Guns Throughout the Home

[OldMac]

I used to like my homak pistol safe in a desk drawer until it stopped opening up for me about 6 months ago. It was quick and large enough for most pistols. Now it blinks all green to acknowledge my combination is correct but doesnt open. Since there is no key overide, I recommend a different type with a key in case the electronics go bad.

 

[Twiki357]

I just received the latest catalog from the NRA store. They have a mantle clock, a book set, and a decorative wooden box for concealing hand guns in the home.

 

[MachIVshooter]

The only safe way for children and firearms to coexist safely is for one or the other to be locked up.

Nonsense. Teach them proper gun safety, and remove the curiosity factor.

My father's guns were never secured, and we were able to use them with his supervision pretty much whenever we wanted. It never even crossed my mind to take one out without his permission. I've several friends who raise their kids similarly, and have no issues whatsoever.

My daughters are only 17 months old right now, but they'll be out on the range with crickets as soon as they can hold them up and understand the basic rules. I figure that'll be around age 4. They'll also get a demonstration of the power being wielded in watching what happens to an animal (probably a rabbit) when it is hit. Some may consider that morbid or traumatizing, but I can think of no better way to make them respect the lethal power of a firearm than to see it first hand in all it's bloody glory. That'll take the video game/action movie falsehoods of GSW's being no big deal and blow them out of the water.

 

[Bobson]

I agree with you, MachIV.

I knew where my dad kept his loaded firearms when I was about 5. He was always strict about us touching them without supervision (obviously), but when I asked to handle them under his watch, I don't remember being told "no" - ever. I never felt any curiosity or need to go mess with his guns in secret because all I had to do was ask, and I could fool around with em to my heart's content, unloaded of course.

 

[timhernandez]

I agree with you, MachIV.

I knew where my dad kept his loaded firearms when I was about 5. He was always strict about us touching them without supervision (obviously), but when I asked to handle them under his watch, I don't remember being told "no" - ever. I never felt any curiosity or need to go mess with his guns in secret because all I had to do was ask, and I could fool around with em to my heart's content, unloaded of course.

My kids are now 21,17, and 15 and were raised like the above. Acclimate them to firearms at age appropriate times, make them a non-issue. I have never had any issues of any type.

All 3 of my kids know the combo to the big safe, and the small safe in the bedroom and are able to use anything in either with confidence and precision.

 

[delgue]

Haven't you ever seen those clocks and books that hold hidden handguns? Also there is out there one that holds riot-type shotguns. Place them in easy reach and do it when no one is around and don't tell your mis-guided in-laws.

 

[303tom]

Get A Dog; I do literally have a firearm in every room, hanging over just about every doorway in the house is a longarm, pistol in the bed side table, one in the pouch on the side of my chair. My mini in my pocket all the time, hell there is even a .25 auto in my tool box in the shop. Somebody said what-if you are not close to a gun & somebody kicks your door in, well in my house be prepared to come face to face with a 70 lb. Pitbull & I am not going to tell him not to bite you & with the kids, mine are grown now but even when they were young they can be taught my boys never killed each other.

 

[bri]

I use micro vaults, one on each floor in drawers. Shotty in the family "safe" room.

 

[Ramone]

Many end tables/ night stands/ bureaus have a lower drawer that can be pulled out to expose the floor beneath. This is an ideal place, IMO, to place a small top loading safe for a pistol.

I use a "Shot Lock" sort of a setup in most rooms in my home- a Large Eyescrew ( with a coat of plasticote dip) into a stud to control the Muzzle, and a smaller eye screw (also into a stud) that will accept a master cable gun lock through the action. For vertical mounting, a large bicycle type hook holds the stock. These can be placed behind a book shelf, couch, anything that can be slid out of the way in a hurry (those carpet glide coaster sort of things under the legs are a big help with that).

 

[Captaingyro]

The solution we have found is similar to Mr. Blue's. I only keep two kinds of guns hidden around the house: semi-auto handguns and pump shotguns. They are all kept in the same condition: empty chamber, full magazine, safety off. My wife knows that she can grab any gun in the house and the drill is identical: rack it and pull the trigger.

The kids, when they were younger, were incapable of racking the slides, so even if they or their friends found the guns, they were harmless. Now that the kids are older, they are learning the same drills as Mom.

What has been been said about teaching kids about guns, both for safety and to remove the "forbidden fruit" factor, can't be overemphasized. Make your kids comfortable with the guns, and comfortable with the idea that they only handle them in your presence.

Finally, you sound like a responsible parent who will raise great kids. But beware the children of "kids will be kids, there's nothing you can do to control them" parents. These are the ones whose kids will rummage through your drawers and closets, and feel like they have free rein to "be themselves". They will generally reflect their parents' self-fulfilling prophecy.

Anyone who isn't smarter than a 10 year-old has no business being a parent.

 

[Jonah71]

I have quit keeping a gun in every room. I'm getting older and my memory is not so good. And it's no longer neccessary since I always have one on me.

 

[buck460XVR]

My personal opinion is that the idea of a "gun in every room" is simply incompatible with a household that includes children.

The fact is, it is impossible to prevent children from accessing unsecured firearms no matter how or where you hide them. Put them some place you think they will never look, and they will look there. Put them someplace you are sure they will never reach, and they will find a way to reach it.

The only safe way for children and firearms to coexist safely is for one or the other to be locked up. Since locking your children up for the first 18 years of their lives is not an option, then the only thing to do is to lock up your firearms. There are 'quick access' gun boxes for pistols that you might look placing in strategic locations around the home or you could just wear a gun around the house in a proper holster but I think attempting to hide them in your situation is just an invitation to disaster.

I agree. I was raised in a home where firearms were commonplace. Some of my first memories are of watching my family clean and prepare firearms for the upcoming hunting season. There were guns kept in open wall gun racks(common back then) and guns in the bedroom closet. I too had the fear of God in me of my dad and knew from day one that his guns were off limits to me. But I knew where every gun was, and many times when left alone, I would play with them and fondle them just as I do today. I loved to rack the slide of the ol '97 pump shottie and work the levers on the winnies. I know darn well my dad never knew it too, cause later in life I asked him. He told me there was a reason that altho the guns were accessible, the ammo never was.

I have raised two sons to adulthood and have used the same philosophy. I now have two grand-daughters that are at the house all the time. At the moment I have several guns in cases by the living room door ready to go to the range and the shottie I used yesterday for bird hunting is on the kitchen table( I need to take it upstairs). But the ammo is not with them. Only loaded gun in the house is on me.......or in the electronic vault upstairs in the bedroom. No reason to have it any other way.

 

[velobard]

My wife has said she'd be okay just carrying a firearm on her person all the time

Her idea is the best and safest. Any other solution:
A) Costs more
B) Leaves you separated from your gun when you might need it in an instant
C) Is either slower because a gun is somehow secured or leaves it vulnerable to kids

Never underestimate a kid's ability to climb, investigate, and discover all your hiding places.

 

[WinThePennant]

Her idea is the best and safest. Any other solution:
A) Costs more
B) Leaves you separated from your gun when you might need it in an instant
C) Is either slower because a gun is somehow secured or leaves it vulnerable to kids

Never underestimate a kid's ability to climb, investigate, and discover all your hiding places.

Do you sleep with it on? It still must be stored somewhere, right?

 

[velobard]

His original post was mainly about daytime solutions with guns throughout the house. That's what I was addressing. A small bedside table safe of some sort is best for that, with little kids in the house.

There's plenty of talk about in this thread about teaching kids to leave guns alone, but considering what's at stake that's simply not enough when you're talking about preschoolers.

 

[youngda9]

The gun belongs in 2 places. On your hip or in your safe. Nowhere else with kids around.

 

[mdauben]

Nonsense. Teach them proper gun safety, and remove the curiosity factor.

Depending on the child and the parent, maybe that will actually work. Maybe. I don't want to risk the life of a minor child on a maybe.

Remembering how inquisitive I was as a kid and how willing to... bend house rules when the parental units were not present, I would choose not to take the chance that my son/daughter/nephew/niece or one of their friends is not going to pull out one of my unsecured guns 'just to look at it'.

 

[ChCx2744]

If I was able to afford it, I'd probably strategically place a pistol in every room, but I can't. Instead, I just carry when I'm at home. Having a gun on your person is still better than having to reach over, under, behind or into something.

 

[gordy]

To me it is silly to keep a firearm in every room. I just have a 9mm or a 357 on my hip all of the time. The fastest gun is the one in your hand or hip or pocket.
So many things can go wrong with the gun in every room thing, That I think it is the wrong way to go.
But to each there own.
For me it is on me all the time. As well as my cell phone and car keys.
But this is just the way I do it.

 

[hermannr]

We had 5 daughters, and have always had guns around the house, still do. Touching mommy's or dad's guns without them present was strickly verboten, however, any time one of them wanted to shoot, with mommy and/or dad, that was totally fine. Some of these guns were loaded, some were not. Only the DA revolvers could be fired with only one action though.

By the way, this approach works when your children are visiting someone elses home too. Unsupervised handling of any firearm ist strengstens verboten! They need to know that, and believe it, and live it.

They were all introduced to the guns at as early an age as they were physically able to hold them. They were allowed to shoot them at water balloons and stuff like that as soon as they could properly manipulate the mechanism. Example: it is much easier to shoot a boy's SS .22 or High Standard Olympic than a pump shotgun. The shotgun takes a lot more strength.

Those girls all have there own families now, and they still remember, ask, and you shall receive...don't ask and you will receive something you don't want.

Anyway: I am not for hiding and making a mystery of any weapon. If you do not trust your discipline, and do not wish to teach you child properly care and feeding of your weapons, lock them up. It is that simple.

If you hide them, and make them a mystery, they will find them and try to figure out why they were hidden..

 

[Freedom_fighter_in_IL]

I find it strange that according to some of these people, it is a miracle that any child from my generation or older survived. Back then, there was no such thing as a small pistol safe for the drawer and it was pretty much unheard of for the common man to own a gun safe in the home. We were taught how to handle firearms at an early age and it was damn well beaten into our thick heads NOT to touch "Daddy's guns" when Daddy is not there to supervise. At nine years old, I would come home from school and grab either MY shotgun to go squirrel hunting (or MY .22 whichever mood I was in) or I would grab MY .30/30 to go deer hunting. Now why is it all of a sudden that parents are so unable to teach their children the same discipline as we were taught? I by far was not an exceptionally well behaved child and I carried my butt whippings like a champ with many "trophies" of "Daddy's Displeasure" on my rear end. But I was trusted at a very young age to go out to the "back 40" or down off the bank of the creek to go hunting by myself because my father knew that in at least ONE area (firearms management) I was well schooled and able to be trusted. Maybe if these parents would take a few notes from our generation about discipline and BUST THAT BUTT, this generation of kids would not have a LOT of the problems that are seen today.

Growing up on the mountains of Tennessee, literally EVERY child I knew, their Dad had at least one firearm in the home and we were ALL taught the same rules. I would have to go out on a limb here and ask if children today are handicapped by their parents by NOT teaching them discipline. My kids were not handicapped in that fashion nor are a lot of my friends children. This namby pamby woosie generation of parents not disciplining their children is the key factor to this problem. Teach your kids and take the mystery out of firearms by taking them to the range and let them SEE the destructive capability of a firearm and that in ITSELF will go a long way in assuring that they wont mess up. You can re-enforce this through threats (and they should well know they are not false threats) of severe punishment if they so much as TOUCH a "gun" without your express permission! Teach them to shoot for not only this reason but to also teach the next generation about our wonderful traditions of firearms.

 

[dannyr3_8]

i would buy things like fake clocks,fake book hide a guns and place them through the home you can buy them from cheaper than dirt and nra

 

[Bobson]

I agree with you, Freedom_Fighter. Thanks for all the advice in here, everyone. Given me a lot to think about.

 

[TexasBill]

...Growing up on the mountains of Tennessee....

There's the problem: Precious few American children grow up in the mountains of anywhere. Or with access to a place they can shoot. I grew up back in the 1950s in a suburb of Detroit. My "gun time" was trips to the Boy Scout ranch a couple of times a year. I had friends who had .22 rifles but there was nowhere we could shoot them within walking or bicycle distance.

Kids want more than the "forbidden fruit" approach; it didn't work in the Garden of Eden and its track record elsewhere hasn't been very good, either.

Teaching a child gun safety is best done when you can teach the child how to handle a gun. IMHO, taking the mystery out of the equation and making the ability to go shooting dependent on the proper respect for firearms, which includes not handling them when Mom or Dad isn't around, is a much better approach, since it involves the youngster in the process. It's also more likely to enable the kid to resist peer pressure to "look at Dad's gun" because he or she has a very good, self-serving, reason not to allow it. It's what I have done and it's worked well.

BTW: Responding to the actual thread, there are two loaded guns in our house. One is in a safe in my wife's nightstand, the other is on my hip.

 

[kaferhaus]

Just glad I don't live in the same neighborhoods you guys do. While we have a virtual armory, no one carries in the house. A pistol on the nightstand is sufficient. But then again we don't have any zombies around here either.