CCW with kids?

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vanguard_anon

New member
How many of your carry with kids in the house. I'm thinking that when I come after work and settle into the couch I'd rather no be wearing my gun at the time. My kids are 9 an 5 and respectful of our gun rules (you can always see them but only with me) but I know what I was like at that age and to *fully* trust anything that came from me would be a mistake.

So what's your routine? Do you lock your gun every night? If so, where? Do you lock it in the car/truck at the end of the day?

I did a search but I didn't find anybody's routine. How do you keep guns around kids?
 
Haven't had our kids yet, and my state doesn't allow carry outside the house, as IL is somehow immune to Federal law. I hope I can chime in too.

It seems like a good idea to carry at home, with kids in the house. Because the gun is still ready and nearby if you should need it. If you disarm and lock up the gun, it is no longer ready and nearby. So that is a risk assessment. How sure are you that no one is going to break in when you're home?

A middle road would be to keep the gun loaded and ready to go, but in one of those quick access safes. Not as quick or nearby, as carrying, but a good deal better than an unloaded gun locked in a more typical safe or lockbox.
 
Great discussion topic, and my kids are 9 and 5 also, BTW! (girls... love 'em!)

When I come home I continue to carry. Our routine here has us typically making and eating dinner on a normal school day when we all get home (close to the same time) If we end up doing something where I don't feel like having my pistol IWB, I'll often put it up quite high like on the top of my desk where they'd need a ladder to get it. This works because the desk is right in the family room, in clear view of the kitchen, etc etc. But that's just one option.

Often I'll put it in the safe which is also on the main floor of the house. I'll keep the dial spun so I can easily open the safe, but they don't know how to do that.

If I haven't put it in either of those places by the time they go to bed then it typically just gets placed on the ottoman right in front of the couch by late evening when the wife and I often find ourselves watching TV, kids in bed. In it's IWB holster.

When it's time for bed, I let the dog out and head to the safe. Put the carry gun in the safe, pull out the HD pistol and lock up the safe. Along with letting the dog in and locking the door up, the safe is the last thing I do before heading to bed. And it's the first thing I do in the morning... HD pistol back in the locked safe.

When I'm not home, there are no firearms accessible for anyone. When I'm home, there is always one accessible to me. When I'm in bed, there's one accessible to me and the rest are secured.

The most important thing IMO is a familiar routine. You develop a program that you are comfortable with and then you stick to it. My trips to the safe are as routine as brushing my teeth or heading out to the bus stop with the kids. This is an every-single-day occurrence and I don't deviate from it.
 
Our youngest are 9 & 6 and I sometimes I carry in the house, sometimes I don't. It just depends on what I'm doing or if I just got home from work, etc.
If I don't have on me I have one nearby. If I am going outside, like to take the dogs out or do yard work, I always take one with me.

I keep all of my guns, except the one I'm carrying at the moment, locked up if not in use or out for cleaning. I've had no issues with the kids and the guns. I've satisfied their curiosity on all of them and we go out shooting regularly, the older boy got a .22 for christmas last year and the younger a BB gun, so we cover the rules regularly. I feel that a lot of exposure keeps the "ooh let me see it" factor down. Because I work in law enforcement they also see that my guns are part of my work gear, because they're a tool, I don't make a big deal about guns and so the boys don't either.

At night I keep a pistol on my nightstand along with a flashlight.
 
My kids are grown and on their own. When they were home, there were no problems. They had access "Any time you want but I have to be there with you." They all had the chance to shoot and were required to memorize the NRA's safety rules. There were seven kids and never a problem.

When I carried then, the piece usually went on the nightstand some time between dinner and bedtime. Now, however, it gets modified when grandchildren are visiting. I have not had the chance to educate and train them although the oldest daughter has trained her kids. I am still working through what I am comfortable with when the grandkids are over...
 
I only have one daughter, 14, and she knows that the only gun she is allowed to touch is the P22 which is lock in the safe.

My CCW firearm stays with me when I get home until I lay it to rest on my nightstand when I go to sleep.

IMHO
Kids need to be taught to respect firearms at the earliest age possible. There will always be that unattended gun somewhere,(like when I am in the shower). GUNS KILL.

Be Safe!
 
I carry at home. Looking at the home invasions that have taken place it seems rare that they give the homeowner the chance to run off to retrieve a weapon.
 
I don't really worry about my wife or son mugging me although I do sometimes wish my wife, wearing a lacy thing, would savagely assault me, but my fantasies are for another post. :o

Seriously, I take my gun off as soon as I enter my home. My son has friends in and out of the house all day and my carry guns always go into my small safe in the kitchen pantry. I'd prefer them to be "out of sight and out of mind". Home invasion is not something I have a great fear of.
 
No kids, but I wouldn't change my habits.

I simply don't "disarm" when I get home. All the firearms I'm not carrying get locked up, and one stays in my pocket or on my hip. That one is there until I undress for bed, and then that one sits on my nightstand. Bedroom door is always locked.
 
I know what I was like at that age and to *fully* trust anything that came from me would be a mistake
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+1 on that. No matter how well you teach your kids, they will have lapses of judgement until they are adults, and maybe then, too, but hopefully fewer. When I get home, my gun goes into the safe - one of those electronic lock jobs that has a lockout feature if you get the combo wrong a few times. I can get to it in a few minutes if necessary, but I'll take my chances on anything more sudden with a baseball bat or pepper spray - items which do not lend themselves to accidental deaths of my kids or their friends.
 
From Smaug:
It seems like a good idea to carry at home, with kids in the house. Because the gun is still ready and nearby if you should need it. If you disarm and lock up the gun, it is no longer ready and nearby. So that is a risk assessment. How sure are you that no one is going to break in when you're home?
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I'll offer my opinion, starting with the last of those fine points.

The only times (3) I've ever had someone try to break in (that I know of) was when I was at home.

Therefore the gun has to be ready and nearby---and safe.

If it is in a nearby combo safe I think I'm OK.

Without digressing too much, I think it was Sheriff Jim Wilson who wrote that he kept one Charter .44 in one part of the house and one in another.

That article and a quick consideration of my house layout woke me up to something I hadn't considered.

But I do not like the idea of carrying at home. It's a personal thing. It would be less comfortable and it would spook friends and neighbors.
 
My son is 16 now. I put my carry gun in my backpack when I come in the house. Everyone knows that it's there. Everything else is locked up or stored in remote access
 
My sons are now 11 and 14. They know and follow safety rules, which I always emphasize. I also have all guns locked up except two; one I carry on my person and another is in a hostler wedged between the bed and the wall. They both know its there. The 11 year old can't cycle the slide yet, and the 14 year old has permission to use it in an emergency--like someone kicking down the door when I'm gone. They both know that they can handle any of my guns just by asking, but that ever even touching one without permission is a very serious offense.

I've never had any trouble and trust my sons not to goof around or "play" with my guns. They know they can be lethal. Following the advice of a forum member, I did the exploding milk jug demo for them when they were small....just imagine if that was your head or chest.

Another thing I have done is to randomly put a brass case in a gun that they want to see. If they didn't check the chamber and find the casing, that was a black mark. They are very ready for me to "trick" them and always check that chamber carefully.

When they have friends over I am either in the house, which is small, or I have everything in the safe. Also, they have bb guns and nerf guns to play with and don't really have much interest in messing with my guns unless we are out shooting.
 
I had three kids (now grown) and it never has been an issue. They got use to seeing me carry in uniform and out of uniform (military, now retired). I don't carry in the house but do have loaded guns stratigically placed in various locations about the place. For home defence I rely on a German Sheppard and Pit Bull, they seem to be faster on the draw than I am, and they're always loaded. Last break in the Sheppard won as the quickest draw, I was just the backup.;)


My kids were taught don’t touch Dad’s guns. All were taught to shoot and respect firearms. The most important thing the wife and I taught them was; “NO” is not the beginning of a discussion but the end of it.
 
My son is 5 and I carry around him all the time. He's never noticed, since I make an effort to holster the weapon out of sight of him and it's concealed otherwise. If I pick him up, I do it weak-side or put him on my shoulders. If I have to leave it in the car, I lock it in the console before I unbuckle him from his car seat. He never sees it. When I take it out of the holster at home, it goes in a lockbox.

I've taught him about guns and he knows not to touch them, but I also know kids. I've seen him handle toy guns and he's still too silly or immature to be trusted around the real thing. Every kid is different and mine's not ready.
 
My girls are 16 & 13, and they would think it weird if I did not have my gun with me. It is on me from the time I get dressed until I go to bed. Except at work, they tend to frown on CCW in a prison.
 
Great thread!

Mine are boy 10 and girl 6, my son knows the rules inside and out and can repeat them back to me...my daughter knows the " kid rules " ie dont touch, leave the area and tell an adult.

She has no intrest in them and in fact, just the other day watch me put the gun on and she asked inquiring " Do you wear it EVERY day?" heheh

The long guns are in the safe, and my bedside gun is in the touch safe. I do occ put my daily carry up high on a cabinet when I come home if I don't put it in the bedside safe as well.

I do worry about the curious nature of the kids..I know when I was a 'tween that I was VERY impressed by dads 45...so I try to mimimize the thrill by keeping my son familiar and try to be a bit nonchalant about his requests...i figure once he has cleaned his 22 about a million times it won't be such a neat-o thing and will be just another chore to do before bedtime.

I have been thinking that I should have another one of those push button safes at the top of the cabinet as well.
 
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