Paco

Last night, actually 3:26 AM this morning, I was slammed out of bed by our home alarm system. I didn't turn off the alarm, rather I left it blaring while I cleared the house and checked on the kids and the closets, etc.

It took me WAY too long to get in the handgun safe, 5 or 6 tries. I went "cheap" on the bedside safe and got one from Academy with 4 buttons on it. I could not hear if I was not pressing the buttons or not because I left the alarm ringing.

Lesson 1: Don't go cheap on the bedside safe, get one you can open without looking and without thinking, but is safe enough for the kids to stay out.

After I realized the house was fine and that my alarm tripped due to a phone problem, lines were down due to a problem with Time Warner Cable, and I rechecked all the windows, doors, etc and counted kids' heads in bed I was so jacked up with adrenaline I could not go back to sleep for an hour and a half or so.

Lesson 2: Just get up and fold some laundry, it's better than just laying in bed questioning every little sound you hear from that point on.

All the kids, except the one that was in bed with me and the Wife were still in their beds like they have been instructed to do if the alarm goes off.

Lesson 3: Have a plan, communicate the plan to everyone, follow the plan. This would have been vital IF someone was actually in my house as I would not have to worry about where the kids were when I engage the BG.

__________________
"Don't hit at all if you can help it; don't hit a man if you can possibly avoid it; but if you do hit him, put him to sleep." - Theodore Roosevelt

If you are not willing to stand behind our Troops, feel free to stand in front of them!

-Paco

Arko

Good deal Paco. Glad it was just electrical gremlins, and that the safe failure became evident during an "unplanned drill".

Makes me glad It's just two adults in my house too, so my gun is close at hand without worry.

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chenemf

So when the alarm went off, you didn't do like in the commercials and run to the phone to talk to some desk jockey at the alarm company?

Help! I'm being r...<click>

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Paco

Arko, I did find out some good info about my new alarm system. If the phone lines are ever cut it will go off. I also learned that I need to invest in a cellular back up to my alarm system so the monitoring company will get the alert in the event of a line failure.

Chenemf, LOL. No running to the phone for me. I spun out of bed to kneel beside the bed and grabbed my flashlight form the night stand and then started on to the safe. I'll be buying a new safe very very soon.

__________________
"Don't hit at all if you can help it; don't hit a man if you can possibly avoid it; but if you do hit him, put him to sleep." - Theodore Roosevelt

If you are not willing to stand behind our Troops, feel free to stand in front of them!

-Paco

pax

Does your fire alarm sound noticeably different from your house alarm? And if so, do you deliberately set both of them off often enough that your children recognize the difference?

(Not a criticism -- just a question that suddenly occurred to me when I read your post. Something I hadn't thought of before!)

pax

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Managing Editor of Concealed Carry Magazine
My website: Cornered Cat
Buy my book! Lessons from Armed America, with Mark Walters

Paco

Yes, the fire alarm is a much more piercing noise and all but the 3 month old knows the difference. The same for the carbon monoxide alarms.

They also know to leave the room if they hear their windows opening. We have a few plans for different situations, like collecting the kids on the one side of the house and going out the windows to a specified neighbor's house as a rallying point.

If I ever build a house, I am seriously considering each bed room having the closet built as a mini safe room and my master closet being the main safe room.

__________________
"Don't hit at all if you can help it; don't hit a man if you can possibly avoid it; but if you do hit him, put him to sleep." - Theodore Roosevelt

If you are not willing to stand behind our Troops, feel free to stand in front of them!

-Paco

2ndsupporter

Paco,

Glad everything was okay and it seems like it was a good trainning exercise for you.

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[One Nation Under God]

pax

Paco,

Good job! :)

That's a great idea, if you can make the floorplan work on a practical level.

pax

__________________
Managing Editor of Concealed Carry Magazine
My website: Cornered Cat
Buy my book! Lessons from Armed America, with Mark Walters

BikerRN

Since this alarm was triggered because of some sort of phone cable problem, if I'm reading correctly in my sleep deprived state, do you have some sort of handheld portable communication device to go with the gun, as well as an illumination device.

Biker

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If I knew I was going to get in to a gunfight I most ceratinly wouln't bring a handgun or two, and I don't know any smart person that does.

tmizzi

Nicely done! This is a good reminder to all to make sure that everyone in the house knows exactly what they should be doing depending on different types of alarms.

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