Multi Level Home Options

[FrankD]

For those who have a multi level home do you have a weapon on both floors in a quick access location?  We have a bedside pistol in a biometric safe and I am thinking of doing a similar thing on the ground level as well.

 

For those who have done it is it 100% the exact same setup and if no why?

[Jamie Jackson]

Does anything prohibit the wearing of a handgun while in your home?

We live in a multilevel home and do have firearms accessible in the bedroom and always on me...OK...not in the shower...but darn close! 

 

fwiw we have no small prying fingers in our home.

[Ronald_55]

1 hour ago, prag said:

Does anything prohibit the wearing of a handgun while in your home?

We live in a multilevel home and do have firearms accessible in the bedroom and always on me...OK...not in the shower...but darn close! 

 

fwiw we have no small prying fingers in our home.

You mean you actually are unarmed in the shower? How amateur of you.

 

[Ronald_55]

In all seriousness, I have thought of it, but I have little fingers around. I also thought of things like these Tactical Walls items, but budget and spouse agreement are issues there. They make a ton of options including an "Issue Box" that Is  a tissue box with a false bottom for a pistol.

 

 

 

 

[FrankD]

We do have two small children and my wife does not carry so the likelihood of her being armed in the house is almost 0

[Ronald_55]

1 hour ago, FrankD said:

We do have two small children and my wife does not carry so the likelihood of her being armed in the house is almost 0

My wife refuses the idea that I should be armed at home. She uses the kid's as an excuse, but I know she would say it no matter what. She grew up with guns, but sees no need for them since we do not actively hunt. I let that deter me for years, but just decided at a point that if I like guns as a hobby it is no worse or more expensive than her hobbies. But because of her preference, I am not as prepared as I would like if a home invasion happened.

[monkeylizard]

If I had kids, I'd probably consider something like this. The finger grooves would let you get your hand in position in the dark, and then you just punch ion your combination pattern. That seems far more reliable to me than bio-metric scanners. http://www.gunvault.com/gv2000c-std.html The way my phone often takes multiple tries to read my fingerprint makes me not trust consumer grade bio-metric when seconds count.

[FJCrusing]

I keep a small handgun safe for easy access on one floor of my house and then the other floor has my larger/main safe.  I have an additional handgun safe that I'm still trying to determine where I can put it.  I have two little ones but have been training them and working to remove the curiosity. 

[Ronald_55]

19 minutes ago, monkeylizard said:

If I had kids, I'd probably consider something like this. The finger grooves would let you get your hand in position in the dark, and then you just punch ion your combination pattern. That seems far more reliable to me than bio-metric scanners. http://www.gunvault.com/gv2000c-std.html The way my phone often takes multiple tries to read my fingerprint makes me not trust consumer grade bio-metric when seconds count.

I have seen these. I need to play with one.

 

I used to work with finger scanners years ago. The cheaper register less points. To read more consistant you need more points and several scans to build the points. As usual, more points equal higher level equipment and more cost.

Personally I do not even trust a keypad on a safe. I work with broken electronics everyday. It is not if, it is when they break. It usually us the worst possible time.

[monkeylizard]

Something similar with a mechanical lock would be best, but I haven't seen one. A dial-combination or a keyed lock are bad ideas for quick access. Something like this, but on a gun safe, perhaps.

But to answer the OP's question, yes, I have quick access to firearms available on every level of my home.

 

[FrankD]

I use a sentry bio safe that also has the button option. I had an earlier version of the gun vault and it was horribly unreliable. 

[FrankD]

I have also toyed with the idea of using those big magnets and mounting one over a door frame of a closet, would be out of reach for our kids for a while and super accessible. Can't imagine many folks that break in would think to look above the door inside a closet, but a small pistol safe would be easy grab and go bait. 

[monkeylizard]

Any safe needs to be secured to the wall or floor.

[Ronald_55]

35 minutes ago, monkeylizard said:

Any safe needs to be secured to the wall or floor.

Unless you plan to put a tracking device in it in lieu of a firearm.

You could use one of the small ones you build into the wall between the studs. It would fit above the door and be secure.

Something like this maybe. Might need to be slightly smaller though

Edited June 17, 2017 by Ronald_55

[Jamie Jackson]

Thanks for the additional info FrankD. Having small ones, and even "non-gun" people obviously requires various options, and consideration of quick access vs security.

My wife is "non-gunny" but keeps a .38 revolver in the living room with her when I am not at home. It's the firearm she's most comfortable with.

Having a non-lethal or less-lethal option readily available might also be a consideration. I have OC spray near the various entrances to our home. Not setting out in the open for kids to grab, but accessible.

I have very little trust in even professional grade fingerprint scanner devices. We use one at work for accessing medications. As I wash my hands dozens upon dozens of times per day, I have unreliable fingerprints... DPS had a heck of a time obtaining a set for my original State issued handgun permit back as far as 1990. I had to change to a password key-in at work as we simply couldn't make it work for me. This machine dispenses narcotics and other controlled substances and supposedly has "state of the art" scanning equipment. Many of my coworkers have to moisten their fingertips to make the device work.

We also have access areas that require a numeric push button keypad and they work as long as they have electricity.

I am not saying that the recommended devices are not sound choices, just cautioning you to try them under varying conditions to develop a trust level you are comfortable with.

A previous instructor of mine, Bill Jeans, used to keep an 870 above his door frame when his kids were small. I did similar when my son was very young. But never slacked on the ongoing education and training with him.

I guess I'm fortunate in that when I met my wife 30 years ago I carried, so she's never known anything different of me.

Good luck in your decisions and please keep us posted as we can learn along with you. 

[A.J. Holst]

When my son was living at home and of prying fingers age, every gun was secured. In a safe or trigger lock.

Willing to be at a tactical disadvantage in the event of a home invasion (pre HCP days)

Now, they're stashed all over the house plus whatever I have on person

Edited June 17, 2017 by Gotthegoods

[Alleycat72]

Different places around the house.  My 13 year old daughter has access to a suppresed 300 blackout sbr for when the s#$t gets real. 

[Murgatroy]

I have no less than six loaded firearms in my home. No, I won't tell you where. No, none of them are locked up. That is not counting several knives and baseball bats as well.

 

I also have a small child, well she is turning eleven very soon, in my home. I have had loaded firearms in the home since she came home. She has been raised since she was old enough to be curious exactly what they are. As soon as she was old enough to hold the weight of one (four) she was taught how to use them. There are no toy guns in my home. I didn't want that confusion. A gun is a gun. Pink, red, blue or black. It goes 'bang' and it will hurt you if used improperly. No questions.

My wife quit questioning me about it many years ago when it was there in a situation, unneeded, but it calmed her to know that we were prepared. Now she accepts it, and my daughter doesn't know any different life. I grew up with a loaded gun in the home (and that exact same gun is still loaded, in my home, for my entire life) and it is as natural to me as opening the fridge and finding milk, pickles and mayonnaise. No Miracle Whip here.

 

That doesn't mean it is the right choice for everyone. But it is the right choice for me.

Edited June 17, 2017 by Murgatroy

[bersaguy]

I have 5 guns located throught my home in places I can get to in matter of a few seconds not counting one I carry when ever my doors are no locked totally 6 guns in the home. I don't have small fingers living in the home and Kasey is my alarm along with a drive way alarm that lets me know if a vehicle or a person comes up to my home. I also have outdoor lighting that is sensor controlled that lights up my back yard , side yard and front of house in parking area. My friends all know to call before stopping by and it puts me on alert for anyone that might show up before them that trips the driveway alarm. Because of the location of my home there is no excuse for anyone to trip my Driveway Alarm by accident after dark so any time it goes off I begin listening for my front door to be touched because they have already tripped the lights so they know their presence is already no secret. "Paranoid"? Not at all. Security conscious very much so..............JMHO

[ReeferMac]

A friend of mine from NYC was telling me about a home-storage option some folks there used....

 

Small shotgun near the door stuffed in the wall behind a thin layer of sheetrock! Get a shim to mount the drywall flush w/ the rest of the wall, and load it up and place it between the joists inside the wall. Something comes to the door you don't like, punch through, grab the gun, pull it out. Click, bang! Nobody will know it's there, kids won't/can't get to it, and its always loaded and at the ready. Just hope you don't hit the joist when reaching for it !

 

- K
 

[Ronald_55]

2 minutes ago, ReeferMac said:

A friend of mine from NYC was telling me about a home-storage option some folks there used....

 

Small shotgun near the door stuffed in the wall behind a thin layer of sheetrock! Get a shim to mount the drywall flush w/ the rest of the wall, and load it up and place it between the joists inside the wall. Something comes to the door you don't like, punch through, grab the gun, pull it out. Click, bang! Nobody will know it's there, kids won't/can't get to it, and its always loaded and at the ready. Just hope you don't hit the joist when reaching for it !

 

- K
 

Sounds risky to me. Maybe if you put the drywall on a hinge and push/release latch like some cabinet doors. 

This is also the reason people remodeling old houses find guns in the walls I guess.

[monkeylizard]

Bad idea. There's no way that shotty is coming out cleanly through the drywall. At best, the small panel of drywall comes out cleanly from the mud joints, but then you're stuck with a drywall panel on your wrist and a shotgun in your hand on the other side of that panel. Sounds unwieldy at best.

[Ronald_55]

You could mount something like this gun hide picture frame to the back of the door and put a whiteboard piece in it so it looked like a note board. Then you could have a pistol ready and it could be high enough to keep small hands off it.

 

[Dolomite_supafly]

On ‎6‎/‎16‎/‎2017 at 5:31 PM, Ronald_55 said:

You mean you actually are unarmed in the shower? How amateur of you.

 

Joke if you must but I ALWAYS have a firearm in the bathroom.

Why wouldn't you? It is probably the most vulnerable you will be during the day. You either have you pants around your ankles, and can't run, or you are naked and soaking wet. Either of those would put me at a distinct disadvantage.

[bersaguy]

I keep a small caliber gun in my bathroom also. Just big enough to get bad guys attention should he be in my house but will also still stop them.