How are your bedside guns stored?

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beeenbag

beeenbag

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I keep my glock 19 in a bedside safe that gets opened every night and closed every morning. I also have whatever I am carrying beside the bed at night, it goes back into my pants when I wake up. I would love to be able to keep a shotgun or AR by the bed but my concerns are...

1. I have a daughter who is 3, the gun has to be locked up or out of reach.
2. If it is just hidden out of sight, I worry about coming home and meeting mr. No good who now has found my 12g. (This happened around here not too long ago, man was shot with his own .357)
3. A long gun in a safe would be very slow to get into action, and I would probably bypass it for the faster acquired handgun.


Is there a safe and fast way to keep long guns by the bed?
 
Mine is in my safe bolted to my bed frame. Open when I go to bed at night and closed when I get up. Same scenario, I have grandkids that are here all the time, I won't chance one of them getting to it.
 
Whatever is on my hip all day sits on the floor beside my bed at bedtime.
That means that the gun I carry every day, and take to the range once a week...(or, to put it another way, the one I am most comfortable with) is the one that "sleeps" beside me.

Yeah, there is also a shotgun within reach...but that is a back-up, as far as I'm concerned.
 
I don't bother with a longarm for the house.

The rifle stays in the van (very well hidden). The "practice spare" is the wife's ccw. The CM9 stays in my pocket holster, unless it's under my towel (arm's reach) while I shower, or under the mattress, near my head, when I'm in bed. Nobody is getting to that while I am in the bed, certainly not a kid.

What makes people think that trouble only comes while they are in bed, anyway? You don't answer the door, mow the lawn, take out the pets or the trash, or get the mail with a longarm in hand. But you can sure have your hand in your pocket as you do all those things. :) You are many times more likely to get caught without your gun (if you don't ccw it always) than you are to need more than a pocket 9mm.
 
I currently use a fanny pack carrier. So that comes into and beside the nightstand. The others are holstered in the safe in the walk in closet. Both are about the same for access.
 
If you're comfortable locking your bedroom door at night, then there you go. Get gun out before bed, daughter can't get in, put gun up before leaving house. If you aren't comfortable locking your door, then you need to put the gun up high. Guitar hangers work great for that. Discrete when a gun isn't hanging off it, sturdy and quick to use when it is, and kids can't reach it.
 
you guys have got some good ideas here. I might install a small gun safe on one of the shelves in the bookcase beside my bead. that would be practical for me.

CA R
 
This is entirely dependent on the dexterity and strength of the child, but for a long gun such as a pump, or even an AR, you could have it locked, but not loaded, and make it ready at the time you need it.

In the rare circumstance a friend or family member's child is in my place, I sincerely doubt the ability of a small child to chamber a round in my home defense AR.

As the child gets older and stronger there will obviously be a need to for a combination of security and education to discourage unsupervised use of firearms and outright prevent access.

I would not ever leave a firearm with a round in the chamber accessible to anyone other than myself, much less children. No matter how well trained others can be, negligence and accidents happen.

If you're concerned about robbery/burglary, the HD long should be secured when not in use and taken back out when needed again.
 
The gun I carry every day goes on the night stand at night, now when the grandkids come over it gets locked in the hand gun safe by the bed.






Len
 
I'm in the process of changing over as of this week.

So, new answer: I have a quick access (mechanical) single gun safe for my carbine coming on Wednesday that I will mount to the wall behind the bedroom door. In it will be a carbine kept 'cruiser ready', which is bolt closed, safety on, chamber empty, loaded mag inserted.

On my bedroom desk is a quick access Fort Knox branded safe, bolted to the desk (though the safe weighs 20 lbs on its own) that holds two handguns. In it are my two carry guns, Glock 26 and Glock 19 (I alternate based on clothing, etc), both fully loaded and in their IWB holsters.

Everything else is locked up in the big safe that's much slower to get to, and is mostly unloaded.

When I get the funds I will add a Shotlock brand full size (marketed as 1911) quick access single handgun safe to put on my nightstand, in it will go a loaded Glock 21SF.

Until recently (our only child is only just now 1 year old) I had two cruiser ready long guns in the bedroom, a loaded handgun in each of our nightstands, a loaded handgun or two in my desk, and a loaded handgun in the coffee table drawer in the living room.
 
19 year old daughter has her own guns in her room. Mine is attached with gravity bolts to the top of the nightstand. Was different when they were young.
 
No kids in the house, except when the grands come to visit, then I verify all weapons locked. Otherwise, my 16 ga loaded with 1 buck is on the lockable wall rack, which is unlocked when I get home, locked when away. My P89 is tucked into an open drawer of my night stand when I'm in bed, and with me when I leave. But first, the BG would have to have his portrait taken as he passed some cameras, make it through the locked doors, and then past the 60 lbs of protective teeth.
 
A Streamlight TLR-2 equipped Taurus 357 SIG on top of the night stand.

A Streamlight TLR-2 equipped CZ 40P in the nightstand drawer.

A Streamlight TLR-2, Red Dot equipped AR by the nightstand.

A Streamlight TLR-2, Red Dot equipped Kel Tec KSG shotgun inside the closet door.

And just for night time critters and generally looking around there's a Streamlight TLR-2 equipped Ruger MKll 22/45 pistol by the nightstand.
 
My twin brother and I share a bedroom with bunk beds in our basement, and we have a cabinet type safe in the room. My AR and his AK(s) are kept chamber empty, hammer down, safety off, full magazines in. At night and when we are home all day, we just leave the door to the safe open. When we leave the house or have any guests over, the safe is locked. Either way, I carry the key on my belt every moment I am awake. The safe is just a few feet from our beds.



All of this month, my Dad (normally sleeping upstairs with a handgun on the nightstand) has been in Florida training with the Army Reserves, so I've been upstairs on the couch, with a cushion right next to the couch with my AR, cell phone, flashlight, and Spyderco. And plate carrier. All at my mother's request haha.
 
I keep a 20ga. behind the headboard with 1 in the chamber. I don't see how either of my grand babies at 2 years old could possibly pull the hammer back even if we were to ignore them long enough for them to find the gun.(which we don't) And yes when that becomes a possibility we will be coming up with another plan.
 
xXxplosive said:
Raised 3 boys, never needed a safe... taught them at an early age, these are not toys.
Never a problem.....
Click to expand...

What did you do when they had friends or classmates over?

What did you do when they were 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 years old?
 
I keep my HD pistol in a bedside safe, unloaded but next to a loaded magazine. We all sleep on the second floor of the house, live in a pretty safe neighborhood, and we've got 4 dogs all of whom sleep on the second floor, either with my wife and I or with my daughter. Given that we have one small child who lives in the house (my daughter, well-trained not to handle firearms), and that her friends (not trained by me, who knows what they will do) come over, I'm counting on the dogs to buy me approximately 3 second to get the gun out and loaded. I also figure that having to go through the safe-opening and gun-loading process will ensure that I'm awake, and diminish the chances of a sleep-fogged Oscar Pistorius-style shooting. In light of all of those factors, I'm more comfortable focusing on safe storage than immediate readiness.

If I slept on the ground floor with no dogs and no kids and in a rough neighborhood, I might weigh out the risks differently.
 
In the evening I remove it (Kimber UCC II) from my holster and place it on the nightstand. In the morning I remove it from the top of the nightstand and place it back in my holster.
 
I usually put my carry piece on the nightstand beside me at night and back in the holster in the morning, as others have said. But I've really been considering a Shotlock device to keep a shotgun at the ready, but secured.

http://www.shotlock.com/

They have one at a local indoor gun range and I just thought it was neat. All mechanical so you don't have to worry about batteries or anything.

I have 2 boys at home, 18 and 13, and even though I have trained them, let them shoot, let them handle and ask questions about my guns, etc., I'm still not going to give them free access to them unloaded or otherwise. I just feel more comfortable knowing they can't get to them unless they have my explicit permission. It keeps me and them out of trouble.
 
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