Guns and Kids....in the house???

[MossMan]

I'm curious what everyone else thinks or does about this. I know most of us have at least one loaded gun somewhere in the house. Where do you keep it? How do you make sure it's in a safe place? I've got cable locks but what good is that if you need it in a hurry

My kids are 2 and 1 month so I know it's put away good now. But what about later Can you ever really be sure. This came up in conversation with my wife yesterday when I mentioned buying another gun (Glock 27 ). We talked about this and carrying in the vehicle. She isn't too hot about either but she is tolerant of the one in the house. I told her it's like wearing a seatbelt...you hope it never gets used but better safe than sorry.

What do you do? Obviosly the best plan IMO is to teach the kids about safe and responsible ownership but it's a little early for that. So what about the mean time.

[APRILRAZZ]

Gil was able to bring a gun into the house only if he had a lock box and some sort of trigger lock. The clips are full but not in the gun either.

[cj7jeep81]

I don't ever plan on keeping a loaded gun in the house. Not worth the risk in my opinion. If I lived in a higher crime area I might, but not out where I live. I'll just keep them all locked up in my gun cabinet. I think the most important thing is to teach the kids how to respect the guns. That's the most important thing.

[SanDiegoCJ]

I grew up with loaded guns in the house my whole life. When
I was very young they were out of reach on the top shelf of a
closet. As I got older they moved to a drawer in the nightstand
by my parents bed. I was shown the weapon and told that I was
NOT allowed to play with it. I "KNEW" what that meant so I kept
my hands off. My father taught me to shoot when I was 10.
You can have weapons in the home if you exercise caution and
teach your children. It worked with my brother and me.

[JeepinIan]

Teach the kids young about safe gun practices. Shoot a watermelon with it a& let them see what it will do.
Do not let them know where you keep the gun.
Do not keep the clips with the gun, but close enough that if you have to use it, you can load it quickly.

Personally, I have no kids, and a loaded sawed off 12 gauge in my bedroom. I figure if the dog wakes me, I haveenough time to get the gun, verify the target, and kill em.

[Bobzooki]

Once my kid finished hunter's safety, I brought out ALL the guns. Both he and my wife were wide-eyed. He successfully demonstrated how to safely handle each and every one, and how to check to see if it was loaded. From that point forward, there was never any concern about the guns in the house, even the loaded guns. When we have small children in the house they are unloaded and put away.

[NastyNate]

There was always a loaded handgun in my dad's drawer beside the bed. I knew it was there. I was allowed to shoot it anytime I wanted too, as long as my Dad was present. Since we were very open about that, and the fact that I wasn't to even open the safe if he wasnt' around, it wasn't an issue. I didn't have any curiousity issues, because all I had to do was ask, and we would head out back and shoot some cans or whatever. Kids can find a way around any gun lock. Education is the key.

[deadmeat]

Yes, education is the key.
My dad taught me to shoot when I was 5.
Taught me gun safty as well, which is the most important part, which leads to...
All guns are loaded all of the time! Until YOU verify otherwise.

[YellowSub1962]

lock up the guns, guns are bad and kill people








seriously though, lock up the hand gun. Get a 12 gauge. your kids hands wont be big/strong enough to work the safety and/or chamber it till they are old enough to know how to properly use it. Education is the key like was said. and a little precaution goes a long way....

[MossMan]

Originally posted by YellowSub1962
seriously though, lock up the hand gun. Get a 12 gauge. your kids hands wont be big/strong enough to work the safety and/or chamber it till they are old enough to know how to properly use it. Education is the key like was said. and a little precaution goes a long way....

This is what I've been thinking about for the house. Small dbl bbl 12 ga and hang it over the door, inside a closet. very secluded, yet very handy

[MikeW]

Ever since I was in first grade, I used to either read or flip through my dads copies of Outdoor Life. There were alot of "Eddie Eagle" safety promotions in the magazine courtesty of the NRA. Thats why at a young age I knew better to stay away from them, and mind my own business.
I believe there are alot of irresponsible gun owners that shouldn't own a firearm in the first place.

[JonB]

I keep my M9 loaded in one of those small handgun safes w/ the touch-pad lock. My kid (18 months) isn't strong enough to push the buttons, and even if he was, you have to press more than one at a time in a combination, so I'm not concerned about him opening it for a few years yet. BUT, da' wife doesn't like it, so I need to figure something else out. I was thinking about mounting it on the wall in the closet up high out of reach.

Education is the key of course though.

[mike]

I also grew up around them. At about 9 or 10 (christmas inbetween) I asked for a BB gun. Christmas morning I opened a bolt action .22 long rifle. My dad felt that a BB gun was a toy and got me a weapon. My oldest child knows how to handle all the weapons in the house and how to render pretty much any weapon safe. My youngest two will be taught that as they get older. Right now the only weapons that they can get to bear the biggest danger of falling on them.

[GloNDark]

Originally posted by YellowSub1962
seriously though, lock up the hand gun. Get a 12 gauge. your kids hands wont be big/strong enough to work the safety and/or chamber it till they are old enough to know how to properly use it. Education is the key like was said. and a little precaution goes a long way

That's the reason I keep my 12 gauge pump action out and over the door. He won't be able to pump it, and I never keep on in the chamber. And when he is old enough to operate it, he will be older enough to teach em how to use it properly and respect it.

However anything else is locked up and has a trigger lock on it.

[fullygruntled]

Originally posted by YellowSub1962
lock up the guns, guns are bad and kill people

seriously though, lock up the hand gun. Get a 12 gauge. your kids hands wont be big/strong enough to work the safety and/or chamber it till they are old enough to know how to properly use it. Education is the key like was said. and a little precaution goes a long way....

Ever seen a young person (or even my wife, for that matter) try to work the slide on a stiff-sprung 1911? It's its own safety device.

I still use the lockbox, and will thoroughly teach my kids about safety. Worked fine for me, and for most of my friends who had deer rifles, pistols, shotguns, and whatever else in their houses growing up.

There are too many potentially hazardous things in the world to just think completely separating your kids from them is adequate, or even bright.

[SilverZuk]

You keep them in an “Off Limits” area of the house.
You need to explain to the kids, scratch that.
You need to read the kids the riot act about “off limit” areas as soon as they are old enough to understand.

My dad drilled a small hole near the back of his nightstand and inserted a nail into the hole to “lock” the drawer. This was also an “off limits” area to us growing up.
He could reach the nail in bed, in the dark, and get to his super black hawk 44 mag. If ever needed.

I keep mine high, kids are less likely to get to one on top of the refrigerator, curio, top draw of chest in back, top shelf of closet, etc.

Also, I wouldn’t recommend keeping a round in the chamber with kids around. It would take considerable effort for a 2 y.o. to jack the slide back on most any auto pistol.
It would also be a good idea to keep the loaded magazine and pistol separate too.

I had a co-worker that moved here from California. He was extremely anti-gun, his wife was worse. I asked him if he educated his 3 yo son about gun safety. He gloated, and said, “that’s not a problem in my house.”
My reply was “yes, but you neighbor’s all have loaded guns in their houses. Does your kid ever go over to play?”
Education and respect is the key.

If you are interested in buying a gun, let me know. I can get good deals around town.
Plus, you might want to shoot some of mine before you make up your mind what you want. Are you going to the trails Sunday? I might bring a few up to shoot.

[SilverZuk]

We never had a gun safe until I was college age, and the gun collection was getting big.
Dad had an old wooden cabinet in a closet with his and my guns in it. I got my first gun at age 7 or 8. A 410 single shot. I had shot guns many times before. Dad would hold me in his lap at age 4 or 5 and let me pull the trigger while he aimed at while out shooting.

As I became a teenager, all my guns stayed in my room. Just about every year I got a gun for Christmas. I never loaded on in the house, and never had an incident to this day.
I hunted every day after school from mid October to the end of February. No kidding, probably 4-5 days a week in the woods, sometimes more.

As I got to that stage, dad said only one loaded gun in the house – HIS. This would prevent us from shooting each other if someone did break in.
Scenario:
Hear someone break in. Both of us grab guns and go looking, I see dad’s silhouette and shoot him or vice versa. We were also to talk to each other in that event. “Dad, where are you?” That way we know to stay put unless in communication with each other.

If you would like to take the women shooting sometime, let me know. I can set up some fun courses and teach safety and shooting all at the same time. Scenario shooting, defensive, offensive, point shooting, just depends on how much time you all want to put into it.

[GonPostal]

Originally posted by JonB
I keep my M9 loaded in one of those small handgun safes w/ the touch-pad lock. My kid (18 months) isn't strong enough to push the buttons, and even if he was, you have to press more than one at a time in a combination, so I'm not concerned about him opening it for a few years yet. BUT, da' wife doesn't like it, so I need to figure something else out. I was thinking about mounting it on the wall in the closet up high out of reach.

Education is the key of course though.

Same here with the small handgun safe, but like you mentioned it's out of sight and out of reach from small kids. Both my kids are over 20 and have been educated regarding gun safety, but I still keep it in a quick access gun safe so that it doesn't fall into the wrong hands.....

[MossMan]

Education is obviously a no brainer once old enough to understand. And I can relate to the pump, slide situations too. The only thing I keep close is my p-90 and I don't keep one in the chamber. I know my 2 year old can't get to it #1, and #2, he could never muster the strength to slide the hammer back.

And I'm getting ready to build a walk-in closet in our bedroom and I'm thinking it's prolly gonna have a small safe built in.

[LOKNLOD]

As said before, education and respect is the key.

AND KNOWING YOUR KIDS. Some kids can handle the responsibility of having weapons easily accessible. Some can't. The kid probably won't know which they are, but the parent should.

I had weapons AND ammo in my bedroom easily accessible from the time I was in middle school. And I already knew where my dad's guns were in the house and how to use them long before that. No harm done.

They also knew my friends, and knew I wouldn't let my friends jack around with the guns. I had one friend that we didn't trust around them, and we'd make sure they were put away a little better when he was over. (Good thing too, he later ended up shooting his sister accidentally with a .22 he stole from his grandpa....she ended up fine, thank goodness).

That's the short version of my take on the matter. I'm already worried about how we'll deal with it once we start having kids...when I was little, at least we didn't have to worry about a friend telling his parents and the BATF and DHS showing up at the house to check us out. Things will be much different (worse) for my kids someday

[Fearnothing]

My dad brought me up around guns and hunting. I did the hunters saftey course along with my dad and brother a couple of years back. I think knowledge is the best protection against an accident...

[desertoy]

I stay up at night worrying about how to handle this. My son is almost 4 and VERY currious about guns. For now all my guns are at my bro's house (cause I am in the process of building a new house) but personal pertection is a consern.
My brother and I grew up in a "pro gun" household. Our Dad was a cop and kept his service revolver in a closet up high out of reach. At least he thought it was out of reach. From the time we were 5 or 6 we could (and did on 1 or 2 occasions) get his loaded service revolver down and play with it. The only thing that saved us from shooting ourselfs or eachother was EDUCATION. My dad showed us at a really early age what a gun was, how to unload it, and what it would do to a water melon and a bar of soap if you shot them. He would let us hold his guns anytime he was around, constantly reminding us to "watch the muzzle", "never shoot anything you don't intend to kill" and "never kill anything you don't intend to eat" (when hunting).
Even though my Dad infact showed me how to keep my son safe when around guns (Education), it still scares me to death thinking about some of the situations that my brother and I got ourselfs into. We never got hurt. God only knows why.
So don't for a minute think that putting your guns up out of sight, or installing a trigger lock, or threatining them to stay away will keep your kids from getting to them and playing with them. If you can get to them, your kids can also. EDUCATION is the only way. Teach them to respect a firearm and show them how to use them properly. Also, teach them what to do if their friend takes one out when they are at someone elses house because it WILL happen.
Then prey to god to keep them safe.
If you are not willing to take the time to educate your kids, then you don't deserve to own a firearm.

[Moby]

Keep them locked up. Kids are kids, bad guys are bad guys. If you need it, you know where it is.

[Just Some Asshole]

take the wonder away from it and the kids will leave it alone

[mike]

Originally posted by Moby
Keep them locked up. Kids are kids, bad guys are bad guys. If you need it, you know where it is.

And if they ever wander into one on their own? Yep, great plan alright