Quote:
Originally Posted by chiefst2000
Its 3AM, you awake to the sound of a window shattering/door kicked in downstairs in your house. A responsible gun owner would dash over to the lockbox or safe, retrieve their weapon then grab a phone to call 911 while surveying the top of the staircase. I don't see what the problem is. You don't need a handgun strapped to your pajamas to protect your family or home from invasion.
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All of those actions take time. You're going to have to either grab a key (which probable involves turning a light on), or key in a combination. Remove the weapon. Probably then load the weapon. Not everyone's master bedroom is on top of the stairs. My parent's bedroom door 2 turns and about 20 feet from their front door. My father always kept a hunting rifle and shotgun on a gun rack above his dresser, well above what i or my siblings could reach. I don't know where the ammunition was kept, but it was probably somewhere in the dresser. I would estimate that having the weapon ready in his hand would take less than half the time necessary to get it out of a safe.
Now that i say that, i can't think of anywhere in my parents' master bedroom, or the master bedroom in my own home now where there would be room for a safe large enough to hold a shotgun, which is the most effective weapon for home defense. I would also imagine it would be expensive to acquire one. You could probably make the argument that such a law disproportionately affects poorer families ability to defend themselves as they're likely to have less space for a gun safe, and less money to purchase one.