Do you carry at home?

[P95Carry]

I would question what possible scenarios people see for needing it on the body 24/7. (Not saying there aren't reasons, just asking what they are.)

No Brakes - it is not just a case of possible scenarios - I am most unlikely to see anything go down at home but - never an impossibility. Not that likely either when out for most part.

No - the whole point is for me - constant availablity - no chance that in a forgetful moment, I have not put it on - or even perhaps forget where I last put it (quite possible!) . So the ''need'' for me to have it on body is - simply - constant and instant availability, plus it is in MY control at all times.

If I were to unexpectedly find a problem - I could draw without wondering ''is it there'' - because it is. I put up with the slight discomfort for the benefit of constant availability - it is little different from my wrist watch. Would folks put their watch on just because at some (unpredictable point) they just ''might'' want to check the time???

 

[280PLUS]

It's kind of like playing the lottery, only backwards.

Odds are, if you play you won't win. But you MIGHT win.

Odds are, I'll never need my gun. But I MIGHT need it.

Naturally, I hope I never do.

 

[T. Bracker]

Boy, after reading some of these responses, I really feel sorry for where some of you guys and gals must live. I mean, to have to carry as well as have a loaded shotgun and AR beside your bed or chair? Either you live in very bad places or there is at least some degree of paranoia out there.

I keep a firearm in my bedroom, but the others are locked in the safe.

As far as answering the door with a gun in hand or a hand on a gun? That also seems a bit over the top, unless it is very late or the pounding on the door seems overly aggessive. If it is daytime, you can look outside first, no need for a roscoe, it would seem to me.

 

[P95Carry]

Either you live in very bad places or there is at least some degree of paranoia out there.

T Bracker (welcome BTW! ) - I wonder if you have read what I have posted - twice I have tried to make same points! NOT paranoia - and I am NOT in a bad neighborhood either.

BUT - I choose to treat my gun the same as a timepiece - it is worn for when or if needed. The one time I just might - outside chance - is not something I can possibly predict - and having carried so long now, it would seem absurd to be ''caught with pants down'' just that one time in life it was desperately needed.

This is obviously for all, a personal decision - but leave aside paranoia and one's ''hazard quotient'' - is it not logical to have and not need? It really is that simple.

''You cannot make appointments - for emergencies''. There's a guy out there too called Murphy - need I say more!



As reinforcement of what I have said - I see Otherguy Overby has posted and I'll add this quote from him - says it all!

Sure the chance of need for a weapon is low, but if you don't carry all the time, you can be reasonably sure the time you need a weapon is when you don't have one. At least according to Mr. Murphy and his law, that is.

 

[Otherguy Overby]

Several things, no less

One person asked about RV carry. It's mostly only an issue in CA while actually travelling. When you are parked, it is considered your home and carry is okay (don't let the ninnies see ya). In the rest of the West (west of the Mississippi) it's not much of an issue. New England (I don't go there) has draconian gun laws that I'd rather not contend with. Anyway, once I'm out of California several guns are unpacked and loaded 24/7.

While living at the house in CA, I'll generally have the carry gun (everywhere but CA) loaded and one shotgun, too.

Pretty much everywhere else I go outside of CA I can carry and do so. Sure the chance of need for a weapon is low, but if you don't carry all the time, you can be reasonably sure the time you need a weapon is when you don't have one. At least according to Mr. Murphy and his law, that is.

At the rural property, I carry all the time, and when going for walks I regularly carry a long gun, too. If I see anyone in the woods, around my place (well off the beaten path behind a locked gate), they are lost, or a threat, or both. Police help is generally 30 minutes away, so relying on the good intentions of tresspassers is not wise.

My thinking is, if you are gonna carry, carry all the time possible. Or don't, and trust in the goodness of the world.

 

[T. Bracker]

I can certainly see the point behind having a gun handy on the rare (hopefully) chance that you might need it. I guess I was wondering about how bad things are that someone would need a gun in every room and/or multiple guns, and the need for a AK or AR+handgun+shotgun. I mean, in my line of work, that kind of behavior suggests OCD or some degree of paranoia.

Not trying to start any fights, I just am curious as to the degree of armaments that I see listed by other posters. I maybe am not taking it seriously enough, but I guess I have look at my surroundings and situations that I see here. I find myself in "condition white or yellow" far more than in orange or red.

 

[YammyMonkey]

I keep it on my belt at all times and it's comfy so why mess with it? I leave the gun in the holster on the belt on my pants when I crawl into bed, with the day's shirt covering said pants so I know where the gun is, but it's kinda hidden. The gun goes on in the morning when I get up and goes off (not the bang kind of goes off) when I crawl into bed.

I just don't see why you would bother with the putting on/taking off if it's comfortable. If it's not comfortable then maybe you should look into a different holster or carry style?

 

[Byron Quick]

About the only times that I am out of arm's reach of a firearm is when I have to pass through a metal detector...and I avoid going through metal detectors as much as possible.

Paranoid? Is a person paranoid when there is a real danger? I think not. A classmate of mine grew up without a father because of his father's lack of so-called paranoia. His father's handgun was twenty feet away in the glove compartment when he was attacked. He made it fifteen feet before he just couldn't take being hacked with that machete anymore.

Back before I carried, I came home one night and was there for two hours before I realized that there was an intruder there also. He was between me and gun storage...I was between him and exits. I left, posthaste. Never again.

And before everyone starts with the move business...I live in an upscale, low crime neighborhood in a small town with a very low crime rate. But there's this invention known as the automobile. People use them to move around quite a bit. Including criminals. We had two home invasions in the past month. Out of town thugs. A couple of years ago, a local pastor was stabbed by two burglars he surprised at his rural home. Move? Move where?

I stay within arm's reach of a firearm. I keep more close by. Based both on my personal experience and the experience of others; I have no confidence of crossing twenty feet, arming myself, and successfully defending myself while enduring a lethal assault. I might go but I plan on taking someone with me. I keep the tools necessary within my reach.

You're welcome to do as you choose. If you are an adult then you will have the tools necessary to defend yourself or I will choose not to associate with you. I don't look down on you or anything like that. It's just that if me and a friend get attacked; I don't want to get messed up because I'm having to defend myself and him, too. It's just easier to deal with folks where the issue doesn't come up.

Some of you might want to do some research. Check into the number of people who lived in houses in nice, upscale, low-crime neighborhoods...houses with security systems, etc....who wound up butchered in them.

As far as the unavoidable risks of everyday life...granted. However, there is a risk management technique that I use. It's called insurance. Now I don't purchase insurance because I'm scared or paranoid. I am functioning from ordinary prudence when I purchase insurance. The same ordinary prudence that I utilize with my arms. Perhaps some folk need to examine their levels of prudence. I have friends and family that were killed in their own businesses or residences. One was bound with his own shoelaces to a concrete block and then thrown into a pond. After being sodomized. He was abducted from his quite rural yard. I imagine that he was wishing during his ordeal that his firearms had been within arm's reach, don't you? Tell me something, you folk who are throwing the word paranoid around so much...if he had gone armed around the house...would you characterize doing so as paranoia or prudence?

 

[Glocker]

As long as i have a wife that get's P.M.S. once a month .... Heck yes

 

[Vasilia Zhietzev]

I have only carried in the house when I felt the situation warranted it. I had lived by the airport when I was younger & the boyfriend at that time worked nights. When the neighborhood started to go downhill, I started to keep a 12 gauge by the bed until I moved elsewhere. Otherwise, the 12 gauge is still within reach; also a 40 cal sig sauer. A knife is carried pretty much all the time.

 

[Glocker]

Sargirl.... YOU GO GIRL

 

[neoncowboy]

I carry either a full-size or commander size 1911.

Pretty much if I have pants on, I have a gun (and knife, and flashlight, and OC spray) on.

 

[KnightHawk67]

I usually have one on the table/desk beside me. And I answer the door with one behind my leg at night. Nobody can see it, and if its a friend/relative, I put it back on the shelf behind the door as they come in.

I have had 2 different people walk into my various apartments over the years when a family member has left a door unlocked. Luckily, one was an honest mistake (thought he was returning to a party he had just left) and the other was an old man with Alzheimers that was wandering around our complex after his night-nurse left a door unlocked.

I live in a much better neighborhood now, but those two times scared some sense into me.

 

[280PLUS]

But there's this invention known as the automobile. People use them to move around quite a bit. Including criminals.

Yes, in CT unsavory types from NYC seem to find their way here to commit their criminal acts. Recently a married couple that owned a jewelry store in Fairfield (a "nice" "upscale" neighborhood) were both shot and killed in a robbery by some dirtbag from NYC. They happened to catch this one.



And, even in my little slice of suburbia two neighbors went away together on vacation. One two houses down, one right across the street. Both houses ransacked and robbed while us neighbors slept soundly in our little beds. They went so far as to pack the victims cars with the loot and steal the cars too!

Hmmm, paranoid? I don't think so.

 

[38SnubFan]

I find myself in "condition white or yellow" far more than in orange or red.

Well, there's already a BIG mistake! Never, I mean NEVER be in "Condition White," EVER!

Sorry to rant. Had to be said, though.

-38SnubFan

 

[JohnKSa]

I can certainly see the point behind having a gun handy on the rare (hopefully) chance that you might need it. I guess I was wondering about how bad things are that someone would need a gun in every room and/or multiple guns, and the need for a AK or AR+handgun+shotgun. I mean, in my line of work, that kind of behavior suggests OCD or some degree of paranoia.

In my experience that kind of behavior shows a deep understanding of the criminal mind. Some of the most "paranoid" people (to use your term) I know are in law enforcement. I'm guessing that they're not simply speculating about what criminals MIGHT do but are working from what they've SEEN criminals do.

The reverse lottery is an excellent example.

In a lottery, you have tiny chances of winning, but the payoff is huge (millions). And although the odds are terrible, someone wins every day somewhere in the country. You can only play if you buy a ticket.

In the home & self-defense reverse lottery, you have tiny chances of losing, but the loss is huge (loss of property, severe injury, loss of life or loved ones). Although the odds of losing are terrible, someone loses every day somewhere in the country--even in nice neighborhoods. You're always playing the reverse lottery. Whether you want to or not.

I prepare. Not because I think I will lose the reverse lottery. Not because I think my chances of losing are better than other people's chances. Not because of where I live or don't live. Not because I worry or am afraid that I will lose. I prepare because I can't afford to lose. And because the choice of whether to play or not isn't one I get to make.

I find it interesting that it's not considered paranoid to have a monitored home security system, a fire extinguisher, to use seat belts, to buy cars with air bags, to pay for life insurance, to have smoke alarms or to prepare for any of the many ways people can be injured, killed or suffer property loss. Why should being armed constitute paranoia if having smoke detectors does not?

Do you turn off your smoke detectors when the humidity is high? Do you lock up your fire extinguishers if you figure the chances of fire are small? Do you disable the air bag on the car if you're only driving on streets you consider safe? Do you only carry life insurance when you're ill, or when you're engaged in dangerous activities? What makes a self-defense weapon different from any of these other methods of preparation for unlikely events?

 

[280PLUS]

You're always playing the reverse lottery. Whether you want to or not.

Bravo! Well said!!

 

[John3-16]

Anyone who thinks they will never need a gun at home must not ever watch Fox news or CNN . somebody KILLED in there home every day..

 

[T. Bracker]

Thanks to everyone for the discussion. Some excellent posts. I certainly see some points regarding ones exposure to violence and the lack of being able to predict when and where it will happen. Situational awareness is certainly a large part of being prepared, in my opinion. When the situation warrants, I do currently carry or have access to a gun in my home when I am there. Or maybe a folding knife of OC spray depending on where I am going out to in public. I guess it comes down to what someone is comfortable with (and legal). Here in NE, we don't have a right to carry law, but it looks like it will pass this year. I will certainly apply for a permit. As it stands now, we can legally open carry in the state. Thanks for the discussion.

 

[AZ Heat]

I carry in the house ALMOST all the time. Sometimes I just gotta relax in some shorts and t-shirt.

I had a friend who got stabbed a couple dozen times during a home invasion where the guy wanted to kill him and rape his wife. Luckily, he got the knife away and got a couple good stabs in himself. The guy got away and was never found. My friend came as close to dying as you can get. This was a couple of years ago and the wife still has nightmares almost every day.

Ever since that happened, my wife stopped giving me a bad time about being "paranoid" and carrying all the time. Although she still questions me about the necessity of the shotgun and SKS inbetween us in bed. J/K. I'm pretty serious about my family. Someone can take my truck and I'll be plenty pissed off. Someone tries to harm my family, its straight to the Creator for you, even if I'm coming with you.

I like the shoulder harness, because if someone knocks on the door, I can throw on a windbreaker or jacket, and quickly cover the gun so as not to freak out the Mormons

That's pretty funny. I'm assuming you're talking about the missionaries. I was one once and if I'd come across that situation, we'd be sitting on your doorstep talking for hours. And most of the other missionaries I was with would do the same. After all, one of those missionaries ended up inventing the 1911...JMB himself!

 

[mrhuckins]

Quote:
I like the shoulder harness, because if someone knocks on the door, I can throw on a windbreaker or jacket, and quickly cover the gun so as not to freak out the Mormons

That's pretty funny. I'm assuming you're talking about the missionaries. I was one once and if I'd come across that situation, we'd be sitting on your doorstep talking for hours. And most of the other missionaries I was with would do the same.

Oh great, now I'm going to have to think up yet ANOTHER tactic to keep the missionaries from trying to convert me. Maybe I'll try a suit along with the gun. J/K.

 

[280PLUS]

That's pretty funny. I'm assuming you're talking about the missionaries. I was one once and if I'd come across that situation, we'd be sitting on your doorstep talking for hours. And most of the other missionaries I was with would do the same.

Nothing personal or against your religious beliefs but in my case you'd be talking to the door.

 

[Clocktower]

I carry at home but not all the time... if its not on me its sure close by. Cigar box or in between the mattress and the box spring... And there arn't any kids in the house.

 

[38SnubFan]

Nothing personal or against your religious beliefs but in my case you'd be talking to the door.

Not to offend any other religous belief; and I don't know about Mormons, but I used to get Jehovah's Witness "missionaries" that came to my door all the time. Found out from a friend that they don't respect the US Flag, and that most won't even bother someone who keeps a flag displayed on their property. I put up a flag - never bothered again.

Again, nothing against a Jehovah's witness. My girlfriend is one herself.

-38SnubFan

 

[David W. Gay]

Always be prepared...

In CCW class, gross -vs- fine motor skills were discussed, and what type of situations affect each. Basically, when in the type of situation that requires a firearm, generally, you will have no fine motor skills. In other words, to avoid wasting precious seconds thinking, "where did I set that thing???", simple reach for it, and it will be there.

Analogous Story Time:

Time: February 1994. Location: central Indiana. Weather: lousy.

The day had started around 35 or 40 degrees. The several inches of snow that was already on the ground, turned into slush. Durring the afternoon, the temperature dropped to the mid-twenties. And it started snowing. The slush turned to ice, which was then covered by snow. You do the math.

Enter me and my new car, which was only 3 months old. I had little money, and had let my insurance lapse the week before. An important lesson was soon to be learned by I.

The normally 50 minute drive home took over 2 hours. When I passed the sign that said: "Kokomo 26", traffic on the highway was only going 26 miles an hour. When I passed the sign that said, "Kokomo 15", traffic was only going 15 miles an our. When I pass the sign that said, "Kokomo 10 miles"... well, you get the idea.

Anyway, along the way, visibility was only usually only 50 yards or so. At times, it was a complete white-out condition - I literally could not see the front my my own car. Durring the drive, I passed over 100 vehicles that had slid off the road, and/or rear-ended each other.

I was a lucky one - to a point. I made it thru the snowy gauntlet to the edge of town, and turned off the main highway. I drove down the road a bit to a less traveled country road, only to be hit by some drunk whom thought that 4-wheel drive meant ...never mind, he wasn't thinking. And no, he didn't have any insurance either(that he told me about).

Fortunatly, I was fine, and only minor damage was sustained by my car - damage that exists today. I let it remain as a reminder to NEVER be without insurrance again. Never. (well, that and I couldn't afford to fix it)*

It was almost 11 years, and 220,000 miles, before I needed insurance again. Also only minor damage, but at least I got paid for it by the offender's insurance company without hassle.

The moral of the story? Just like you should always wear a seat belt, you should:

Carry the same gun, the same place, ALL the time.

Because, you NEVER know.


Carry on!


PS:* As a side note, the (intoxicated) driver of the 4-wheel drive jeep did offer to cover the deductable of my insurance company (no I didn't tell him). I told him it was $250. I should have told him it was $500, or more. Anyway, when I went to his home (trailor) a week later to collect, it almost turned ugly, but I was lucky and got my 250 & left.