Any EDC CCW'ers?
- Thread starter nathaniel
- Start date
Point taken. To be clear, any deterrent effect of the cocking sound is not particularly important. My primary reason is for safety (and many thanks for pointing out the safety is the safety). I chose a shotgun for home defense because it’s the most practical for that purpose among the firearms that I own (and the one I know best). I keep it mag loaded, leaning in the corner, within arms length when I’m in bed. I keep the chamber unloaded because the gun gets moved around a fair bit on a regular basis (when vacuuming, for example). Am I taking a risk that a home invader may get to me before I can rack a shell in the chamber? Of course I am, and for all the obvious reasons you pointed out. Gun out and in reach, mag loaded is far more prepared for home invasion than gun completely unloaded and locked in a safe, and I still don’t have to worry about an accidental discharge killing or maiming me, my wife, my cats, or possibly my neighbors (windows won’t stop #4 birdshot). That’s a reasonable decision that I’m very comfortable with; your disagreement is noted.
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Are my reasons for my course of action (described in my last post) so egregious that I “…shouldn’t be armed…”? WTF are you talking about? Get a grip, man. I’ve taken steps to protect myself without creating what I judge to be an unnecessarily dangerous condition in my own home.
Your stated reasons for disagreement are understandable, but am I so far out there in the lunatic fringe that I “…shouldn’t be armed…”?
How much you wanna bet this woman wishes she'd had a firearm?
She was one of the lucky ones where the cops showed up in the nick of time.
She was one of the lucky ones where the cops showed up in the nick of time.
Guns don't, as a rule, "accidentally" discharge. People accidentally discharge firearms. And, I'm not excluding that actor. He, luckily, was blessed with bad/ignorant investigating police officers.
Back when I was a teenager I had just gotten home from shooting my Marlin 39A... I was trying to drop the hammer after unloading the chamber and BAM that bitch had loaded another round and somehow gone off.
The round went right through the wall and right through my dad's closet, piercing most of his clothes.
He was mad as hell, the bullet wizzed right by him. Until I moved out I wasn't allowed have loaded guns in the house.
They make the new lever actions with safeties and I don't think they belong on that type of gun... But it could have saved me that day.
I take full responsibility for that negligent discharge, fwiw. Luckily it's been my only one. It was very similar to the Balwin thing, minus the death.
The round went right through the wall and right through my dad's closet, piercing most of his clothes.
He was mad as hell, the bullet wizzed right by him. Until I moved out I wasn't allowed have loaded guns in the house.
They make the new lever actions with safeties and I don't think they belong on that type of gun... But it could have saved me that day.
I take full responsibility for that negligent discharge, fwiw. Luckily it's been my only one. It was very similar to the Balwin thing, minus the death.
That's the phrase. Been there done that myself as a youngster. Talk about gaining a lot of respect for firearms quickly!
Fair enough. Then I amend my posts above to read “accidental and/or negligent discharge.”
Are you going to elaborate on why you think I should be disarmed?
If you wake up with intruders in your house, depending on the circumstance, you may not want to give away your position by racking a round into the chamber. But you will want to be ready for instant action. Give some thought to finding a stable, accessible, place off the floor to keep the gun during the day, chamber loaded, then putting the gun in the corner before you go to bed.
Most intruders, shot turn out to family.. Be proactive trim/clear bushes hiding windows, leave outdoors lights on all night, put up a few motion detector lights. Get a pita little dog that barks at everything. Most intruders like easy targets, a little planning will have them moving to an easier target.
I was taught gun safety and how to shoot from a young age. My dad taught me how to safely handle every gun we had in the house.
When I was 11 or 12 I was home alone and I was handling an old 12 gauge double barrel that my grandfather passed to my dad. I knew it wasn't a toy but it was the coolest gun in the world to me at the time and I wanted to look at it. The memory is foggy at this point but the gun went from sitting in my lap to flying across the room, both barrels discharged into our dining room wall. To this day I swear that I cleared the chambers and I was taught never to dry fire a weapon. My child brain really screwed all that up and I'm damn lucky I didn't blow my head off.
That's my negligent discharge story.