If your home gets broken into, you won’t have the luxury of knowing in advance when it will happen. This means that unless you plan ahead for the worst-case scenario, you may not have easy access to your gun(s). Staging firearms is an important part of a home defense plan, and it’s important to keep safety and security in mind during this process.
Here are some tips for staging firearms in your home:
1. Consider Wearing Your Gun at Home
The easiest way to ensure you have access to your gun quickly should you need it is to keep it on your person. Not everyone is comfortable with this option, but if you are already carrying a concealed firearm outside of the house, it’s not a major adjustment to keep it on at home as well. You may need to adapt your method of carrying for more casual styles of clothing, but it is doable. However, whether this option works for you will ultimately depend on your particular preferences.
2. Think About the Layout Of Your Home
Staging firearms doesn’t have a one-size-fits-all solution because every home is different. As a starting point, think about where an intruder might enter your home. The front door is a clear option, but also consider any accessible windows and the patio door. You don’t want to be in a situation where you’re cut off from all the rooms where you’ve staged your guns and considering different scenarios helps you identify when this may be the case.
3. Identify Where You Spend the Most Time
In addition to thinking about the route a potential intruder may take, it’s also important to consider where in the house you’re most likely to be at any given time. These rooms are where you should focus your staging efforts.
For many people, the top rooms will be:
- Master Bedroom: Intruders often target houses at night when they expect you to be asleep. When storing guns in your bedroom, it’s important to balance ease of access and safety. One tip is to have a tactical flashlight available at your bedside. This is a safe item to have accessible and makes illuminating your room to get your safe quicker.
- Kitchen and Dining Room: If you spend a lot of time cooking, having a safe in the kitchen is a good idea.
- Living Room: This is a common space for families to spend time together and if you’re in this area often, you’ll want to consider it when staging firearms.
4. Choose Firearms Carefully
The type of gun you choose makes a big difference in how practical your home defense plan is, and you may want to have different options available in different rooms. For example, a long gun is probably not as good of a fit in the kitchen, both because of the limited storage space and because you’re more likely to be in a close-quarters situation if an attacker corners you here.
5. Always Use a Gun Safe
You may be tempted to choose staging options that give you the quickest possible access to your gun, such as keeping it in a drawer in your bedroom. However, this is not a good idea. If you have children in the house, this does little to prevent them from accessing your firearms. Even if you live alone or only with other adults you’d trust to use your gun, firearms are a major target for thieves. You don’t want to have such a weapon in a place that anyone you don’t authorize can easily get to it.
There are many gun safes available that use biometrics, radio frequency identification (RFID), or other high-tech methods to help you access your weapons quickly in an emergency. You should also practice how you would get to your firearms to ensure your staging is as effective as possible. Additionally, be sure any safe you use is bolted down so thieves don’t simply take the whole safe.
Your Source for Firearms in Arizona
If you need new firearms or accessories for staging, The Hub can help. We have an extensive selection at our three Arizona gun stores. We also offer classes to help you hone your skills, and our Tucson store has a MILO simulator so you can practice tactical decision-making in worst-case scenarios.
