August 15, 2011

Website Upgrade

I'm so excited about the facelift at Cornered Cat. This has been so overdue for so long that I'm thrilled to see it finally coming together. Over the next few weeks, I'll be rolling out new material as fast as I can get it written and formatted: more articles, better pictures, improvements to existing articles, fresh ideas, and some terrific new features. Please stop by and take a look.

What's a Mom to Do?

A lot of people ask me about how to store firearms safely at home, especially in homes with small children. For a lot of years, my best advice has been to consider carrying your self-defense handgun on body in a holster at home, because it's safest. When the firearm is actually attached to your body, you know that the little darlings in the next room aren't getting into it. No telling what else they might be getting into, but you know it's not the firearm!

Of course, that advice doesn't work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. You have to sleep sometimes! And it doesn't work if you have more than one gun, especially if one of those firearms is a shotgun or a rifle. You can hardly keep a shotgun stored in your back pocket, or tuck a rifle into a belly band. So what's a mom to do?

In the July/August 2011 issue of Women & Guns Magazine, I tackle that question along with several others. It's part of a new, ongoing series about children and firearms I'm penning for W&G. You can't find it online yet, but I'll let you know if that changes. Meanwhile, if you want to catch the series, I'd suggest picking up a subscription to W&G, which is published by the Second Amendment Foundation. Come to think of it, W&G was one of the first magazines I subscribed to as a new shooter. There was just something so comforting about a print publication designed entirely for women who like to shoot.

Cool Find

Speaking of ways to store a defense firearm, a MicroVault personal safe showed up in my mailbox this week. The company, GunVault, sent it to me without cost for testing and evaluation. So far, I'm very impressed with this piece of gear. Although small, it's big enough to store two medium-frame handguns, or one handgun along with a spare magazine and small flashlight. The battery compartment is easy to get into, but well-hidden inside the locking compartment.

The MicroVault comes with a steel cable you can attach to a solid piece of furniture in hotel rooms, or under the seat of an automobile when you travel. It also includes bolt holes so you can bolt it against a wall inside a closet or somewhere else well-hidden in your home. The "handprint" combination lock provides fast, intuitive access even in the dark. So the little safe has a lot going for it. In fact, so far the worst thing I can say about it is that the inside smells funny -- the stink probably comes from the glue they use on the foam padding that protects your handgun's finish. The MSRP is $140, but I notice it's available on Amazon right now for around $85.

Carry Tip

This week, one of my students asked about holsters that feature clip-on attachments. She wondered, "Is the clip so I can attach the holster to my clothes and not have to wear a belt?" The short answer to her question is No. Clip-style holsters are not designed to let you avoid wearing a sturdy belt. Rather, the clip allows you to easily slip the holster on and off your belt when you must enter a place where firearms are not allowed. By attaching the holster directly to your clothing, you sacrifice good concealability and make it difficult to draw the gun easily. Using the holster as it is designed -- attached to a sturdy belt -- helps you keep the gun concealed in comfort.

Final thoughts

That's about it for this time around. Do stop by the Cornered Cat website and take a look. As always, I'm happy to hear from you if you have any questions or comments.

Stay Safe,

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