Gun and Kids at home

Yep, I too grew up around unlocked guns, started hunting at 9yo with my own single barrel 12ga and JC Higgins 22. Dad taught us kids gun safety. And I did the same with my twin girls. As I mentioned previously they are great shots and avid shooters, and they too now have a single shot 12 ga of their own. While I trust them to do the right thing, they're still kids, good kids at that, but their guns are locked up when we're not using them. Being kids they sometimes do silly, kid type stuff. I'd be lying if I said my brother and I didn't get into some mischieve, because we were sometimes dumb kids.

The biggest factor is not a distrust of my girls, but rather my distrust of other, unwelcomed, people. Not being home 24/7, I am not going to leave our our weapons unlocked, loaded and easily accessible to make it easy for some dirt bag to steal or use on my family if they walk in on them without me.

That said, I have no problem with fellow shooters that have differing opinions on the topic. Nor will I think less of them for thinking differently than me. I don't look back and think. Jeez my parents were irresponsible, because they were not. Different times perhaps, who's to say.

Be well all.
 
when my child was too young to be trusted, he wasn't able to pull the trigger on a double action revolver, at least not the Taurus. But that's not exactly a promotion to leave a revolver in his toy box.

Most all my guns are locked up, even now that he is old enough to be trusted, and I don't lock up loaded guns. But even when he was young I did not feel safe w/o a loaded weapon that was easily accessible. Kids are super short thankfully, and there are places they just cannot get to. We kept our revolver in our bedroom on top of the entertainment center with first chamber empty, when not on our person. And an SA/DA semi-auto, unchambered but loaded, with safety on in a basket on top of our fridge, still do to this day, he is 8 years old now and he is scared to death to touch a pistol, even though I don't want him to be. I don't know how many of you have let a 3-5 year old try to use a gun, my son was curious so I talked to him about how they work, and allowed him to try to pull the trigger on unloaded firearms, just not happening. He could not pull the trigger, even with both hands until after six years old. I couldn't imagine any toddler could take of the safety, rack the slide and pull the trigger on a hammer type pistol. So I felt safe with a CZ type on top of the fridge. I assume that all these accidental discharges by children are with striker type, maybe DAO, with no safety on a loaded chamber.

In any event, I don't see why you would have to have a locked up gun unloaded unless that's the law where you live. If your wife would let you, let your child try to rack the slide, let alone if he can even pull the trigger.

My son loves to help reload, i'll let him resize or pour the powder into the funnel, even seat bullets, then go back and recheck every one of them. I pay him to sort brass. Still he has no interest in actually shooting a gun, I urge him to please let me know when he is ready and we'll run to the store immediately at get his first .22. I think i'll have to force the issue when he's ten because he really doesn't like them, he thinks "they kill people", which he is 100% correct.
 
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When my mother went to high school (my father never did), the high school had no parking lot. It was an "inner city" school. When I was in high school, very, very few students drove to school and none of them had pickup trucks. So I never, ever saw a gun in the back window of a pickup truck.

I did not grow up with a gun in the house. But when we moved to the country where my step-mother was from, there seemed to be guns everywhere but they were all old. I only saw one handgun, though, which was a .22 automatic. The owner kept it hanging on a nail in his shed outside. The only gun in the house where we lived, which was a pre-Civil War log house, was a single-shot Winchester .32-40 (I think) that felt like it weighted at least fifteen pounds. I don't recall anyone ever shooting it and I have no idea where it is now.
 
I trust my kids, now I trust my grand kids.

Kids are curious, I believe they should be taught at an young age with supervision. If they are allowed to shoot, and are giving the opportunity there is less curiosity. They know dad/no grandpa will take them in the back yard (rural area) and teach them safety and gun handling.

But, kids/grand kids have friends. They want to bring their friends to grandpa's house to ride horses, 4-wheelers and such.

I don't know these kids, I wont teach them about guns and gun safety without parents permission AND parents presence.

My greatest fear is a kid getting my guns and someone getting hurt.

So every gun I have is locked in my gun safe. They aren't getting into it as only my wife and I know the combination.

I do believe in being armed 24/7. So my revolver is constantly in my pocket. Its impossible anyone getting my gun without my knowledge. At night my gun is still in my pants pocket hanging on the bed post. One would have to climb over me to get to it and I'm a light sleeper.

I wont stash guns all over, on the night stand, under the mattress, not the closet. I don't want anyone getting to my guns without my knowledge or my getting them for them.

But I want 24/7 access my self. In my situation, my opinion is, my home is gun safe regarding kids. Though I still have the fear in the back of my mind of some kid getting my guns.

YOU CANNOT BE TOO SAFE WITH IT COMES WITH KIDS AT HOME WITH GUNS.
 
Some people trust their kids with the family car as soon as they get their learner's permit and they have an astonishing and disproportional number of accidents when they're just starting out. In some countries the legal age to drive is higher than the legal age to drink alcohol. We get lots of things backwards in this country.

The rate of accidents also increases when you're at the age I am fast approaching, too.
 
Some people posting seem to consider teaching and secure storage to be an either/or situation. I tried to make it clear that I did both, and I strongly recommend that approach to others, because neither is fool proof.

I had good kids who obeyed and followed rules and excelled in school and became responsible adults. One of them burned her hand on the stove when she was little; despite all the warnings and teaching that we did she had to find out for herself. That is part of the way kids learn, but learning about firearms in that way could be tragic.

Teach them, because you want them to be safe when you have your firearms out, and when you take them shooting, and when they are in other homes where weapons may not be secured.

Secure your firearms that are not in use, because they will have friends over who have been taught less than your kids have, and because even the best kids have lapses of judgement.

We protect our physical possessions with layers of security. I don't see why the most precious things in our lives - our family - deserve less.
 
Secure your firearms that are not in use, because they will have friends over who have been taught less than your kids have
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Exactly. I never worried about my kid with the guns, but never wanted to put him in the position of trying to keep an agressively curious friend's hands off of them.

For your home defense gun, loaded in a lock box (combination or bio) is fine. Kids find keys.
 
Funny, I too remember the days of a shotgun or rifle in the back window of EVERY truck in the High School parking lot during hunting season. And that was 30 miles south of DC in the 1980s. How times have changed. It is now illegal to have a pocket knife on school grounds.
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I just sent a pick up to Alabama for the grandsons, complete with gun rack. They sent pictures of the P/U after some work was completed. The gun rack was still there.

F. Guffey
 
Those that have a defensive role are loaded and locked up. Those that are not for defense are unloaded and locked up. They are in several different places. Only I know the combinations. The keys that could be used to access something in case of battery fail are also locked up.
 
And no kid from a good home and good parents drinks, does drugs, steals, drag races in the streets, or screws around.
There are always kids who do things that they're not supposed to and the parents are the last to know.

I don't have kids but if I did they would be taught all about guns at an early age but they wouldn't have access to them without supervision till they proved themselves to be trustworthy.
 
All the anecdotal stories are meaningless if something bad were to happen. They sure as heck would not hold up in a court of law if a child was injured or killed due to guns being unsecured. Kids lack the mental maturity and do things even though they know they should not. Multiple studies have shown that the brain has not even fully matured until their twenties. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2892678/ I have talked to my 5 year old about what to do if she finds a gun and have shown her what an airsoft gun looks like. I do not trust her life on doing the right thing. All of my guns are either locked up or stored in concealed and high up places. The ones that are not locked up are unloaded.
 
Friend, I understand your question. And I know that each and every one has their own experience to relate, and to follow. My children were raised in a home with firearms.

That being said, here's my advice:

Do NOT take the chance.

1. Start telling your children NOW about firearms. Let them be present when you clean them and/or handle them.

2. Educate them each and every time that they touch them about gun safety. At a bare minimum, always emphasize the three basic safety rules:

a. ALL guns are ALWAYS loaded.
b. ALWAYS keep your finger off the trigger until you are ready to shoot.
c. ALWAYS be sure of your target and what is beyond it.

3. Tell them that if they ever want to see one of your guns that all they have to do is to ask. You will be glad to show it to them, no matter when it is--except if any of their friends are over. Tell them that they should NEVER touch a firearm unless you are present and give them permission.

4. As for their friends, use the Eddie Eagle guidelines from the NRA: Stop! Don't touch! Leave the area! Get an adult!

Now comes the part you may not like.

Get a safe. NOT a small safe, and not a key-only design. Get a BIG safe with a combination.

NEVER leave ANY firearms unattended and unsecured in your home.

If you want to have a firearm handy, strap on a holster and carry it while on your property. When you go to bed, put it where you can get it.

If you leave your house, LOCK UP ALL FIREARMS IN YOUR SAFE. PERIOD.

Unless your wife shows an interest, do not leave any out. EVER. I don't care how mature and responsible you are, all children are curious....and it only takes the time that a sear is released and a hammer or striker falls for a life changing tragedy to occur. No shortcuts, friend. Best of luck to you.
 
I am not a parent but I started my niece and nephew shooting when they were five. They were taught the safety lessons until they were ingrained into them. My family has a cabin.

We have bear, wolves, cougar, bobcat, raccoons, coyotes and human preditors..... even the children have to be prepared to defend their family.

When my niece was nine I had to leave her and her friend armed in the cabin while I dealt with some idiots in the cabin tract. Calling law enforcement was not an option as it would have been a minimum six hour wait.

My niece received her first handgun at age ten. My nephew had his own at age five and at ten he received an antique Winchester Model 90.

In my nephews teen years he disarmed numerous idiots at drinking parties.

If you show your children that the gun is a tool just like a screwdriver or hammer and that all tools should be used with proper instruction and care you will be much better off.

You do not leave a two year old with a blender or toaster either...........
 
"You can't kid-proof a gun, but you can gun-proof a kid."

I began when my son was four years old. He learned that my 1911 was too big for him. He was told that when HE thought that he was big enough to shoot it, we'd go together to shoot whenever he wanted to.

That took out all the "lure of the unknown" and made the gun just another tool rather than some sort of illicit toy. Call it "Applied Child Psychology".

Helping me "autopsy" deer helped, as well. I made a point of showing him where the bullet had messed up the neck or "innards". Separate and distinct from the Four Rules, he learned the possible result of being foolish with a gun.

Never had the first sign of a problem.
 
For those that have kids. What do you do with your guns at home? I have a 3 month old, 2 yr old, and 4 yr old. My wife is MAKING me keep them unloaded + locked up. I just bought a FAS1 safe and am going to mount under my bed or in closet but they are still unloaded. So what are others doing? Are you guns locked away + unloaded? I have a home alarm system, which could buy me some time/or scare away intruder. Would they be safe enough in my fas1 safe to keep loaded? My home defense gun in a .357 revolver so its not a quick load like a semi. I have a taurus pt111 semi but i just dont trust it for self defense.
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I can understand your wife's concens, especially as you can abide by them but still be able to react quickly.

OK so going by the wife's terms : unloaded and locked up.
Would this include rifles? Would the rifle have to be locked up?

If yes:
Option 1: quick open safe: pistol with large capacity mag. Mag is resting in safe with firearm. open, slap in mag, cock there you go.

If No:
Option 2: rifle on latch by bed or where you feel comfortable (unloaded). Magazine itself in quick open safe. Again open, slap in mag, cock there you go.

The advantage of either option is that you have to be awake and alert to do this (and can use this as an argument if the wife gets antsy). You're not going to go off half cocked as it were. I'd personally go for option 1 with a flashlight in the safe or near you. Use can use the pistol one handed with the other to guide children or use the flashlight.
 
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"...at 2 yrs. and 4 yrs. they just cant be trusted..." They can if there are consequences for getting into da's stuff.
If the kid is taught about firearms, even at 2(likely take lots and lots and lots of repetition), they stop being daddy's mysterious toys. It's when they're told no, but not why, that daddy's toys get really interesting.
Absolutely not so. Anybody with any training in child and adolescent behavior knows that this just doesn't hold water. Yes, there are the occasional kids that can be trusted like this but most kid's minds just don't work they way.
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Agreed and considering there are options to be safe but almost as fast as pointed out in the thread already here's the thing:
1. If there is a 1% chance you're wrong, why take it?
2. Your kids may be perfect. Its the 52,000 other kids that will go through your house that aren't.
 
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I'll bet not one single person on this forum was allowed unfettered access to a loaded firearm when they were of Kindergarten age.
You lost that bet already: I never saw a gun safe growing up, and trigger locks were unknown. Grandpa kept most all his guns behind the door to the stairs ( and I know the .22 was always loaded), and Dad's were on a gunrack over his bed .... a very few people had actual "gun cabinets", usually made as a high school wood shop project - all of them had glass fronts (and sometimes sides) and NONE of them locked..... I rode around in pickups with multitple guns in racks in the rear window or above the sunvisors (the "Outa-Site" gun rack) .... guns and ammunition were freely accessible to my siblings and me from the time we could crawl ..... but we knew not to touch them, as surely as we knew not to touch the stove in winter. Doing so would result in some immediate pain .... but I'm sure modern progressive society would consider that abuse, as well.
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Again your kids may be great. Their friends were not raised by you though, and they will be around to.

To many stats of kids getting shot in this manner, for something highly preventable, and those accidents go back decades.


Yep, I too grew up around unlocked guns, started hunting at 9yo with my own single barrel 12ga and JC Higgins 22. Dad taught us kids gun safety. And I did the same with my twin girls. As I mentioned previously they are great shots and avid shooters, and they too now have a single shot 12 ga of their own. While I trust them to do the right thing, they're still kids, good kids at that, but their guns are locked up when we're not using them. Being kids they sometimes do silly, kid type stuff. I'd be lying if I said my brother and I didn't get into some mischieve, because we were sometimes dumb kids.

The biggest factor is not a distrust of my girls, but rather my distrust of other, unwelcomed, people. Not being home 24/7, I am not going to leave our our weapons unlocked, loaded and easily accessible to make it easy for some dirt bag to steal or use on my family if they walk in on them without me.

That said, I have no problem with fellow shooters that have differing opinions on the topic. Nor will I think less of them for thinking differently than me. I don't look back and think. Jeez my parents were irresponsible, because they were not. Different times perhaps, who's to say.

Be well all.
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