4th of July, fireworks, house work and drug addicts crashing cars at my house

So today some knuckle head stole a car and decided to ditch on my driveway. I saw him bailing out of the car. After he crashed into the bushes in front of my house. I called 911 and they send the troopers. Car he ditched was stolen so more troopers showed up with K-9 and they caught the guy breaking to the house like mile from me. I got ride in the cruiser to identify a-hole. Funny part is house that he broken into had watchdog which was licking thief's face. So much for dogs protecting property.
I am more and more convinced that I need the gun
So thinking about this http://www.winchesterguns.com/products/catalog/detail.asp?family=021C&mid=512251
Its cheap and holds 5 rounds plus one in chamber
What do you think ?
Also any ideas how to keep kids from accessing the gun and have easy access to it. (maybe gun boxes with fingerprint reader?) I have a ranch house with basement. Whats better having the gun locked in bedroom or basement (its a long walk to basement from bedroom)?

 

i personally like remingtons a little better. reason being is that there are at least a gagillion aftermarket parts made for the 870(pump shotgun) so you can pretty much make anything you want. another good one would be a mossberg 500

 

You can get a gun safe and put it in your room because you will waste time going to your basement. To be on the safe side with you kids, go to your local police station and they should give you free gun locks.

 

Depending on how old your children are, I would teach them weapon safety. Teach them the basics (a gun is always loaded, never point it at something you don't intend to destroy, etc.) and then teach them how to load, unload, and safely handle your specific weapon (or the one you are going to buy). I think you can buy rubber cartridges for this, in order to prevent accidents while training. This is the best way to go about it IMO. This way you will know that if for some reason the weapon gets left out and your children find it, they will know not to mess with it, and if they have to move it, how to move it safely. This also extends to their experiences outside the household. If your children find a weapon accidently left out at a friends house, they will know how to safely disarm it, preventing an accident. Also, proper education in weapon safety eliminates the mystery and "forbidden fruit" mindset that can get someone hurt if the weapon is not always locked up, or if they find / are shown another weapon in another household.

To prevent theft in the event of a break in (or property damage in the event of a fire) I would get a safe with an electronic locking mechanism. The safes with the finger sensor locks (gunvault) are too small to fit a shotgun, and the conventional spinning locks on standup safes are slow to open if you are trying to get to your home defense weapon in a hurry.

As far as which weapon to choose: a shotgun is a decent short range weapon, but harder to clear a house with due to size (rounding corners with a long barrel). I would recommend looking into a decent used pistol also. There is no need to buy a new "first gun". You can get many quality firearms used, saving you a good amount of money and possibly allowing you to buy two instead of one.

 

Mossberg 500 FTW!!!

 

Thanks, kids are small 2, 4, 7 and 14 (thats the only one I could teach probably.
I looked at recommended Remington any idea how much that usually runs (it says $690 at the website is that usual price)?
Like the one here http://www.remington.com/products/firearms/shotguns/model-870/model-870-tac-desert-recon.aspx ( the only reason I like it was it says that holds 7 rounds)

electronic locking mechanism - is that the one with the code ?
I will look at used ones too but not sure how to buy them. My friend has a stock of guns he is planning to return to Police since he had to move out from his house and where he lives now he can not have them. So I would probably get good price from him although I dont think I need what he has, not trying to start WWIII just have something easy to defend the house.
Thats why I was thinking about shorter barrel like 18" so it is easy to handle.
BTW thanks for help. Greatly appreciated. I am complete noob when comes to the guns. Lately, We have been having a crime wave. There was family killed 2 years ago by two ex convicts on parole, then somebody shot the intruder. now I had this and thats the second time I am getting something like that. Few years ago there was some nut who robber gas station near us at gun point and then he runned for the woods next to my house. So we got woke up by Police with K-9's and choppers flying all over looking for the knucklehead.
Today may have ended differently if maybe he was on parole little longer

 

Here's a link to Liberty Safes (a trusted safe company) with various electronic locks. Essentially the user interface is a key pad (number pad) and the password is a 7 number combination followed by the "#" key. These locks are much faster to open than spinning a mechanical dial around.

http://www.libertysafe.com/accessory.php?type=electronic

 

Any gun is better than no gun but I like Mossbergs and Remingtons. If it were me, I'd probably get a handgun first.

 

remington 870 express...

 

my idea for home defense



remington 11-87sp
speedfeed stock
trijicon big dot night sights
vickers tactical sling
side saddle
7 round tube extension
nextorch 150 lumen light

 

Gun safety education for kids is a great idea, even if they don't shoot! handguns are good, but depending what state you live in, might be difficult to obtain. then there is the worry of something happening, and bullets penetrating your neighbors house.
You can check your local want adds for used shot guns. Stores sometimes also sell used shotguns. also, see if any rod and gun clubs offer courses on gun safety/ self protection for yourself.

 

Kids
For the kids, Eddie Eagle for the young ones and good training for your 14 year old is a must. I started shooting Smallbore rifle matches when I was 13 and shooting AR15's by the time I was 15 (though I'm sure there are a lot of guys who started younger than me).

Type of Gun
As for the type of gun, give strong consideration to a handgun or a small carbine. While shotguns may get a lot of TV time, there isn't much that a shotgun can do that can't be accomplished better with a rifle, other than shooting small objects out of the sky (skeet, ducks, etc).

A simple semi-automatic handgun, with a light, will allow you to easily identify and engage a threat, while leaving you a hand free in case you need to hold a childs hand, manipulate a door, etc. Handguns are far easier to secure due to their size; currently I'm using a "Secure-It Handgun Storage Safe" to store my go-to pistol and keep my keys in it when I'm home (I live alone). If you're after extremely fast access that's child resistent, check out the Gunvault line of handgun safes. Handguns are more expesnive; I could pick up a cheap shotgun at my local gunshop for $350-$400, but a handgun (other than a Sigma) will start around $500 and go up from there.

If you insist on a longarm, look into the ar15 platform. They may look evil, but 30 rounds of 5.56mm will be just as effective (if not more so) than 5 rounds of buckshot, especially against serious home invaders. Minimum barrel length for a rifle is 16" vs 18" for a shotgun (unless registered under the NFA, approved by your local police, and with a $200 tax stamp, etc.), so it will be easier to move with inside a house. Something like http://img189.imageshack.us/img189/6053/img1921d.jpg will cost around $800-$1000 for the base gun, $600 for the optic, and another $100-$150 for a good light, but it will be more effective than a cheap shotgun.

Also consider chemical sprays. I keep toying with the idea of replacing my carry gun with pepper spray. It's non-fatal, but getting some of the spray in someones eye will force their eye to close immediately (along with the runny nose, coughing, etc.). If you shoot someone in the heart, there will still be enough oxygen in their system for them to be functional for 10-15 second before going down; plenty of time to stab you with a knife.

Training
Whatever you get, you need to practice with it, ideally get some professional instruction. Having a gun doesn't make someone an expert shooter, just like having a hammer doesn't make one a professional carpenter or buying a wrench giving you the ability to completely rebuild an engine. Shooting is a lot harder than it looks on TV, and having a gun you don't know how to use isn't going to do you much good.

If you decide to go with a handgun, consider getting involved in something like the IDPA. It may not be true training, but it will teach you the basics of shooting accurately and quickly. http://www.idpa.com/

Storage
Check your local laws to see if there are any legal requirements, though with kids you'll probably need to go beyond the minimum legal requirements.

As for the basement vs bedroom, in a "time is life" situation where someone just broke down your front door and is planning to kidnap one of your children, you don't want to have to run across the house, down a flight of stairs, fiddle with a combination lock, and then run back across the house while loading your shotgun one round at a time.

http://www.gunvault.com/ has some great options for handgun safes, though I've heard bad things about the fingerprint versions. I've got one of their nanovault's for my M&P Compact, which works great for me.

I'm not sure the combination locks qualify as childproof though; I know I've broken into things like that as a kid simply as a result of having a lot of free time during summer break.

Laws
Gun laws vary by state, city, and the mood of your local law enforcement. If you're going to buy a gun, get some education first on the legal requirements. In some states, you're required to run away from a home invader rather unless they are an immediate threat to your life; in other states you can shoot them at the property line. Laws for what you can own, how you have to store it, where you can carry it, what license you need, and how you can buy it vary a lot. Check out http://www.nraila.org/Legislation/State/ to get a basic run-down of your state. I'd highly recommend finding a state-level organization to join, such as Massachusetts Gun Owner's Action League, which will be able to provide you more information.

Overpenetration
Most firearms are going to be able to shoot through walls. Keep in mind where you wife and kids are, what will happen if you miss, etc. Ideally think this over ahead of time. For an interesting read, check out http://www.theboxotruth.com/.

LIGHT
Don't spend hundreds of dollars on a gun and neglect to have a flashlight. Most shootings ocure in low light, and you don't want to risk shooting a family member. Check out http://www.surefire.com; their G2 LED is becoming the standard in low-cost tactical lights; bright enough to temporarily blind an attacker, tough enough to survive the recoil if mounted to a longarm, but not expensive enough to break the bank. They also offer G2Z as a stand-alone light for use with handguns, and the X300 (and X400) as dedicated weapon lights that can be mounted on either a handgun or rifle.

 

For what it's worth: Big 5 Sporting Goods has a sale every so often on Mossberg 500s- sometimes with both a 28" and an 18" barrel- for less than $300.

 

Well said; some good points made here that deserve consideration.

 

I think you may be going a little overboard with the "shiny". This isn't a patrol rifle. In your home, odds are there's going to be enough light that a shiney gun isn't going to make a difference in telling someone where you are.

Now, I would avoid things with a high polish, just so changing light conditions wouldn't affect my sight picture, but getting a really polished gun usually costs more $$$ than something with a simple matte finish.