[jlbraun]

Happened to me. Locked myself out of my apartment with my gun on me, but no keys.

Another time, I didn't have snow chains, but had my gun.

I feel stupid by being prepared/aware for the unlikely event of someone trying to kill me, but unprepared by not having snow chains in a snowstorm or not being aware enough to remember my keys.

:banghead:

[hankdatank1362]

Gotcha beat. Been locked out of my house before in my boxer shorts, with nothing but a handgun and a cigarette lighter. (I stepped outside for a smoke late at night.)

[Floppy_D]

You can't remember everthing all the time. I normally jog in my neighborhood in shorts and a sweatshirt, and this morning I made it outside in my boxers (and sweatshirt).

[VirgilCaine]

You don't have a patio to stand on, hank?

I always chastise my friends and my brother when they forget their keys or their cellphone. I keep all my stuff in my pants, when I change pants, I move everything over at once.

[hankdatank1362]

You don't have a patio to stand on, hank?


I was on my porch. My usual before-bed routine is to grab my SIG, cut the porch lights off (so no one sees me), have a smoke and a nice outdoor pee, and go back inside.

Thank God the wife heard me pounding on the door before some car passed by and called the cops about some big white ogre in underwear with a gun.

[jackstinson]

Myself, my wife, and my son went out to the back patio to light off some bottle rockets on July 4th one year. Out of habit, I reached over and slid the glass door shut. I had forgotten the lock was set to latch. We had shorts on, no shoes, no money, and the neighbors weren't home. Luckily one of our cars was parked outside the garage, one door was unlocked, and there was one quarter coin under the floor mat. We walked several blocks to a pay phone to make a call to her folk's house so they could come over and unlock the door. Dumb.
My wife takes the prize though....all on one vacation. First she puts the car keys (our only set we had with us at the time) in her purse so they'd be safe, then she puts her purse in the trunk so it would be safe. I didn't see this. We found out 6 hours later when the theme park closed and we went back to the car. Then the very next day, my son and I are walking along Daytona beach looking for seashells. My wife is walking ahead a little of us. We see a really bright shell in the water and stop to pick it up.....it was our hotel room key.
Needless to say: I now always carry spare keys, I stash spare keys, and just maybe I will put a spare key on the back of my carry holster!
Jack

[XDKingslayer]

My usual before-bed routine...

See. That's what screws me right there. Routine.

I keep certain things in certain places. My gun goes in the safe at night (kids), my wallet, snuff, keys, knife and USB stick go on the counter, my cell phone sits on the book shelf where the charger is plugged into the wall.

Take Christmas for instance. The book shelf is moved to the other side of the wall because that's where the wife decided the XMas tree will live. You can pretty much forget about me having my cell phone on me between Thanksgiving and New Years because that damn bookshelf isn't where it should be and it throws off my routine.

[armedandsafe]

Locked myself out of my car once. I walked about half a mile to a dry cleaners, bummed a wire coat hanger and walked back. I unlocked the car and put the coat hanger where I'd know where it was, should I ever need it. Now, I'm late.

Later that afternoon, I walked out to my car from a client's and saw my car keys in the ignition, through the closed window of the locked door. :cuss: Oh, well, I have the wire coat hanger, don't I? All I have to do is .........open the hood, which means I have to get inside before I can open the hood to get the wire to unlock the door to get inside to... :banghead:

Pops

[sm]

I must be getting old.

I was raised where the tool to never be without: a slip-joint pocket knife.

Oh we all carried concealed back in the day, and we did not have permits back then.
Even as a brat, I toted my .22 guns , whether going somewhere, or riding my bike to shoot near, or walking the property.
About age 8 I carried concealed a small caliber Beretta semi auto...

Guns were important, just not the tool for all tasks. The slip-joint pocket knife, was a real important tool and it was to always be in a pocket...boy or girl...lady or gent, have a knife on person.

Matches or Zippo as well...that emergency dime,other basic preparedness tools and we did not have 911 back in the day.

No, I was not raised with the gun being the tool, just part of the tool box.

Today, I have to be in areas with metal detectors and subject to search, and lessons learned back then on basic preparedness still apply to me today .

[JackOfAllTradesMasterAtNone]

I am the worst with them. I don't lose them, I just tend to forget where I set them. Or occasionally I'll leave them in the ignition. I'm setting a pretty good routine when I come home now. Hang them on a hook by the back door. Then pull the pistol from my waist and put it where it's accessible.

So... when I had a dealer search for a truck with my spec's, he came back with one that had almost everything I wanted. And this key pad on the drivers door. I said I didn't need that, but I bought the truck anyway. I LOVE THAT THING! I keep a spare set of keys inside, LOCKED. Other than that, there is a 'hide-a-key' outside the house. -I have kids. We've been locked out before.

Tire chains... I've actually thought about hooks like big rigs have. And leaving my chains hanging from my truck frame Fall through Spring. Right now, chains for all four wheels are in a metal box in the bed. Chains for mamma's Grand Cherokee.... Under one of the back seats year round.

Smoke on the porch, with the lights off? So no one sees you? Did you know that that glowing ember can be seen for miles.

-Steve

[sm]

Mom is 78 and does not carry a gun.
She does not walk well.
Her neighborhood is not as nice as it once was.

She had a manual garage door opener and I had a garage door opener installed, with remote, I also insisted on the exterior key pad.

Risk for falls, my biggest concern with her having to manually open the garage.
Plus, getting mugged in the drive-way, as was happening in her neighborhood.

She had no business walking to access a hidden key, not to mention that key being found...

I put a spare set of keys in the garage hidden.
I change her key ring arrangement and spare key for car in wallet and spare key in her trunk.
I believe in Redundancy, and having back-up plans.

All goes well , she is a happy lady and all this Safety is working like a champ.

She pulls up and hits remote, and the door will not open. She is not walking well at this time, and she calls me, in a panic.

"Batteries are probably down in the remote mom, get out and punch the code"
She does and garage door opens and she pulls in.

Flustered, not feeling well, and her stupid car design, she shuts door and locks her keys inside the car, in the garage.

She calls again, admitting she is having a bad day, not feeling good and getting all this surgery stuff planned she was scheduling to have...

"Mom, we hid keys remember?"

Mom used hidden spare set to get into the house, unlock her car and used the spare remote with good batteries, until I got new ones for the remote that went out.

She does not carry a gun, and at 78 she is not going to be climbing into windows ...she did when younger...
Not to mention I have her windows secure and it would take breaking them to allow one access.

Guns are fine and dandy, just too many are wrapped around the axle when it comes to guns IMO/IME .

[Keegan]

cut the porch lights off (so no one sees me), have a smoke and a nice outdoor pee
haha. Thanks for letting me know I'm not the only weirdo :neener: that used to do that, and probably still would if I hadn't quit smoking.

[kwelz]

Garage keypads are probably one of the best consumer inventions of all time.

[BozemanMT]

I walked outside early in the morning to get the paper in my undies (everyday thing here)
the wind blew the door shut. the cleaning lady had been the day before and she always locks the little worthless bottom lock (I never do, I only use the deadbolt)
Click

Of course there are no keys, of course my phone is inside. I can't really go to the neighbor in my boxers. I finally threw a big rock thru the window of the garage (we were remodeling anyway, it was going at some point) and climbed gingerly in and back in.

Ok, the story about the guy in his undies, a gun and a cigarrette on the patio is hysterical
Where do you put the holster for the gun?;)

[tmajors]

Was ATVing at night, in the snow. Ran out of gas. Wasn't familiar with the ATV I was on so didn't know where the reserve tank switch was at. Went for my flashlight...I had left it in the condo on the counter with my cell phone.

But I had my gun!

Luckily I wasn't alone so one of the other ATV headlights worked to find the reserve switch and head back to the condo.

THE NEXT DAY:

Was snowboarding at the local resort and the bindings on the board I was using came loose. I reached for my gerber multi-tool to tighten up the board. Guess what? I had left it on the counter, next to my cell phone with my flashlight.

But I had my gun!

[230RN]

I've got keys to everything squirreled away everywhere now.

Just in case.

Locked out once.

Three AM.

Cold.

Rainy.

Broke window to get in.

But I had my gun!

And someday I'll figure out how to squirrel guns away everywhere.

Just in case.