Home defense is pretty solid if you go to court — and you should be allowed to be safe in your own home. The selection of zones for defense, when one should use them, distances from property boundaries to house perimeters, down to an internal defensive core that’s the last line of defense for home owners is addressed in training here.
I caution, however, the physical presence of someone unknown to you inside your home might not always justify shooting. Some people have a fit when I say that, but go ahead and shoot and you may find it might not work out the way you think.
Car Defense
Another source of often-brash statements. “My car is my home when I’m in it” and similar statements are all things I’ve heard. Your defense of home and the defense of your vehicle might turn out to be a can of worms in many locals, since the car is passing though the public domain while you travel. Actually, vehicle defense has some real issues — other than the obvious challenge of shooting the gun around a car in a Walmart parking lot filled with bystanders.
Car-Person Gun: The best way to carry a gun in the car is to have it on your person in a proper holster. Don’t take the gun from a holster and tuck it under your leg when you go through a “bad part of town.” If you have ever been in a car wreck, or even if you haven’t, you should know everything on the seats goes to the floorboards and is pretty much lost.
What if you need to dismount? What if your arm is broken? Often even drawing from the off-side is done more easily while the gun is in a holster. All things to keep in mind. Keep it in a holster — on your belt.
Many guns are stolen from cars. In our county here in Oregon more guns are stolen from vehicles than homes. How the gun is carried in a car and what happens to the gun if you leave the car are both critical questions needing serious consideration. Keeping it with you avoids all this.
Option Two: Some people, for whatever reason, want a gun in the car but not always on their person. I’m considered “hard-core” by some; I’m also sometimes accused of not always being open minded. Me? Yet, I am actually willing to change, so I looked at mounting systems for vehicles, and came up with two good products for those simply insist on not carrying the gun on their person when driving.
My Two Cents
Grassburr Leather Works: If you don’t know what a grass burr is you’ll know if you ever step on one. Made in Texas, home to grass burrs by the way, the Grassburr system has a series of mounting options for the car, the home, or other inside places. It’s solid, and much effort has been made to insure the gun stays in place while holstered. Three formats for mounting can be used: top, side or universal.
For those like me, a leather option is available. Let the Grassburr people know the specific holster you need for the handgun you intend to use. Also available are dust covers that can conceal if required, and protect the handgun from the elements as needed.
Gum Creek: This is an interesting setup, well thought out and versatile. The Gum Creek rig allows you to use your personal holster if you prefer. For example, the mounting system will accept a BLACKHAWK! Serpa holster. There are many holster options and mounting styles for in and around the dashboard and steering wheel areas. The handgun is retained by a thumb snap release. The Gum Creek rig has lots of fitting options to insure a positive holster and retention platform. A look at the website will give you details about mounting options, as well as the many other Gum Creek products available.
Points of Interest
Based on requirements, the Grassburr or Gum Creek mounts give you lots of options. I would strongly suggest you practice with the system before jumping head-long into speed draws and a bunch of tactical stuff. The muzzles in both systems are down. That means legs and feet need to be considered during the drawing stroke.
I still stand by what I said earlier, though. I would prefer to have the handgun mounted on my person. However, the Grassburr Leather and Gum Creek Custom systems are viable options if you desire the car mode. There is one of each kind of these two vehicle holsters mounted inside our ranch vehicles here now. So there must be something to that?
For more info: www.americanhandgunner.com/grassburr-leather, (210) 687-1717; www.americanhandgunner.com/gumcreekcustoms, (888) 381-7872
Take a look at this interesting car hoslter rig