Home defense

[FieldsofFire]

A Gunvault or other fast access safe might be a good option. They can be had for around $100 or so if I remember correctly. Two to three minutes is way too long. I think 10-15 seconds is even way too long. You can have a loaded gun in your hand with a round in the chamber ready to fire in under five seconds with a Gunvault or something similar. If you're leaving for a while, take it to your safe and even unload it if you want.

[steelcore]

That makes perfect sense. I grew up at the end of a col-de-sac, so I really couldn't imagine someone driving down the street and looting an open garage with 5 other homes facing them, 90% of the residents having lived there for decades. My current place isn't as... quiet and soothing... to say the least.

It also depends on the neighborhood. A few months ago I would probably have been the same way, with some dope dealing kids next door to my mom. They have since been forced out of the neighborhood, so I don't worry about her as much.

[Turbinator]

i keep it in my back pocket, locked and loaded. its not going to do you any good when its in a safe, or even unloaded. maybe one of these days i'll start using a holster, but old habits die hard. kids arent going to get to your pistol and shoot themselves if it is in your possession. it either goes in the safe when i leave, or comes along for the ride. usually the latter.

Good answer. CCW'ing at home is the best way to keep it accessible at all times and pretty much rules out scenarios where you'll have to fight your way to retrieve your home defense weapon. The only thing I'd add to the above is that you should use a proper holster - belt, IWB, or some other reasonable solution.

if you want to carry in your home without detection consider the old Bianchi Belly Band.

...snip...

this is not a "fast draw" setup and it's major drawback is slow access to your gun. but it works... and truly serves it's purpose as a deep concealment rig.

Excellent suggestion on the above.

For those who carry in their home.... what is the reason to conceal it completely? I understand that you don't want to walk by the window with a full size grip sticking out the side of your shirt, but is there a reason to completely conceal it?

My opinion only - concealing it completely gives you the advantage in that should someone confront you, you know you are armed, but they don't know you are armed. You have the option of using an escalation of force if needed. If they knew you were armed up front, they might take immediate steps to neutralize you since you would clearly up front pose a threat to the intruder.

Concealment also allows you to not alarm guests or neighbors who might drop by during the day.

The only time I'd actually carry a sidearm on my person is if there have been frequent burglaries or if I hear people sneaking around the apartment.

See, I don't get this. Either you're prepared, or you aren't. You don't turn on your smoke detectors exclusively when you have the fireplace going, candles lit, or the gas stove on, do you?

Turby

[erik_26]

The key is to make a habit of taking it out of safe, safety check, dry fire, load it, safety check, and secure it before bed, and then in the morning safety check, unload, dry fire, safety check, and lock it back in the safe in the morning. Never get lazy, or be lazy and skip your routine. As someone pointed out, that same day will be the day that Murphy shows up.

I think I will try this out. Not sure about the dry firing part, seems unnecessary.

But I will start making my weapon more readily available and get into a routine.

[steelcore]

Turby, I live on the third floor. The layout makes it rather inconvenient for people to get a ladder up to my balcony, whereas you could walk right up someone's back door on the first floor. Sure, they could pick my unit to break into by chance, but far more often than not burglars go for what's easy.... and no, I don't have debts to anyone

Keeping batteries in a smoke detector isn't comparable to carrying a gun on your person. Batteries involve no thinking, you set it and forget it.... occasionally testing it.