city. Our front door is really sticky and sometimes requires a bit of force to get it open. A few months ago my GF and I were fast asleep when one of my roomates came back from hockey around 12:30. He gave the door a good push to get it open and it was quite loud. I jumped out of bed and chambered a round as I waited quietly with my door part open until figured out it was him.

[KingEdward]

best I can remember 3 times over the last 3-4 years:

1) about 2:00 am there were 4 cop cars all lit up outside my house
with an officer knocking on the door. I kept the .357 tucked in my jeans.
Turned out the house behind ours called 911 about a possible burgler.
Her address is 2810 and mine was 2801 we were both near the end of
a dead end street. Someone had messed with a first floor window and
that set off her alarm but there was no one around.

2) about 4:00 am a couple of years ago. Heard a really loud crash which sounded as if coming from our side porch. Turned out we had some 80mph straight line winds and a gas grill got picked up and thrown into the privacy
fence just off the porch.

3) Last February there was an armed home invasion as I now live in an apartment. Woke up hearing the door cave in which was a unit below mine.
called police when I saw out the window two men getting into the SUV while
removing their ski masks. Kept my .357 in hand and behind cover just until
an officer knocked on my door. I gave them what info I could.

[GLK]

i have 2 big airedales and when they bark i listen. lately i think a cat is coming to my back door just to **** my dogs off. it happens a couple of times a week. when they bark i grab my handgun and go see whats the matter. i suppose i could just tell them to shut up or leave my gun in the bedroom and see what they are barking about but that defeats the purpose of the whole gun and dogs thing. so when they bark i will continue to get up and take a look around with my gun in hand, i figure it's good training and better safe than sorry. i hope it's never anything more dangerous than cats

Fortunately we have only had to grab the irons only once or twice at or home of 20 years. Once it was a legitimate emergency, the other time it turned out to be a very vocal young couple that certainly seemed excited over something on their pool deck.

Post up some photos of those big Airedales RJ, if they are anything like mine I bet you can tell when they are serious. This one is a lover when out in public, insanely tenacious in the wild and total guard dog when in the home. I thought she was a big Airedale until we came across two males. They were huge!

[Onward Allusion]

Once last year due to a loud noise downstairs as a result of my son's band instrument toppling over. The time before that was about 15 years ago as a result of a motion detector going off due to humidity.

I guess if I had to clear the premises more than a couple of times a year, I would move to a different neighborhood.

Uncle Ben
How often do you get out your gun during the night?