There have been several times in my life where I woke from sleep with the feeling that something was not right. Maybe I heard an unfamiliar sound, or the dog was barking, or I just had one of those feelings. Whatever the reason, I was worried enough that I got out of bed and went to check things out. In recent years, I have done so with a pistol at the ready – I was not always as comfortable having firearms in my home as I am now.
In a recent news article, a homeowner shot and killed a perpetrator who had broken in to his home. Some of you know the story – it happened in Alabama, near Birmingham. What made the story remarkable to me was that the perpetrator had already entered the homeowner’s bedroom and threatened to shoot him. In the following moments, the homeowner was able to reach a handgun kept near his bed and fire shots at the perpetrator, who returned fire. The homeowner survived, the perpetrator did not.
The news articles and commentary surrounding this event gave me reason to think further about my own reactions and how I would respond to a “bump in the night.” When I began to carry regularly, my everyday carry would be on my hip or locked away nearby. However, at night, I started a bad habit of locking the pistol in a box across the room from my bed. It seemed like a good idea at the time – but we all get wiser as we age, right? Now, at night, my EDC is where I can reach it from my bed, along with a flashlight.
I’ve also added a new proficiency drill to my in-home practice routine. I call it the “eyes wide shut” drill, because it has to be done by feel alone. While lying in bed with my eyes closed, I reach out and remove my (unloaded!) pistol from the vault, bring it to a ready position, and then open my eyes. Close the eyes, return the pistol to the vault, again by feel only. Repeat several times, use weak hand instead of strong hand, practice while laying on your back, laying on your stomach, laying on your side facing towards or away. Imagine having to do this at 3am, after hearing a bump in the night . . .
For a bonus pistol drill: Place an empty magazine and a handful of cartridges into a tray in front of you, close your eyes, shake the tray, and then practice loading the magazine with the correct number of cartridges by feel only.
Think of other drills you might want to practice with your “eyes wide shut”. Recall from the Gospel of Matthew (NAB) 24:43: “Be sure of this: if the master of the house had known the hour of night when the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and not let his house be broken into.”
Are you prepared for a bump in the night?
J.P. Brueggen
Alabaster, AL.
