Thinking about getting a gun for family protection

[str8line]

I purchased a fireproof safe from Costco to store a hard drive with family photos and important documents. I'm also thinking about getting a pistol that I can keep in the safe loaded. I've never owned a gun and never really thought I would, but the thought of hearing someone breaking in to our home and not being able to do shit about it has gotten me interested.

Part of the impetus for this is that my sister who lives in Cancun just had a home invasion robbery. Her family didn't even wake up while downstairs the invaders cut a bathroom screen and jimmied a window open then took their time going through her wallet(left the wallet took the money) and made off with i-pods, sunglasses, etc. What brazen fuckers!

Also, our neighborhood has had somewhat continual car break-ins(including my wife's this summer) in the 3 years that we've lived here and one of my neighbors found two guys in her garage last summer upon opening it when returning from running errands.

Where I grew up in a cul-de-sac (bwa! holy shit) in a nice neighborhood our neighbors three houses over had a break in and the father shot two guys and killed one of them. My best friend at the time lived in the house and his dad walked downstairs and shot the bastards.

I do have a doq that gives us some sense of security-a twelve year-old golden retriever that would probably bark but she sleeps upstairs in our bedroom sometimes and doesn't hear everything like our old black lab did.



Does anyone have any recommendations?

[edg]

?

edg

[RootSkier]

Just get a puppy. Cheaper and fun for the whole family.

[OldLarry]

don;t get a gun for that reason bro. For Duck hunting? Sure- protection? Kept loaded? :tsk:

[sfotex]

I'm a big fan of a pump action shotgun for home protection - they're easy to shoot, cheap, with light bird shot shells you don't have to worry as much about bullets traveling thru the wall and hurting a loved one (unless you get some glasser safety rounds) , and the sound of a shell being racked into the chamber is enough to send most people packing. A Remington 870 Express runs about $230 and they even have a built in trigger lock.

A handgun might be easier to keep out of the wrong hands with a safe, but it's going to take alot more time at the range to become a good enough shot..

But if you do decide buy a handgun gun for home protection take a handgun self defense class....

[mrw]

I am not one of those anti gun folks but, I don't own a gun and won't own a gun.For years I lived in a couple of the rougher sections of Philadelphia and to this day, my work takes me to really bad parts of Philly,Camden and Trenton.I would easily qualify for a carry license. It is just not worth the personal risk especially if there are kids in the house. Just my $.02

if you do decide to buy one, here is a deal ya can't pass up..http://tetongravity.com/forums/showthread.php?t=69102.

[Tuckerman]

I'm a big fan of a pump action shotgun for home protection - they're easy to shoot, cheap, with light bird shot shells you don't have to worry as much about bullets traveling thru the wall and hurting a loved one (unless you get some glasser safety rounds) , and the sound of a shell being racked into the chamber is enough to send most people packing. A Remington 870 Express runs about $230 and they even have a built in trigger lock.

A handgun might be easier to keep out of the wrong hands with a safe, but it's going to take alot more time at the range to become a good enough shot..

But if you do decide buy a handgun gun for home protection take a handgun self defense class....

Agreed if its for protection get a shotgun. A Coach gun would be good its smaller. But going to the shooting range can be a great time.

[wilcox510]

Statistics do not support owning a handgun for home protection. People who have handguns for home protection are more likely to be injured or killed in case of a break in.

For instance:"While handguns account for only one-third of all firearms owned in the United States, they account for more than two-thirds of all firearm-related deaths each year. A gun kept in the home is 22 times more likely to be used in a homicide, suicide or unintentional shooting than to be used in self-defense." - Kellerman AL, Lee RK, Mercy JA, et al. "The Epidemiological Basis for the Prevention of Firearm Injuries." Annu. Rev. Public Health. 1991; 12:17-40

I will now step down from my soapbox.

[Grange]

I like .22 pistols. Easy to shoot, not as leathal as larger caliber guns (but can still kill), and ammunition is cheap. Of coarse loading a shell into a pump shotgun will probably induce as much fear into the robbers as sound of a .22 firing.

[lemon boy]

http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/s...ad.php?t=25248

[str8line]

http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/s...ad.php?t=25248

Thanks LB, your thread has everything I need to know.

[str8line]

Statistics do not support owning a handgun for home protection. People who have handguns for home protection are more likely to be injured or killed in case of a break in.

For instance:"While handguns account for only one-third of all firearms owned in the United States, they account for more than two-thirds of all firearm-related deaths each year. A gun kept in the home is 22 times more likely to be used in a homicide, suicide or unintentional shooting than to be used in self-defense." - Kellerman AL, Lee RK, Mercy JA, et al. "The Epidemiological Basis for the Prevention of Firearm Injuries." Annu. Rev. Public Health. 1991; 12:17-40

I will now step down from my soapbox.

I hear ya. But I'd do everything possible to keep from becoming one of those statistics. If I get a gun it will be in my safe or some other similar place if it's a shotgun, and I'll take every other necessary precaution to make sure it is kept away from and un-usable by children. I would take a safety course and hit the range to make sure I was comfortable with it. I'm very confident that if proper protocols are followed the risks you mention are almost totally negated.

[lemon boy]

de nada. Good luck and for sure take a class/practice-practice-practice.

[Cono Este]

Practically speaking a dog is your best bet. But, nothing wrong with owning a gun for protection as well. I woke up to 3 thiefs in my house once. I was scared shitless, until I went to the closet and loaded my pistol. But I then locked the door and waited for them to take what they wanted and leave. The gun was to protect me. If you go chasing someone, and shoot them, you'll probably go to jail, even in your own home, it just happened here in stl.

Like I said, it's not to protect your home, only to protect you. Some a-hole pounding on your door in the middle of the night? Feels better knowing you can protect yourslef vs. waiting for the cops. Especially if you live in a rural part like I do.

[Free Range Lobster]

I agree with a dog.
Both houses on either side of me have been robbed. (no dog)
This should tell you something.

But I also suppose the whole Belgian going berserk is freaking intimidating factor should be weighed in there.

[phUnk]

Question: Can you really get to the gun safe, get it open, and arm yourself quickly?

(Serious question)

[Sirshredalot]

I have to say that I have an 870 Express and it is a fine gun for some bird hunting and it is easy to shoot. It would also be a very scary thing to have pointed at me. When I've had to sleep in my car in unfamiliar places I've loaded the magazine and left the chamber empty for a little extra security.

Would I have it around kids? I guess it would depend on the situation, but I'd feel better about the 12-gauge than I would about the handgun because you're not going to shoot through walls and the thing is DEFINITELY a major deterrent.

Dog alternative: Irish Wolf Hound. Very loyal and protective. 200 pounds of muscle and sinew. They are wonderful pets, and would probably be a more immediately visible deterrent than the shotgun.

[Gripen]

Question: Can you really get to the gun safe, get it open, and arm yourself quickly?

(Serious question)

Agreed, what the point of having it in the safe? It wont be easy to access. Same as carrying with a permit and not having one in the chamber. I also second a dog over a gun. I have a few guns (in the States), but would be very hesitant to use them in a robbery situation. Dog is much better.

[Cono Este]

Agreed, what the point of having it in the safe? It wont be easy to access. Same as carrying with a permit and not having one in the chamber. I also second a dog over a gun. I have a few guns (in the States), but would be very hesitant to use them in a robbery situation. Dog is much better.

What if they want more than your TV set, or they don't leave?

Keep it in a safe, keep the ammo or mag. stashed somewhere else. It would take me less than a minute, and I'd have a yappy wierner dog give me that much, atleast.

Don't keep anything loaded at the spout, and no double action revolver, something that takes a alittle know how,, in case the kid's crack the safe.

It's not so much for the bicycle thief, as it is for the serial rapist who wants to wear your robe around the house.

[The Dad]

I hear ya. But I'd do everything possible to keep from becoming one of those statistics.

Good. Maybe that'll halve the risk -- who knows, maybe even reduce it by 3/4. That'd bring it down from 22:1 to 5:1.

The fact is, most of those 22 intended to, and maybe even actually did, everything possible. But the problem is that the times you're thinking about needing it aren't times that lend themselves to calm reflection and due care. Let alone the times when you aren't thinking you might use it.

I'm not a fan of a false sense of security. If you want a weapon you can brandish, get a nice bat.

I'd second the puppy as well (added value from cuddling and all) except that your 12-year-old dog would probably hate you for it.

[Jumper Bones]

plus calmly find the key, go to the safe (wherever it is) and arm up, without attracting too much attention. I wouldn't want to start making a noise or ruckus until I'm armed...

You can get a small handgun safe, that fits or mounts right next to (or under) a bed, and it's a combination safe - the keys are arrayed like your fingers, and a certain sequence opens it - so you could safely keep a handgun near you.

If you're concerned about handgun rounds travelling through walls, there are certain rounds designed to stop once they hit something, and also there are shotshells as well (bullets that are basically miniature shotgun shells, filled with little birdshot). Only issue I've had with those is that for some reason, when the shell fires, the casing extractor for some reason doesn't want to eject the spent casing, so I have to manually charge the slide back each time to eject the spent round and chamber a new one. Basically turns my semiauto Beretta into a pump shotgun...

[Jumper Bones]

Also if you're really concerned about kids somehow getting into the safe, and you're going to separate the ammo anyway...they why not just field-strip the gun and scatter the parts? Yeah it's hard to fire a gun with no ammo, but it's even harder to fire if you're missing some critical parts. it could even be as simple as hiding the upper receiver in one place, the lower receiver in another, and the ammo someplace else.

[lemon boy]

Phunk-

as stated, handgun safes are designed to be opened very quickly by the authorized party. Generally the safes for long guns take a little more to open although I wouldn't be surprised if there was a fast opening model out there.
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On the dog front a barking large dog is probably a pretty good deterent but if you want to trust your life and your family's life to a dog's protection then it needs to be one that is really trained for the task (cue: Bandogee) and has the right mentality and that then brings up a whole nother issue. Trusting to your average lab to tear the throat out of a rapist is unrealistic. Also see below for a note on statistics...

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statistics: meh, figures lie and liars figure. Everybody builds the precautions around every activity that fit their risk profiles. I no more worry about having a gun in the house and it's risk than I do falling in the tub (got traction stickers ), driving my truck (wear seatbelts, drive defensively) or skiing avy terrain. Also per some shrill dogbite site I found in 2 seconds there are ~4.7 MILLION dog bite victems each year in the US...clearly keeping a dog is much more dangerous than keeping a gun

[DEVO]

Just get one of these:

http://www.airgundepot.com/eaa-drozd.html

Seriously....fully automatic bb gun! I have fired one of those and it is loud enough to scare the bejesus out of some intruder and if you fire that at someone point blank it's gonna hurt like hell. You don't even need to keep it locked up. Just keep it under the bed.

[mcsquared]

Wouldn't it more effective to put all the time, energy, and money you will in vest in a gun, training etc and spend it on making your home a less attractive target? More lighting, motion detector lights, secured windows and doors. A ADT sign in the front yard. And maybe a big fucking airhorn that you keep on your nightstand and if you hear an intruder just hit the button on that thing and whoever is in your house will bolt. I want to go all John Wayne as much as anybody else but in reality a gun isn't going to do much good except in a few very rare (yet highly publicized) circumstances. Just make the thiefs want to go rob somebody else.