Weapons in the bedroom at night?

[Fred Fuller]

Stay on topic (and in the current manifestation of reality) please, folks...

 

[rondog]

RIA Compact 1911 w/Lasergrips, loaded w/Speer Gold Dots, a PA-63 loaded with Silver Bear hollowpoints, and an M1 Carbine with a red-dot optic and 3 15-rd mags full of Remington soft-nosed ammo. Oh, good flashlight too.

 

[Double Vision]

A Maglite XL50, a couple of pocket knives, a machete, a framing hatchet, an SP101 and a Mossberg 500.
I pray I never need to use them. Be safe all.

 

[Godsgunman]

Motion lights, dog downstairs, very loud creaky storm door that can wake the neighbors, very secure doors and windows, cell phone next to bed, and gun safe next to bed with .357 revolver and Glock 26 ready for action.

 

[allaroundhunter]

S&W M&P9 (Speer Gold Dot) with a TLR-1s and AR-15 (Hornady TAP) are in the bedroom with me along with a handheld flashlight. A Glock 19 (Speer Gold Dot) and a 12 ga shotgun loaded with 00 buck (Hornady TAP) are in the safe-room closet, joined by 3 other flashlights.

 

[Bigkrackers]

Reality? Okay, fine. Here's my reality; you have kids, you don't have kids. The kids are toddlers, grade school, high school, college. You have a wife. You don't have a wife but maybe a significant other, living in sin. Dirty sinner. You're a heavy sleeper or a light one. Your bed pal snores or doesn't. It's 2am or 3 am or not. But you're asleep. You wake up or you're woken up. You wear contacts or glasses or you don't. You're hearing sucks or not. You hear it now or you see it now. Something that should not be there or you think. You shake off the cobwebs but you might not have time for that. That something that wasn't supposed to be there is now right there. You fumble for your glasses or not. You reach for the gun under your pillow, on the night stand, in the dresser drawer, in the closet, leaning against your headboard, in the quick safe or not.

You were just about to shoot your kid, wife, husband, bed pal or scared the crap out of them from you knocking everything off the night stand and cursing for spilling that glass of water all over the place while fumbling out of bed.

It's the Internet so I don't expect truthful answers but just food for thought. I doubt very much that not a single poster in this thread practices that 3 am <deleted> storm. So it doesn't matter what you have next to you while you sleep if you can't react to it in a timely and rational way.

Best bet is to put whatever weapon you use for home defense out of arms length but within walking distance. That way you will have a bit of time to clear your head before you shoot someone.

And to stay on point, I have a handgun in a handgun safe within walking distance of the bed.

 

[allaroundhunter]

Best bet is to put whatever weapon you use for home defense out of arms length but within walking distance. That way you will have a bit of time to clear your head before you shoot someone.

My handgun is in a GunVault in a drawer in the nightstand. It takes enough mental capacity to get to the point of retrieving the gun that I do not worry about doing it when I am barely conscious. My AR is not within arms reach, but I can be to it in about the same amount of time that it takes me to retrieve my pistol.

 

[Fred Fuller]

It's the Internet so I don't expect truthful answers but just food for thought. I doubt very much that not a single poster in this thread practices that 3 am **** storm. So it doesn't matter what you have next to you while you sleep if you can't react to it in a timely and rational way.

There's this old Army definition of ASS-U-ME that comes to mind...

Since you don't have any idea who here trains for what, and under what circumstances, it might be better not to ASSUME too much.

And this is not your little brother's Internet. Not here. While we try to allow as much latitude as possible, the non-helpful and confrontational attitude displayed above is not welcome, and will guarantee a short stay in these parts if continued.

I would STRONGLY suggest that any further discussion along these lines be taken to private messages...

 

[ZeSpectre]

Reality? Okay, fine. Here's my reality;

Here is my reality. I was born and grew up on a rural farm. Like my Father, I've always been able to "snap" awake and alert at any time when something wasn't "right". In fact getting back to sleep was usually the trouble. I've had to handle more 2AM crisis than I can remember from "fox in the henhouse" chaos to drunk driver putting car into culvert near the house. It was just rural life where I grew up and the ability to do this was pretty critical for a farm.

And yes, some of those incidents involved wielding a firearm as you went out to see what the chaos was all about.

 

[beatledog7]

There is a need for a reality check in anyone's nighttime security scheme:

I'm a light sleeper. Military life generally, and living and working on a submarine specifically (knowing what noises must be present for all to be well), dealing with a rotating watch schedule, etc. made me that way, and it has never changed.

I wake in the middle of nearly every night, after dreaming. As far as I can tell, I'm coherent at that point. I can remember the dream. I am immediately aware of whether I can just roll over and return to dreamland or must go to the toilet first. I always check the time and can remember in the morning what time that was.

But what if instead of being awakened in this accustomed manner, it was by the oft-cited bump in the night? Would I be as coherent? I've been awakened by noises many times, and they've usually turned out to be benign. If there really were a threat, would I be able to respond properly?

Living alone, it's hard to create any sort of drill scenario to practice. I once discussed this with a trusted family member, also a gun owner with a sleep time (he works rotating shifts) plan, and we toyed with the idea of calling each other randomly during sleep time and presenting scenarios, recording the sleeper's response for later review. But we have not taken this step.

Maybe it's time we did.

 

[scaatylobo]

@ al thompson

I thank you for the compliment.

I keep a fire extinguisher in every room of the house.

They do double duty as the obvious use,and as a VERY real stopper of intruders.

They do not ever attract attention since it just looks like I fear a fire,but that is the best part.

They are MUCH better as an ASR [ Mace is the next choice ] and they remove ALL O'2 from the air.

Making it IMPOSSIBLE to access an area [ hallway ],just be sure you do not need to be in the same area.

It can double as an improvised impact tool after its been used to stop the attacker ,or in case he/she runs past the spray of the extinguisher.

Cost = about $ 10.00 dollars each at dollar stores etc.

btw,I keep one in my vehicle for BOTH uses,as it can cross a border w/o attention.

 

[ChCx2744]

Not only is the fire extinguisher idea a good one for self defense, it's actually a good idea for general home protection against fires as well. Got me thinking and I'm gonna be shopping to put one in each room of the house now.

 

[gp911]

Fire extinguisher is a great idea! In my case it's hardened house (locks, more locks, lights, 100lb Old English Sheepdog Alert System) along with a small knife and whatever the gun du jour is. It might be the G21SF in its holster on the nightstand, or it could be the Uberti SAA copy stoked with wadcutters, or it could be any number of long guns including an 870, AK, LE6920, etc etc etc... I am a light sleeper and unusual noises snap me wide awake so no concerns there. I'm not the grab a gun while groggy and start squeezing the trigger type. If little kids are in the house the firearms have an additional level of security added so that a little one can't immediately grab a gun and shoot it if they wander in while I'm still half-asleep. I know if they walk in a gun just sitting on the nightstand might be attractive to them and we don't need a tragedy here. The kids are 5 and 6 and even though they've been taught how to behave around firearms I'm not trusting them to be 100% compliant yet!

 

[Zundfolge]

My CCW piece stays in its IWB holster attached to my pants laying on the floor next to my bed (even before I carried a gun I left my pants and a shirt on the floor next to my bed in case I had to make an emergency egress into the cold dark night ... now my gun is there too).

Under my wife's side of the bed one of my handguns is in its case in case she needs it and I'm not there.

 

[Ehtereon11B]

Both of my EDC pistols, and both of my wife's EDC pistols sit in the bedside safe. Remington 870 leaned against the wall in the corner. If anyone gets past everything else in place, they are in a world of hurt.

 

[Bigkrackers]

As a general rule I do not say anything in a post that I would not say to someone's face. So, if we were all sitting around a table I would have said pretty much what I did with the exception of simply asking if anyone practiced midnight drills. But I can't see your faces and it is the Internet so just like generalizations aren't 100%, they can be correct, just as assumptions can. But I digress. I did all of you a disservice by assuming you wouldnt be honest with your level of practice or your capabilities when I should have assumed you would be honest.

At any rate, I'm glad some of you got my point through all the dry and sarcastic imagery. I intended only to get one to think about how they might react. We're not all Steven Seagal, farmers or submariners.

 

[Diamondback6]

M1911A1 (my carry iron) stoked with 230-grain HST's under my pillow, eyeglasses on top of the computer monitor behind the pillow--which is toward the door, so all I have to do is reach up and grab glasses, draw and look up. Big clunky CRT and computer desk butted up to the bed isn't the BEST cover, but better than nothing...

 

[janedoedad]

1. Cannot publish this, it gives away too much privacy.
2. 15 foot cliff and ravine running along property line. Ravine is populated by an assortment of unpleasant creatures and is overgrown with weird Georgia plant life.
3. Attentive neighbors on all sides
4. Fenced yard patrolled by what passes for dogs.
5. Motion Lighting
6. Alarm
6. 12GA Pump on her side, 1911 on my side.

 

[Hangingrock]

There is Mr. Goodbar of Canada that produces window security bars. What got my attention was one of their products (Back Door Security Bars) for those that have large glass openings in side/back/basement doors. The product is easy to install. Like most passive measures the bar system can be defeated but it may persuade less aggressive or deter the more aggressive that occupant’s are security conscientious.

 

[WoodchuckAssassin]

1911 - 8 rounds Federal 165 Reduced Recoil.

Low threat level.

Never had to use it...hope I never have to.

 

[foghornl]

Yappy dogs on 3 sides of my home (both next doors and accross back fence)

Motion Detector lights

X-10 motion detectors that sound a chime in master Bedroom

Springfiled Armory "GI-45" on bedside table

Maverick 88 under the bed (mounted underneath like in Denzel Washington bedroom in "Training Day")

 

[Carl N. Brown]

defensive, protective devices at the bedside:

.38 Rossi snub with five rounds Rem 125gr JHP +P
12ga Ithaca clone with five rounds Win 00 (9) or four rounds S&B 00 (12)
Cell phone
MagLite 2 D cell size
Fire extinguisher

 

[beatledog7]

This might be a good time to get into the non-firearm home security business.

 

[Pyzon]

Home security comes in layers

Layer one - Slightly nosy neighbors, including an older retired lady who doesn't sleep much. Well maintained lawn and shrubs. Outdoor floodlighting on motion detectors. 4.5 ft chain link fence around property perimeter.

Layer two - reasonably hardened entry points, intrusion alarms, and a large, alert, dog.

My opinion precisely.

If you are not willing to do the easy and relatively cheap stuff to harden your house and yard, you are making it easy on the bads.

Keeping them outside is far better than fighting them inside. Send them to the easier pickings down the block, it won;t be far.

 

[Inebriated]

Remington 870, on the wall, Glock 19 or Glock 21 on the nightstand.