Oh, absolutely -- regardless of what I'm sleeping in or not sleeping in, getting pants on is much less important than getting shoes on.

Completely nude with a leather belt and a gun in holster - flashlight in hand, bunny slippers firmly affixed, permit to carry in an ID holder around your neck....... - it may be an interesting sight to an arriving LEO.....

You would be amazed what people wear when you show up at their house at 3am (at their urgent request.) Quite an array of attire..... Stories - oh do I have them..... And some of them not so good..... and others - well lets say that there were a few really intersting outfits out there.

We've been down this road before (shooting in underware) and the results were not pretty (gasmask and thong pic) ewwww!

Totally agree on a 3 D cell Mag light. After you blind them you can club them if needed. We keep several around the house and one in each car.

Now a question, Do you keep your carry piece in a safe or just put it on a shelf? Curious how it went opening the safe if that was the case. Given issues with the holster, curious if a 5 digit combo would cause any issues.

Glad all worked out well for you.

Mostly

I'd kill the lights until I saw the intruder, then use one of my flashlarts (SureFire Dominator perhaps). He wouldn't be seeing anything for a while after that.

You know, I think my best home defense weapon is........my dog!
He's the biggest baby you can imagine. A cross betwenn a yellow lab, and I believe a greyhound. Faster than any dog i've seen, but the temperment of a lab.
I tell ya, that dog is a huge blesing with the kids. They can wrestle him, pull his ears or tail, and roughhouse around, and he's as gentle as can be.
But let something funky go on outside, and that dog turns into Cujo!!
I have no fantasies that he would attack an intruder, he'd rather play fetch with a badguy!!
But he is a HUGE 1st alert warning. He goes nuts when someone knocks on the door.
What more could I ask from a dog?
Loyal to my family, and protective at the same time.
He even sleeps on the landing at the top of the stairs outside everyones bedroom. Priceless.
I would honestly use my gun to protect my dog, he's that much a part of the family.

I would agree with Joel on lights out. When thermal imagers become more affordable (the good ones) I will have to buy one. What could be better than seeing body heat through doors and walls? Wouldnt take long to search a room or house.
http://www.opticsplanet.net/heat-seeker ... agers.html

I don't think the model of the flashlight is as important as keeping it somewhere where you know exactly where it is in the dark.

A nightstand drawer might be 12x12" - and it can take a fair amount of time to search that area, if you can't see.

I have three flashlights in three different places around the house - and each of them is located in a place where I know it's going to be exactly where I expect it to be, should I need to find it.

(OTOH - I don't think I've checked the batteries on any of them in quite a while. There are always aspects of preparedness we forget...)

Ya. My gun used to get put across the room because I was stupid when I woke up, and didn't want to do something stupid with a gun. A few months ago I started keeping it on a high shelf near my bed where I can reach it, but I have to make a conscious movement to get it. I actually have a safe with the turn combination dohicky. I'm not sure if I would have been able to effectively open it, to be honest, but the thought didn't even cross my mind.

Thanks,

I've always wondered if one has the presense of mind to remember the combo and enter it correctly while in a highly charged situation or having been woken out of a dead sleep to find yourself in a highly charged situation.

Mostly-

Carry and/or home defense pistols are stored in a rapid access pistol safe in our bedroom. Four buttons and I get to set the code. Nice and simple. Makes getting to stuff much easier than having to open the big safe.

My bedroom maglite stays where it is mainly because the kids haven't started "borrowing" it yet. They're why it's the only flashlight I know where it is. And I haven't checked the batteries in it for a while either. I know I just replaced the ones in my Jeep's maglite (2D).

Steelheart