“In addition, although the Court struck the safe storage provision on the ground that it was too broadly written, firearms at home should be kept either unloaded and disassembled or else locked except for use in self-defense in emergencies” (http://dc.gov/mayor/news/release.asp?id=1325&mon=200806).
Well, I decided to test this line with both the “unloaded and dissembled” and “locked” part “except for use in self-defense in emergencies.”
I tested this with my Kahr CW40. Below are pictures of it completely unloaded and disassembled:
This picture shows all the individual parts of the firearm. On the top you have two unloaded six (6 round magazines and the slide to the Kahr. On the bottom of the case you have a box of ammunition, the barrel, handle with trigger lock, spring, rod, and pin.
Below that is the two locks and keys to secure the case.
Here is everything as it was packed into the case:
Here is it completely locked:
This is where I put it in my closet in my bedroom:
The dresser and where the key was to get to that firearm:
Now that you see where everything was I will give you the diagram of steps (distance) and everything to get upstairs to be able to put together a firearm to defend myself and my family:
-Six (6) steps to the stairs from my computer desk (about 18 feet)
-Fourteen (14) steps on the stairs
-Nine (9) steps to the dresser (about 27 feet)
-Three (3) steps to the dresser (about 9 feet)
I ran the experiment three times. Here is how long each run took:
First – 1:50.27
Second – 1:51.77
Third – 2:05.85
The reason the third experiment took fifteen (15) seconds longer was because I had trouble getting the pin in to complete the firearm.
Each time I would race upstairs from my desk, lock the bedroom door, get the key from the dresser, get the case from the closet, drop to the floor and unlock the case, assemble the firearm and test it, grab the box of bullets and load a magazine, load the magazine into the firearm rack the slide to put a round into the firing position, load a second magazine, stand and face the door to confront my attacker.
Now as you watch the video below you will see the exact distance I had to travel to perform this experiment:
My conclusion: An unloaded, disassembled, and locked firearm will do you no good when an intruder enters you home. This experiment may be very different to others and their homes, but for my home it doesn’t work. I would have to move pass my front door, probably where an attacker would come from, to get to my bedroom. An attacker would only need to go upstairs in a few short steps and kick in the door before I even got the case unlocked.
Gun laws and policies such as those of the District of Columbia and others are only protecting one person: the attacker/intruder. With an unloaded firearm they have nothing to fear.
This is why in my home I have a firearm within reaching distance at all times. As I write this I have a Springfield XD40 and Kahr CW40 on my kitchen table, no more then four feet away from me.
Why did I conduct this experiment: to show that these types of gun laws and policies do not work. We as armed citizens and as Defenders of the Second Amendment must fight these types of policies. We have to write our representatives and tell them to not pass gun laws that only harm the innocent, but protect the guilty.
