Do you carry at home - Why do people feel safe at home?

[Wildalaska]

Yup. But it's a sure bet that there are at least approximately 35,247 people -- per year -- who thought the same way.

Sure would suck to be one of them, when it's so simple to just get dressed in the morning and stay dressed 'til bedtime.

I don't where seatbelts either...

WildbutihaveaguninthegloveboxAlaska ™

[pinkerpv]

I carry everywhere i go and at home; even when I'm working in the yard, riding the garden tractor or sitting watching the TV or working at the computer. I feel safe at home but after reading and hearing about home invasions and robberies, I am not taking any chances. There is a rental house next door with new tenants in it every six months. Several families at a time, so I'm not taking any chances.

[orionengnr]

Yes, I do.
As someone on another forum says, "Carry 24/7 or guess right." I go along with that theory.

The chance of any of us experiencing a real threat is very low, about the same as you winning the Lotto!

Only one person or group of persons wins our state lotto, and there is not necessarily a winner every week. There are a Hell of a lot of people in this state that experience a real threat each day, so this statement is beyond prepostrous.

[markj]

Nope, a weapon is always close to hand tho. Grandma shot a man in the 50s tried to come in her back door. He dies right there. Now I live out of the city in Iowa, land of CCW have 4 dogs and a lot of land around me. I just wont let my self live in fear like that. No reason to. Very confidant of my abilities and training. Why arent you? Get a dog. Life is better with a dog to give the early warning.

Wild, in the shower they called me drip dry, too short to shake Now dont ask me about the true deff of juicy fruit

Carry at home? Next someone will post about aiming a rifle ata kid wearing black

[Swampghost]

I'm rarely more than a few feet from one. A lifelong friend of mine (also a SS Agent) helped me secrete them where I can find them but most crooks and kids won't look. BTW, my youngest kid is 24 and trying for the SEAL team so I'm not too worried about the kids finding them, my daughter is a pretty mean shot too.

[Terrierman]

I do not carry at home and I do feel safe at home because I live in a low crime rural area, folks around here DO keep and bear arms and everybody knows it, I am not a criminal and do not hang out with criminals, and I have ten Jack Russell Terriers that do not allow anyone on the property without major cain being raised. Of the assaults that occur in homes, I wonder how many are carried out by total strangers in more or less random distribution in low crime rural areas. I suspect that number makes the odds of that happening to me infintesimally low. However, I do keep a .22 magnum rifle in the closet for armadillos in the back yard, an 870 is also there for anything larger and there might even be a 686 laying around somewhere.

[exprt9]

I don't carry at home inside the house but have one readily available. If I'm doing yard work, washing the car or taking the trash out, my P3AT will be in my pocket.

[Para Bellum]

"good part of town", that's where I'd go to commit a burglary/robbery/hostage-crime. Robbing the poor?

[cschwanz]

I live in a good part of town, yet there have been two homicides and robbery all within a half mile or so from the house. I'd much rather be safe then sorry

[fbrown333@suddenlink]

I can tell right now it is no fun starring down the bbl of a 44 magnum! I have been robbed while working, had my house broke onto and firearms taken(didn't have a gun safe at that time but have two now).
I have been threatend with baseball bats, knives and such. now some of you all are probably saying where the h#@$ do I live. I have lived in many states (my dad was military so we moved a lot) and back in the 60's and 70's we did not have a lot of money so we lived in some of the not so nice neighborhoods, my brother in law lived in a real nice neighborhood and was robbed at gun point so I have come to the conclusion that it can happen any where any time! BE PREPAIRED!!! Like my grandad used to say and some ones sig on here, I would rather have it and not need it than to need it and not have it. A firearm has saved my bacon more than once just by having it on my person, No time to go get one.
Iused to live near a nut house in Santa Clra, Ca. all kinds of @#$%^& would just come walking up to the house wanting a ride or money. So take head there is no safe place any more, and yes I too can remember when you could leave the house and vehicles unlocked and neighbors would look out for each other! Ok my rant is over

[kayakersteve]

Wild alaska -

Not to pick on you personally Pax, but if you assume 85 million households in the US, that is a...hmm....lets say .0004% chance of that happening in an average home.

It is 100% if it happens to you! Again, statistics suck!

[pax]

properly prepaired is having a gun accessable in every room in the house,yet you still must carry in case your attacked in the hallway.

Mavracer, beg to disagree here. I do not think it is particularly smart to have guns hidden all through your house. Yeah, I'll get flamed for saying this on this board, but ... it's true anyway.

It's really short-sighted and foolish to rely on "but it's hidden" to keep his firearm out of the hands of children, visiting guests, or hurried thieves. Want to tell me all these "readily available" guns people are talking about are in a safe? Somehow I doubt it. Nobody with normal income levels purchases a separate quick-access safe for every room of the house.

Now, of course, the "but I really am a hermit" brigade is going to speak up: "Nobody ever visits me. I don't let anyone into my home. My home is my castle!" Sure, guys. You're not married, don't have a girlfriend, never have a one-night stand, don't have any kids, don't have any relatives with kids, don't have any relatives period, don't have any neighbors that ever come visit you, don't have any friends, and certainly have no friends-of-friends ... Sheesh, people, with a life like that, why do you need a defense gun? Nobody's ever going to notice when you're gone anyway!

Proper preparation is having a gun where a home intruder cannot get his hands on it before you, yourself, are properly armed. If he comes in the front door, knocks over the plant stand and a gun falls out, guess what? You've failed to be properly prepared.

Meanwhile, a buddy of mine who lives in a "low crime" rural area had a bunch of guns stolen last year just before deer season. He left the house for fifteen minutes. Stupid neighbor kid saw him go, rushed into the house, grabbed an armload of guns, and ran off. Buddy got home within 15 minutes, but did not notice the missing guns until a couple hours later. He knew instantly who the thief had to be, lots of circumstantial stuff, but no chance of proving that in a court of law. The guns were gone beyond retrieval by the time he'd realized they were gone, since the kid (probably, based on the one recovered gun) had played it smart and taken them to the big city to sell almost immediately.

Never happen to any of you guys who hide guns in your houses, I know. You've hidden yours better than that. And you don't have any idiot neighbor kids. And a hurried thief will never break in while you're at work. Besides, you've got a dog (who cannot be bribed or poisoned). And if a thief does get in, you would not regret that it was your gun that got into the hands of a criminal. And you don't actually care one whit that your personal favorite gun might end up getting used in a murder. And you won't be sad if your firearms are stolen, even if they are never found and returned to you. So it's just silly for other people to tell you how to store your guns -- you're a free man, doggone it, and this is still a free country!

Some predictions:

• At least one person on this thread has a gun "hidden" in the pouch-pocket of the recliner. Nobody will ever look there.
  
• Or under the couch cushions. Nobody will ever look there. (Well, not for a gun anyway ... change, anyone?)
  
• Someone else has a gun hidden in a brown bag in the freezer. Nobody will ever look there.
  
• Someone else blinked twice when I mentioned knocking over a plant stand & a gun falling out -- but he's sure his plant-stand gun is secured well enough that it would not simply fall out. Anyway, nobody will ever look there.
  
• At least one person reading this has a gun hidden under the mattress on the far side of the bed. And in the underwear drawer. And in the laundry hamper. (Ewwwww! Who's going to go through the dirty underwear in the laundry hamper? Just every thief who's ever ransacked a house ...) If anyone does look there, the odor alone will drive him off!
  
• Someone else has one hidden on the top shelf of the bedroom closet. Nobody will ever look there.
  
• Someone has one hidden underneath the kitchen sink. Nobody will ever look there.
  
• Someone reading this just thought, "Under the sink? That's stupid! Mine is inside the oven I haven't used in three years! Nobody will ever look there!"
  
• Someone reading this thread has a gun in a hollowed-out book (on an otherwise-empty bookshelf, no less!). Nobody will ever look there.
  
• One of the people reading this is rolling his eyes and thinking, "Well, a thief would never think to look back & above to spot the one I've got hanging inside the closet above the door..." Nobody will ever look there.
  
• Finally, at least one person reading this is upset at me for giving away his personal secret best gun-hiding place. No thief would have thought of it before I put it on the Internet!

Proper preparation involves having a gun accessible to you, but not accessible to children, visitors, or hurried thieves. Wear 'em or lock 'em up...

pax

[SilentHitz]

I do not think it is particularly smart to have guns hidden all through your house. Yeah, I'll get flamed for saying this on this board, but ... it's true anyway.

Not by me. I have only 3 weapons in the bedroom with me, everything else is locked in the safe. When I leave the house, 2 of those go in the safe as well. All my neighbors know I have alotta guns, and I have no intention of making it easy for anyone to access them but me.

Good advice Pax! If you can "hide" them, someone can find them. It's a game of hide&seek that has bad consequences!

[Crestliner]

I keep my SP101 on my person at all times, in the home, as anywhere else I go. I keep a locked up short barreled, 12 ga. s/s, in the bedroom, unlocking it when I retire in the evening. Home invasions are more and more coming into vogue, so-to-speak, so you can't be too careful. Times were a lot different 50 years ago. Being 63 now, I reflect back on those times lovingly. Doesn't mean I don't change with the times though.

[Boris Bush]

Dang it pax! I keep the one gun that does not fit in the safe on the top shelf of the closet in my bedroom, looks like I will have to put it in the basement ontop of the furnace duct now, found a bunch of stuff there the previous owner had there and probably forgot about...........

[Mannlicher]

Funny, I have a BHP on my hip as I type this. Yes, almost always I am 'packing' at home.

[CajunBass]

If a Ruger Bearcat counts, the answer is "yes."

[bigbadbowtie]

I do not and my reason may not be very good either.
I have a 90lb G-Shephard that stays in the house most of the time. She pretty much hates everyone but my immediate family. In fact the local pizza place makes me meet them at the curb. They will not get out of the car.

I have NO doubt she would at the least slow down a BG long enough for me to get to my gun.

[pax]

Boris,

That's okay -- you could put it in a ziploc bag and duct-tape it to the inside of the toilet tank instead. Nobody will ever look there ...

pax

[Wildalaska]

At least one person reading this has a gun hidden....in the laundry hamper. (Ewwwww! Who's going to go through the dirty underwear in the laundry hamper? Just every thief who's ever ransacked a house ...) If anyone does look there, the odor alone will drive him off!

Hey thats where I keep my Seecamp....

I think

WildigotgunseverywhereAlaska ™

[rellascout]

Hey Wild,

Is that a S&W 44 in your pants or are you just happy to see me?



WildkeepitrealuntilitgoeswrongAlaska

[TexasSeaRay]

Proper preparation involves having a gun accessible to you, but not accessible to children, visitors, or hurried thieves. Wear 'em or lock 'em up...

Could not possibly disagree more . . .

What visitors we do have to our place, when they bring their kids, the kids are told where they can go and where they can't. I've walked friends to the door--kids in tow--and bid them a very early good day or good night because they couldn't, or wouldn't, control their damn kids in our house.

Got an old friend of mine who was with a medium-sized city's police department. Skinny, scrawny guy--the exact type so loved by the FFL, SAS and Delta--of which he did tours with all three.

This friend of mine has guns hidden in his house to where he has ready access, but even the slickest professional burglar would be hard-pressed to find any of them inside of an hour.

And finally, I either carried or wore a gun for a living for too many years. No way I'm going to be a prisoner in my own home and keep a gun strapped to me 24/7.

I refuse to live in a state of self-induced paranoia.

I know a number of acquaintances who "pack heat" around the house. I'll also bet my airplane, boat and other toys that if someone kicked in their door, the heat-packers would freeze up and not be able to draw and fire. They'd end up getting way hurt or just plain dead.

But by God, they carry a gun.

One of the guys at our VFW told us about his brother-in-law, who is a big-talker/little-walker, getting accosted on the street down around Houston Hobby airport area. Had a gun on him, plus a backup gun, and he froze up. The two muggers beat the ---- out of him, took both of his guns along with his money and sent him to the hospital with some pretty good injuries.

I called an old contact with Houston PD, and word is HPD is p---ed because now there are two more stolen guns on their streets--but this time, courtesy of a CCW permit holder who talked big, trained big, and folded like a cheap card table when it really counted.

But by God, he carried a gun.

Preparedness, above all else, is a state of mind. My wife and I keep several firearms handy. We know exactly what we'd do if someone kicked in our door, or accosted us in the garage as we pulled in, etc.

We HAD to know that because long time ago, my LE work made both of us the target of all kinds of threats--some hollow, and others damned serious. And even then, we don't "pack heat" around the house.

Proper, prepared state of mind reinforced with "what to do if/when . . ." has served us pretty well.

It's also served all of our ex-military and ex/present law enforcement friends as well--who, by the way, don't "pack" at home but instead keep several weapons easily and quickly accessible.

Jeff

[Playboypenguin]

...and even a little weird.

I feel very safe at home. Like I have said before, I almost always feel safe everywhere I go. I am just one of those people that feels bad things happen to other people and I always manage to escape unscathed. It is one of the very few positive aspects of my personality.

That being said, I do carry daily just in case. Even though I scoff at the idea of needing it I still realize the benefits of being prepared for the worst.

While I am at home I feel completely safe but my gun still is within my reach. I do not usually keep it in the holster since I usually am sitting in the floor next to the coffee table. I keep it very close to me on the coffee table. It rests (now this is the fruity part) on a very nice 8"x10" royal blue satin pillow which (now this is the weird part) is actually the resting pillow from a guinea pig coffin...from back when I used to build the occasional cremation box and pet coffin.

[JohnKSa]

I know a number of acquaintances who "pack heat" around the house. I'll also bet my airplane, boat and other toys that if someone kicked in their door, the heat-packers would freeze up and not be able to draw and fire. They'd end up getting way hurt or just plain dead.

And how would this change if someone broke in and they were unarmed? Is there something that would lead you to believe that home invaders don't injure or kill unarmed people? The news I've seen doesn't seem to bolster that idea.

And finally, I either carried or wore a gun for a living for too many years. No way I'm going to be a prisoner in my own home and keep a gun strapped to me 24/7.

I refuse to live in a state of self-induced paranoia.

The two do not follow, except perhaps to you and others who think like you.

There are some who think that carrying a gun makes them a prisoner, there are others who think that it makes them free. As far as I can tell it's a matter of personal preference. Fortunately there's rarely anyone forcing anyone to carry a gun if they don't want to.

And while carrying a gun may make you feel like you're in a state of "self-induced paranoia", it's a bit egotistical to assume that it affects everyone else in exactly the same way.

I don't know why it's common to assume that those who carry firearms do so out of fear.

I carry a small flashlight on my person nearly all the time, but it's not because I'm afraid of the dark.

I carry a cell phone a good bit of the time but it's not because I'm afraid of being unable to phone home.

I wear a watch, but it's not because I'm afraid not knowing what time it is or of being late.

I carry a gun, but it's not because I'm afraid of being attacked.

I have a small swiss army knife in my pocket that has tweezers in it--but it's not because I'm afraid of unwanted hair.

I try to be prepared for both the likely and the unlikely. Part of that is knowing what to do, some of that is having practiced what to do, some of that is having the right tools available when they're needed. I don't do it out of fear, it's just part of my philosophy of life. The things I carry come in handy on occasion, some many times a day, some once in awhile, some only VERY rarely, but there's NOTHING I carry that hasn't been used at least once.

I carry my flashlight at home, I wear my watch & have my swiss army knife in my pocket at home, why should a pistol be any different?

[tc556guy]

I don't usually carry at home unless I've been out and haven't had a chance to unholster yet. If I carried around the house 24/7, I am sure the wife would be looking at me strangely. Thats not to say that i don't have a firearm reasonably available around the house at any given time.