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I don't have a nightstand on my side of the bed so I keep my "nightstand gun" between the mattress and box springs. Its an HK P2000 with an Insight laser/light combo in a nylon holster. I put a few beads of silicon around the outside of the holster to keep it from moving around and make it easier to draw from.

fickman wrote:I personally wouldn't do it for a bunch of reasons that just came to the top of my head:
- I can't rely on knowing exactly where it is in orientation to myself in an emergency.
- I sleep on my stomach, so my hands / arms are often under the pillow. I've never sleepwalked, but grabbing something made to fit in your hand seems rather easy to do while not fully conscious and aware.
- For it to be accessible to my right hand, it would be pointing at my wife.
- If my wife needed it, she'd have to move me to access it.
- My kids like to wake me up by jumping up in the bed.
- Too easy to drop it down the headboard. . . where it would do me no good.
- Is it holstered? If not, I don't like having an uncovered trigger around movement.
- I don't want my wife to be afraid of visiting my side of the bed, or vice versa.

I have considered rigging a holster that would hold a gun securely in place between the mattress and the headboard, so proximity to me while I sleep isn't the concern.

The highlighted point may be a bigger risk than you might think.

I saw a case where the husband (an experienced professional gun handler) and wife both slept with their handguns on their respective nightstands next to their bed, and had done so for years in their home in the country. Around 3:00 AM one morning, the husband awoke abruptly to the sound of a .357 magnum round that had just been discharged in his bedroom. A quick visual sweep of the room revealed his wife, still partially asleep, with her revolver in her hand, smoke curling out of the barrel, and a neat .38 caliber hole in the exterior wall of their wood frame home.

He carefully removed the gun from her hand from behind her and asked her why she had fired. She was stunned by the noise, wasn't aware that she had discharged her revolver, and was as puzzled (and horrified) as he was once she became fully awake. (No, they hadn't been drinking, snorting, injecting, or ingesting anything that would readily explain what happened.)

He then went outside and confirmed his suspicion that the round had completely penetrated the interior wall, insulation, and exterior wall and exited the property, which on that side faced a lightly wooded area and was about 100 yards from the next occupied structure. Fortunately the fired round, which had lost considerable velocity in its trip through the wall, had found a harmless resting place somewhere out there. This was the best possible conclusion to what clearly could have been a horribly tragic incident.

When he recounted the experience to me the following day (still shaken from what happened), he was emphatic about "no more guns on nightstands" for either him or his wife.

Since I'm a believer in not repeating the mistakes of others because so many new and creative ones are available, I immediately ended my gun on the nightstand practice as well. My storage area is close by and accessible enough for my needs, but requires a couple of deliberate movements that are unlikely to be successfully accomplished in a partially asleep state.

I get cold shivers thinking about a loaded gun under the pillow in any circumstance other than a lone survival / evasion / escape situation in enemy territory.

No, I want to give myself time enough to wake-up. I would suggest they get a dog or two and a good alarm system.

I think somebody mentioned a pillow holster in a different thread: http://www.chuckhawks.com/pillow_holster.htm

I normally keep mine on the nightstand, but its an awkward reach for me. I'd also like to find a convenient place to keep the Mossberg.

Since I have two young children, 8 and 10, having a gun not in my safe is not an option. Even though both of them have been educated on to never touch, I don't want to take that chance. I do have an alarm and the beeping will wake me before the alarm actually sounds, so the jump from my bed to retrieve a gun from my safe (eloctronic lock) is hopefully quick enough to be armed by the time an intruder can make it upstairs. Also, my 10 year old son at times will sleepwalk, and has gotten as far as down the stairs and out the back door. Many times one or the other will crawl into the bed with me and the wife.

Thanks for the replies. I didn't expect many would think this is a great idea, but I did expect more than one person to reply that they also kept their gun under their pillow.

PS I keep my night gun tucked into a pair of cowboy boots, lightly covered with a sock. Easily accessible to draw and unlikely any bg who got in the room without waking me would think to look there (unlike the nightstand drawer).

I keep my Judge inside my headboard, because I have no idea where my pillow will be thirty minuets after I go to sleep.

My carry 1911 goes on the night stand when I go to bed. A Commander is under my pillow with a loaded mag and empty chamber. Our male Miniature Schnauzer sleeps next to me wearing a custom cut belly band that has a PPK. If he hears something I miss, he bites me on the leg -- hard enough to wake me, but not draw blood -- and I grab the PPK and go for one of my 1911's.

I'm only kidding about the dog. The "pillow gun" is there primarily for reasons other than night security. If someone gets into our bedroom without me grabbing the 1911 on the night stand, then they have silently gotten past locked exterior doors, the security system, a locked bedroom door, three dogs and other security measures I'm not going to list.

Chas.

Charles L. Cotton wrote:My carry 1911 goes on the night stand when I go to bed. A Commander is under my pillow with a loaded mag and empty chamber. Our male Miniature Schnauzer sleeps next to me wearing a custom cut belly band that has a PPK. If he hears something I miss, he bits me on the leg -- hard enough to wake me, but not draw blood -- and I grab the PPK and go for one of my 1911's.

I'm only kidding about the dog. The "pillow gun" is there primarily for reasons other than night security. If someone gets into our bedroom without me grabbing the 1911 on the night stand, then they have silently gotten past locked exterior doors, the security system, a locked bedroom door, three dogs and other security measures I'm not going to list.

Chas.

AEA wrote:I have the 642 with Crimson Trace grips under my pillow all the time.

My thoughts about placing a gun on the nightstand............
I am a heavy sleeper and I do not want the BG to walk into my bedroom and shoot me with my own nightstand gun before I wake up!

Get a dog. They are better than an alarm clock at waking you up. A little dog's bark is more piercing than a big dogs and if one doesn't do the trick, get 2 and they can keep each other company when you aren't using them for an alarm system.
To answer the OP ? NO I don't put a gun under my pillow for all the reason previously mentioned.

" Our male Miniature Schnauzer sleeps next to me wearing a custom cut belly band that has a PPK."

That actually made me laugh out loud!

dubya wrote:" Our male Miniature Schnauzer sleeps next to me wearing a custom cut belly band that has a PPK."

That actually made me laugh out loud!

I was ready to go online to find one for my minpin cause it sounded like such a good idea.

seniorshooteress wrote:

dubya wrote:" Our male Miniature Schnauzer sleeps next to me wearing a custom cut belly band that has a PPK."

That actually made me laugh out loud!

I was ready to go online to find one for my minpin cause it sounded like such a good idea.

Here is a photo of the belly band's without the strap. Notice they come in multi colors.

seniorshooteress wrote:

dubya wrote:" Our male Miniature Schnauzer sleeps next to me wearing a custom cut belly band that has a PPK."

That actually made me laugh out loud!

I was ready to go online to find one for my minpin cause it sounded like such a good idea.

Something like this?