Kids in the house and night stand guns: empty chamber?

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Kids or no kids, a bedside home defense weapon should be instantly available. Lock it up if you have to during the day, but when things go bump in the night, you are not doing your family any favors if you can’t react.
 
Pistoler0 said:
I am not a believer in "supercarry" (carrying inside the home) so when I am at home the gun is in my bedside safe. By the way I recommend V-line or Fort Knox push button safes for those who like me are not comfortable with electronic safes. These push button safes are very quick to access and very reliable!.

However when I sleep, I do not trust that I would have the time to access my bedside safe (which is under my bed) during a home invasion. So while I sleep I keep my gun un-holstered under my mattress, loaded mag but WITHOUT A ROUND IN THE CHAMBER. It is my experience that little hands cannot rack a slide (my 8 y.o cannot rack the slide of my 9mm although he can rack the slide of this 22lr pistol). I do not believe in carrying empty chamber, but I think that for home defense with little ones in the house it is a good balance.

So my safety approach with kids in the house is:

1. Long guns in rifle safe with keys stored in bedside push button safe.
2. Hand guns for home defense (and keys to the rifle safe) in bedside push button quick safe, chamber loaded.
3. While sleeping, handgun under mattress with a full magazine but without a round in the chamber.

How do you fellow gun owners with kids manage your situation? I'd be eager to learn about different approaches and ideas.
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Since you have the Simplex lock on your handgun safes, you could place one where it is easier to access at night so you can leave your gun inside it and still have it quickly accessible.

With this lock you can pre-punch all or part of your combination when going to bed so you only have to turn the knob to open it or punch say the last number or two in your code and turn the knob.

When you leave in the morning, just reset the combination by turning the knob counterclockwise.

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At least with this method there's no chance you forget and leave your gun under the mattress.

Not sure if you carry your home defense gun, but if you do then you probably won't forget it under the mattress. But then that would create a daily scenario of chambering and unchambering a round and that would increase the chances of an AD/ND. For me all my defensive guns stay chambered and my carry gun is different than my home defense gun.
 
cjwils said:
Over and over on various internet forums I see comments from people who think their kids are perfectly trained and would never do anything dangerous with a gun when adults are not around. I say hogwash to that.

Kids lie. Kids misbehave. I misbehaved when I was a kid. You misbehaved when you where a kid. If you deny that you misbehaved, then I am 100% certain that you lie. So why do you think that your kids will be perfect angels? They are not.

Kids cannot be trusted with guns when adults are not around. If you have kids, kept the guns locked up. Keep them locked up!!!. KEEP THEM LOCKED UP!
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Also, this assumes all their friends and everyone else who comes in the house are also going to do the correct thing all the time.
 
I'm glad I grew up when I did and not in todays world where you have to be so safety anal. From the time I was born there were always loaded guns in every corner, in every closet, in just about every drawer, in racks all through the house. I had my own revolver at 10, my own 12 gauge shotgun at 11 and my own high powered rifle at 12. Todays world sucks.
 
Hawg said:
I'm glad I grew up when I did and not in todays world where you have to be so safety anal. From the time I was born there were always loaded guns in every corner, in every closet, in just about every drawer, in racks all through the house. I had my own revolver at 10, my own 12 gauge shotgun at 11 and my own high powered rifle at 12. Todays world sucks.
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Yeah safety consciousness is a real bear.

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk
 
Mannlicher said:
Kids or no kids, a bedside home defense weapon should be instantly available. Lock it up if you have to during the day, but when things go bump in the night, you are not doing your family any favors if you can’t react.
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This is getting tedious BUT loaded and ready HG ON the night stand with 8yo and 6yo sometimes wandering around into mom's and dad's room at night? Throw in heavy-ish sleeper..bad idea, IMHO..safe, easy access, next to bed, more better, again, IMHO..
 
cjwils wrote:

Over and over on various internet forums I see comments from people who think their kids are perfectly trained and would never do anything dangerous with a gun when adults are not around. I say hogwash to that.

Kids lie. Kids misbehave. I misbehaved when I was a kid. You misbehaved when you where a kid. If you deny that you misbehaved, then I am 100% certain that you lie. So why do you think that your kids will be perfect angels? They are not.

.....
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So you raised your kids just like you!
 
I come down on the side of 0% chance of kids getting a gun 100% of the time, absolutely no exceptions ever.

Secondary is making it easy to grab a gun anytime for any reason.

I also think if an intruder has gained access to the interior of your home, you have already failed the most important test. Spend all effort to make that impossible.
 
I am puzzled by the statement by RaySendero. Does he really think kids can always be trusted? It does not matter who raised kids how, their judgement is always suspect. Misbehaving in secret is one way that kids learn to mature by testing limits.
 
I am puzzled by the statement by RaySendero. Does he really think kids can always be trusted? It does not matter who raised kids how, their judgement is always suspect. Misbehaving in secret is one way that kids learn to mature by testing limits.
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I can't speak for him or anybody else but I knew from a very early age what would happen if I ever touched a gun without permission. I knew it wouldn't be pretty and I never did.
 
I can't speak for him or anybody else but I knew from a very early age what would happen if I ever touched a gun without permission. I knew it wouldn't be pretty and I never did.
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Hawg, sounds like you were (maybe still are) a good little rule follower.

Problem is, for better or worse, you probably aren't in the norm.
 
All I know is literally every single tragedy in the news is one where the parents knew their kids would never touch or find the gun...
 
All I know is literally every single tragedy in the news is one where the parents knew their kids would never touch or find the gun...
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Todays kids. Not the kids of my time.
 
Pyzon said:
I come down on the side of 0% chance of kids getting a gun 100% of the time, absolutely no exceptions ever.

Secondary is making it easy to grab a gun anytime for any reason.

I also think if an intruder has gained access to the interior of your home, you have already failed the most important test. Spend all effort to make that impossible.
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This is a little far afield of the actual topic, but I have had a conversation about home defense with a number of people in the past in which I learned they had firearms in multiple locations, secured or otherwise, but no home security system or even basic door and window alarms. "Let 'em come" sounds pretty cool in movies but sheesh.

I've had only a few bumps in the night, usually gravity-related in some manner, often assisted by a cat. The fact that I heard a thump, but no alarm, was a good sign that it was not due to anyone intruding.
 
Kids or no kids, a bedside home defense weapon should be instantly available. Lock it up if you have to during the day, but when things go bump in the night, you are not doing your family any favors if you can’t react.
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Why is it that so many people emphasize 'bedside" and "night"?
 
Mannlicher said:
Kids or no kids, a bedside home defense weapon should be instantly available. Lock it up if you have to during the day, but when things go bump in the night, you are not doing your family any favors if you can’t react.
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If you have to have it "instantly available".... then you've already FAILED.

Long before one considers a firearm, they need to plan and put in place the means to slow criminals down -AND- warn the occupants before entry is made. This notion of "instantly available" etc, is just an emotional crutch used by the unprepared. Criminals aren't going to fast rope through your windows guns blazing. It's just a silly notion.

The reality is that you aren't doing your family any favors if you do not have early warning and barriers to slow entry.
 
If you have to have it "instantly available".... then you've already FAILED.

Long before one considers a firearm, they need to plan and put in place the means to slow criminals down -AND- warn the occupants before entry is made. This notion of "instantly available" etc, is just an emotional crutch used by the unprepared. Criminals aren't going to fast rope through your windows guns blazing. It's just a silly notion.

The reality is that you aren't doing your family any favors if you do not have early warning and barriers to slow entry.
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I totally agree with the spirit of this post. Well said
 
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