My shooting was trained by the military (infantry officer with Special Forces after me), and I've shot at International competition level with them. But I don't regret not continuing, given the alternatives.

There are certain aspects of OldDude's postings which make me think he's never been properly trained. Yes, keep your weapons in a safe, but also keep your ammunition in another somewhere else in the house, and ensure that neither is obvious as a weapons cache. That way everyone can be certain that a Pistorius situation is not accidental. Indeed, in the UK the military tend to keep breech blocks/firing pins separate unless there is a reasonably imminent need to have the weapons useable, and of course that needs good record keeping so the right block goes back in the right weapon.

And if he's not been trained properly, then not much of what he says can be taken as good practice, sadly. Paranoia is not in and of itself a qualification for continuing the way they have: he needs to present local statistics for his neighbourhood to argue his case. In our precinct area in North London, there has been just one weapon incident in a year, someone with a knife. No need, for all that we were on the front line in the 2011 riots.