I think you can bolt them from inside to a wall stud. Say in a closet or to a joist under the bed. At least though, if it’s on a cable, it cannot be easily used by a child or other curious creature. Or easily used against you.
The biometric worries me a bit. What if you have a cut on your finger? A long weekend sanding… Some paint or a band aid on your finger tip. It seems that there any number of things that may make that fail
That’s good. If I recall Illinois is the same way (for deer hunting). Not so easy if the OP (or others) are in a major metro area. Which many seem to want to get a defensive weapon for. Dogs are double tough in that situation.
Just saying. The idea of a shotgun for someone new to guns is not always the best idea. It is put forth with the best intentions, but it may be very hard to get any practice with one.
I just put my dog down on Saturday after 13 years of companionship (thread here)
When our dog was about 1 year old, we left him and my daughter (age 11) home alone while we ran some errands.
A bad guy broke into the house. The dog went ape shit. My daughter had a hold of his collar, and kept the dog between herself and the bad guy. The bad guy left after she threatened to release the dog. (NOTE: Indy was not attack trained, but he knew that a member of his pack was afraid of the intruder, and he was going to protect her)
He left.
When we got home and found out the story I took my daughter to the police station to file a report. When the officers heard the story they all looked like this :eek:
One of the officers pulled me aside and said that the guy was probably a rapist and the dog prevented him from attacking my daughter.
If I could have my dog back, I would never have any problem with cleaning up dog shit, vacuuming dog hair, feeding from now till the day I die. Nor would I ever complain about a vet bill.
IMHO if you didn’t take the time to train the dog, you probably wouldn’t take the time to learn how to use the gun safely.
I wonder if this is a regional thing? I don’t know anyone in my circle of acquaintances that considers shotguns to be primo home defense tools. A couple may have really expensive tricked out assault-type pimpguns just for giggles, but they sleep with a revolver and keep the scattergun locked up.
Even the bird hunters, who one would expect to like them better than I, don’t consider them appropriate for home use.
I have a 5-shot Rossi loaded in .38 under my bedside table and a suppressed PPK within 4 feet from the Rossi. I live in a tiny one bedroom apartment, so a shotgun was NOT an option for home defense (in fact, I don’t own one and never have). Those of you that scoff at handguns need to realize that we are not nearing a revolution; shotguns and rifles are useless to me, the tiny-apartment dwelling city boy.
Good post. And sorry for your loss.
I have a gun in my house, just in case…but having my dog there, in the house, is why I dont worry about someone breaking in and stealing my guns. Mind you, if someone did break in I dont think he was do more than bark, but I dont think anyone is going to take that kind of a chance…he’s a mean looking dog.
Of course. I’m the same way. Our dogs are part of the family. Many people just don’t feel that way though. And I hate the idea of someone buying a dog for protection and then neglecting it.
That our dogs offer a deterrent to break-ins is just a side bonus.
The HK USP is truly a thing of beauty. I have a full-size USP 40 that I purchased new in 1999 (no goofy internal key lock). I carried it as a duty gun for several years and use it as my home defense gun still. It’s accurate and completely reliable. In all the thousands of rounds I’ve put through it, there has never been a single malfunction of any kind. I searched around on various auction sites and managed, a few years ago, to purchase a Quik-Comp for it. As flawless as the USP was to start, this accessory is worthwhile when you’re doing something where you really want to dump a whole magazine into the same hole as fast as you possibly can. Definitely reduces the already small amount of muzzle flip.
The only thing the USP has against it is that it is a full-size pistol and is, therefore, not ideal for concealed carry. One of these days, I’m going to have to get myself one of the compact USP models for that purpose.
Lately, I’ve been using a hard chromed Keltec PF-9 as a concealed carry piece. It is an astonishingly thin, flat 9mm. It can actually be carried comfortably in a pocket holster if you don’t favor tight, nut-hugging jeans. It does have certain correctable problems that I’ll describe if anyone is interested.
One of the questions I asked originally was “Are you (the OP) in an apartment?” Never got answered, but many of those thing are important in recommending a defense gun, which is why I asked them. A tiny woman in a cramped two bedroom apartment who has no time to practice because she has 4 year old twins but grew up on a farm and has some experience with a Ruger MkII probably shouldn’t get the same weapon as a 200 pound guy living with his wife and no kids in a large house on a quarter acre that plans to spend every weekend at the range because he has never touched a gun in his life.
My brother hipped me to the USP (ours are .45’s) as he’s stationed for the time being at the Marine Special Operations Command and apparently these are favored sidearms amongst those who are allowed to choose their duty weapons. The fact that we’re both lefties and this gun is 100% ambidextrous was a huge factor in my adopting one of my own. I’ll have to check out the compensator, since I’ve already got my eye on the LEM trigger assembly to shorten the reset.
I don’t carry, nor do I have the option since I’m in Illinois, but I’ve heard great things about the Springfield XD compact as a carry gun and I’ve been eyeing one of those lately as well. Maybe something in .357 SIG.
I’m all ears about the Kel-Tec pistol if you’d like to go on. They make a short carbine that accepts clips from their pistols that I’ve always wanted and I’m curious about the quality of their products.
What about the Louisville Slugger home defense system
You mean playing with the gun all day and night, walking the gun every hour or two, feeding the gun regularly, buying it fun toys to play with while you’re away, and training it to go on newspaper?
My SIG P239 in that caliber is a phenomenally accurate weapon. The only issue I have with it, and one I’d warn you about, is that it costs an arm and a leg to feed it. A box of Winchester White Box where I live is around $22, and due to the polygonal rifling it is not advisable to reload.
And premium .45ACP is cheap? 
One of the things holding me back from getting something in .357SIG is that I’ve yet to find somone making cheap range ammo in the caliber. It’s not like I’m dumping clips of Winchester Ranger SXT into those targets all day long, but at home the thing only gets the best I can find.
There were some feeding issues with the early-production pistols. They moved to a different barrel design with a larger feed ramp, and that issue seems to have been solved in recent production runs.
Two issues remain:
Both issues can be corrected. A fellow who can be contacted through the PF-9 forum over atKeltec Owners Group manufactures and sells steel magazine catches and magazine followers. I already purchased and installed a catch and am awaiting delivery of a follower.
Obviously, it would be better if Keltec used a more appropriate material from the start for these parts. However, there are very, very few 9mm’s as small as the PF-9 and all of them are substantially more spendy, even factoring in the cost of the after-market parts.
I’m guessing Keltec went with the cheapest material because for the majority of PF-9’s sold, it won’t matter. The gun is small and light, so it isn’t a pleasant gun with which to while away a few hours at the range. After a magazine or two, one starts looking for something more pleasant to fire. So, few PF-9’s will be fired much and premature parts wear won’t be an issue.
It feels great in your hands (some alternative manufacturers are using maple, which personally has a certain confidence-inspiring density and hardness - take one down to the cage and get some practice; see what you like), and I’m told the stopping power is really quite impressive even if the KE looks low on paper. You won’t have to worry about reloading and overpenetration shouldn’t be a problem.
On the downside, the effective range is almost obscenely short and, at around 30" (plus length of your arms) it doesn’t handle too well in narrow hallways.
