Concerned over rise in crime

NO. 100% not. I would never keep a ready gun in a home with children or teens. That is not a reasonable "extra precaution".  While I might agree there will be a rise in property crimes and crimes of opportunity, the police are still working! It's not going to be a lawless society! I live two blocks from a BART station and at most, I might double check my cars are locked at night.

Have you considered a home security system instead? We got a SimpliSafe system a few months ago and it makes me feel so much more secure at home. We have sensors on all of our doors and windows (SO easy to install!) and cameras in a few areas of the house, some that point outside, and including a doorbell camera. The doorbell camera, window sticker, and yard sign we got with the kit are all visual cues that might help deter someone from targeting your home. We purchased ours using a Black Friday deal but the peace of mind is worth paying full price to me!

If you are asking if you should be concerned about a home invasion I would say that is and always has been extremely unlikely. Crime is not rising. In particular violent crimes have fallen dramatically. Theft is not worth dying or killing over IMHO. Fire arms in the home are most likely to be used against someone in the home either accidentally or not. Please do not assemble these weapons. 

The only news reports I'm seeing about crime are about crime going DOWN during shelter in place. It seems like your information is anecdotal. The San Francisco Chronicle reported on March 31, 2020, that "crime falls dramatically in Bay Area cities as residents stay home."  Also, in my (anecdotal) experience working in criminal courts, people tend to break into homes when they think they'll be empty during the day. Now no one's homes are empty. It makes sense that empty/closed businesses might be targeted, but there seems to be less need, rather than more, to worry about home security. 

Streets are deserted and crime, in fact, is not going up! Get real! You guys sound like crazy survivalist. My advice is to please keep guns out of your house and away from your children.  
You are much less at risk of a home invasion then you are of catching Covid-19. 

Crime is actually not going up. It may feel like it if you are hearing anecdotes about break-one more often than usual but I work in the criminal justice system and the statistics actually show that crime has gone down in the last month, especially robberies and burglaries. I don’t have an opinion on whether you should have your weapon more easily accessible - that’s a choice only you can make. But do t let your heightened sense of anxiety make you worried about something that’s isn’t actually true based on data.

IMO guns never solve anything.  Contrary to what you wrote I know the crime in NY is way down because of Covid-19.  While I haven't checked the stats it leads me to believe numbers are also down in California.  Unfortunately, the media needs stories to keep viewership so the few crimes that are happening make the news line-up and play over and over again.  You want to keep your kids safe? Keep those weapons dismantled and locked up.  Fear and hate never solve anything.  Look at all the kindness and love that permeates around us despite what you hear and read about in the news.  You don't say what city you live in.  I'm sure there are community watch groups and other alternatives instead of reverting back to the wild west. 

I'm curious if you have any data to support your hunch that there's a rise in crime. I'm seeing more people walking around, smiling (or nodding with masks on), and feel that there's a community presence that my neighborhood lacked before. Wouldn't more eyes on the street = less opportunity for crime?

Yes, we have seen a rise in crime (break-ins, specifically). We took extra precautions to secure our home. Neighbors have informed us that they have too and some have expressed that they have weapons (some are looking for training to use them, others want more ammo).  To be honest, we are going with things will get worse before they get better. We have a health and economic issue - a near collapse of both - going on. We might kick into our survival instincts for awhile. That’s how we are approaching this. Most will not agree with me. But I have three young kids and we are frontline medical workers, so we see things from a bit of a different perspective as we head back to work. 

Number one, home robberies are actually going WAY DOWN, because everyone is staying at home. The idea that ordinary people need firearms because crime is increasing is nothing but a perennial myth promoted by fear-mongers who profit from it.   Number two, having a firearm in your home only hurts you. Not only does it do absolutely NOTHING to protect you in the highly unlikely event of a home invasion, it actually increases your risk of harm because you're more likely to be shot, accidentally or because the criminal gains control of the gun, than to successfully use the gun for defense.  This is true even though you are trained.  And of course, at all of the other times during which you are not in the middle of a home invasion, the chances that you and/or your children will be injured or killed by the gun, in an accident or in a suicide (and hey, the current circumstances are not reducing anyone's risk of depression and other mental illnesses that can lead to suicide!).  Every day in this country, tragedies occur because kids get their hands on guns that their parents thought were safely locked away.  Please get rid of yours.  They are nothing but a huge risk to you, your family, and everyone around you.

Although there have been break-ins at businesses that are closed and unoccupied, as of today crime has been going down under the shelter-in-place order.  You can google "crime rate bay area shelter in place" and you'll see links from stories in numerous reputable sites.  Is your sense of looming danger based on crime, or an emotional response to the major disaster currently enveloping us all?  Perhaps the thought of being armed is giving you a sense of safety in an unsafe world.

f you are going to bring your gun closer to hand I suggest you and your husband go a lot of thought to all the possibilities and develop a protocol for everything you can imagine.  If a robber has a gun, for instance, you might want to leave your gun hidden and give up money, rather than risk a gun battle when your kids are present.   Would you be ready to shoot someone in your home (in front of your kids)?  If not, you risk the gun being taken and used against you. 

Based on the data, both violent and property crime have plummeted in the Bay Areas and statewide since shelter in place took effect. https://www.ppic.org/blog/covid-19-and-crime-in-major-california-cities/ Unfortunately, domestic violence is up. Having the gun probably poses more risk than not having it, especially with children in the house. 

dear original poster~ so here’s my two cents. we agree with you re property crime and its potential to get worse. that’s what we are experiencing in our neighborhood regardless of what any metric is saying.  i believe my security cans more than anyone else’s opinion, official or on groups like this.  we are so concerned that we have created several caches of food & supplies just in case it ever gets to the point someone robs us for those things. btw, we are a very liberal household but also have seen some things in our lives as well that give us a rock solid foundation in worst case scenarios involving other humans.  we live in an east bay neighborhood with many veterans (both young and old) and i can promise you, pretty much everyone of them has firearms. reason i know is i’ve lived here decades and they’ve never hid it.  lastly, and this proof that irony isn’t dead, a few of our most liberal friends/neighbors/family who are vocally ‘anti-gun’/pro gun law advocates... well i can tell you they went out and bought protection and encouraged us to do the same.  of course with the caveat that they will get rid of them when the crisis is over and they swore us to complete secrecy.  irony 2.0 is we’re holding this secret for different friends within our same social group which makes things awkward or darkly funny depending how you look at it.  we’re known for being very discreet so lucky us i guess. 

they may well be one of the above responders saying NO GUNS, because that is the extent of their bluff. if you doubt me just read a little bit.  https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/04/06/choose-your-weapon/amp

i vote you do what YOU think is best for your family, use BEST practices if you do and tell NO ONE. not your best friends, not your mom, and certainly not me.   

When seconds count, the police are only minutes away!

I read the 14 answers you have received, and I just wanted to add a different perspective.  I don't own a gun, and I live in a suburb.  But decades ago, my dad, who lived in a poor part of town, used a gun to scare off some would-be intruders.  The police told my dad it could have ended very badly since the perpetrators were not wearing masks and so weren't concerned that he saw their faces.  You both are thinking rationally:  husband thinks it's low probability but terrible results (if no gun to protect yourself) and you think it's low probability (kids get gun) and terrible potential result.  I see both sides.