mcbethr

I think the key is balancing accessibility with child safety. I know where you are coming from. You have to create a risk management matrix and say: what is more dangerous an unlocked firearm or a locked firearm during a home invasion. I have two children, ages 4 and 7. Even though they have been around guns and fired a .22 Cricket, they are still kids and kids make bad decisions. You can always decrease your storage safety as the threat increases. If there were a hurricane and there was a very real chance of looting, then an unloaded, locked shotgun becomes a loaded shotgun that is always near you in the house. But unless that happens, you keep it locked up. It sounds like you may be able to just get a cable lock and effectively disable the shotgun. My setup is like this. My shotgun is stored unloaded in the closet behind clothes with a cable lock that loops through a steel anchor. The shells are in a buttstock holder. This may not stop a determined criminal like a safe, but it will stop a curious 7 year old and balances safety with accessibility. If we all go away for the weekend, the shotgun goes in the safe in the basement. You could do the same thing if you have a wall stud near the ejection port of your setup. For the key, we placed a magnet on the metal arm of a dresser drawer. The key attaches to he magnet. This effectively hides the key unless you know exactly where it is. You could also attach the magnet to a bedframe or inside of a drawer with crazy glue. The key doesn't normally stick up like this, it's normally hidden, I moved the key so that it is showing in this picture. This setup works for our family as the right balance. Like I said, I think the threat of robbery is low, but so is the threat of a kitchen fire and I still have a fire extinguisher under my sink. I don't think you need to go out and buy a specialized safe when you could have something that works for the cost of a cable lock, an anchor, and a magnet... maybe $20 at the most? And you probably already have the cable lock. Let us know how you work this out.

Good to know. Thank you. Funny I have to wait until it expires. I was pretty impressed with Cherry Hill. I figured that the permitting process would take months, and they had it done in 4 weeks, which actually worked against me! If only Beretta could deliver new products that fast...

Has anyone ever renewed their pistol permits in Cherry Hill? What is the process? Is there paperwork involved, or do I just show up, present my permit, and they extend it on the spot? My permit is about 7 days from running out and the gun I want to buy (Beretta PX4 Compact) isn't due to be released until some time in September. -Bether

I hate to say this, but I would strongly suggest that everybody hold off the lawsuits for now. The last thing we want to do is create bad precedent. I think to win in NJ, we need a cross-section like we had in Chicago. * We need a Hasidic Jew, complete with black hat and peyos, who wants to carry because he has been assaulted for his religion. * We need a gay man who has been assaulted and wasn't able to defend himself. * We need a young woman who has a restraining order against a former boyfriend. * We need an immigrant business owner who has been robbed on the way to the bank. If you found those four people, had them apply for a carry permit, get denied, and then took their appeals to court, we could have something. I think that the court (and the media) was sympathetic to Otis McDonald exactly because he was Otis McDonald. If you are white and middle-aged, even if you are white, middle aged and Jewish like me, you are the wrong person for the lawsuit. And no, I will not dress up in a black hat and grow peyos for the lawsuit. If I went that route I wouldn't be able to drive to the skeet range on shabbat. :? Bether

I have to disagree about the food assessment. I've done papers on Just In Time inventory for my masters degree. Most grocery stores are replenished every 1.5 to 3 days. Some Wal Marts are replenished every night. And most people only have a 3 day supply of food on hand. Cut off that just in time delivery system and we are in deep trouble. As part of a masters project, I actually took a look in my pantry. I thought I had a lot of food, but in reality, most of my food was junk (fruit roll ups for the kids - Doritos). Then I started to look at the caloric information. I typed everything into a spread sheet and I was shocked that I only had 12 days worth of food on hand. This was all done to help theorize how food inventory could be moved from place to place in a crisis - although my crisis was a glitch in the supplier system rather than some kind of disaster. The question was how to get food to specific stories for maximum caloric benefit. Unfortunately, I can't upload the spread sheet on this forum. But you can do it yourself - just add up all the calories from the Nutrition Facts label in your pantry and minus it by the caloric needs of you and your family. Males above 11 need 2500 per day. Women above 11 need 2200 per day, kids below 5 need 1500 per day. Kids between 6 and 10 need 1700 per day. If you do this, you will be shocked at the results. My conclusion that if you absolutely needed to have some kind of disaster store - have a couple of jars of peanut butter, Triscuts, Manderin oranges and canned corned beef. That provides the most calories and fat without taking up too much space and the canned oranges provide vitamins. I'm not too concerned about some kind of end of the world scenario - in a case like that I think that we are all in a lot of trouble and the most valuable commodity won't be food or ammunition - it will be *seeds.* But I can see a scenario like New Orleans taking place, or some kind of massive power outage that lasts for five days in a snowstorm. I can even see a scenario like Argentina where some food is just not easily available and other kinds are scarce. Bottled water? I think it is prudent to have some kind of water filtration system or at least some bleach on hand - just in case. Weapons... I don't foresee the extensive use of weapons or ammunition, although they have a role. I point to the Chilean earthquake in February where men with hunting rifles and shotguns threw up barricades and protected their neighborhoods from gangs. A couple of homeowners with shotguns (even if they work in shifts and trade them off) will probably be able to defend a neighborhood without ever firing a shot. Criminals don't want conflict. They will go somewhere else rather than deal with a couple of middle aged men with shotguns. Ammo: I tend to buy ammo when it is on sale and just keep it locked up for when I want to go to the range. But I mainly only buy .22 and skeet loads, and It's hard to *not* buy that in bulk. But that money spent on stockpiling would probably be better spent in other ways. There is a difference between being prepared and being paranoid. Actually - quick edit. The most valuable resource in a situation like this is your neighbors. If you think that you and your wife are going to guard the house, do the cooking and take care of the kids, you are probably wrong. Good neighbors at a time like that are probably the best resource. The best way of preparing would be to get to know your neighbors - Who is a Doctor? Who is an Engineer? Who is a carpenter or knows how to drive a truck? Who was in the Army once and could handle a shotgun if needed? Banding together with your neighbors at a time like that would probably yield better results than hunkering in your basement with ammo and hoping for the best. Bether

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