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Why keep several ready to go?

4K views 60 replies 46 participants last post by  Squawker 
#1 ·
Reading post after post about those who keep multiple guns ready at hand for the late night burgler, I got to ask why.
I'm talking about those who have a pistol under their pillow, a shotgun in the corner and a couple of AR's stashed under the bed.

WHY? Whats the point?

I keep a few ready within a moments notice, but only one ready in an instant. If the BG gets that close, I dont want to worry about several other guns getting into the mix... and I can only use one at a time anyway.

If the zombies come, and I need something shot beyond 50 yds, I have plenty of time to unsecure a rifle and do it. I just dont get this thought process... enlighten me please.
 
#2 ·
I guess it never hurts to have options, but my only option for the late night is the G17 with 17GD HP's. Spares/options? An extra mag full. If something outside the home requires my attention, then the Bushmaster might come out of the safe to aid investigation.
 
#3 ·
I don't get it either. I have two pistols and one AR at the ready. One for my wife and one for me. One goes down we can grab another loaded gun instead of trying to clear the gun in the heat of the moment. That's also why my AR wears a bayonet.
 
#4 ·
I really only have two pistols in the pistol safe under the bed, ready at a moments notice. I have one rifle (M1 carbine) secured by bicycle hooks in the Master closet, everthing else is in the safe.

The pistols are to get my wife and I to the rifle and in our sons room were the plan is to hole up until the calvary arrives.
 
#6 ·
Guns in house

Your post reminded me of a friend of mine who lives in a fairly large house - maybe 12 rooms. He likes handguns, and told me once that he keeps a loaded handgun hidden in every room of his house (no children, just him and his wife at home). He said he did that so that he would always have one handy if he suddenly needed it. I guess he doesn't usually carry on his person around the house.

Personally I have 2 loaded handguns hidden - one in the bedroom upstairs and one in my computer room downstairs. And I often carry in the house as well. My wife keeps one hidden in the bedroom also (no children at home).
 
#8 ·
I only have my EDC and Taurus at ready disposal (one for me and one for the wife), with a shottie in the closet. My duty is to get the 1911 for my self and the Taurus for the wife, and if time permits me, I will head off for the shotgun. Otherwise, everything is locked up and out of the way.

From there, we move to the kids room, or hole up where we are with a vantage point seeing the kids room door. Beyond that I want to keep things fluid.
 
#9 ·
I keep my P220 loaded in a GunVault next to the bed. Don't have any longarms yet, but if I did they'd be in the closet. I don't have kids that I worry about getting to the pistol, but my take on the GunVault is this. The P220 is a point-and-click gun, no safety. If the BG somehow gets all the way into my bedroom before I have a chance to react (and I really don't think he can), I am not sure I want to provide him a ready gun if he happened not to bring his own.

If I do have more time than that, I can take the couple of seconds to pop the GunVault, grab gun and flashlight. If I have some more time, I can strap on the Safariland belt I keep in the closet with a hoslter and a mag holder already threaded and grab the extra magazines. Options, but based around the assumption that I will have anywhere form a few seconds to a few minutes to respond to anything that needs responding to.
 
#11 ·
I was sitting on the John one day reading the paper... and low and behold I heard someone enter the house... and it dawned on me (I do some of my best thinking there) that I had no gun. What if it was a invasion. I had not put on my Carry gun yet and I was isolated in the bathroom. The Shotgun in the bedroom and revolver in the night stand drawer.... the AK Pistol out in the living room and my Carry gun laying on the kitchen table with my belt waiting to go on... and all the rest in the safe down in the shop... surrounded by guns but someone is between me and all of them!

stashing guns here and there, in a house with no kids, might not be such a bad idea when you think about it.


Oh... and it was my kid who came in. He called out a few seconds later. He is 21 years old. He knew he better call out but didn't realize I was unarmed. Made me think.
 
#12 ·
I keep my G19 with me at all times. I also have at least one pistol in the safe ready to go. Thats for either myself if im alone and need an extra, or the wife if we are both here. I also keep the shotgun in the locked closet with the safe.

We live in an apartment, and its not like its huge or anything, so I see little need to have guns in every room. it takes only seconds to get to one from any place in the apartment, were I not to have my G19 with me.
 
#14 · (Edited)
I keep the Glock 10mm attached to the mattress, a shortie AR on my side and an M-1 carbine on the wife’s side. The pistol is in case someone gets into the bedroom before I wake up, I can get it without moving anything but my hand. If we have time the wife takes the carbine into the walk in closet and phones 911 on the cell (kept clipped on the sling at night). I take the AR and take up a blocking position in the computer room (part of the master suit and the first room entered from the main part of the house) I live in the country with no fear of a round exiting the house endangering a neighbor, and have qualms about shooting through walls to get an intruder, that’s what insurance is for.

Everything is in the safe before bed, except what I am carrying.
 
#16 ·
True! But even if he did find them... he wouldn't have even needed them... because I didn't even have ONE! I guess I coulda sprayed him with shaving cream...

This might even be an argument for hiding one in the Bathroom rather than having fewer though. Would suck to be shot with your own gun in your own home though...
 
#17 · (Edited)
With a 6 year old, and a toddler in the house, I try to keep as few guns ready as possible. I have one for me and one for the wife ready. Thats all. When she goes to work, hers goes into the safe (she can't carry on base where she works). When I go to work, mine goes with me. At night, my carry gun goes into the safe loaded, and my nightstand gun comes out. When she gets home from work, she takes her gun out of the safe when she changes out of uniform. When moving around the house, my carry gun comes with me as does hers when she moves. If I am not actually wearing it, it is very simple to pick up and carry with me. I don't have a shotgun ready at all, my home is too difficult to safely maneuver in carrying a shotgun. I don't keep a rifle ready due to the kids and over-penetration. I feel perfectly safe with simply one gun ready for me, and one for the wife.
 
#18 ·
Because I can!!!! And the swiftness of a home invasion and the surprise one would feel when their safety and privacy has been invaded. I've got over 50 and I may as well get some use out of them. Besides that, when I get through protecting me, my family and my property, I only want there to be ONE STORY!!! (Hate trying to reload, too, too much chance to fumble under the effects of adrenaline!)
 
#20 ·
This is a good thread and a good question. I am only going to shoot one gun at a time if confronted in my house and certainly couldn't use the 4 handguns I keep loaded in the bedroom safe - just the one full size semi auto loaded with 17 JHPs that I get out every night to put by the bed. By the backdoor there is another touch pad safe with both my wife's and my carry guns that we pick up on the way out of the house. I suppose I only really need to keep two guns loaded at any one time (one for my wife and one for me) but, I keep all the guns we routinely practice with loaded at all times and therefore both of us have gotten into a very good routine to always KNOW that if we pick up a weapon, it WILL be loaded and we need to handle it as such.
 
#21 ·
When I take off my carry gun it goes on the nightstand (usually still in its holster) and beside my head, propped against the wall, between my bedside stand and the bed, rests the Benelli (or the Mossberg, depending on which JD decides to put on his side of the bed that night). JD does the same. So I guess we have a grand total of four guns ready to go. Two for me. Two for him. Sidearm and shotgun, that's it. No fancy stuff, no backup plans.

Well, I guess we are one another's backup plan.
 
#22 · (Edited)
There is always a chance of a foreign invasion or zombie attack...
All kidding aside...I have my XD9 loaded because it's my carry gun, a .45 revolver that stays on my night stand, an AR-15, a shotgun, and a .22 rifle. I guess there are different types of home invasions...If there was 1 person, I would prefer the shotgun, if was 2 or 3, I would prefer the .45 or the 9mm. If it was an animal in my yard, I might prefer the .22. A foreign invasion, or mass civil uprising(and I think there will be one in my lifetime), then I'll take the AR-15. Each of my guns from my .22 to my 30.06 were designed for different purposes. Plus, the only thing I am fairly certain about is that if my home gets invaded, things have already not gone according to plan, because they got past my dogs, the motion lights didn't deter them, the blaring alarm isn't stopping them...who knows what else might not go according to plan.

Now all of that is kind of overboard, so I'll give my primary reason. If I am involved in some kind of home invasion, stressful situation where I am trying to protect me, my family, and my property, I don't want to have to guess or try to remember whether or not a gun is loaded. From what I have seen and read about, almost every 'accident' that was involving a gun was from an 'unloaded' gun. I don't have any unloaded guns, so I can eliminate that problem all together.
 
#23 ·
I only have two pistols, but I make sure they're both ready to go at all times; I figure that if I'm going to own a gun, it may as well be kept that way, vs. being nothing more than an expensive paperweight. Not that I sleep with one under the pillow or anything; I have a little nylon holster attached to my nightstand for whatever I have been carrying that day, and the other is in a dresser drawer.
It may work for some people, but I think that having multiple weapons stashed around the house may be a bit much for me. The way I see it, if I can't take the dirtbag(s) down with my 9mm or .45 pistol, I'm pretty much screwed anyway ;-)
 
#24 ·
I certainly don't believe in limits being imposed from any source, but certainly do want all the loaded, unsecured firearms to be under my control, not in some far corner of the premises where an intruder can reach them before me. I may indeed have a firearm stashed in a remote room, but there is a means of securing it, and I will not say how on a public forum. As for keeping a firearm in a bathroom, consider the humidity factor in your maintenance routine. I do not always "carry" inside the home, but will move a firearm to be within my reach when not carrying. I will not say what percentage of time I carry; once again, OPSEC. One thing to consider when establishing a system of ready storage, is what to do in a sudden emergency that is unrelated to a human intruder. I live in a county which has, in some years, led the nation in tornados reaching the ground. If I have to seek shelter in a hurry, I don't want to have to run all over the house grabbing guns, and if I don't have time to grab guns, I want as few of my loaded OR unloaded guns strewn about the neighborhood as possible.
 
#25 ·
I have 3 close at hand. One of my carry 1911's, a kimber Ultra Carry II in a holster attached to my bedframe, my other carry 1911, a Bobtailed S&W Scandium Commander under the mattress where I stow it at night and a Rem 870 by the bedpost. The Kimber for a quick grab and the 870 if I have time. The S&W, though not intentially, turns out to be a BUG.
 
#26 ·
I have a pistol under my bed (no children) for if an intruder is in my bedroom when I wake or is in the process of breaking in. I have a carbine on the top shelf I can grab on the way out of the bedroom if I have a wild animal problem or intruder in other part od house. If I have time to put on pants then I will have EDC pistol as well as carbine.
 
#27 ·
We have 2 in the bedroom one for me and one for the wife. I also so have one stashed in the bathroom and one in the kitchen and 2 in the computer room. we dont have kids and most of the guns i use as stash guns i trust to function but, they are my low end pistols and i dont use them anyway.
 
#28 ·
One Kimber is kept in the computer room...another is kept in the nightstand...a third is in my pocket...all ready to go...
The rest (long and short, are in two safes...)

Stay armed...stay safe!
 
#29 ·
When home one 1911 condition 1 bedside, with a shotty and AR somewhere in the room, usually condition 3 or 4 with more ammo ready.

1911 would be to get to one of the long guns if need be.
 
#30 ·
I'm the odd man out here. I carry a P-3at all day long just because its the only thing I can conceal at work, and yes I am too lazy to go to the gun-room, and switch-out with a larger (and yes better) weapon everyday. Maybe for Christmas or my stimulus refund check from uncle sam, I will buy a good safe to put in the bed-room and switch back and forth each night and day.

When I hear the strange noise in the night, yes I look at the 380 and scratch my head and wonder--- what am I thinking??? :embarassed:


Z
 
#31 ·
It will go bang, and it won't tickle

When I hear the strange noise in the night, yes I look at the 380 and scratch my head and wonder--- what am I thinking??? :embarassed:
It will go bang, and it won't tickle. That said, I keep a .40 near the bed and the 380 in a draw. Both with one in the pipe. No kids in the house so it is safe to do so.

No shotgun, no AR15/ I'm not willing to bet the long odds on an insurrection or civil war. The Russians aren't coming. The Russians aren't coming.
 
#32 ·
9mm holstered on the side of the mattress and an AR-15 by the bedpost - momma has a .32 on her nightstand.
 
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