For self defense and control (safe keeping), the best place for a gun is on you. The Marine Corps takes this to the extreme and makes you sleep with your rifle. Not a fun thing, I promise you. I used to cheat and cover my weapon with my pack and boots and then “dummy corded” it to my sleeping bag while I slept. It generally worked. Most of the time, sleeping with a rifle was fine because we always had unloaded rifles in training. In combat, it seemed weird to sleep with a loaded weapon and considered unsafe by some. My Sgt. would unload his rifle before going to sleep every night. I continued to sleep with my rifle outside my bag (only got caught once in my entire career!).
As civilians, sleeping with a gun isn’t the best of ideas. A couple of people have awaken to the sound of gunfire only to discover that it was them doing the shooting. A gun needs to be far enough away that you can’t reach it and accidentally shoot something while you are sleeping (so under the pillow isn’t a good idea).
It sounds crazy but has actually happened and since we practice to make the gun part of us. It really isn’t a stretch, if you think about it, so the gun needs to be out of your immediate reach.
Next, you have to think about whom else may access the gun while you are asleep. I have a 4 year old and he likes to try and sneak up on us while we are sleeping. It’s kind of fun and I normally hear him when he opens the door, but sometimes he can surprise us. So I definitely need a spot he can’t get to it.
This isn’t unique. Everyone needs to think about where to store the gun when it’s not on you. Quite possibly, the best way is with a small safe with a number combo on it. I like the GunVault safes. They are the original (as far as I know) and are really simple to open, but will keep you from waking up, looking down the barrel of your own weapon.
PIC http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/917MAXdR47L._SL1500_.jpg
Make sure you cover the safe with a jacket, blanket or something, so someone can’t just see it and run off with it quickly.
There are a lot of other products on the market, but these are my favorite, not just because I have a kid. You have to wipe the sleep from your eyes and get the fog out of your brain so you can put in the numbers and access your gun. It’s happened to me that my kid has slipped in and scared the crap out of me. I don’t want to accidentally shoot the wrong person in my house. I want enough time to come to my senses before I pull the trigger on someone. Yes, I’m erring on the side of caution, but we are talking about a human life here. I want to know, without a doubt, that if I have to shoot someone, it’s for a good reason and it’s truly a bad guy. You can’t do that when you are half asleep.
Things to think about when storing a gun at night:
- Place it somewhere that you can’t access it when sleeping in bed,
- Think about who else you might have to control access to when you are sleeping,
- Consider how you are going to wake yourself up before using your gun.
Stay Safe,
Ben