Housesitter/Petsitter and leaving your guns at home

[brighamr]

Kind of an odd situation. I'm going on two trips this month, and I've hired a housesitter/petsitter for these trips. I don't think anything will happen, but as a precaution I will be taking my guns with me. Here's my question:
If you were going on a trip and had a housesitter (with good references) watch your place, would you lock up all reloading equipment/guns/ammo just to be on the safe side? What else would you do prior to leaving?

It's not that I don't trust my sitter, but out of pure liability I don't want her to accidentily tip over a case of primers or something.

Suggestions/comments are appreciated.

 

[bruss01]

Liability is a concern.

If you have an atic, basement or spare room in which you can secure and lock all your valuables, or a safe, then I think that is the way to go. I can't imagine taking a whole safe full of guns and reloading equipment with me out on the road!

If you are really worried (as in, the house-sitter might innocently ask over a friend or relative who may NOT be pure in their intentions) then you might want to consider having a gun-buddy with room in his safe store your valuables while you are out of town.

If the person who is house-sitting has a reasonable familiarity with firearms, I would consider leaving an inexpensive gun (like a pump shotgun) for them to use in defense. If they are a novice or gun-virgin, then the odds of them having an accident with it outweighs the risk they might need it for defense. Only you and them can make that kind of judgement.

 

[Mt Shooter]

Drop them by here Ill take good care of them , give them some exercise, Make sure they are well fed.

 

[Keegan]

I always call on friends or family to house sit when we go out of town, so locking them all in the safe is enough. I wouldn't be comfortable hiring some stranger to do it, even if they did check out.

 

[brighamr]

Bruss - I was thinking along the same lines (leaving a cheap gun for defense). Problem being, i think she's a gun virgin, thus I wont be leaving any. There's no way I could bring my 1050 on the road LOL. I do think your suggestion of locking up primers/powder/ammo is a good idea.

I'm not concerned about theft. I called about 5 of her 15 references, and all of them were stellar.

MT Shooter - thanks! if I ever drive to the dakota's, I'll take you up on that

Keegan - it's kind of hard to do when your nearest friend or family member lives 1500 miles away



All in all, I'm really just concerned with her accidentily hurting herself. I've killed 4 rattlers this week on my property, and I have a nice collection of fireworks, gun powder, et. Al. What i decided to do was get a door lock for my spare bedroom, move everything in there and lock it up. As for the rattlers, I'm leaving a shovel on the doorstep

 

[yhtomit]

House-sitting / pet-sitting is hard to leave to a stranger.

I've house-sit and pet-sit for friends on various occasions over the past several years, and it's something I'm glad they were comfortable with me doing. But I would not want a random person in the same position -- not a big fan of having people I don't know "poking around in my stuff" (even if this is to clean the floors with a vacuum), etc.

Guns specifically, I'd rather leave with a friend if possible. 1500 miles is a fair stretch, though

timothy

 

[Mt Shooter]

pm sent

 

[Bartkowski]

Well since I couldn't take all of my guns and equipment with me I would have to lock it up.

I don't know why hiring a stranger to house sit is better than leaving your house locked up. For pets I understand though.

Do you have neighboors?

 

[coloradokevin]

I won't let a stranger have access to my house while I'm out-of-town.

Since it is always a friend/family member watching things, I take no more precautions than I normally would.

 

[CWL]

If you have the means to lock everything up, why wouldn't you?

 

[Girodin]

Not having a safe for your guns seems a bit insane to me. I know that some living situations aren't conducive to a couple of big gun safes but given the cost of guns and other valuables a safe seems like a worth while investment.

 

[Keegan]

Keegan - it's kind of hard to do when your nearest friend or family member lives 1500 miles away

Well I guess that's out of the question, then!

What I usually do depends on who is sitting. If it's my parents or one of my shooting buddies, I lock up all the guns to protect them in the event someone breaks in since no one's here at night. If it's my 18 year old sister watching the house, I put all my firearms stuff and the "beverage cart" in my office and lock the door. If you have an interior door with a keyed lock, I'd suggest moving anything you want to protect in there just in case. You might not have to worry about the sitter, but if nobody is watching the house at night there are other people who might be a cause for concern.

 

[Kharn]

I have a keyed lock on the door to the closet my safe is in, which would prevent casual snooping. They're only a few bucks at your local home improvement store and if you get the right one (interior door, exterior door knobs have a different set of dimensions) it should be a 10min job to replace it using a screwdriver.

Kharn

 

[Billy_H]

We always use a family member or a close friend who lives right around the corner. I know they are familiar with firearms in general and are familiar with what I own so I'm not worried about them.

That said, anything left behind is locked up while we are gone. When we are out of town we just have someone checking on the house, not staying here the whole time we are away.

 

[ArmedBear]

I have exactly one firearm that's not locked up. It's a .50 caliber sidelock muzzleloader hanging on the wall of the living room.

Any firearms that are loaded, or could be loaded by someone who is not an experienced muzzleloader, are locked up when I'm not around.

That's what quick-access pistol safes are good for. I can keep loaded guns for my immediate use, but not for someone else's either malicious or accidental misuse.

IMO it's a pretty bad idea to leave loaded guns around where an intruder can get to them before you can, anyway. The last thing I want is to come home and look down the muzzle of my own gun, in a burglar's hands.

 

[TallPine]

If we were ever to have someone stay at our place while we were gone, they would have to be able to use firearms to defend themselves and the animals.

Unfortunately, we don't know of anyone right now who could do it for us. That means my wife and I cannot both leave the place overnight for the forseeable future. We have three horses to feed twice a day, plus 2 dogs, 3 cats, and a couple rabbits.

 

[jsconnelly]

Luckily, my cousin takes care of our house and animals when we're gone. I keep my guns locked up anyway...he has plenty of his own.

 

[rainbowbob]

I'm not concerned about theft. I called about 5 of her 15 references, and all of them were stellar.

Unfortunately, her new boyfriend may not be so "stellar" - and you have no way of knowing.

 

[Mannlicher]

thats why they make safes. Lock your stuff up, and don't discuss what you have with anyone.

 

[jackdanson]

Yeah use a safe, if you don't have one drop them off at a gun-friendly friends house.

:: As a sidenote I wouldn't leave a weapon out for hardly ANYONE watching my home, regardless of their supposed knowledge... lawsuits come too easily these days. (obvious exception for my wife/dad/best friend)

 

[Sebastian the Ibis]

If you are just concerned about liability. Take the bolts/slides/barrels/whatever with you or store them somewhere else. Also, put on trigger locks or at least dollar store cable locks.

Imagine that story before a jury "the homeowner was negligent because he should have foreseen that my client would find the bolt it the attic insulation, broken off the trigger lock, reassembled everything and shot herself in the foot.... negligent i tell ya." Could anyone besides Jane Brady find you liable?

 

[psyopspec]

If you were going on a trip and had a housesitter (with good references) watch your place, would you lock up all reloading equipment/guns/ammo just to be on the safe side?

Locking up the guns is SOP for me when I'm leaving the house for any reason. For extended absences (say a month or more) they go into a friend's safe while I'm gone. He provides the space and wipes them down now and then, I let him shoot my guns if he so desires.