Loaded hand guns & kids in the house

[burntmuch]

My 3 y/o son caught me putting a rifle in the safe the other day. He didnt know what the big metal box was before that. He seen all the guns & his eyes lit up. Right now all my guns are under lock & key, But I would like my wife or myself to be able to reach the handgun in a timely manner if needed. But I still need to keep the handgun under lock & key some how. What are my options & what did some of you guys do with your handguns when you had kids in the house.   Jay

[Graybeard]

My three boys were raised with guns to included loaded ones all over the house and in plain sight of them. They were talked from the earliest of days they do not touch the guns unless they ask permission first and I'm there to supervise.

When a new gun came home if they wanted I'd show them how to check to be sure it wasn't loaded them hand it to them to handle and get the newness of it out of their system. Ya just gotta teach them from the time they are babies to respect the firearms and not to mess with them. Make them a big secret and you assure they will try to get to them and handle them behind your back.

[myronman3]

**i see the boss beat me to the punch on this one.   i couldnt agree more with him.   my experience is about identical.  **   (the following is my original response)

   there are alot of quick access safes out there.   i bought one years ago, and i am sure they have only got better.     
   the best thing you can to is teach those babies from day one.   i am super confident that i could leave a gun in a room with my kids all day long and they wouldnt touch it.    you cant always be there, and kids are pretty damn smart.    some will disagree with me, and some will flame me.   but i still say that educating your kids is the hands down best precaution you can take.

[Spirithawk]

When my kids were young I had guns every where as I was both a collecter and a hunter. Many were loaded 24/7. One time the kids teachers paid a visit and freaked. That is untill my son and daughters, all under 11yrs. old, proceeded to tell them the house rules and all about gun safety. I'm a firm believer that if you hide something away from a kid they will find it. If you simply tell them no, without exsplaining why, they'll investigate it out of curiosity. I took all my kids out and let them watch me shoot milk jugs filled with water. I explained that what the bullets did to those jugs is what they'd do to someone's body if hit with one. I showed them also what a bullet did to a deer.  I taught them gun safety first and how to shoot second. They knew that if they wanted to handle or shoot a gun it was as simple as just asking. However, to touch one without asking would be dealt with in a maner they would not like. They would even tell their friends that they were welcome but if they even went near one of my guns they would be kicked out the door and never to return. Only once was one ever touched and I felt partly to blame. I bought my son a water pistol that looked like a German Luger. I so happened to keep a Luger at the head of my bed. I came in from work and noticed it was not laying as I'd left it. When asked my son right away owned up to looking at it, comparing it to his water gun. He didn't pick it up but had spun it around to better see it. He was just at the age I had started taking him fishing and hunting. He lost those privliges for a full year. It hurt to see him standing at the gate as I'd leave but he'll tell you today that it was a lesson well learned. Curiosity is why kids look at guns. Take the curiosity away and you'd be surprised at how quickly they learn to be safe.

[burntmuch]

I agree with all thats been said, My 2 9 y/o daughters grew up shooting with me & understand never to touch a gun if Im not around, But the boy is 3 y/o, I just think thats to young to understand 

[myronman3]

my boys have seen them from day one.   so they are nothing new.   it is in the same catagory as the broom in the corner.     kids will surprise ya. 

[223fan]

+1 on what Greybeard said.

[squirrellluck]

I married into a family when I married. My new wife had 3 young boys. Youngest was 7 oldest 12. They were not raised around guns until I came along. I began teaching them about gun safety. I brought out all my guns and layed them out on the bed. That first time I let them see me unload or check each gun for ammo. Then I had them all repeat the process. Once that was done we all got to hold and look at each gun. I explained that every gun was loaded and we never point at things we don't aim to kill. We then put them all away with my promise to bring them back out in a few days to do it again and their promise not to touch them unless I was with them. Over time we brought them out and the times they asked became farther and father apart until the new was gone. Later we began shooting after about a year of safety lessons. The boys enjoyed shooting but never took a big interest in hunting. Even now that they are grown they will ask before touching one of my firearms and they still check for ammo cause Daddy says all guns are loaded! As was said earlier kids are curious critters. If it is hid the will search for it. Educate, educate, educate. And the bonus is later in life you will look back on the quality time you spent with your kids teaching about something we love. My brother's son is 4. He understands she my surprise you but you are her father and know  what she will understand. Do what you feel in your gut is best for yourself and her

[billy_56081]

Bill basically said what I was going to say.

[powderman]

Bill basically said what I was going to say.

YEP, me too. POWDERMAN. 

[FourBee]

Nothing more needs be said.  The above responders covered the bases pretty well.   The only gun safe a frontier household knew was the old wall hanger over the fireplace (maybe).

[wgr]

my kids were raised with guns. they knew that id they touched one it was me and them in the wood shed. now if one of them wanted to look at one are ask questions i would get one and show them the proper way to handle it. i believe trying to hid something from a kid is like playing Russian roulette with and auto. pistol just asking for trouble

[DDZ]

That settles it. Educating your kids about guns, and getting them familiar with them is the most sure fire way to avoid an accident, and I agree 100%. Of coarse they have to be old enough to understand also.
 Locking up your guns, hiding them from your kids, and making them taboo is one of the worst things you can do. Now when other kids are at your home, and you don't know their background when it comes to guns, that is a different story.   

[Shu]

When my oldest was 3 we went out and shot some milk jugs full of water. She saw what guns could do. Take the mystery away immediately. My kids have never touched a gun without permission and they know every gun is loaded until they personally check it to see that it's not.

Mystery and sneaking about causes accidents.

[Flash]

My three boys were raised with guns to included loaded ones all over the house and in plain sight of them. They were talked from the earliest of days they do not touch the guns unless they ask permission first and I'm there to supervise.

When a new gun came home if they wanted I'd show them how to check to be sure it wasn't loaded them hand it to them to handle and get the newness of it out of their system. Ya just gotta teach them from the time they are babies to respect the firearms and not to mess with them. Make them a big secret and you assure they will try to get to them and handle them behind your back.

My father did the same thing for me. He shared his excitement of a new gun with me but always instructed me about their safe handling and that i should never touch them without his permission.

[Old Fart]

I pretty much agree with everyone about introducing my kids to guns.
I still keep most of them locked up is my safe.
What guns are out of the safe are both figuratively and most likely actually loaded and they know to be careful.

When they were small I introduced thme to the dangerous side of fireamrs and gun safety.
The one thing I did to help alleviate the curiousity thing was let them know anytime they wanted to we could get them out and looked, play, shoot, clean, disassemble/reassemble, or anything else you might want to do with one. For us that was pretty easy as I refused to live in town. So if they wanted to plink, well we would go plink. If they wanted to hunt something we would go hunt. To this day I keep plenty of 22lr available to plink with the grandkids for the same reason. One day last spring I had three of them here and they wanted to go do some plinking. Those rascals went through two and a half bulk packs of 22lr.

[magooch]

My kids are both in their later forties and if my daughter knew of all the guns I've got, she would probably be a little shocked and flabbergasted.  My son knows about some of them, but I'm mostly sorry about that.  When they were youngsters they probably knew that I had guns, but I don't remember them being curious at all.  I don't think either of them could legally own a gun these days without going through some kind of court action.  That's probably as it should be.

[slim rem 7]

it depends on how you run your home an family.. i had loaded guns in easy to reach places
when we raised our family.. would i keep a loaded gun out if the grandkids visited ..not hardly..
they just raised different..err on the safe side..
 ps i raised my family in a home at least 20- 25 minutes from any law..all the action would be over by the time they got there.. unless intruders or threats to my family had succeded in gaining entrance to my house ,i d try to just run them off. if they were already in.. me or him one was probabably gonna meet our maker.. i would not have allowed it to become a contest if i could help
it..

[FourBee]

TM7 ~ could grab it quick even in the dark.

I once thought that too.  Until one late night while hard asleep there was a loud banging at the front door.   I tried jumping up, but I was tangled in the covers, and I couldn't find my glasses, my mind was in total disarray.   After it was all over, I thought through the entire episode, and my main question was, why would I need my glasses in the dark?

[powderman]

TM7 ~ could grab it quick even in the dark.

I once thought that too.  Until one late night while hard asleep there was a loud banging at the front door.   I tried jumping up, but I was tangled in the covers, and I couldn't find my glasses, my mind was in total disarray.   After it was all over, I thought through the entire episode, and my main question was, why would I need my glasses in the dark?

YEP, us too. We are in better shape now than 28 years ago when we moved here but the sheriff back then had ONE deputy who also made emergency medical runs, no ems or emts. Myself and a couple of neighbors had to clean the scum from our road ourselves. A gun being readily available was a necessity. POWDERMAN. 

[DDelle338]

  I'm on the education, education, education team. I also realize that (what someone else posted about ) the "Testing The Flame" type of personality exists. But, I believe that is a learned personality. Some people teach that to their kids without realizing it.
  We had an old friend, a woman and her child move in with us after an abuse. As soon as they came, I locked up the loaded handguns. She was the type to count to 3 when he was bad. She'd get to 3 and start all over or change the subject. I knew there was going to be problems! Needless to say, I reluctantly kept them locked up while he was here.

[pastorp]

I to raised my 4 kids with guns all over the house. They could handle them if they asked. As soon as they were big enough I taught them to shoot along with gun safety.
I spent the money to have rifles cut down for their use, and my son started hunting with me at age 5.

If schoolteachers are concerned about gun safety start teaching it in the schools. In Alaska they teach moose safety & bear safety in the schools. Why not gun safety. When I was a kid the police dept had a summer firearms safety course. I wanted a 22rifle of my own. My parents said go take the course so I rode the bus out to the police range all summer to take the course. When I passed my dad took me down to sears and bought me a 22rifle. I still have it. I've had a loaded gun ever since.

Regards,

[Mohawk]

My son was used to seeing me open carry it daily and is used to it. But they have some excellent quick open safes for nightstand guns if you feel the need to get one.  Fingerprint technology is great.

[Sourdough]

I raised my kids the same way it seems most others here raised theirs.  Guns stashed all over the house loaded, just up high where little kids could not reach.  Both my boys were shooting with Chipmunks at the age of three with their Mom's help.  Then at the age of five she let them handle the gun and do everything themselves.  At the age of five I had each one shoot Mom's .44 carbine. bu themselves.  That convinced them they did not want to have anything to do with big guns till they were big renough to handle it.

At the age of 10 we put them in the 4-H shooting program.  Every other Saturday, one hour of NRA gun safety course.  Then one hour shooting .22LR on the range.  First part of the program we taught the NRA course as mentioned before, second half of the program we taught the State Hunter Safety Course.  When the kids finished the course they got their State Hunter Safety Card.

Want to relate an experience here.  In 2005 my brother-in-law Rick came up to visit.  I took him on a Caribou Hunt in the Alaska Range.  Upon returning I laid my Shoulder holster with my .454 Casull down on the landing to the stairs.  That corner was it's usual location when I am home, and it is usually loaded.  Rick and I were in the kitchen making lunch when Sky (my son) and Eric (neighbors son) came home.  Both boys immediately ran up the stairs to Sky's room.  A few minutes later here they come down the stairs, making more noise than two humans should be making just going down the stairs.  Out into the garage they went.  shortly here they come back in from the garage and back up the stairs shaking the whole house as they go up the stairs.  (All 15yr olds have big feet).  Rick turned to me and said, "You need to go do something".  I'm thinking what do I need to go do?  Rick said it again, still I could not think of something I needed to go do.  Finally I said "OK Rick, what is it that you think I need to go do.  Rick said, "You need to go unload that pistol and put it away.  There is a strange boy in this house and you don't know what he will do if he sees that gun laying on the landing.  I started laughing, and Rick started getting mad. 

I yelled "Boys come out where I can see you".  They knew that meant I wanted to talk to them.  They both came out on the balcony overlooking the kitchen.  I asked "Boys what is on the landing"?  They both looked sown the stairs and replied, "Your gun".  I asked, "Do either one of you want to mess with it"?  Eric somehow knew he needed to address that to Rick, Eric leaned over the rail and looking Rick straight in the face said, "No way, We've shot that thing once and we never want to do that again"!  Then I informed Rick about the lessions my wife and I had taught both of those two boys from the time they were small.  Rick could never understand that. 

[DANNY-L]

I vote graybeard for daycare and gun safety

[powderman]

Another thing I did was to show the kids how destructive the lowly 22 can be. I'd fill a couple of coke cans with water and shoot them, splitting the cans wide open. They learned quickly that real guns are not toys.
DDEL. I never counted either. My wifes daughter did that stupid crap. All that did was train the kids NOT to obey knowing that usually there were no consequences for bad behaviour. POWDERMAN. 

[Mohawk]

Good point, TM7. Also, many burglaries can be traced directly back to teenage friends of the occupant's kids. Maybe not the kid's friends themselves but definately a third party to them. I don't want my gun's locations to be whispered througout a high school. 

[Sourdough]

Never worried about burguleries, that's a dangerous profession in this area.  We had one back when we first moved here in the mid 80s.  No other houses in the neighbor hood, our house was the only one on this street.  Wife and I both worked, no kids then, not even a dog.  Wife was sick that day and stayed home.  She heard something downstairs, and knowing I was at work she was suspicious.  As she got out of bed she pulled her 12ga Mossburg pump with 18 inch barrel out of it's hiding place and walked out on the balcony.  There was a man in the kitchen.  She pointed the shotgun at the fellow, then jacked a round into the chamber.  He made a mistake of raising his arms.  She fired.  He screamed and ran through the glass door going out onto the deck.  He fell on the deck then got up and ran screaming all the way.  She called the troopers, and they came right out.  The troopers followed his tracks and blood out to the road where they found tire tracks and indications a vehicle left fast.

Troopers came back to the house and checked the loads in the shotgun.  We had been shooting clay targets out in the back yard a few days before, and the shotgun was still loaded with number twelve shot.  Anyway a few days later a guy showed up at the hospital that had been shot with a shotgun in the chest and arms.  Pellets was still under the skin and getting infected.  Troopers marked this guy as a suspect, but before they found enough evidence to arrest him he was shot by another homeowner, and he did not survive that one.

In the mid 90s we had someone break into our shed.  They stayed away from the house I feel due to the dogs running loose in the house.  A 30-06 Handi barrel was stolen with a Shepard scope, they were in a pack bungied to my 4-wheeler.  The oerson had tried to get the 4-wheeler out, but it was too heavy and it would not start.  When we came home I had an idea who it was, but could not prove it.  A teenager had been over a few days before and he had displayed a lot of interest in the shed.  Anyway a couple of weeks later he was caught with some missing items by a group of teens.  A fight insued and he was losing.  He got loose and jumped on someone elses hot crotch rocket type 4-wheeler and tried to get away.  The others gave chase, and in the chase he ran head-on into a Birch Tree.  He was killed instantly.  Oh well, His attitude got him killed.   

[oldsoldja]

we carry loaded clips and empty guns

[Curtis]

Everything has been well said, and I practiced exactly what has been said above about teaching safety and eliminating curiosity.  I've told more than one friend or family member that I "gunproofed my kids, not kidproofed my guns".  The first time my daughter and son were curious about my guns was when I was cleaning them at the dining table after coming back from the shooting range.  That is when the teaching began.  After they were trustworthy with firearms, I didn't worry about the neighborhood kids, as I trusted my kids enough to watch out for them.  If they had ever made a move toward my guns, my kids would have stopped them and called for me or my wife immediately.  I even had the opportunity to "gunproof" a few of their closest friends.  I wonder if I should have asked their parent's permission first?  Naaaa!  Never even crossed my mind.

Ironically, now that the kids are grown, I keep the guns locked up.  I have a couple of those "gun-vault" quick opening safes strategically located for the home defense pieces.  The main reason for that is I no longer have dogs.  On the off chance someone gets the drop on me, I don't want to be staring down the barrel of my own weapon.

Curtis