Posted on 06/24/2013 9:18:46 AM PDT by End Times Sentinel
This:
Maybe inside an end table bolted to the bottom. You can access the gun in seconds but it’s unlikely anyone without the combination can. You can also leave it loaded with reasonable safety. This was my solution when I married a woman with small children.
When at home, get a holster and keep it on your hip. I carry CONSTANTLY around the house. Why? Because 100% of home invasions...occur in the HOME. ;)
There are some very good wall safes that mount flush between the studs. Push button combo, simple, repeatable in the dark. Cover it with a painting or a mirror on hinges and you have a great first floor storage spot that is safe and easily accessed.
Lot of good advice here already. I will say, even in a safe, put it in a holster. I keep mine cocked and locked, in a holster, in a safe, and everyone trained and trustworthy knows how to get at it. Seriously, get your wife and kids trained. You will not always be there.
That is a primary argument. "Honey, what happens if I forget to lock it up on the way out of the house, and kids have friends coming over. You need to know how to safely secure the firearm."
Stop calling it a WEAPON! A Bic pen or a 2x4 can be a weapon. Call it a gun, call it a firearm, it's an inert piece of steel, but it's not a WEAPON until it is pointed at someone.
Not referring to your post. Everyone else's, however.
I have one of these:
http://www.bigsupplyshop.com/Stack-On-Drawer-Safe-with-Electronic-Lock-PDS-500_p_25304.html
You can keep the gun loaded and ready to go, right on the nightstand by the table in this little safe. It has the keypad entry, but also a hidden key entry if for some reason you need quick/quiet entry (or the battery to the keypad goes dead!). You can also bolt it in a drawer.
Teaching the kids gun safety is great .... it’s their friends, etc. who might come over that I’d be worried about.
“I also have a wife, who has no interest in fire arms”
Has she seen “A Clockwork Orange?”
The source on this piece is, IIRC, a site called "covertfurniture.com". The vendor linked to the above photo is "stashvault.com". You have other concealment options, but I'd avoid the mantle clock hideaway type thing... a burglar might grab that as pawn shop material.
You as father of the household and the one who is trained/licenses need to take the leadership role and enlist your wife to that role also. This emans settling upon a few safety measures around the home, like establishing the 'retreat to for a stand' room, where the shotgun is, which shotgun every member of the household knows how to use that tool. But I recommend a .22LR rifle be in there, too. Because if one family member is taken hostage int he home and cannot get to the safe room, trying to make a head shot on a perp drgging your daughter by her hair is not the best choice. BUT if you ever raise that rifle and aim at a perp's head, do nmot start telling the perp what to do, just shoot the bastard and when he lets go of the daughter, shoot him some more.
Having a 'retreat to' room is important especially if you live in a city. Some sort of means to block the door from easy open is also advised. They have adjustable door jambs which can slow entry while you take aim.
Every bedroom should have one of those jambs and every bedroom should have a fire extinguisher.
Finally, because of what surely lies ahead for America, every person in the household older than eight years should have their own firearm and know how to keep it safe and use it properly. even a .22lr rifle is the means to defend self and others. If ammo in a tool is not desired (if really little ones are in the home), then all firearm tools should be magazine fed, the magazine kept separately, and loaded. Even a single shot shotgun can have a strip of rounds with Velcro backing, to bring to the tool quickly for use together. I used to built them and sell them at gunshows. A .410 is a formidable tool with the right rounds, and Rossi makes a nice single shot with interchangeable barrels. The Velcro trick works very well mounted on a loop strip on the buttstock.
“Stop calling it a WEAPON!”
Ummmm, it IS a weapon. That’s why he’s worried, rightfully, about storing it safely.
Did you think it was just an expensive paper weight or something?
Talk to the NRA. Firearms have lots of uses, one of which might be as a tool for self-defense as a WEAPON. In and of itself, it is not a weapon. As an NRA pistol instructor, and former BSA rifle instructor, we do not ever refer to a firearm as a weapon. We never taught Boy Scouts to fire weapons. We did teach Boy Scouts to shoot .22's at paper targets, and shotguns at clay targets. Those activities were "target shooting" and did not involve the use of weapons. The term "weapon" implies an intent that does not exist in a firearm by itself. The user may choose to deploy it as a weapon, but that is up to the intent of the user.
Of course he wants to store it properly. If an untrained or inexperienced person were to get access, that person could unintentionally create a lot of damage. The lack of intent to cause damage by the actor in this case would cause much of the liability for any damage to flow back to the owner of the firearm. Similarly, if a bad actor (criminal) were to obtain access to the firearm, there could be criminal liability to the owner for failing to secure his firearm against the potential for its use by a criminal as a weapon.
From Merriam Webster Online:
Definition of WEAPON
1
: something (as a club, knife, or gun) used to injure, defeat, or destroy
Definition of FIREARM
: a weapon from which a shot is discharged by gunpowder —usually used of small arms
You can be as PC about it as you want but a gun IS a weapon.
Note that your definition proves my point. "something (as a club, knife, or gun) used to injure, defeat, or destroy"
Note the verb "used." A gun sitting on a table is not being "used to injure, defeat, or destroy" therefore it's not a weapon until it is used as such.
Please understand that this is not about political correctness. It's more about lawmakers and laws. Some people get squeamish when they hear that people are walking around with weapons in their pockets. Maybe less so when using the term firearm.
George Zimmerman just happened to be carrying a gun when he was forced to deploy it as a weapon to prevent his skull from being shattered on a concrete sidewalk.
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