Safe concealed carry around the children

ADs, holsters, common sense....

Firearm safety & kids means more than holsters with retention straps or level II/III systems.
Some holsters or gear are safer or more practical but training & common sense can avoid nearly 98-99% of most ADs(discharges or mishaps).
I say 99% because I read of an off-duty sworn LE officer who somehow had a loaded single action(cond 1/locked & loaded) 1911a1 .45acp "go off" in a MRI machine. The documented incident took place in NY. The gun owner didn't touch the firearm and it somehow discharged while he was laying in the device. Even the doctors & X-ray techs were surprised.
To me, proper safety & gun tactics can be used to insure against any events.
Clyde
 
I have carried CCW since my youngest was born. We now have 4 ages 5-10 and they all know I carry everywhere legal. It is nothing to them at this point as they consider it just another item I put on each day like a belt, etc. We have an unwritten rule to never mention it when out in public, but otherwise my kids have grown up around guns and treat them respectfully. I have on occasion intentionally left my gun (unloaded) on my night stand and everytime one of my children would see it, they would immediately come get me without handling it. That being said, that was just a test for my own sake and my gun is either in a pocket holster or Milt Sparks IWB or in my safe at all times. I NEVER leave a loaded gun laying out where it could be handled by anyone else.
 
And not having one in the chamber is the most useful thing in the world if the hammer falls while wrestling with your kids. What else you got?

Not having a round in the chamber happens to be by far the most effective short of not having any ammo in the gun at all or not having a gun period. If you believe me to be wrong on this point then please point out an alternate method of carry that is safer.
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How about not wrestling with your kids while armed? Just like I probably wouldn't be playing football, basketball, or any number of other potential rough-house sports activities while armed. Sensible trade-offs have to be made.

In the OPs case, concern about accidental (or otherwise) general contact by his kids, I think the suggestion of a good quality holster that covers the trigger combined with a relatively "safe" firearm is his ticket, along with some discussion with his kids about his concerns.

I have 2 girls, 5 and 6, and I always have one in the pipe. It is never out of my sight or off my person while they are around, which I feel is about the safest scenario possible short of having it locked up. If you ever HAVE to pull your weapon, having to rack one in the process could very well get you killed.
 
I say 99% because I read of an off-duty sworn LE officer who somehow had a loaded single action(cond 1/locked & loaded) 1911a1 .45acp "go off" in a MRI machine. The documented incident took place in NY. The gun owner didn't touch the firearm and it somehow discharged while he was laying in the device. Even the doctors & X-ray techs were surprised.
To me, proper safety & gun tactics can be used to insure against any events.
Clyde
ClydeFrog is offline Report Post
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Can you cite the source on this? I find this very...confusing. If I recall an MRI machine causes a very very intense magnetic field within the chamber and I can't imagine that ANYONE would allow a loaded firearm within its confines. Anytime I had one done anything metal inside was a definite no no.
 
How about not wrestling with your kids while armed? Just like I probably wouldn't be playing football, basketball, or any number of other potential rough-house sports activities while armed. Sensible trade-offs have to be made.
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Agreed.


Can you cite the source on this? I find this very...confusing. If I recall an MRI machine causes a very very intense magnetic field within the chamber and I can't imagine that ANYONE would allow a loaded firearm within its confines. Anytime I had one done anything metal inside was a definite no no.
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IIRC, he didn't get close enough to lay down in the thing- he got close to the machine and the gun was ripped off his belt.

Here it is:

http://www.ajronline.org/content/178/5/1092.full

Due to a misunderstanding, he entered the room with the pistol. He tried to set it on a cabinet about 3' away from the bore of the MRI scanner and the gun leaped from his hand and stuck to the machine. This is what happened at that point:

At the time the weapon discharged, it was reportedly in a cocked and locked position; that is, the hammer was cocked and the thumb safety was engaged to prevent the hammer from striking the firing pin. A live round was in the chamber. (Many people who choose this weapon for personal protection will carry it in this manner because it allows them to quickly fire the weapon if needed.)

When the firearm was removed from the magnet, the gun was still in a cocked and locked position. An empty cartridge was found in the chamber. The presence of an empty cartridge in the chamber is highly unusual. If the thumb safety were not engaged and the weapon fired normally by depressing the trigger, the normal backward recoil of the slide should have automatically ejected the empty cartridge, and a new live round should have automatically been chambered. As discussed earlier, the thumb safety performs two functions: it prevents the sear from releasing the hammer, thereby preventing the hammer from striking the firing pin; it also locks the slide in place, preventing retrograde motion of the slide and automatic ejection of the empty cartridge. Thus, the presence of an empty cartridge in the chamber confirms that the thumb safety was engaged at the time the gun was fired. Given that the thumb safety was engaged when the gun discharged, it is also likely that the normal trigger and hammer mechanism of firing the gun was bypassed because the thumb safety would have also prevented release of the hammer.

The gun likely discharged as a result of the effect of the magnetic field on the firing pin block. The firing pin block was probably drawn into its uppermost position by force of the magnetic field. The firing pin block has to overcome only light pressure from a relatively small spring to release the firing pin. The pistol was likely drawn into the magnetic field so that the muzzle struck the magnet's bore first. With the firing pin allowed to move freely in its channel, the force of the impact on the muzzle end was sufficient to cause the firing pin to overcome its spring pressure and move forward to strike the primer of the chambered round.

This account explains how the weapon discharged when the thumb safety was engaged.

The presence of an empty cartridge in the chamber explains why the gun did not discharge a second time when it was moved from the left to the right side of the bore. Even if the identical forces were repeated, an empty cartridge, not a live round, was in the chamber at this time.
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I was going to post another response regarding carrying one in the chamber, but it isn't worth it. Our job here is to offer suggestions to MadAnthony so he can make an informed decision. He understands by now the safety advantage at home to not having a round in the chamber, and the safety advantage outside the house to having a round in the chamber. That is good enough for me.

BTW, I am in almost precisely the same family situation as MadAnthony, and I have chosen an XD in .45 ACP, with a round in the chamber, as my primary EDC and a P-32, also with one in the chamber, as my BUG.

However, my choice is mine, and MA's should be his, and it should be as accurately informed as we can help him make it, and at the end of the day having no round in the chamber is safer around children, and this is indisputable.
 
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