GUNNUTS! NCIS episode makes a point!

[SharpsDressedMan]

Just watched a DVR'd episode of NCIS where they enter a house of a "suspect", and find a room littered with guns. Guns everywhere: on the wall, strewn all over desk and other furniture surfaces, etc. Maybe 30-50 guns. I'm laughing, becuase I know some people that do that, or live that way, because their daily routine is handling, fixing, assembling, and doing business and recreation with guns. I am also guilty of having more than few out in the open, especially if I have had a "busy" week shooting, etc, and haven't cleaned them yet. I no longer have rugrats running around, or people popping in (I make sure they are all stored when the plumber, furnace guy, or cable guy comes to call, etc), so I do not worry about hoplophobics showing up. However, this episode reminded me that one can have the wrong people come to the house, and create an overreaction to the presence of firearms, stacks of ammo cans, and AK's & AR's all over the living room (yes, I have seen that; too often...and I have warned the person several times for their own good, before child services gets called, or someting like that). Do any of you concern yourselves with the way your home, etc, conveys the presence of guns, or other dangerous stuff, of do you know of others that have suffered bad kharma from being ratted on for merely possessing quantities of otherwise legitimate stuff like gun and ammo "in plain view"?

 

[Tommygunn]

I saw the episode last night. The guy had a serious shortage of storage space.
Also, noticed a Thompson lying on a table. Unless this was one of the modern "neutered" semi-only Thompsons that are sold today (didn't see enough detail to be able to discern the difference) then that was a class III weapon and, of all the weapons there, ought not be left lying out in the open.
It's unlikely Probie is going to show up at your house unless you're in the navy and somehow involved in a crime.... but yeah, leaving guns out is probably not a swell idea, and I admit I too have been guilty at times.

 

[Finn1916]

Personally I don't nor have i ever stored ammo or guns in plain view for a variety of reasons. Number one among them being I know plenty of people where the "Cool can i touch it" factor comes in. Combine that with the fact that I have my blinds open on nice days means I don't want anyone casing my house to know that I am armed or for them to have easy access to any firearms I own.

 

[jtscuba02]

Being in the military and being single, I used to live like that. Maybe not 30-50 guns laying around, but a few. I know guys that live the same way. I would kind of expect it, because of my line of work. My ex could never understand why I had weapons placed around the house. I tried to tell her it was for home defense, which it was mostly. A small amount of it was for the comforting feeling of having weapons within reach. I have since moved up in the world and now have a room in my garage as the arms room. Still have weapons all over in my bedroom. I guess I'm just ate up with it. Hahaha!!!

 

[Ole Coot]

Didn't NCIS pick the lock to get in? I do remember the "gun nut" along with some other remark I didn't care to associate with. I don't have kiddies nor strangers around and keep my doors locked but I do have one handgun beside the computer because I took it out of my pocket when I sat down. Wonder what I would be "labeled" by the media? Paranoid comes to mind.

 

[ryanrichmond]

As of right now, I have my guns in the back room in plain view. I'm saving for a small cabinet though so they won't be so out in the open. I do keep them out of view of the window and when I leave the house, I draw the blinds.

 

[Hendiadys]

I saw that episode as well. At least it didn't turn out to be the bad guy and he had been wrongly accused.

But I do get on my wife about her leaving her guns out and loaded all over the place in plain view. I only display one firearm and that's a flintlock over the fireplace. It would just look so empty otherwise.

 

[Cosmoline]

I'm more worried about thieves than giving bad appearances, but the presence of a SECOND LOCK that any LEO would have to get through to get to firearms is of practical and potentially legal importance. All in all, a locked case--even if it isn't a formal gun safe--is an essential.

 

[Deanimator]

Anybody else remember the "25mm Tokarev" comment?

 

[SharpsDressedMan]

Yes, I think they edited the very good information given by a coach or advisor from "7.62x25" to just "25". Big techie mistake.

 

[DammitBoy]

I label myself a gun nut...

 

[Black Butte]

Was watching an episode of CSI Miami where Lt. Horatio Caine and the blond chick that knows everything about guns end up cutting down a backyard tree a young man has been plinking at for years as he was growing up. The CSI teams cross sections the lower part of the tree and dissolves away the wood to retrieve many bullets. The blond chick reacts in horror at the fact there were over a hundred such bullets in the tree. Horatio exclaims: "that's not target shooting, that's training!"

My friend and I used to go through an entire box of 500 .22 LR in a single afternoon plinking with our Ruger 10/22s. To shoot 200 rounds into a tree over the course of 5 years hardly seems Earth shattering to me. Am I missing something? Should I turn myself in to the proper authorities?

 

[scaatylobo]

Wife is a fan of NCIS and I was till that STUPID comment.

 

[pikid89]

this will prob get locked cuz they dont like tv show threads around here but...
one episode of NCIS showed the Israeli girl at a Marine Corps shooting range...she asked the RO if she could shoot one of the M9's...he said sure but that women dont usually like them because of the kick or somethin....
she fires a bullseye then immediately turns with a loaded gun...points it at the RO, then clears the chamber while the gun is pointed at the RO "i prefer the sigs" she said....i almost started yelling at the TV for that terrible breach of gun saftey

 

[SharpsDressedMan]

I hope we stay on track about the GUNS IN THE HOUSE thing, rather than NCIS. I enjoy the internactive personalities of the show a lot, but detest their departure from professional conduct (too many to list). However, I really think we need to discuss the drawbacks of daily "arsenal" display where we live, and being oblivious to the threat of outsiders making a big deal of it. I know people that would lose many thousands of dollars in legal AR's, AK's, and even Class III stuff with a simple juvenile B&E, and then be on the 6:00 o'clock news because they had to report 20 such guns being "gone", and in who-knows hands............

 

[blakdawg]

When I was single and living in a bad neighborhood in Oakland (CA), I typically had several guns around my apartment ready for use. (All of the windows had fixed bars - if someone was going to break in, they'd have to kick down the door or go through the wall with a Sawzall). It was a small apartment and I almost never had visitors, and the visitors were always adults, typically who were accustomed to firearms.

Then I married into an extended family that includes young kids, and that was the end of the "leaving guns lying around" thing.

When my wife & I bought our house, we walked through several times with our realtor before making an offer - on one of the visits, the owner's live-in 40-year old son had left several firearms out & exposed in his bedroom. I didn't touch them so I don't know if they were loaded or not (actions weren't locked open or anything obvious like that) but that struck me as a pretty idiotic thing to do. The son apparently didn't want Mom to sell the house - I think he left the guns out hoping to freak out potential buyers, as I'm in the SF Bay area and many (most?) people here are seriously hoplophobic. Didn't work on me, I just though the guy had bad judgement.

Given that a CCW permit is effectively unattainable in my county, I would prefer to have a few guns loaded and discreetly hidden around the house - but the possibility of access by kids makes that a pretty rare occurrence. When my wife's out of town I'm happier with a pistol on my bedside table versus the safe.

I try to maintain a low profile re gun ownership, both to minimize the chances of robbery/theft of firearms, and because I'm somewhat beyond the point where the news media tends to characterize one's collection as an "arsenal" - e.g., "LOCAL MAN FOUND WITH THREE HANDGUNS AND HUNDREDS OF ROUNDS OF AMMUNITION!" We just had a local home invasion robbery where a collector had (allegedly) $2M worth of guns taken from him after the combination to his safe was beaten out of him - he apparently liked to brag about his collection, and did so once too often.

 

[onebigelf]

I don't leave mine out. I do sometimes carry at home, but I'm literally in the middle of nowhere, 4 1/2 miles off the nearest paved road on 32 acres. You can't see my house from the property line, there's a gate and there are 3 wireless driveway alerts before you get to the house. And you pretty much have to come in through the gate (one alert is on the gate) unless you are a major masochist. There is a 10ft thick blackberry thicket completely around the property.

John

 

[Jim Watson]

I am more careful to stow guns since the burglar took the ones laying out and did not bother with the gun case.

 

[royal barnes]

One in the biometric handgun safe beside my bed, one in a lockbox in my truck, one on me, and the rest in the safe.

 

[xcgates]

I'm on the side that has a problem with littering so many guns out in plain view, but because of the risk of a "peek-n-rob" gig. I recently moved into where I am, and had what I determined was a recon for theft in a fake door to door sales punk. Couple things about him that had me on alert, and I didn't let the door open very wide, nor put my handgun (hidden in shooting hand behind the door) down. (Mostly because I didn't recognize him as living on the street, I know ~50% of the people, and he only had one copy of literature of what he was "selling", he even had what I assume to be fake, an ID)

All he could see behind me was were two small and old LCD moniters, as well as a really old CRT monitor, and maybe the old beat-up desktop. A few days later I heard from a guard at work (lives near me) that some houses in our neighborhood had gotten hit, and he and a couple others were repositioning things like big screen TVs so they couldn't be seen though windows. I also don't leave my garage open with a good view of my nice bike unless I'm out there working. Besides, the rusty, dented Subaru is nice camo.

That said, I have a loaded gun within arms reach whenever I sleep, and within a few steps when I'm puttering around. No kids, except for when the girlscouts came to deliver cookies. (where is my *drooling* smily!!) I did let them in because of the cold while I got the money, but the gun stayed on me, out of sight, out of mind.

And if the portrayal of guns is your big concern about how those shows go, well, that is your perogative, I enjoy it for the fictional entertainment, and try to not get overly worked up.

 

[danprkr]

And if the portrayal of guns is your big concern about how those shows go, well, that is your prerogative, I enjoy it for the fictional entertainment, and try to not get overly worked up.

I would have to agree, but I would also have to add 'and for Abbey's outfits' right after the word entertainment.

 

[doubleh]

The only time I have guns lying around is when I'm working on one or cleaning what went to the range/hunting with me that day. As far as mistakes in TV shows and movies I just put it down as being exactly that, TV or a movie, and I have never seen nor do I expect great accuracy from either.

 

[x_wrench]

i try to keep my stuff out of sight to the general public anyway. i have hopefully learned from my uncle, who's home was broken into several times. i am certain at least partially because you could see his gun display cabinette as soon as he answered the door. granted, he lived out in the sticks, but anyone who came to the door could easily see them. it took him 3 times before he moved them to his bedroom. i do have children in the house, but they are at the right age. they have been exposed to guns all their lives. they are to young to mess with the long guns (to heavy), and i keep the handguns up anyway. i also train them, by once in a while, leaving a handgun (disabled and unloaded of course) down where they can find it. they know the drill, come get dad, and tell him where they found it, and i take care of it, and praise them. my son (9) knows how to clear every gun in the house. but he will not do it unless i am there to make sure he does it correctly. now, when puberty hits, i will not be able to be so lax. the kids help me reload, and i have them watch as often as i can so they learn to clean, and take good care of them. i started both of them shooting 22's when they were 4. we do not get many visitors, except for close freinds. i do not worry about them. it would be strangers that i would worry about. little do they know wheni answer the door, there is a 45 in my waistband just in case they try something they shouldn't.

 

[HJ857]

Oh crap. I have a lot of sharp knives in my kitchen, and dang, I leave them laying around a lot. I guess that means I'm knife nut...if it weren't for hollywood I'd never learn my weak points.

 

[SharpsDressedMan]

If you had as many knives laying around, hanging on the wall, etc, as guns in the scene in the NCIS episode, you'd know what I meant. If the wrong "public servant" came to your house and saw 50 knives laying about, they would probably call the cops and shrinks on you. Some behavior is abnormal enough to attract UNWANTED attention. That was my point.