NRA Home Defense Course question

[IdealFugacity]

Is it likely that the NRA shotgun home defense course, or any other NRA home defense course, covers storage in the home? Such as discussing the pros and cons of "Cruiser Ready", "Condition 1", etc?

My significant other is recently waffling between opinions on firearm storage in the home (which has no children present) and from her upbringing I have a significant hurdle to overcome when trying to discuss our storage situation when there are only adults present who know how to safely handle the firearm.

An argument I faced is that "What if an intruder comes in and gets the gun and shoots us with it?" ... My response to this is that if an intruder has made it as far as the gun to shoot us with it, we're already screwed anyway whether it is loaded or not. She is a highly intelligent and analytical person, however she, like MANY other people in this world, seems to "take/retain" information when it is given to her in a more formal classroom setting. If an off-duty police officer NRA instructor discusses shotgun usage in the home and common storage methods for firearms intended to be used as home defense, I think that she and I can have a much more productive discussion on the issue.

She is definitely open to any and all ideas, so I'm not fighting against a brick wall here. But she has already said she wants to take some NRA courses and I'm just looking to get the most bang for the buck in terms of addressing our most serious concerns.

Thanks!

 

[xsquidgator]

The NRA Personal Protection Inside the Home class is a handgun class rather than a shotgun class. That might seem odd, given the popularity and suitability of shotguns for HD, but there are a few reasons that's the case. So, the only NRA class I know of that would cover shotguns is Basic Shotgun or First Steps Shotgun, and those are simply "how to shoot" kinds of classes rather than applied shooting classes like PPITH.
The NRA PPITH/PPOTH classes still have the same safety rules as the Basic Pistol or Basic Shotgun class, that is, "keep the gun unloaded until you're ready to use it". But, "until ready to use it" means something different for defensive purposes than it does for recreational shooting. I don't think any NRA personal protection instructor would tell you to keep the shotgun unloaded, but cruiser-ready perhaps so.

You'd have to look to a non-NRA shotgun class to receive an answer to your question. From my experience taking classes from others, I don't think there's a single correct answer. A lot of people keep shotguns loaded but chamber empty and hammer cocked, some keep cruiser ready. There are pros and cons to each and the right answer depends on you and your circumstances. If you opt for cruiser-ready, just be careful not ND a hole in your wall when you press the trigger.

 

[IdealFugacity]

Cruiser-ready isn't specifically the goal for me. Rounds in the magazine certainly is, and that's a hump we're still getting over. It was OK when discussed at the range, and OK while the power was out during Sandy, but now its back to, "Well...do we really have to keep bullets in it?" If she sees that I'm not some 1%er nut and in fact still a responsible gun owner following the advice of someone she believes to be an "expert" this should be easier. I am personally not requiring the gun to be already racked - as another poster put it, racking the slide will not do anything worse to give away my position after I've already done that by yelling that I have called 911 and I have a firearm, leave immediately.

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[beatledog7]

As an NRA instructor, I would answer that question in class by noting that the readiness to fire condition of any firearm is a personal choice and that, when there are two or more adults in the household, all must engaged in the decision. Certainly if there are children, their safety comes first.

The "what if the intruder gets the gun first" argument doesn't stand up to rational analysis. The residents know what gun they have and where that gun is, but the intruder does not. Keeping it near where you sleep almost guarantees that you will get to it before any intruder can. You might as well ask, "What if a jet fighter plane comes through the roof?" (Although that did happen to some folks here.)

If everyone in the home is trained in basic firearm safety, knows how this specific firearm works, knows in what readiness condition it is being stored, and knows exactly how to get it from there to bang, then any condition is just as "safe" as any other. Then the question is down to how quickly must you be able to make it go bang. Taking a pump action shotgun from rounds in the tube and on "fire" but none in the chamber to round in the chamber requires a noisy action (but if you're calling out anyway that point is moot) and costs about a second in time. Having a round in the chamber and taking it off "safe" also takes about a second. Some people argue that racking the slide is a more positive and tactile action and therefore gives the defender a greater sense of assuredness that he's ready to shoot.

I have my shotgun set up with a chambered round and on "fire." I live alone and also have a pistol with a chambered round and no manual safety. In this way, I am one switch (the trigger) from bang with either one. If I were to change either to no round in the chamber and on "fire," I'd change both. That way they are still in the same condition.

Ultimately, the right answer is that nobody should be made to feel that there is a gun in the house that is more of a danger to residents in the house than to an intruder. Step back one condition of readiness from that, and you have your answer.

 

[Shawn Dodson]

I keep my home defense 870 in Cruiser Ready condition (magazine loaded, chamber empty, manual safety engaged). The hammer is cocked and the reason for that is to keep the action locked in battery.

It's stowed in a V-Line Closet Vault, which is a heavy sheetmetal locker fitted with a mechanical pushbutton combination lock. (See - http://www.vlineind.com/html/closet_vault.html) Perhaps if you provide for some type of quick access secure storage it might ease her apprehension.

Good luck!

 

[Fred Fuller]

I don't believe for a minute that your home security presently depends solely upon the condition (empty, cruiser ready or fully loaded with a round in the chamber) of your defensive shotgun. If you've gotten to the point of keeping a shotgun handy, then you have at least some other layers present, providing additional security for your home. My first suggestion would be to review your current layers of security, consider whether more layers might be useful/possible/affordable/appropriate, and consider how much warning those layers will provide for you in determining how to store your defensive firearm. The more warning you are likely to get in advance of being confronted in your safe room by an intruder, the more time you can afford to allow in order to ready your firearm for use.

 

[beatledog7]

Fred's absolutely right, of course. A barking dog and some motion detector lights will make most would-be intruders look elsewhere, relegating your shotgun to last resort (which is exactly where it belongs).