Pro Tip: Don’t lose your gun
So, a few nights ago, I get a call at 2 in the morning. Like most calls at 2 in the morning, it wasn’t good. My neighbor called to tell me someone was snooping around my truck. I have three vehicles and a two car garage, so the Earthfuckertm hangs in the driveway extension. I get up and get into let’s go see what is wrong mode. This involves grabbing a gun and a light and checking things out. I neglected to include the put on pants part of the plan and realize I’m about to get all operator operating operationally in operations wearing only a pair of Exofficios. And if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s never fight naked. Or close to naked.
So, I set my gun down to get some drawers on. Then realized I had no idea where I set my gun down. I spent at least 30 seconds or so with my gun unaccounted for. Confusion in the middle of the night, being tired, and getting into let’s go see what is wrong mode had me a bit off my game. Now, I have go pants. Some pants, with a belt, that sit beside my bed in case it’s go time. I should have taken Les‘ advice years ago. I can’t find the post but he recommended it ages back.
All was good. The turd had peeled out once I got there. Good neighbors are a blessing.
Also, I had a perfectly good gun and I knew exactly where it was. Yet, I was more worried about finding the lost one than getting the one I could have grabbed in less than two seconds.
September 15th, 2015 at 8:20 pm
At least you came off better than Mr. Boomershoot did…
September 15th, 2015 at 9:12 pm
“Always keep your clothes and your weapons where you can find them in the dark.” –Robert Heinlein
September 15th, 2015 at 9:43 pm
Thanks for the link.
When I go to bed I drop my pants next to the bed with the belt, wallet, keys, pocket knife, and flashlight in place. The cell phone sits in a charger on the nightstand. A 3D cell Maglite is next to it on the bookshelf.
If I have to get up in the middle of the night I put on the pants, grab the phone, and slip into the Crocs by the bedroom door. If I think there’s trouble I grab the MagLite and a pistol out of the electronic safe next to the bed.
September 15th, 2015 at 11:29 pm
You should have listened to this guy. You need go-pants. He published the go-pants concept years ago:
http://defensivehandgun.blogspot.com/2009/08/george-travelling-salesman-and-joy-of.html
September 16th, 2015 at 12:20 am
One arms reach bro. Jeff cooper is rolling in his grave.
September 16th, 2015 at 5:26 am
I’m gonna side with Robb Allen on this RE: pants….
Primary is an AR with a light and QD 2-point sling. Pants take too long to put on so I use elastic waist running shorts (summer) or dark sweats (winter) and a cheap shoot-me-first vest with the necessary stuff in the pockets: extra AR mag, Surefire light, house and vehicle keys, my burner phone, spare mag for the SR9c with the gun in a deep inside pocket, velcro closure shoes (pro tip: visit the geriatric store…), photocopy of my CWP in a pocket, and if I have a few extra seconds I’ll put on my 3M Peltor muffs (they’re clamped on the back of the bedside chair my AR leans against every night; shooting inside is noisy plus the amplification is an advantage).
September 16th, 2015 at 8:56 am
I flip a light switch and check the video feed after its all over. Then call the cops if it turns out to be anything bigger than a raccoon.
Last month I went to court and watched the disbelief on the face of yet another jackass who got sentenced – this time 30 days “chain gang” duty in Florida, in lieu of actual jail time. He thought he’d get probation (again), but I have a habit of working with the nice states attorney people, who will push a case if you promise to show up and testify.
I wore pants to court.
September 16th, 2015 at 10:54 am
am i the only one who thinks pantsless is the way to go? would you want to get in a tussle with an armed man with no pants?
September 16th, 2015 at 10:57 am
Clint Smith had a system where he put his knife, reload, flashlight, etc in this little camera type case that he could hang from his neck. Had that setup for years, fits the gun, knife, reload and pepper spray. Just an old camera type case I had sitting around.
September 16th, 2015 at 12:57 pm
I need to touch up my video system a bit, but a noise inside or out is usually a cat or a coon. It’s a lot nicer to roll back over and go back to sleep after checking the monitor than lay there waiting for three hours. I do have a 1911 and an AR there handy, but that go vest sounds like a good idea.
September 16th, 2015 at 1:12 pm
Tough choice, going commando or going armed.
September 16th, 2015 at 1:43 pm
Be aware, Uncle, that your nocturnal visitor is like a raccoon or a feral cat in that he will return again, as soon as he gets over being scared away this time.
You have been targeted as having something worth taking, and there has been nothing done to stop the thief.
A paper sign taped to the inside windows of the truck, reading, “Smile, you are on camera!” might help, as might a noise/light alarm sensitive to motion on the truck.
Do you really want to confront this guy, or just have him go away to find an easier target for his thievery? Nothing good will come of letting him try again. I’d try to scare him off permanently, and do so quickly.
September 16th, 2015 at 1:57 pm
You have beautifully illustrated the total difference between having a gun for defense and going to the range a lot to shoot at static targets in perfect lighting at measured distances.
I.e. there is practically no comparison whatsoever.
I’m not quite getting the scenario though. So my pistol and spare mag pouch are on the belt, which is on my pants whether I’m wearing the pants or not. If I’m not wearing the pants. They’re by my bed. So I get up, pull on my pants and I’m now armed with my daily carry kit.
Though as was said above, the AR with a double mag in it is also sitting right there by the bed.
So what’s better, pulling on the pants and being armed with a pistol, or forsaking the pants and taking up the AR?
I don’t know what the pants are going to do for you against a predator, exactly. Little to nothing, I would think.
I’d need to have you explain this learning never to fight naked or nearly naked thing. I don’t get it. Not that I’m advocating fight naked, but what’s the problem there which you’ve learned to avoid?
September 16th, 2015 at 3:06 pm
@Evilwrench – I opted for the cheap vest because I can leave it fully stocked and just hang it in the safe when I’m not home. It’s faster to put on than jeans with a zipper and belt (which is also why I picked elastic waist shorts and sweats), not to mention if I’ve succumbed to the nagging and put them in the hamper before bedtime…. The vest also doesn’t draw attention whether it’s hanging on a dining room chair, draped on the arm of the couch or hanging on the bedside chair.
I am waiting, however, for Unc’s answer to Lyle’s question. There may be an interesting story there, depending on whom he was fighting and for what….
September 16th, 2015 at 3:33 pm
@Lyke: Not speaking for the site-boss, but I think the answer is “kids”.
You can teach them to respect guns all you want, but relying on that alone is dangerous. We got lots of guns, but they stay locked up. We would never leave a gun out – on pants, night-tables, in a drawer or whatever – with kids in the house. Everything is locked.
For the same reason, I don’t go out if I think a human is looking for trouble. Though I have gone out many times to chase down raccoon or other animals that eat our chickens, ducks or geese.
September 16th, 2015 at 3:44 pm
http://www.lesjones.com/2010/06/04/tired-nice-pants-wired-nice-tactical-pants/
Ayoob talked about a fanny pack on the market years ago with a pull-up ballistic panel to keep the “go kit in. Snap the belt, pull the panel up over your head and you might be naked but you have some armor and all your lights, spares, etc.
September 16th, 2015 at 5:51 pm
Pants are overrated: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1181998/Moment-teenage-soldier-went-battle-Taliban–wearing-I-love-New-York-pink-boxer-shorts.html
September 16th, 2015 at 6:17 pm
Patrick; You keep your kitchen knives locked up too then? Matches, plastic buckets, power tools, et al? Car keys; if they’re sitting in your pants pocket, the kids could get hold of them and try to take the family car for a spin.
One solution would be to empty the chamber when you get home. If a kid is strong enough to rack the slide, he should already have done so much shooting with you that he has no latent curiosity left. If he’s not strong enough, still no problem. That is assuming that a kid can get up in the middle of the night, sneak into your room and un-holster your pistol, which is sitting within arm’s reach, without you noticing. My current holster retains the Glock so tightly that any kid under about eight years old would be unable to un-holster it without a major tussel.
Anyway; my kids are 18 and 22 and they live elsewhere. When they lived with us they had their own guns by the time they were eight or nine, and so why would they care to mess with mine? It used to be you’d give a kid a knife by the time he reached first grade, so if he wanted to kill himself or someone else he wouldn’t need my gun. That or he’d grab a butcher knife from the kitchen and have at it.
Sorry; I do understand the “safety culture”, I really do. I just don’t approve of it. There’s common sense and then there’s hyper something or other, which is not healthy. A little bitty toddler has to be protected at times from his curosity, but that’s just a few years.
September 18th, 2015 at 10:17 am
Guns are not knives and you are not honestly suggesting they are equal in lethality or finality. It takes a lot to kill with a knife (I have…not humans but large animals). A knife takes intent. “Running with Scissors” aside, knife deaths are generally not unintentional. It takes only one bad moment to unintentionally kill with a gun.
There is a world of difference between tools and guns. We prefer guns over knives for self-defense for a reason. Forgetting that comes darn close to a strawman argument.
My kids know guns and gun safety. My daughter is 7 and has a rifle and a bow/arrow set. She shoots almost daily. My son is 4 and stays away from guns until we let him near. He’s going to get his big sister’s bow as soon as we get her a new one, and same with the rifle.
I still see no need to go full derp in the bedroom. We have quick-access safes within arms reach and they open in seconds without batteries. Also, we would never go out in the event we thought a human was trying to get it or take something of ours (we have had this happen, so it’s not theory).
If safety culture is not getting the family shot, then we are part of that culture.
Also, just adding to the conversation. Not picking an argument. You do your thing; we’ll do our thing. We can both agree to enjoy life and shoot more.