Ear pro

So let me just say that I hope- I EXPECT -to die an old man having never needed to point a gun at another human being in self defense. But I’m not a fool, and if the need to protect myself or my loved ones arises, I intend to to provide such protection as I am able.

That said, I have secure, but fairly quick and easy access to an AR pistol in 300 AAC and a 12 ga pump shotgun. I have trained and practiced with a number of home/self defense weapons of the long gun and hand gun varieties. But because I don’t live in a ‘dangerous’ place (more than once Chicago’s Finest have collected 9 mm casings in the alley behind my sister’s house) I have never found the need to brandish said weapons outside of a shooting range setting.

So, I never thought of the issue of hearing protection because I’m always wearing it at the range -until someone here mentioned it. If ANY sort of firearm is discharged in the hallway of a house, my hearing is likely to be totally disabled for some time. What if there was a pair of ‘active’ suppression shooting muffs stored conveniently along with the weapons?

I know there is an issue with the extra few seconds to put them on and the delay that would cause. But, I’m about as blind as a bat without my glasses and they have to get put on anyway. And I’m not going to take time to use my hearing aids, so prior to any shooting my hearing will be anything but acute. Active muffs solve both the problem of not hearing well before shooting is necessary and the deafness afterward of shooting does become necessary.

Thoughts? Recommendations for proper equipment?

Yeah, touching off a shot indoors is definitely not good for the hearing. I've had good luck with the Walker's Game Ears. I had a pair of Silencio electroncs years ago that were pretty basic, not stereo and they worked pretty well. Having stereo really doesn't seem to be that big of a difference but the loud noise shutoff circuits are a lot better these days. It used to seem like the muffs took just a little bit of time to turn off from the shot. The newer ones don't seem to do that at all. I've worn them while hunting and the stereo doesn't really seem to make a difference in being able to detect which direction the sound came from, at least for me. I bought the kids cheap electronic ones from Walmart on clearance years back. Was less that $20 and they work fine.