Safe Luxury

Do you keep your home protection gun(s) loaded? Also were should I keep them?

I have a 20ga shotgun and am about to get a revolver, and I've been hunting since I was a teenager. But I was wondering, should I keep mt\y protection shotgun and my soon to be revolver loaded? Also were should I keep them, It's just me and my fiance living in the house so I don't have to worry about kids. I also have rifles but there locked away in a gun safe. What should I do?

Public Comments

1. my personal defense shotgun is loaded and behind the door of our "safe-room" (that is the room we will all meet in in case of a home intruder) .45 is in condition 1, top nightstand drawer. Make sure your fiance is on board with all this and has proper training also. Be safe
2. I keep my firearms with a loaded magazine in a quick access safe next to my bed. I do not know anything about shotguns and keeping them loaded but a revolver, I would. What you should do is what feels right to you. I believe that if you do not have a gun ready or that can be ready within seconds it does not pay to have them at all for protection.
3. I'd say yes. My wife keeps her office shotgun loaded, but not chambered. Her bedside revolver is loaded, but DAO. My bedside shotgun is loaded and chambered. My carry pistol is always loaded and chambered. My 1911 in the kitchen is loaded and chambered. My single-action office revolver is loaded, hammer down (it has a transfer bar so this is safe). Hmmm, looking at it like that, I sound like a freak, but I basically believe that unless you have kids (we don't), you can never have too many loaded guns around the house. As for placement, the first priority is your bedside, because a home invasion is most likely to occur at night. Second is wherever you greet visitors, because whenever you get a door-to-door salesman/home invader, it's nice to have a gun on you. Yes, I hook my 1911 on every time the door rings. And there's been a few times that I was uncomfortable enough with the characters ringing it that I was very glad to have it. Offices, bathrooms, etc are all just optional in my opinion. I'd avoid places like bathrooms because visitors will be in there alone, and they get nosy. Nosy people play with things, and that's especially bad with loaded guns. Hope I helped, and didn't sound too much like a paranoid freak who keeps loaded guns laying all over the house.
4. keep the shotgun loaded but not chamberd. i would keep the shotgun by my bed and the revolver by the sh!ter. that way your never cought with your pants down...so to speak. good luck and i hope you never have to use them.
5. Shotgun stays loaded next to the bed. 45 Colt revolver stays loaded on my hip around the house, in town I carry a compact 9mm.
6. ar-15 gots a 20 round clip in it but doesn`t have one chambered.
7. i have a glock 20 that i handload ammo for, and i keep it under my pillow, and a 12 gauge loaded in my closet
8. I keep my 357 loaded,but keep an empty chamber next in line. We keep it in the closet in our bedroom. We have no kids. Also my wife knows how to use the pistol. My hunting guns stay in a locked safe.
9. My shotgun is hung on a hook on the backside of my bedroom door.... I have a couple of bathrobes hung there too hiding it so to the casual looker they are not seen.... Yes I do keep it loaded --- NO I do not keep one in the chamber....
10. never keep them loaded, because it's against the law to have a long arm loaded in a public place in all states except for defensive purposes and having the revolver in the house and not in your possession is illegal too, since somebody else could use it like a loved one or the intruder themselves. it's better to load the shotgun when needed, if you practice loading and unloading the shotgun, you can load the gun almost as fast as loading a clip into a handgun and you can get clips make for loading the revolver fast too, so don't keep them loaded, it's dangerous and illegal.
11. You do not want an unarmed burglar to become armed because you left a gun lying around. Keep your guns in a quick access safe and everyone will be safer. Everone knows people "hide" guns under pillows, beds, and behind closet doors, etc., such guns are not really "hidden".