The "Nightstand" gun

[jbourneidentity]

My nightstand gun is a Gen 4 Glock 21 .45 equipped with a SureFire X300UL and loaded with Cor-Bon DPX 185-grain all-copper hollowpoints. My sights are Vickers Tactical Battle Sights (tritium front) and I keep a "go-bag" beside the bed equipped with extra G21 mags (same defensive load), Coleman LED flashlight, OC (less lethal force option), SOG folder, CAT tourniquet, and Israeli bandages. I'm considering the future purchase of a refillable cellular telephone from Wal-Mart to keep fully charged and in the go bag as a secondary comms option.

I chose the DPX round for home use though I prefer HST. Overpenetration is my concern though I know the .45 is not famous for it. The reason why I chose the DPX is that my home has classic crappy early 80s architecture with little insulation and weakly constructed interior walls. My son is located at the front of the hallway toward the French all-glass front doors. We are located back down the hallway in the master bedroom toward the back of the house. If an intrusion comes, I expect it to be at the glass doors simply because they are the easiest to breach. My first goal would be to get to my son, and if I have to shoot, I chose the DPX to minimize overpenetration concerns.

I also keep soft body armor in the bedroom for my wife and I am questioning its inclusion into my emergency plan. It may just be too much. The way I have the body armor set up is after we put it on and adjusted it to fit, we loosened the left straps (we're right handed), so that we can put it on and attach the left straps, if necessary, with our non-dominant hands. I'm open to comments and input on the soft body armor idea.

My wife's nightstand gun is a S&W 66-1 .357/.38 revolver loaded with Speer Gold Dot 135-grain +P JHPs. Her go bag is set up with 2 Safariland Comp 2 speedloaders (same defensive load), light and medical supplies as in my go bag. She also keeps her purse in the bedroom at night and it has her Ruger LCR .38 in a purse holster and it's backed up by 2 Five-Star aluminum speedloaders (excellent!) also loaded with Gold Dots.

I have my "Andrew Patti gun" at the front of the house near the glass French doors. It's hidden away but quickly accessible. It is a Glock 22 equipped with an older Streamlight M3 light loaded with Federal HST 165-grain JHPs. I keep it in condition 3 with the magazine downloaded by 1 to preserve the spring during long term storage.

[LSP972]

Okay, I give up… what's an "Andrew Patti gun"?

.

[JodyH]

Okay, I give up… what's an "Andrew Patti gun"?

.

Read this:
Dartmouth Murders
Andrew Patti answered a suspicious evening knock at the door with a pistol in hand, it saved his families lives.

[LSP972]

Read this:
Dartmouth Murders
Andrew Patti answered a suspicious evening knock at the door with a pistol in hand, it saved his families lives.

Got it, thanks.

.

[PetRats]

I don't have a nightstand or a gun safe by my bed. If I kept it there at night, I might be in the living room watching TV when danger enters my domicile. If that happened, then I would need to run to my bed, and without eyes in the back of my head, I couldn't see what's lurking behind me.

For those who never take their guns off their bodies, well, then you're suitably armed for all occasions - including bathing, twerking, and answering when Nature calls.

That's a bit too much for me.

Then, there are those who have a firearm in every room, including the nightstand. So, instead of having your home decorated in Art Deco, it's decked out in Art Waco.

I have a problem with the whole idea of being awakened from a deep sleep and reaching for my gun before I've had a chance to know if I'm really awake and have to respond to a potential threat. There have been times when my dream was so real, that it took me awhile to confirm that it was no longer in progress - that I had, in fact, awakened from it.

Conversely, there have been times when I thought I was wide awake, only to realize that I was still very much asleep. In those instances, it has taken a lot more than the proverbial pinch on the arm to convince me of that conclusion.

If I'm awakened in the middle of the night, and I proceed to retrieve my gun, I will know that I am not dreaming it.

Now, If I had to put one gun in close proximity to me, wherever I'll be, at any time of day or night, the bedside would not be my first choice.

Why? Because I don't want it taken during a break-in when I'm not at home. Guns are a priority item on the shopping lists of robbers, and I don't want it in the most likely place someone would go look for it.

Speaking of "home," I rent mine, so I cannot do the things I could do if I owned it - such as permanently attaching a gun safe to the wall or floor or installing a "Hide-a-Wall" or something similar. Small biometric safes may be convenient, but if not bolted to the floor or wall, they are not immune to being carted off by some "gentle giant."

Of course, burglars around here are not very sophisticated. They have found that it is much easier to use their gun as a tool to get the home owner to do the work for them.

Items are replaceable. Lives are not. There has been a dramatic rise in the number of home invasions - and, more disturbingly, ones committed by teams of thugs, typically three, where the only tools they need are things to terrorize the homeowner and his family - or worse.

I'd love to tell you where I stuck my fire stick, Kimosabe, but then my secret hiding place would no longer be a secret. Let's just say that its easy to reach when needed, and that it also puts me in a very strategic position.

Even if I was asleep in bed at the time.

My home defender is a 9mm PPX with a taclight on the rails that will soon be replaced by a combo light-&-laser. There's a mag in it and another near it. I also have others on hand, if needed, and in other locations.

Rumor also has it that there's a shotgun lurking around here somewhere - but, it's just a rumor ;-)

They say "A man's home is his castle," but too few men fully understand their State's Castle Doctrine. Read this for an eye-opener:

Montana Shooter Found Guilty Despite State's 'Castle Doctrine'

The questions one should ask is how long will it take me to get to my gun, and where is my home's safest location. It should be the place from where you can call 911, verbally warn an intruder, and should the intruder disregard it and pose an imminent threat to your life, be able to stop the threat.

It's a drill that needs to be rehearsed over and over until it becomes second nature.

I have not gotten an EDC yet, but when I do, it will provide another option to the "nightstand" gun

...oh, and also to that mysterious 12 gauge.