The bad guy is not going to have the luxury of me giving away my position and alerting him I am armed by racking the slide.
Oh man this reminds me of a story...
at my old workplace, I worked in the electronics lab. Next to me sat a technician who was a major butt kisser with management. As such, the company VP would occasionally come down and talk to us tech's, and would make a point to hang out with Rich (the posterior smoocher).
The VP came down one day to discuss the news of the day, a home invasion near the building had occurred the previous night and the homeowner was badly injured. The VP exclaimed that he kept a 12g under the bed and some shells in the drawer.
"It's all the bad guy can do not to piss himself when he hears that slide racking and you lowering the barrel at him.", he said proudly.
"Excuse me sir", I replied. I was a little nervous about correcting his defense plans. "Can I suggest you keep it loaded and chambered, possibly in a lockable wall mount.", I reply. He looks at me with a 'who the hell are you look'.
"It's just that racking the slide serves only to make an intruder aware of you more. He knows to either run, which is preferable, or dig in and draw his own gun. Furthermore, why are you clearing a house with the barrel up? Why are you clearing the house with an unchambered firearm?"
The scowl he gave me was replaced with a more contemplative tone. Rich, the affection-for-rump, technician was aghast that I would talk to the Veep in such a way.
"You have a good point.", he says. "I'd be in a lot of danger moving around in the dark without a chambered gun. Thanks."
The conversation moved along to other topics, but in the future, the Veep's visits to the lab usually included me. =)