My Home Defense Nightstand

I’ve trained a lot of people who come to me after they’ve experienced a home invasion. One such fellow is a billionaire from Texas who got in a shootout in his home with the intruder, and another is a woman from Virginia who was raped twice before she realized she ought to have a gun for home defense.

And, just this weekend, I was teaching my Spy course in Las Vegas when one of the women who attended mentioned she had survived a home invasion.

Obviously, there are few things worse than being violated in your own home, which is why I want to share with you the items and tools I currently have on my nightstand to help me stop a home invasion should some criminal try and break into my home.

1) First, the nightstand itself. I have the nightstand right next to my bed. The size of the top of the nightstand is about 24 inches by 18 inches. I believe I got this nightstand from a thrift store awhile back so there’s nothing fancy about it.

2. I have a humidifier on the nightstand. The only reason I tell you this is because I’ve been sick lately and in bed a lot, as I am right now. I am literally typing this from my bed and looking at my nightstand and I plan to share everything that is on it.

3. There is a Gunvault gun safe. The exact model I have is the Gunvault MV500-STD Microvault.

4. Inside the gun safe is a loaded Smith & Wesson M&P 9mm. Attached to this gun is a Viridian laser/light combination, model C5L. Also in the safe is a spare magazine. (The two guns I use most often are the Smith & Wesson mentioned above and also a Glock 19. Both of these rotate in and out of the safe.)

5. Also on the nightstand is a dedicated cell phone. It’s a pre-paid phone I picked up from Walmart. That phone is always there so I at least have one cell phone for an emergency call and if I add my regular cell phone to the top of the nightstand then I have a backup.

6. At this moment on my nightstand there are three flashlights. You should obviously have one light available at all times, but I like flashlights and they tend to congregate on top of my nightstand. The three flashlights I have on the stand are a Surefire 6PX Pro, a NexTorch TA1, and an Olight T10. All three of these flashlights have worked well for me and I don’t have any complaints about any of them.

7. I have a set of scriptures on my nightstand for religious reading before I go to bed each night.

As you can see, there’s not a lot of clutter and nothing fancy. It’s a simple set up that gives me what I need in case my home alarm goes off in the middle of the night and I have to quickly access my gun to protect my family.

If you’re not fully prepared to defend your family from a home invasion make sure and work on your own “nightstand setup” this week.

How to Store Guns and Cash

A reader mentioned to me how he’s having his first child soon (congrats) and wants to not only keep his guns away from his child, but also have a safe that protects other documents.

First, it should hopefully go without saying that if there are children in the house all of the guns should be locked up. Even the “heirlooms” that you never shoot should at the very least have a trigger lock on them to make them inoperable.

As far as the home defense guns they need to be in a rapid-access safe. Lots of companies make these types of safes and every one of my home defense handguns is locked up in one. Check out the Gunvault company and Stack-On company for some of the better rapid-access safes. Also, Hornady recently released a quick-open safe. (I would stay away from the biometric versions of these safes as I am still hearing horror stories about people having to swipe their finger numerous times before the safes open.)

The thing is, in addition to having a handgun safe, I also believe you need a safe to store money and other valuables and I don’t think you should mix them. The fact is, my rapid-access safes are small and can fit only one or two full size handguns.

I don’t want to also store money in them because when I reach in the safe for my gun in a life or death situation, I only want to grab my gun and not something else. This is the same reason you never carry anything in your pants pocket when you are carrying a gun in your pocket. The hand only goes in the pocket (or your safe) when your life depends on it or when you’re actively training for that situation.

The safe that can be used to store money and important documents needs to be fireproof and can be one of the inexpensive Sentry brand of safes. I would have a least $1,000 cash stored in this safe and I would add more if you have the means.

Several years back a family member of mine was arrested in Washington, DC. Apparently, he and his business partner were in DC for a meeting and when they came back to his business partner’s car there was a boot on the car from unpaid parking tickets.

The only way this relative could get out of jail that Friday night (and not have to wait until Monday) was if someone showed up with $1,400 cash. Thankfully, we had some rich Italian friends who kept money in their home and they loaned us the $1,400 and the relative was able to get out of jail that night.

This story shows that life is unpredictable, which is why you need to always be prepared to protect yourself, and also have some extra cash on hand.

Should gun owners study martial arts?

Years ago, I was spending time with well-known firearms instructor Massad Ayoob. Since he’s been in the shooting business more than 40 years, I asked him, “What’s one thing you wish you’d known or done when you first started out?”

To my surprise, he said he wished he’d started studying the martial arts and hand-to-hand self-defense a lot sooner than he did.

And, actually, I can say the same thing. When I was with the Agency we spent a heck of a lot more time doing firearms training than training with a knife or empty hand defense. And when I left the Agency I continued the firearms training but didn’t spend the amount of time I should of studying the martial arts.

After all, I try and carry my gun with me every time I leave my house, but there are places I go that I can’t bring it, such as the post office. And, in two weeks I’ll be teaching a course in Los Angeles where I won’t be able to carry my gun at all.

The fact is, as much as I love guns, when it comes to personal protection I believe in being as well-rounded as possible in case I find myself in a life or death situation and I don’t have my gun.

Plus, even if I do have my gun with me, martial arts training teaches you how to move properly (to help you get off the X quicker) and it also teaches you how to fight in close quarters situations so you can properly defend yourself against an attacker while you draw your gun.

This is why I currently study the Filipino martial arts, but there are plenty of other choices to study too, including Krav Maga. If you do a simple Internet search I’m sure you’ll find lots of places around your home where you could get training (you’ll be amazed what you’ll be able to do with an edged weapon or even empty handed after having some of this training.)  

Another important thing to consider is that you don’t have to be a ninja or in the best shape of your life to train in the martial arts. I’ve talked to a lot of people who seem intimidated by going out to this type of training, but you’ll find people from all walks of life in most places you visit. And of course, if you try a place and it’s a little too “Rambo-ish” or the people are jerks then just try somewhere else.

When bad things happen you want to have as many options as you can to protect yourself. So even though I’ve got my gun on me anytime I legally can, I still want to know as many methods as possible to protect myself and my family.

So if you’ve ever thought about training in a martial art, look up a place near you today, and make it a goal to attend a class next week.