Know where your guns are.

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Monkeybear

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Well I have been shooting for about 3 years now. I am only 25. I have made it through those three years incident free....until today.

I got home after seeing a movie with my girl. I was tired before the movie and after driving for an hour and sitting in those mostly comfortable chairs for two more I was ready to catch up on some sleep. I get home and immediately take off my gun which has been chafing me since the morning and fall into bed. I wake up later and generally go about my business until I read this from Justin's sig.

Note to self: You really should be dry-firing.
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I thought to myself: "sounds good to me, lets dry-fire a bit" .....and then it hit me.......I DON'T KNOW WHERE MY GUN IS? I had no clear memory of where exactly I had placed my gun when I took it off. I carry at home sometimes, meaning I don't take my gun off just because I get home. I also don't usually put it on until I am getting ready to go somewhere. Until today I have always been aware of my firearms location at all times because: A.) I might need it and B.) sometimes we have guest.

It was on the dresser next to the bed, but I didn't know that until I walked into the bedroom an looked. Had a scary minute or two there. This may not seem like a big deal to some of you but it seemed like one to me. I'm gonna make sure never to loose sight of my defensive tools again. Just trying to nip bad habits in the bud I would say.

What do you guys think? Something like this ever happen to you?

It won't happen again to me.
 
I don't think Phil meant that you should be walking around all day like you've had 7 Red Bulls. ;) But a gun is certainly something you should be keeping track of.

My feeling is that in the moment that you set the gun down, you were not complacent. Your instinct (assuming you're a generally responsible person) would have been to place the gun in a safe location. So the issue wasn't where it was, as, in all likelihood, it was just fine. The issue was drawing a blank after the fact.

This isn't a safety or responsibility issue per se. No, the problem would have come up in the unlikely event you needed it later.

That make any sense? :confused:


-T.
 
Never. I always know where they are. You really have to. The consequences could be disastrous. However, if your single and misplace it inside your bedroom temporarily, I think the chances of living through the incident are pretty high:rolleyes:.
 
Thernlund- Makes sense. If my door was suddenly kicked down would I have been able to find it in the few seconds it takes to cover 2 rooms and a hallway?

Exar- I am not single. I am engaged and we live together. Also: I won't always be childless. I was never worried about "living though the incident" so much as I was worried about developing bad habits.
 
Once.

Hey there :
I have carried for over 10 years now and once. Just one time I left home , sure that I had just put my gun in my truck .
Well .... I got 30 miles down the road and had to be somewhere.
Wow ! Did I ever feel wierd.... Never happened again.
Once you start to carry , you must always carry.
 
I always know where mine are plus or minus about 2 feet. I'm in a new place at the moment and don't have a night table, so my gun is on the floor next to my bed if it ain't on my belt. When I leave in the morning (can't carry to work; military) it goes under the pillow, just in case the apartment maintenance guy comes in or something, its not just sitting out. So its either floor or pillow.
There was a time or two when I would go to a friend's house for a few beers, and we would unload and place our guns in his room. We'd get to drinkin, I'd crash on his couch and go to leave in the morning and he had moved my gun to somewhere else (like the safe) and not told me. He stopped doing that after I woke him up a few times to open his safe for me.
 
Shoot. I've misplaced guns for weeks at a time.

Go ahead, blaze me.

Just that I came from an era when they were tools.

Now I wonder where I left those darned slip-joint pliers....?

Nowadays I keep 'em mostly locked up, but I found a .22 rifle behind the milk room door of the barn once. Didn't need it, didn't miss it, didn't happen to close the door while I was inside for all of a week.
 
Nyah...

Welcome to the concept of "muscle memory."

Ever drive somewhere on a longer drive, and accidentally turned off to go to work?

If you haven't, well, you will.

If you put it down in the same spot all the time, well, duh... It'll probably be there.

Now, I haven't taken them out and fondled them recently, but I've a few shotguns that I haven't actually seen for a coupla years...
 
As far as a carry gun goes, make it so that it can be and only ever will be in one of two places: On your person or ________. The safe, the RSC, the bedside quick-access safe.

It keeps things simple.
 
I have a couple "ready" pistols around the house ( no kids around) and they always stay in the exact same place. I can always have my hands on one within seconds of waking up, or hearing a door kick in.
 
Shoot. I've misplaced guns for weeks at a time.

Go ahead, blaze me.

Just that I came from an era when they were tools.

Now I wonder where I left those darned slip-joint pliers....?

Nowadays I keep 'em mostly locked up, but I found a .22 rifle behind the milk room door of the barn once. Didn't need it, didn't miss it, didn't happen to close the door while I was inside for all of a week.
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That's a pretty casual attitude.

Good luck with it.

Firearms resist, however, comparison to pliers in virtuallly all meaningful respects.
 
Yeah, I'm a fan of the "same place every time" school of thought. Hip, safe, nightstand. Nowhere else.

If you need it, and I mean really need it, finding it quickly is much more than a matter of convenience. Simple stuff gets really complicated when the adrenaline is flowing. I remember a situation where the pressure was so high, my keychain felt like a rubiks cube. I eventually got the car started... but sheesh. Such a simple every day task was suddenly a real challenge.

And as for the OP, that happened to me exactly once, for about forty seconds. I went to my "usual" storage spot for my carry pistol, and it wasn't there. The sensation was like icewater poured into my veins. I'd casually placed it somewhere it shouldn't have been.

I haven't made that mistake since that day.
 
"That's a pretty casual attitude."

Yep. That's what I meant to convey.
 
I keep 5 guns of the same make/model all around the home, I'm never more than a few feet away from one at all times. Then there are back-ups in the gun room, and in the gum cabinet, or in the truck, or car and don't forget the workshop. Damn things are everywhere.
 
As far as a carry gun goes, make it so that it can be and only ever will be in one of two places: On your person or ________. The safe, the RSC, the bedside quick-access safe.

It keeps things simple.
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Absolutely. Even though we don't have any kids in the house, our practice is to have the gun with you or in the safe.

So far, our neighborhood is quiet enough that we are in Condition White while behind locked doors, Condition Yellow when we leave the house. I'm not sure I could live somewhere with a high incidence of home invasions. I feel for those who are in such a situation, and understand why many carry full-time, inside the house.

If that's your case, you really need to worry about leaving guns laying around.
 
I keep 5 guns of the same make/model all around the home, I'm never more than a few feet away from one at all times.
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I really like this idea. I've never heard it before. It's a very nice solution.

Mind divulging which model/caliber you decided upon?
 
I've never "lost" a gun. I have three that remain "out" (no kids) because they are part of my carry rotation. 1911, G19, PM9. When I offload whatever I'm carrying that day, each one has a specific spot it ALWAYS goes back to.
 
I'm not sure I could live somewhere with a high incidence of home invasions. I feel for those who are in such a situation, and understand why many carry full-time, inside the house.
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Low incidence / high incidence - but it only takes once.

I'm sure that family in northern Idaho thought they lived in a "safe neighborhood", too - so much so that they left their back door unlocked :(

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=385287
 
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Humans Forget.

Hey:
Here's one for ya. Got in my truck , Ya , Had my gun . But,,,,,
Took off toward somewhere, and forgot where I was going. Stopped. Thought about it, turned around and went home. No one called me, guess I was not late for anything. Still have no idea what happened. You are the first ones I have told this.
 
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