Need ideas / advice for CPL license and children in home.

Sevens said:
Most of us who carry every single day simply do not stop carrying because we are at home. I cannot imagine the sickened feeling if I were to need my carry gun at home and it was locked up in a safe.

I am used to carrying these days as I have done it for a handful of years now. It only comes off when I am in the shower or in the bed. I'm wearing it the rest of the time.
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I carry the same way, until I hit the bed, or take my clothes off, its on me. I put mine away in a stand up safe when I don't have it on me.



Sevens said:
Fire extinguisher is in the house in the event of a fire. I don't take it out of the attic only when I am deep-frying chicken near the blowing curtains of the open kitchen window.

That's the role of a daily carried handgun. That is why I find a QUALITY holster and a carry gun that I can live with on my hip for all the hours of the day I am vertical and awake.
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So true about why we carry as often as we do.

I enjoy my Alien Gear.
 
Pax said:
Educating the kids is NOT enough. It's a critical layer of safety, but it's only one layer. The other essential layer is keeping guns under the conscious control of a responsible adult, or locked up where children (and criminals, and clueless people) cannot access them.

In any case, you'll need a safe. Small, quick-access safes cost less than $200, many of them less than $100. (See here for one example of an excellent product designed to hold a single firearm.)
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Pax, I agree with most of what you have said, and thank you for your flourishing credentials. I have raised 6 children ranging in age from 25 to 9. With that age range in children, we have grown as parents. One of those children was adopted out of an inner city at 13. I do not have a website dedicated to informing others how to... (I applaud you for spending the time trying to help others).

The part I have trouble with in your recommendations is the need to get a safe. I have had firearms around my children all their lives. I do keep them secure in a storage location, but I have not been convinced by experience or evidence that a safe is a requirement; I will agree it is an easy way to control the problem of access.
I am a strong proponent of education, and you are correct that education alone is not enough. I have learned that children also need practice and guidance in handling firearms. The last thing I want is for my children to accidentally shoot anyone, nor do I want them accidentally shot while at a friends house when that friend finds mommies gun (or daddies), and doesn't know how to react.
I want my children, even the 11 and 9 year old who are still at home, to be able to access a firearm in the event they need to defend themselves. You listed several scenarios that led you to the conclusion to carry a firearm on you while at home. I can envision the same scenarios taking me out of the fight, and leaving my children unprotected. I want them to have the training and guidance to do that very thing. My 11 year old competes in IDPA and 2 gun; my 9 year old also will when his hands get a bit bigger. The point is education is a huge part of the equation, in my view it is the biggest part of the solution. We lived as a society for quit a while without gun safes, yet we seem unable to do so today.

My advise to parents is spend time thinking through this topic, but don't stop thinking about it when you reach some decision. Implement your plan, but constantly reevaluate how you are protecting and preparing your children for the future. More information, better technology, different living conditions, and children themselves should influence how each family answers this question. My solution may not be right for you, and yours may not be right for me.
 
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PAX, that post #13 of yours was the best treatise on gun issues in the home where children are present, that I have ever read. Well done Sir.

I echo those who say that eventually a child in the house WILL find any 'hidden' gun...and I'd add, that most will also know how to find and use a key to a locked drawer as well.

One of the finger actuated safes, bolted to a frig top or the floor may be the best overall solution for many...it's what my son and his wife and two young daughters have settled on...

I have one as well, that sits on my dresser. In use, I remove the gun at bedtime and replace it in the am...never know when the little girls wll be around and believe me they are very curious and SMART. During the day, I carry...

Rod
 
Wear the gun on your body. I never want to experience running to or fumbling to open a safe when bad people come calling. Also, aside of having the gun in a safe, I can't think of a safer place than in a holster on my belt.
 
Well, since they're never in the house alone,
and Mommy packs a pink Taurus 24/7 Pro-C compact
w/17-rd mags...and a Marine Kabar...
if the squishy is getting so bad mom sends the kids to the safe,
to bring her more firepower...the zombie apocalypse has arrived
and small kids carefully, but quickly transferring guns
(who have been taught how to safely transfer them to an adult)
will be quite alright.

As they get older, and more responsible, they'll be intergrated into
our shooting sports, since daddy is a total enabler, Archery will be 1st,
Blackpowder will be second, followed by SASS,
then whatever they want from that point :D
 
It is nice to be at the point in life that there are no kids in my house except for my pups. Mine are not all locked up. However I just keep one loaded out of the tons of guns I have that I one is in my OTB holster when my pants are on.

Life is short.
 
Its really simple. Keep all guns locked in a safe except the one you are carrying. You should be carrying 24/7 anyway.

It takes about 3 seconds to kick in a door during a home invasion. It takes a lot longer then that to make it from the kitchen, couch, or where ever, to get to the gun you have stashed.

It takes less then a half second to get to the gun on your person.

What better way to secure a weapon from kids then having it in your pocket.

I taught my kids to respect guns, they're grown now, so I teach my grandkids to respect guns. I don't know about their friends who come visit and ride 4 wheelers and horses.

Heck at one time I had my granddaughter's 15 girl Volley Ball team for the weekend. I know none of those girls could get into my gun safes, nor could they pick my pocket.

The one thing that scares me more then anything else, is a child getting one of my guns. But I also know a self defense gun, isn't, if its no available.
 
Most of us who carry every single day simply do not stop carrying because we are at home. I cannot imagine the sickened feeling if I were to need my carry gun at home and it was locked up in a safe
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Yup. As a full time police officer, I have been carrying a gun for a living the past 23 years. If I'm awake, It's on me. When I sleep, it's on the floor right under my side of the bed, when I shower, it's on the bathroom counter and the door's locked. You get the idea.

I'm also an instructor, and I will tell you my standard schpeel.......... A gun isn't your wallet, your car keys, or anything else you use daily. It's a tremendous responsibility to decide to carry a gun. The moral and legal consequences for coming home and throwing your gun with your wallet and keys on the table can be devastating. If it's something your going to do, then resign yourself to DO IT RIGHT, ALL THE TIME. If you don't, then you get complacent, and that's where those consequences can become a reality. In today's political climate, if something happens with YOUR gun because you were irresponsible in the act of transporting or storing it, I would speculate you will certainly find yourself (at minimum) giving your life saving to an attorney, and quite possibly behind bars. The SURE way to avoid this is quite simply to KEEP CONTROL OVER IT AT ALL TIMES.
 
i'd say for me the answer would be really simple:

if you dont have the gun on you: store the gun and magazine separate and only carry it with no round in the chamber. also use the safety or decocker

most kids shoot themselves by accident because there was a round already chambered in the semi auto gun and all they had to do is pull the trigger. having a non stock featherweight trigger in a gun makes that a lot easier for little kids.

if the gun and magazine are stored separately the kid has some problems to overcome. first the kid has to have both, then manage to put them together, then manage to rack the slide and then manage to pull the heavy trigger.

if you carry the gun and forget you left it in the bathroom and the kid found it with the magazine inside he'd still have to rack the slide and pull the trigger.

if you follow all basic gun safety rules its impossible for a kid to shoot himself with your gun.
 
:D

It's happened before, will probably happen again. No worries -- and thanks for the kind words.

pax
 
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