The topic of carrying at home is one that I cover a lot. Probably on a weekly basis. There are stories in the news that show just how important it is to keep our firearms in their holsters and on our bodies, even in the safety of our own home. The truth is though, our homes aren’t always safe places. The number of homes broken into each year in the US is staggering and while you’re likely not to have your home broken into, you just never know. It’s why we carry in the first place; to be prepared at a moment’s notice.
A reader sent me this message via email, and I felt it important to share with you all.
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Hi Brandon,
I just want to share a story with you. I follow Concealed Nation through Twitter, therefore reading many of your posts. One thing I notice you mention quite often is the importance of carrying at home. Every time I read this, I think to myself, “I understand his point, but do I really need to carry at home?” After all, I live in the country where the worst thing that happens is someone hits a deer with their car. Well, I had something happen this past winter that made me realize that yes, I DO need to carry at home, regardless of where I l live.
I work a job that requires me to work midnights. For me to get on midnight schedule, I usually stay up real late the night before and sleep in late the next day. The only way I can do this is to play something on the PS4.
Anyway, I usually wear some of those sound reducing headphones so I dont wake my wife up. I cannot hear anything outside what I am hearing in these phones.
It’s 2:15 in the morning. Dog is sleeping to the right of me on his pillow in front of the pellet stove. There isnt a single light on in my house and all the blinds are shut. When all of a sudden my dog jumps up, ears to the ceiling. I tried calming him down so he didnt wake my wife up. After 5 seconds and him finally starting to relax, he jumps back up again and barks. Remember, I have those ear phones on and cant hear anything except for the game I am playing. I slowly pushed the blinds aside just a hair and looked outside to find a man standing on my front porch. Its so late and Im so tired, I am starting to wonder if I am seeing things. This man is 10 feet away from me. He finally turns and him and I are now staring at each other. I looked the other direction (my dog is going nuts now) and see there are no cars in my drive way. Immediately, I start to wonder where I put my pistol (Glock 26). My poor excuse? Its so dark in my house and I dont want to walk all around to find it and wake my wife up. POOR excuse.
Then I wonder, should I just call the police? Nope, I didnt.
So what did I do? I answered the door with nothing on me. Not a gun. Not a knife. Not a baseball bat. I just took my CPL class last August. Did I not learn anything? Do I not read the stories on Concealed Nation? How do I know he doesnt have 2 buddies hiding, waiting for my to open the door and all 3 come in?
Absolute poor decision.
Luckily, it ended up being some punk driving way too fast down my bumpy, slippery, icy road and buried his truck in the ditch. He saw I had a truck and thought he could knock on the door and ask for help. At 2:15 AM.
My dog knew he was there. I didnt. Im guessing he may have knocked and thats why my dog jumped up? Who knows.
Anyway, I thought I would share this with you. I now have my gun on my side while at home, and if not I will know EXACTLY where it is at all times. This really opened my eyes and warned me of what COULD have happened. I have a wife and in 8 weeks will have my first child. Making better decisions is a must now, if it wasnt before, and I am fortunate that this time it was only some guy in a ditch.
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While this wasn’t a bad situation, it easily could have been. If anyone ever knocked on my door at 2am, you bet I’d have my firearm in hand and that I’d be taking every precaution necessary to identifying who is at my door.
