Home Defense Gun Storage + Kids

I have a locked pelican case which holds the rifle and shotgun unloaded. I have an electronic, combination safe for all ammo and all my other firearms(handguns). I store the handguns loaded. I also have other stuff in there like brass knuckles from key west(technically legal since they have a notch to hook on a belt), handcuffs, stungun, pepperspray, knives, hearing protection, flashlight, matches, etc. There is no room in my safe at all anymore.
 
I keep mine (S&W 642) in my pocket. Hard for any kids or anyone else to get a hold of it without me knowing.
 
I struggle with the original poster's question all of the time. I have a 4 year old daughter and over 30 guns. All of my guns, but 3 are stored unloaded in a secret room behind our closet that my child cannot access. You have to take off part of the wall-frame to access it.

Two of the loaded guns are stored in my nightstand and my wife's nightstand. Both guns are very hard to rack the slide and neither gun has a round in the chamber. I know many people discourage not keeping a round in the chamber with a HD gun, but I feel it is a good countermeasure against my daughter. My wife even has trouble racking my handgun's slide, but she has mastered hers. There is no way that my daughter could rack the slide if she happened to find the gun in our hidden nightstand drawers. My bedside gun also has both grip and trigger safeties.

The other gun is hidden in my library about 6ft. high behind books. This is a .357 revolver, so I really worry about this one. This room is off limits to her and has a child gate in front of it.

At this age, I am not so worried about it. In a few years, I will have to have the talk with her. At this point she knows they are dangerous and that no one touches them but daddy.
 
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I'm fortunate not to have to deal with having kids right now, but I imagine when I do, all my guns will be unloaded and/or locked up, and a single gun will be either on my body or in a quick-access safe, loaded because they don't shoot right unloaded.
 
I struggle with the original poster's question all of the time. I have a 4 year old daughter and over 30 guns. All of my guns, but 3 are stored unloaded in a secret room behind our closet that my child cannot access. You have to take off part of the wall-frame to access it.

Two of the loaded guns are stored in my nightstand and my wife's nightstand. Both guns are very hard to rack the slide and neither gun has a round in the chamber. I know many people discourage not keeping a round in the chamber with a HD gun, but I feel it is a good countermeasure against my daughter. My wife even has trouble racking my handgun's slide, but she has mastered hers. There is no way that my daughter could rack the slide if she happened to find the gun in our hidden nightstand drawers. My bedside gun also has both grip and trigger safeties.

The other gun is hidden in my library about 6ft. high behind books. This is a .357 revolver, so I really worry about this one. This room is off limits to her and has a child gate in front of it.

At this age, I am not so worried about it. In a few years, I will have to have the talk with her. At this point she knows they are dangerous and that no one touches them but daddy.
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I know that you're trying to keep your family safe by having firearms "at the ready" in case you need to stop an intruder, but I think you're being naive by assuming that a) your daughter could never rack a slide and b) that something 6' off the ground is out of reach.

http://www.corneredcat.com/Kids/kidstorage.aspx

Anything is reachable with enough motivation. Do your family a favor and lock 'em up. There are enough good safes out there that are fast + easy access that there's really no reason to use them, even in a nightstand.
 
The biggest thing in having guns in the home around kids is to teach them at the earliest age how to Respect them...how to Handle them....how to Safely shoot them.....

My friend blew my friends brains out playing with a lever action 30/30 when we were 12.....his idiot dad never once taught him a damn thing about firearms....not even bb guns....

and when he (like all kids) went searching his parents room he found it buried in the closet and decided he wanted to show the cool cowboy rifle to my friend. when he operated the lever his finger was in the trigger guard and as soon as he closed action....a bullet went thru my friends chin and out the top of his head


DONT BE A FOOL.....DONT HIDE YOUR GUNS FROM YOUR KIDS.....TEACH THEM
 
I struggle with the original poster's question all of the time. I have a 4 year old daughter and over 30 guns. All of my guns, but 3 are stored unloaded in a secret room behind our closet that my child cannot access. You have to take off part of the wall-frame to access it.

Two of the loaded guns are stored in my nightstand and my wife's nightstand. Both guns are very hard to rack the slide and neither gun has a round in the chamber. I know many people discourage not keeping a round in the chamber with a HD gun, but I feel it is a good countermeasure against my daughter. My wife even has trouble racking my handgun's slide, but she has mastered hers. There is no way that my daughter could rack the slide if she happened to find the gun in our hidden nightstand drawers. My bedside gun also has both grip and trigger safeties.

The other gun is hidden in my library about 6ft. high behind books. This is a .357 revolver, so I really worry about this one. This room is off limits to her and has a child gate in front of it.

At this age, I am not so worried about it. In a few years, I will have to have the talk with her. At this point she knows they are dangerous and that no one touches them but daddy.
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My wife really doesn't want to have a self defense weapon in the house because she hears all the anecdotal stories of children harming themselves or others with guns they found. I can't help but think that the quoted above is very often how these situations happen...NEVER underestimate the determination of a curious child. Please safeguard those weapons. There are numerous options that allow quick access in self defense situations but also keep the pistol safely out of curious hands.
 
I appreciate the advice and have locked up the revolver. I feel safe with the two nightstand semi-autos. My daughter is only 4 and cannot rack the slide. My wife barely can rack my XD45. Again, there is no round in the chamber. The guns are hidden in a false nightstand drawer. My daughter is not allowed to wander the house alone. There is a child/dog gate that keeps her from getting upstairs.

I will continue to increase her gun education as well.

I really believe that most accidents happen with a loaded chamber. Even if my daughter possessed the strength to rack the slide, there is no way she would even know to do so.
 
My daughter is not allowed to wander the house alone.
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Wow, really? And she's 4?! Life in a SuperMax.

Do whatever you want, but IMO, this amounts to nothing more than "aahh, she knows better than try and play with one of my loaded firearms." Personally, I'll rely on a physical lock.
 
Life in a SuperMax
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That's ridiculous. Just because some parents make the choice and the effort to keep track of their kids doesn't mean their home is a prison or that their actions are in any way out of line. From what you see on the streets and in the news a lot more parents could stand to re-examine their priorities in this area. Facebook should be a much lower priority than your kids, but you would never know it from the amount of time spent on each.
 
some parents make the choice and the effort to keep track of their kids
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My 4 year old girl was into everything all the time, and the questions were constant :) I miss them days she is now 22 and knows a lot about guns and such. I needed a GPS tacking system for her, one minute she was there, next over here.

I keep all my guns locked up except for the one. Why? not out of mis trust, but say she has a friend over, friend goes and sees the gun cabinet I once had my guns displayed in. He used a key got it open and took each gun out and put them back in but in diff spots. All were loaded, now what if he had pointed one at my girl and fired it and killed her? I would be liable for leaving a gun unsecured, yep is a law in a lot of states so check it out and be carefull. I now have them all locked up safe and sound except for the one.

Teach the kids yes, but lock them up so the kids friends, enemies, or whatever cannot get to them.
 
blue

I am like you, and I plan ahead since my oldest is 2 1/2 - the electronic safe is very, very quick access and cheap. someone(not a 4yr old) could walk off with the safe, but they couldn't open it and pull the trigger. I bought it because of my own fears. You seem to be on top of things, but remember your child will learn and pick things up much quicker than you think: example only, beginner's luck racking the slide, venturing thru parts of the house days and weeks before an old fart like you realizes it(pun only, I'm one too). If it worries you, its probably best to do something about it(like you did with the revolver). right now you're not worried about the nightstand so you are ok, but when 6?, 7?, you get the point
 
Most of these safe's I've seen mentioned in this thread (except for the huge one with 15 shotguns :p) seem made just for a single weapon and some magazines, etc.

Do most of you have multiple safes then or is everyone just mainly talking about these smaller safes for near the bed?

I'd like 1 bigger floor mount safe and then a small safe box which is quick to access (that is OK to hold 1 gun).
 
Most of these safe's I've seen mentioned in this thread (except for the huge one with 15 shotguns ) seem made just for a single weapon and some magazines, etc.

Do most of you have multiple safes then or is everyone just mainly talking about these smaller safes for near the bed?

I'd like 1 bigger floor mount safe and then a small safe box which is quick to access (that is OK to hold 1 gun).
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The OP asked how to store your HD handgun and have it accessible and that's why all the handgun safes. Yes I have both as they are separate needs.
 
Your kid can't rack the slide until they can. How do you know this? You let them try it. Then they figure out how. There are videos of kids that age doing it.

I will be strong, if you think a kid can't rack and let them have access - you are making a very stupid mistake.
 
Biometric lock-boxes are great for when the kids are very small. My oldest started shooting from my lap when he was about 4, shooting by himself at 6, and has since turned into one of the best young shooters (safety as well as ability) that I know of--not because I'm biased but because some of the pro's I shoot with use him on the competition ranges for a runner and spend a lot of time shooting with him free-form. He's still a teenager but among the old vets on the range he's just another of the guys with proven ability and full liberty with all our weapons. The trick here is to start them young, remove the mystery and awe, drill safety-safety-SAFETY into them right from the beginning. The constant use of a "don't touch" policy only moves to intensify the curiosity and desire to investigate on their own later--which will never be when you're around to intervene.
 
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