by Ayoob » Wed 26 Sep 2007, 03:07:57
I have a Mossberg 500a nickel satin finish 18.5" 12-gauge shotty loaded with five rounds of Benelli 00 buckshot. There's another guy that posts to this forum that had those exact five shells in his hand. Thank you to him, you know who you are.
A fan fell out of the window in the kitchen a couple months ago and shocked me out of sleep, and I was standing in the doorway to my bedroom in about two seconds with the barrel aimed downrange at about chest height.
It's leaned up against the corner of the room to my left as I lay in the bed in the zippered case with the zipper halfway down. Safety on, round not in the chamber.
It was right around two seconds from the sound of the crash, I think. I stood there in the silence with the barrel pointed into an empty room and I'm surprised I didn't wake up the neighbors with the sound of my heart pounding.
And I'm not a tough guy. If I was, I wouldn't need the shotty. I am, however, a ridiculously good shot with it. I've practiced with it for years.
The last thing I want to do is to shoot somebody, though. I have another plan. First, I lock my doors at night with two locks. Second, I'm coming up with a list of things I can do to further secure my doors and windows in ways that would be obvious from the outside. I'm doing thieves a favor by sending them into somebody else's house where they're not going to get shot at. It's the kinder, gentler way.
In my old neighborhood, which was pretty scary, I used to keep a Glock midsize 9mm on my desk, a .38 snubby in an in-waistband holster in the small of my back, the shotgun in the closet in the bedroom, and that's pretty much it. I kept the .38 on me at all times, because it was a really shitty neighborhood.
Now, I don't have a handgun in reach at all. My neighborhood is like Mayberry. The likelihood of random violence is pretty laughable.
Possible, but VERY unlikely. I don't worry so much anymore. These days I go weeks at a time without carrying a gun with me. I used to carry one with me every single time I walked out the door. Keys, sunglasses, wallet, gun, change, pen, clipboard, boots, and out the door.
Not anymore.
Do yourself a favor and find somebody else's house to break into. I don't have anything you want anyway.