How far away is "next to"?
Interesting that a .38 special is one of the first things on your list of examples.
Interesting because next to the lamp, a dollar-store flashlight, my roll of Tums, the usual bottle of water, a box of kleenex, whatever book I currently happen to be using as bedtime reading material, and (sometimes) my cell phone, keys, and Leatherman Wave, you'll find my S&W Model 15 - which is indeed a .38 special.
Should it seem needful, there's also an AR15 with a full mag in the well and a dazzler light on the rail sitting parked in the corner on the other side of the nightstand, roughly 4 feet away from the bed itself.
(Before anybody starts in about unsafe gun storage practices, I live in a rugrat-free zone, so unless one makes an unauthorized entry (after first climbing over or otherwise bypassing at least one locked gate in the perimeter fence that encloses the entire property) there's zero concern about kiddies getting their hands on the shooting irons, and every adult other than myself who's even slightly likely to enter is made aware, in no uncertain terms, that the line "there is no such thing as an unloaded gun" is not only the first rule of gun safety, but a totally literal statement of fact about every firearm within the walls of my domicile that isn't in some stage of disassembly)