Questions for those with handguns in the nightstand

[navyguy]

I keep my G19 under the night stand, on the floor. I can get to it just as easy, if not easier then if it were in the drawer, and it's not likley a crash and run burgler would look under there. Maybe, but not likley. When the grand kids come over, it goes in the safe.

[Texas Patriot]

I keep a pistol in the night stand drawer, but I also have another pistol on me at all times since I have a CHL. Also, I have an alarm system at my house that is on when nobody is home and when we are in bed for the night. I also have a nice 12 ga shotgun with light under the bed too.

Years ago, many burglars were just that, burglars only. Just wanting some stuff to get some $$. Now many of these guys are hardened criminals, with many of them involved in drugs. Lots of them are high when they break in to a house. They don't care if they shoot you or not any more. Since the violence level of the criminal has escalated over the years, I feel that I must be prepared for that and be able to respond adequately in order to save the lives of me and my family.

This is the reason for the heavy armament near my bed.

[JAFO]

I think you'd be able to train yourself to locking them up and getting them out each day if you choose to. That's how I do it. I keep my gun and a mag in the safe, take them out each night along with a nylon holster I use to carry it around the house with. When I go to bed, the gun and mag go in a drawer while the holster stays on the nightstand to remind me to put the gun away in the morning. It took a while to train myself to get it out every night, but I only forgot to put it away once.

As a side question, I've read that it's a good practice to have at least one step between you and accessing your gun in the middle of the night. Whether it's opening a drawer, moving a newspaper/magazine, etc. I don't mean fine motor motions like removing a trigger lock or working the combo on a lockbox, just an extra gross physical motion before you can lay your hands on the gun. Theoretically, that extra step helps you wake up a bit and before you grab a gun and aim at the nearest dark object. As a side benfit, should anyone actually be able to enter your home without waking you up, they wouldn't see your gun on the nightstand. I'd be interested in reading people's thoughts on this.

[TJ Willy]

Lots of good input here.

I have a 12 month old so I am in the same night stand delimma. Currently, I keep my glock 22 and my carry PT140 or SA1911 micro or Taurus 85CH depending on what I carry that day. So usually two guns in night stand.

I work on a military base (contractor) so I can't carry all day meaning often TWO guns are left in the Night stand.

So I am going to put a Vaultsafe or similar in the top drawer - i prefer no batteries. (enough kids toys all over the place that take batteries - haha) and just keep the others locked up in the safe.

I like have the 22 right there... so that will probably stay. The rest I will have to just unlock and lock up as needed.

[jimmy-buffett]

I think of the concept "nightstand gun" as more of a concept than something to be taken literally. Point being, it doesn't have to be in the nightstand, you can put it somewhere within 5 feet that isn't the most apparent place for somebody to look, but that is still easy for you to access if you need to.

[Sig_Fiend]

All that I do is have the gun with a loaded mag in it but no round in the chamber. A quick rack of the slide is all that's necessary and it's good to go. That's simple enough, takes a conscious decision to do (I'd be wide awake by that time), and there is no possibility of accidentally tripping the trigger and firing the gun if I get startled and reach for the gun in just the wrong manner. Personally, it works for me and I really like the idea of it for my case. There was one time where I used this method due to my idiot cat playing around at the front door in the middle of the night and knocking something over. The thing I liked is as soon as I awoke, I reached for my Sig, forcefully racked the slide, and just the procedure of doing that alone caused me to go from awake but sort of disoriented, to fully awake (especially from hearing the metal ca-chink sound of the slide actuating) and very alert. Man my cat is such a dork sometimes.

[bikerbill]

One of the best questions I've seen on any gun forum ... it really made me think ... we don't have kids and I'm retired, so I'm around the house most of the time ... I don't carry my nightstand gun; it's a 1911 and a bit too heavy for summer carry in Texas. I do usually bring it with me into the living room if I'm home, just in case those burglars are too stupid to realize somebody is inside ... But now I'm going to have to think about stashing it somewhere if I go out ... I'll probably start locking it in a case and slipping it on top of the bathroom cabinet during the day (you have to stand on the toilet to reach the top) and bring it out at night ...

[TAZ]

There are some pretty affordable alternatives out there. I have a couple of safes stashed around the house in addition to my "real" safe. Stack-On makes a pretty cheap drawer safe that is relatively hard to open. No thick seams or hinges visible so someone rummaging through the house will have to remove it before they can get into it. The smaller safes are meant more to keep my 3yo from getting his hands on a gun that is not being worn and to make then inaccessible to theifs. The safes can be removed from the house pretty easily (clip a cable, tear out a lag bolt...), but it they will make it difficult to use the gun one me should I surprise a burglar. Guess they can be used as impact weapons though. My gun gets carried around the house and then goes in safe overnight or if I am going anywhere I cant carry. The wifes gun is always in a safe sicne she doesnt have a CHL.

[Thumper_6119]

Wife and I both keep firearms ON the nightstand at night. In the morning, they are on the person. (Nothing left unsecure. Everything in the safe). We have 1 schnauzer in the house, and 3 outside. These are one of the best intrusion detection systems in the world. They will bark if a mouse farts 2 houses down. If someone so much as rattled a window or bumped an exterior door, they go off. So I'm not worried about someone getting to my gun in the middle of the night. But when we leave the house, the nightstand guns are on us.

[ETH77]

I too am one who has a loaded non-chambered weapon. My reason is the same as stated above.

My wife's firearm is locked and loaded. Should she need to support me she's ready.