I've read the advice that if you're concerned enough about a home invasion to have a loaded gun at home, then you should carry it on your person because it won't do you any good locked away in a drawer or a safe. That makes sense, and for now I'm not going to be carrying while at home. So I'm not looking at options for quick access to a ready firearm.
I already have a very secure pistol safe--a simplex unit made by V-Line that seems fairly well indestructible and unbreakable, so long as I'm not an idiot and forget to twist the knob when I close the lid (because it does not latch automatically).
So here's my situation--I have small kids in the home, whom I've taught the basic rules about "stop, don't touch, and go tell an adult" in case they ever see a gun in any location. The youngest is just turning four. Regardless, I don't ever want to risk anyone coming across a weapon that can lead to disaster. Until now it's not been a concern because the guns are in the safe, ammo is in a different safe in a different location, and never the twain shall meet. Now with my CCW license, I'll have to address the issue of having a loaded firearm at home, even if only briefly.
So what's the lower risk path?
My first option would seem to be to leave the gun loaded and always either on my person (holstered, obviously) or else locked securely. I could transfer the gun from my waist to the safe and back again without ever having to take it from the holster. This would eliminate the chances of any negligent discharge ever occurring when making the gun safe, or reloading. I've had the "four rules" drilled into me for a long time, but I still know that any time I handle an unholstered firearm there's a chance for error, however small. This way, I'd really only ever unload it when doing dry fire practice, etc. So the risk here would be in having a loaded gun away from me--locked, securely, but still loaded, and I've heard enough stories of disaster from friends/family who are doctors, nurses and paramedics to be absolutely paranoid about my own kids.
The other option would be to make the gun safe before it goes into the safe. That eliminates the loaded gun in the house, but it also means I'll be handling a loaded gun IN the house on a semi-regular basis. So I trade the risk of someone accessing the locked firearm, for the risk of myself making a blunder with a loaded firearm.
My brain computes the first option (handle it as little as possible, and keep it safely locked) as being lower risk. My gut still says that having a loaded gun in the house, even in an armored vault guarded by RoboCop, is somehow a risk to my family. Maybe that's a mental hangup, I dunno.
How have other people resolved it?
I've read a lot about negligence, and it seems the overwhelming number of accidents with small kids come when someone leaves a loaded gun unsecured in a place where "I never thought the kids would look." That certainly will never be the case here.
(And a related question...better to tell the kids where the safe is, and what's inside it...or keep it hidden? Again my brain says the first is better, but my gut gets queasy at the thought of them knowing where it is.)
I already have a very secure pistol safe--a simplex unit made by V-Line that seems fairly well indestructible and unbreakable, so long as I'm not an idiot and forget to twist the knob when I close the lid (because it does not latch automatically).
So here's my situation--I have small kids in the home, whom I've taught the basic rules about "stop, don't touch, and go tell an adult" in case they ever see a gun in any location. The youngest is just turning four. Regardless, I don't ever want to risk anyone coming across a weapon that can lead to disaster. Until now it's not been a concern because the guns are in the safe, ammo is in a different safe in a different location, and never the twain shall meet. Now with my CCW license, I'll have to address the issue of having a loaded firearm at home, even if only briefly.
So what's the lower risk path?
My first option would seem to be to leave the gun loaded and always either on my person (holstered, obviously) or else locked securely. I could transfer the gun from my waist to the safe and back again without ever having to take it from the holster. This would eliminate the chances of any negligent discharge ever occurring when making the gun safe, or reloading. I've had the "four rules" drilled into me for a long time, but I still know that any time I handle an unholstered firearm there's a chance for error, however small. This way, I'd really only ever unload it when doing dry fire practice, etc. So the risk here would be in having a loaded gun away from me--locked, securely, but still loaded, and I've heard enough stories of disaster from friends/family who are doctors, nurses and paramedics to be absolutely paranoid about my own kids.
The other option would be to make the gun safe before it goes into the safe. That eliminates the loaded gun in the house, but it also means I'll be handling a loaded gun IN the house on a semi-regular basis. So I trade the risk of someone accessing the locked firearm, for the risk of myself making a blunder with a loaded firearm.
My brain computes the first option (handle it as little as possible, and keep it safely locked) as being lower risk. My gut still says that having a loaded gun in the house, even in an armored vault guarded by RoboCop, is somehow a risk to my family. Maybe that's a mental hangup, I dunno.
How have other people resolved it?
I've read a lot about negligence, and it seems the overwhelming number of accidents with small kids come when someone leaves a loaded gun unsecured in a place where "I never thought the kids would look." That certainly will never be the case here.
(And a related question...better to tell the kids where the safe is, and what's inside it...or keep it hidden? Again my brain says the first is better, but my gut gets queasy at the thought of them knowing where it is.)