Learn me home defense firearms...?

I'm thinking about buying a handgun for home safety. Good Idea?

I'm married with a 2 year old, of course I'll be purchasing a pistol safe of some sort. 

Any gun owners here? 

Thoughts?

Go for it.  Yeah, there's gun owners here.  A lot of them.  Buy something quality, learn to use it, keep it stored safely, teach the kid not to touch.  Teach momma how to use it. Practice Practice Practice.

Lots of us in here. Don't buy out of fear. Know what you're purchasing and what it means if you have to use it. There's thousands of opinions on home defense, some for and against handguns/shotguns/rifles etc. 

If you've gone through this thought process thoroughly, go get your hands on as many as you can and see what works for you. then practice. Practice some more. Then a little more. It's use and function shouldn't require any actual thought. Be safe, keep up your practice and hope you never need it. 

I am a 1911 fan. It's not what one might call a "beginner's" handgun. Manual safeties, single action requiring cocked and locked position are unnerving for some. For me, it's just normal. Hand me a glock or sig and I instinctively fing my thumb going for the safety that isn't there. I like big fat slow bullets. Others like smaller, lighter faster bullets. Get what works for you. 

Single action revolvers are the safest guns available IMHO.  I am not a fan of semi-automatics because they can "hide" a bullet in the chamber.  Revolvers are more apparent.  However, I know I have an extreme perspective.  

You may also want to consider a shotgun.  The best deterrent is one you never have to use. A single action Mossburg cocking should be enough to scare away any potential intruder.  

Also, along the same lines, you can get ADT security signs on Ebay for under $20.  I would not recommend the service (been there, done that), but the signs and stickers are 80% of the protection.      

Honestly, There are a ton of choices out there. It's more about being comfortable with what you have.

My personal choice is a CZ-75B .40 S&W. I also have a Kimber 1911 that I love too.

As DR said, It's more about being comfortable and being able to use what you have regardless of what it is. Make sure your wife knows how to use it as well. Mine is as good of a shot as me most days which is good because I'm gone a lot. 

In reply to NordicSaab :

"A Mossberg cocking should scare away any potential intruder". This is, to me, bad information. If you have a dog that has a deep, large bark and someone is STILL trying to break in, the sound of a shotgun isn't going to change that. They've already made that choice. Now, my dogs are Bob Costascats but they SOUND viscous. They're main purpose (outside of being my fur babies) are to wake me to take care of the problem. you come into my house at night with an 80lb german shepherd going apeE36 M3 you're not right in the head and nothing I can say, or any noise I can make is going to make that more clear. 

Are you familiar with firearms? To qualify some of this I am a firm believer in the 2nd amendment. Most of the time if you have time to get to a gun safe and open it you have time to call 911. Another point a gun is useless unless you have made the decision that you will kill a person if they break in. Unless you practice often, hitting even a human target at close range(10-15 ft) is difficult with out practice. If you decide to get a gun teach your child gun safety, Rule number one "There is no such thing as an unloaded gun" Rule number two "See rule number one". Unless you are into guns, having one for home defense is asking for trouble. I know how to shoot, I know gun safety and unless there are going to be shoot outs in my area I will not have a loaded gun in the house. If you are concerned about break-ins a good alarm system with monitoring is a better solution. 

Personally I use the gun I’m most comfortable with, one where I know all the controls by feel so I can operate it in low light. 

In reply to zordak :

That's all great advice if you live in a city/town with good response time from first responders. For the rest of us, waiting for 911.... well, not so good. Also, an unloaded firearm is just an expensive rock. If you want, I got lots of heavy rocks I'll give you for free. 

Glock 34.  9mm.  Nite-sights (glow from Tritium like high end diver watches) 

And if you weren't a shooter before you need to practice and you need to inculcate gun safety into your hard wiring so you don't do things like leave a round in the chamber when you think its unloaded.   And take some self defense classes - at least then you will start thinking tactically about what you would do if you actually have a robber in your home.  Make sure your wife buys into the program at least.  Maybe get her to take the class also and do some shooting.  Make sure the pistol fits her hand.  Some ladies have small hands.

One other choice would be a youth model 20 gauge shotgun Like a Remington 870 pump- Its lighter than a 12 gauge, less recoil.  The youth model has a shorter stock and is over all shorter.   Your wife would feel comfortable with this.  You would need to practice shooting this as will because the manual pump is not a natural movement. 

And remember this:  If you pull a gun on a robber and then chicken out or show hesitation he is going to take it away, shove it up your butt and pull the trigger so make sure you are ready to shoot and understand that shooting to stop a deadly threat may result in the death of the bad guy.    If you aren't there then just dial 911 on your cell phone  and plan to get you and your family out the house and run away.

bobzilla said:

In reply to NordicSaab :

"A Mossberg cocking should scare away any potential intruder". This is, to me, bad information. If you have a dog that has a deep, large bark and someone is STILL trying to break in, the sound of a shotgun isn't going to change that. They've already made that choice. Now, my dogs are Bob Costascats but they SOUND viscous. They're main purpose (outside of being my fur babies) are to wake me to take care of the problem. you come into my house at night with an 80lb german shepherd going apeE36 M3 you're not right in the head and nothing I can say, or any noise I can make is going to make that more clear. 

I totally agree.  Racking the slide tells the bad guy where you are while you are not sure where he is.  This allows him to change his tactical plan instead of blundering into range.  And remember that when the enemy is in range so are you.

Ask your local police about that. Apparently racking a shotgun is a very effective way to gain control over a situation. We all know what that noise is, and the stakes just changed.

Now, if you're stalking someone in your house for the thrill of the hunt instead of just trying to get them the berkeley out, then by all means go with something stealthy.

jharry3 said:

bobzilla said:

In reply to NordicSaab :

"A Mossberg cocking should scare away any potential intruder". This is, to me, bad information. If you have a dog that has a deep, large bark and someone is STILL trying to break in, the sound of a shotgun isn't going to change that. They've already made that choice. Now, my dogs are Bob Costascats but they SOUND viscous. They're main purpose (outside of being my fur babies) are to wake me to take care of the problem. you come into my house at night with an 80lb german shepherd going apeE36 M3 you're not right in the head and nothing I can say, or any noise I can make is going to make that more clear. 

I totally agree.  Racking the slide tells the bad guy where you are while you are not sure where he is.  This allows him to change his tactical plan instead of blundering into range.  And remember that when the enemy is in range so are you.

Really surprised at some of this replies RE: racking a slide being a bad idea.  Most burglars are not that smart, otherwise they would be a different line of work.  I agree that if you have an intruder, who is brave enough to enter a house with large dogs, carrier a fire arm, and has the ability to demonstrate tactical prowess, generating noise of any kind is not the best idea.  However, if this is the person you have entering your home then you must be a special case.  

From what I have seen, most home intruders are just dumb punks.   

Best advice I have seen in this thread is get what you are comfortable with.  

I totally support gun ownership, but you need to know how to use it. That means classes on how to use a gun, and classes in self defense. I think for most people non lethal defense is a better choice. Pepper spray, taser, there are lots of other ways to put a bad guy down without dealing with the conundrum of putting someone in the ground.

My preferred in this case is my Glock 23, although I have a couple of others.  I didn't use to worry about this until someone kicked in our front door with my wife at home once.  She had something behind the door and it didn't get all the way open.  She was also on the phone with her mom and started screaming and they thought multiple people were in the house.  They did leave but the police made her leave the house that night since I was out of town.  It seems there had been two murders by home intruders in our end of town in the 3 months prior to that happening.  Now we both are armed.  She has a small 9mm Remington she carries.  The biggest thing I recommend is that if you do not have enough experience, there are classes in most cities that teach firearm safety and handling, as well as basic shooting skills.  Karen went through one and learned quite a bit.  If you have to rely on first responders in cases like this you are pretty much finished.  

I have a split opinion of shotguns, especially pumps. They're great tools for the job but they require a lot of practice to use effectively.

The weapon is long, even with short ones, making more difficult to handle in an enclosed space, it's every possible to short stroke in a panic situation rendering it useless, and the recoil of a normal 12ga (using it as an example because they're so common) is generally too much for smaller framed people to absorb regularly pretty much assuring that there won't be enough practice.

We could argue about combat reloading them but the reality of the matter is if an engagement lasts more than 4-6 shots you don't want to be there anyway.

It's possible to overcome a lot of that with half load defensive shells, practice, and a smaller gauge like a 20ga but that's not what the typical buyer does and you have to know they exist in the first place.

My advice is to go get a class, see what you like and think you'll use based on that experience. I know the NRA gets a lot of hate in wider circles but they really are one of the best training organizations out there. Barring that find someone near you that's a responsible adult or go somewhere like the Heritage Guild where you can rent a firearm and trainer.

Personally I prefer either a Glock 19 or 1911's. I have both and have an extensive amount of training and practice with them. The shotgun barely comes out of the safe these days unless I'm hunting birds.

I'm very pro home defense firearms, and firearms in general.  It's been coverd but know its functions with your eyes closed, make sure the wife is on board, teach the kid early, but if you're slightly hesitant to use it for its intended purpose, it's probably not the right choice.

We keeep a 9mm & flashlight on the nightstand.  We awoke to someone in our fenced in backyard, with a flashlight one night.  I grabbed the pistol and light to investigate, dude hopped the fence and was gone about as soon as I opened the back door.  I called the cops, but the guy was long gone by the time they showed up.

After we calmed down and reflected on the situation we realized I'd left SWMBO defenseless in the bedroom, I had the nightstand pistol, and all of our other firearms were in the safe on the other end of the house, unloaded, ammo stored separately.

We decided to add to our ready to rock firearms. After a lot of research, talking it over, and holding/shouldering different firearms we decided on a youth shotgun like jharry3 mentioned. SWMBO is a petite 5' 1-1/4" and needed something with a short length of pull (LOP).

Then we happened to be in a sporting goods store that had Remington 870s on sale, including an 18" barrel, 12 GA, "tactical" model.  I had already been researching aftermarket stocks so I knew I could get it short enough, and the $100+ we saved on the sale price more than paid for the Magpul SGA stock I put on it to fit SWMBO's LOP.

I'm a bit of a gun nut, and have over double the purchase price in accessories, including the stock, a Surefire light, oversized safety button, optic mount, and Leopold Deltapoit, but SWMBO is comfortable shooting it, it fits her, and while I'm sure at the range she'd be using it at, she wouldn't miss with just pointing the barrel, she knows wherever she puts the dot on the sight is where the hole will be.

We feed it Fiocchi low recoil 12Ga 00 Buckshot, and SWMBO has no issues with recoil, she actually likes shooting it.  That Magpul stock has a pretty thick but pad so that helps too.

Both my wife and I have our concealed carry permits and there's usually a 9mm in one night stand or the other,  but our go-to home defense weapon is a very inexpensive Stevens pistol grip 20ga pump shotgun with a combo laser/flashlight mounted up front. 

We live in the country and 911 is going to take 15 min minimum to get someone to our door.  I'm not concerned about nor do I think I would be able to stop someone with any tactical skills targeting either of us. For the bulk of our perceived risk, the opportunity break in, the rack of the pump and the laser coming around the corner should be enough to scare them away and we can hand over security video to law enforcement afterwards.  

I went with the 20ga and pistol grip from a wall penetration concern and because I thought my wife would be more comfortable actually using it.  She'll comfortably blast up a box of clays in an afternoon and laugh the whole time, so that much worked.  The flashlight/laser was an afterthought and is probably more "tacti-cool" and not super high quality, but if the red dot is on something at distance like in my house and I pull the trigger that something is going to be hurting. It's pretty freeing, actually, to put a dot on a clay at 10 yards and watch it disappear.  I think I have maybe $300 into the rig as it sits, the shotgun itself was right around $200, and that leaves a lot of budget for boxes of ammo and clays to set up and shoot. 

So, the reason I'm anti-racking the slide is due to the recent rash of tweekers breaking into peoples houses. High, looking for E36 M3 to sell to get high again, so rational thought just isn't happening. 

As for what, the 5" 1911 that is beside the bed is easy to access, but I'd prefer the 19" mossberg 500 I have over the TV in the bedroom. IT makes bigger holes. And for fighting the ACTUAL intruders, I go to the AR. I've had to use it more in the last 8 months than any other home defense firearm in my life. In fact, it's killed twice in those 8 months. But I haven't seen another Coyote in my yard since the last one in April. 

Something you're comfortable with for sure.  My local gun store and range has an instructor who is either currently with or recently retired from the county police department and he offers the normal concealed carry classes but also does home defense classes as well.  My wife and I did one of the home defense sessions and it was a fairly inexpensive private thing that involved some classroom discussion about what makes for a good home defense weapon, how to handle that weapon, how to increase your chances of not losing that weapon to an intruder, how to handle home defense generally with or without a weapon, and what skills to practice.  After an hour or two of that we spent some time on the range learning a couple stances that are a little better for close quarters situations.  If you can find something like that locally, I highly recommend it.  The lessons learned came in very handy and gave us an interesting sense of confidence and calm when someone tried to bust down our door at 2am one night.

RE: Racking the slide

My self defense go-to is a Glock 23, While you can indeed rack the slide, the weapon is kept locked with one in the chamber. Racking the slide, or keeping nothing in the chamber, is just asking for your sleepy, nervous self to do something else wrong. A Glock (in my opinion) is like the V6 Camry of the gun world. It does everything as good as any other gun, but is the reliable/affordable matrix can't be beat. You like 380? 9mm? 45? 40? 10mm? A Glock can be any of those. None are bad choices.

I do have a 12 ga shotgun also but it is kept unloaded because I don't have a big enough safe. It's more to hand to Tunawife if someone is ever actually in the house, so if they kill me she has a second chance.

My FIL who does have security training of various forms with firearms as a former LEO claims that any round chosen for minimal wall penetration is not going to work if it's a druggie with a thick leather jacket, so don't rely on that.

A friend who is a current LEO locally says "When seconds count, the police are minutes away"

If you do this, practice in real life, walk through the house with the unloaded gun (there is no such thing as an unloaded gun) and get used to how that works. Sometimes the safe direction to point is up, sometimes it is down. Get used to how you might work that.

If you get one and never have to take it out of the safe, you win.

<—- Former military, combat veteran, unit armorer, CCP holder, and general firearms enthusiast.

I strongly recommend the shortest 20 gauge pump you can find for home/property defense.  Pistols are fun and cool but the reality is that long guns are vastly superior tools for the job of exerting force over a distance.  

An example here is that a 20 gauge slug is exerting more than double (nearly triple) the amount of muzzle energy as the gold standard for pistols, the .44 Mag.    

Then you figure that the goal is to impart all that energy into the body of said bad-dude without poking holes in him, the wall behind him, and whatever is behind that (over-penetration).  That’s why rifles are a non-starter for home defense.

And then there is the psychological issue of taking someone’s life.  It’s a heavy responsibility that, while some keyboard warriors will say they are ready to throw down, is worth taking out and holding up for serious contemplation.  I, for one, would rather not have that on my conscience unless forced to.

From the perspective of child safety, you can have the weapon loaded but nothing chambered.  Simple enough for you to rack in a round but less likely for a child who is curious about the neat toy they found in your closet.  A gun in a safe is too hard to access, a gun in the nightstand is an accident waiting to happen.  I prefer upper shelf in the closet, or hung over a door.  Well above children too young to be taught firearm safety.

All of that said, I personally have a 20 gauge pump gun in “scout” size.  It’s loaded with two birdshot shells and then two number 2 buckshot.  It’s scary AF , easy to handle, won’t over penetrate into one of the kids’ bedroom, and will take 100% of the fight out of someone with a low probability of ending their life (center mass shot with birdshot at 20’ is bloody and violent but shouldn’t actually kill).

bobzilla said:

In reply to NordicSaab :

"A Mossberg cocking should scare away any potential intruder". This is, to me, bad information. If you have a dog that has a deep, large bark and someone is STILL trying to break in, the sound of a shotgun isn't going to change that. They've already made that choice. Now, my dogs are Bob Costascats but they SOUND viscous. They're main purpose (outside of being my fur babies) are to wake me to take care of the problem. you come into my house at night with an 80lb german shepherd going apeE36 M3 you're not right in the head and nothing I can say, or any noise I can make is going to make that more clear. 

There are two types of intruders to consider. 1) The person that wants your property and would prefer no one to be in the house with them and 2) the person that is looking for people for whatever reason.

In the #1 case, the buglar hearing a noise from the other room will tend to run. They might try again another night. If they hear a shotgun chambering a round, they might reconsider that 'next' B&E at your house.

In the #2 case, the person is coming for your and or your loved ones. I would still want a shotgun when they bust into my bedroom.

yikes. I'm not against owning guns.

But I think owning a gun for the singular purpose of home protection (mentioned above - often happens out of fear) probably puts you statistically into the highest risk profile for having yourself or someone close to you hurt or killed by a gun.

If guns are your hobby, you spend a lot of time around them and training with them, and therefore you are probably pretty safe with them. If guns are not your hobby, you are unlikely to continuously practice and keep your skills sharp. With poor skills, a gun is much more dangerous to the people it just so happens to be close to than anyone else.

Keith Tanner said:

Ask your local police about that. Apparently racking a shotgun is a very effective way to gain control over a situation. We all know what that noise is, and the stakes just changed.

Now, if you're stalking someone in your house for the thrill of the hunt instead of just trying to get them the berkeley out, then by all means go with something stealthy.

With all due respect, the police are going to back whatever tactic ends up with somebody getting robbed instead of somebody getting shot.