Put Your Car Keys Beside Your Bed At Night

[EMTGuard]

So back to my question. Where are the rifles and shotguns when you are both away from the house?

In the closets in the computer room and bedrooms.

[integrator97]

I don't have a car alram to activate. I have a Ruger P-89 9mm on my bedside table and I carry it or a Bersa .380 on my hip when I'm not in the bed. Sitting here at my desk the Bersa is on my belt and a Star BM 9mm is within arms reach in my desk. Ten feet away in a closet is one of 2 AR-15s with a 30 rd mag loaded condition 2. In the bedroom closet is my Rem 870 12guage loaded with 6 rounds of 000 buck in the extended mag and a side saddle holding slugs.
As for when I'm not at home, I carry a second Ruger P-98 in the car and usually have my Bersa on my belt since it's my "go everywhere" CCW peice.
As for my spouce, she shots my pistols and log guns as well as I do. She particularly likes the AR-15s. She keeps the guns within reach in the bedroom and here in our computer room. If I move one to clean it or for some other reason she will sometimes call me at work and ask where it went.
"Honey, what happened to the bedroom gun?"
And yes I do live in a bad part of town.
I have 5 security cameras covering the outside of my house as well.

So back to my question. Where are the rifles and shotguns when you are both away from the house?

[EMTGuard]

I don't have a car alram to activate. I have a Ruger P-89 9mm on my bedside table and I carry it or a Bersa .380 on my hip when I'm not in the bed. Sitting here at my desk the Bersa is on my belt and a Star BM 9mm is within arms reach in my desk. Ten feet away in a closet is one of 2 AR-15s with a 30 rd mag loaded condition 2. In the bedroom closet is my Rem 870 12guage loaded with 6 rounds of 000 buck in the extended mag and a side saddle holding slugs.
As for when I'm not at home, I carry a second Ruger P-98 in the car and usually have my Bersa on my belt since it's my "go everywhere" CCW peice.
As for my spouce, she shots my pistols and log guns as well as I do. She particularly likes the AR-15s. She keeps the guns within reach in the bedroom and here in our computer room. If I move one to clean it or for some other reason she will sometimes call me at work and ask where it went.
"Honey, what happened to the bedroom gun?"
And yes I do live in a bad part of town.
I have 5 security cameras covering the outside of my house as well.

[craig333]

I have a gun safe. Alarm. Two dogs. And no one else to worry about.

[Bill Warnock]

Integrator, I have a gun safe bolted to the floor. It serves as a safe place for weapons when we are away.
Enjoy the day,
Bill

[integrator97]

For those who sleep with the arsenal around them, I have to ask. Does your mother? Your sister? Your adult daughter? This advice was intended for anyone who needs it, not just you.

My next question is what do you do with all those unsecured weapons when you're not home? Do you lock them up, or have an alarm system? Or do you leave them to be stolen when they break in while you're gone? Just wondering.

[Bill Warnock]

Bill you heard the joke if in trouble yell fire instead of rape as for some reason people respond to fire more readily. So how about inventing an auto alarm that instead of honking it screams fire or barks like your old Shepard? Hmmmm
At 2 am I assume most folks will want to know if it is their house on fire and lights will come on.

When you are ready I'll PM my address so you will know where to send the royalties.

In the self-defense courses we conducted at Fort Belvoir, VA and in the US Marshals Service, we told the ladies never yell help, yell fire. The neighborhood lights up. You pegged that one. I have that one in my security guide.
Chucky, in police supply store a couple of years ago a plug-in motion detector that responded to noises with the sound of a "Barking German Shepard." They demo'd it in their quiet room. I was impressed with the sound and how it moderated from a growl back to a bark for about 90 seconds. It was neat to hear.
Enjoy the day,
Bill

[Chucky]

When we had children and as long as they lived under our roof, those weapons were in a locked box bolted to the floor. We depended on the German Shepherd for early warning.
Enjoy the day,
Bill

Bill you heard the joke if in trouble yell fire instead of rape as for some reason people respond to fire more readily. So how about inventing an auto alarm that instead of honking it screams fire or barks like your old Shepard? Hmmmm
At 2 am I assume most folks will want to know if it is their house on fire and lights will come on.

When you are ready I'll PM my address so you will know where to send the royalties.

[Bill Warnock]

When we had children and as long as they lived under our roof, those weapons were in a locked box bolted to the floor. We depended on the German Shepherd for early warning.
Enjoy the day,
Bill

[Charlie Fox]

This would be good advice for someone who does not either have the ability or desire to own a firearm, dog, home alarm system or other such manner of defense. Unfortunately most car alarms go unchecked unless they've been going off for hours. Maybe the police will respond before your body cools off too much...

To wade into the unsecured firearms argument: Only a complete and total moron leaves a loaded firearm within reach of children. Kids are curious and WILL find it (think back to all those Christmas presents you "found" before the big day). Kids are going to play with guns if they find them. If they are loaded someones getting hurt. Weapons of any kind should be secured in a manner that allows quick access but does not allow unauthorized access - there are many safes out there that make this possible. Think they're too expensive? How much is your child's life worth? Think of it as a one-time insurance policy.

The next thing is to take the mystery out of the gun. Kids learn a lot of bad habits from TV. Is that how you want you're child to view firearms and thier use? When my kids were small all of them knew where Daddy's guns were stored and they knew all they had to do was ask and they could see them. I would go over the process to make the gun safe with them, make them visually check to see that there were no bullets in or around the gun and then they could hold it. We also took this time to review gun safety and what to do if thier friends ever wanted to see Daddy's guns (this was a NO until they got permission from thier parents). As they grew up there was no mystery to my weapons. When we would go shooting they got a chance to shoot them to thier hearts content, to the point that they got bored with the range! This time was also spent learning about gun safety, gun handling and, the thing they hated the most, cleaning up! I would say that my kids were the only gang around that could (and did) recite the 4 Rules of Gun Safety whenever asked (and still can to this day).

Today they're all grown up and I don't fear for my grandkids safety around guns. Well, that is when I get some

[JB diligence]

thats just stupid.

i sleep with a hot GLOCK on my night stand, a hot remington 870 under my bed and a hot s&w .40 on my desk in my bedroom. i feel far more comfortable with my odds using these items as opposed to relying on my car horn to scare an evil doer away.

I agree with MJW's idea how ever in Canada our fire arms must be locked in a safe place at all times (I'm sure the bad guys are doing just that as well).

The thing with hitting the panic button that NEEDS to be thought of is the range, is your bedroom with in range to activate the alarm? My truck's origional key dosen't have the range my carstarter remote does.

[NRM_Oz]

I would hate to be the cause of a death or injury to a child because of the belief "oh he knows right from wrong so he would never touch a loaded gun" - any kid with a friend would forget these lessons to show off or to beat a dare. My uncle was a farmer and he always had 3 loaded rifles in the back laundry to shoot foxes or wild dogs plus he had syringes full of stuff for the cattle to help with birthing, etc. As a kid if I had even thought about touching them, I would have had to deal with my mother and probably had wished I had shot myself instead.

[CAP]

You mean like the 4 year old in Philadelphia, who shot, and killed, himself with the 9mm his convicted felon father left out?

Curtis,

That is exactly what I am talking about.

[CAP]

Maybe actual proper parenting and a slight bit of instruction might actually do more than letting your kids remain ignorant to a tool?

I partially agree with your statement. Instruction is great to educate a child about firearms and firearm safety. On the other hand, I believe true IGNORANCE is having a loaded, unsecured firearm in your residence with a child.

I, myself am an avid firearm enthusiast. I own (3) myself. My boy has a "Red Rider" and I take him out all of the time and let him shoot it.

But, it is still my opinion, and my opinion only, that no matter how much you educate a child, their curiosity will get the best of them. And when mom and dad aren't around, they are going to go look, touch, aim, and then BAM! That is not a chance that I am willing to take!!

I furthermore hope that the above comment was not directed toward MY parenting skills.

[Curtis Baillie]

You mean like the 4 year old in Philadelphia, who shot, and killed, himself with the 9mm his convicted felon father left out?