Guns Throughout the Home

[3KillerBs]

At 10 months old you have a few years to worry about your daughter getting into your firearms; ...

Don't bet on it.

At that age my oldest son could disassemble the covers over the baseboard hot water heaters in the home we were renting. He also pried a piece off my sewing machine that no adult has ever quite been able to replace correctly because the spring is so strong.

Kids WILL find things no matter how well you hide them. Kids WILL get to high shelves (my daughter was a champion dresser climber as a toddler and once we had to rescue the church nursery attendant from reprimand after she climbed a bookcase while the attendant was dealing with another child. We KNEW our daughter was a climber who intentionally waited for the adult's back to be turned.

Kathy Jackson at www.corneredcat.com has some other stories about what its like to live with an intelligent child.

Carry the gun all the time and you'll be able to keep it both safe and accessible. I don't wear belts, but my bellyband is no more uncomfortable than other customary, female underwear.

 

[Tallinar]

I have several small children (youngest is 1, oldest is 3).

I have an unloaded SxS 12 guage in my bedroom closet, with shells on the top shelf, along with a load New Vaquero in a case on the top shelf. I do not keep loaded firearms in other rooms - except for the other New Vaquero which is typically on my person.

It's a tough call guaging how to keep your guns readily accessible while also safe from young children. It makes no sense to keep them locked up where they will do you no good, yet it would be foolish to keep them loaded and easily accessible to children.

At this point in my children's lives, I've decided to just keep the guns out of sight and out of my kids' knowledge. When my oldest son gets a tad bit older, he will be quickly introduced to the shooting sports like I was at a young age, and all the safety principals that go with it.

As kids get to an age where they are curious, the worst thing you can do, IMO, is to maintain the stance of "Never touch that!", and then completely neglect to teach your kids about firearms. Dispel the mystery and introduce them to safe, responsible gun handling and life will be good.

 

[3KillerBs]

...

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.

...

Hook slide on edge of nightstand or dresser drawer. Lean on it with body weight. Slide is racked and the gun is ready to fire.

A law officer's young child died that way some years ago.

Don't trust a stiff trigger either. By the time my youngest was 2 he could, by using two hands to pull the trigger while bracing the grip against his chest, fire the airsoft I used for kid-safe dry-fire practice. The trigger on that airsoft was considerably stiffer than the trigger on my Mark III.

Most well-parented kids are pretty obedient most of the time. Most kids will leave stuff alone if they think they'll get caught before they accomplish their objective. But a sufficiently determined child WILL find the hidden gun and WILL figure out a way to make it go bang if he/she wants to badly enough.

A person may choose to take a chance on his/her kids' discipline and training and each parent knows best how much of a chance that is for any given kid. Just don't think that its not possible for the child to find/operate then gun.

PS, my then 5yo was perfectly capable of loading and cocking the Crickett the first time he tried it this summer.

 

[Redneck1911.45]

A wise man once said curiosity killed the the cat but satisfaction brought him back

at 2 years old my daughter could safely handle her cricket. Muzzle awareness, open + show clear chamber, + load and unload it in a safe manner. (started with blank ammo of course) by 5 she could shoot in her own stall. Teach them young and be ready to buy a lot of ammo. -Redneck

 

[mortablunt]

I used to just carry inside the home when I could get away with it. I never saw to having a gun in every room. Wouldn't that make a lovely theft target, or arm an intruder?

 

[Owen Sparks]

My Dad let me shoot the 12GA when I was a kid. It just about knocked me out of my shoes. I did not want to touch it for a number of years after that.

 

[Bobson]

At this point in the thread, I'm almost certain most new posters aren't even reading Post #1 before "answering" the question within it. Either that, or many of you lack even basic reading comprehension skills. May as well close this thread. Question's been answered a few dozen times.

 

[oneounceload]

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.

+1, nice to see some common sense

 

[Gordon_Freeman]

I got shot by a 13 year old kid. I was staying overnight at a childhood friend's house. His parents left us to go out to party. He thought it would be cool to play with his father's guns and he shot me in the hip with a .22 rifle. I am lucky to be alive today.
I would never leave unlocked firearms around kids.

 

[TexasBill]

At this point in the thread, I'm almost certain most new posters aren't even reading Post #1 before "answering" the question within it. Either that, or many of you lack even basic reading comprehension skills. May as well close this thread. Question's been answered a few dozen times.

Actually, your wife answered your question before you even posted. She said she'd be willing to carry. That's the best answer from both a readiness and a safety point of view: the gun is ready at hand if it's needed and it's always under adult control.

Beats the heck out of safes and hiding places.

 

[Bobson]

To each his own. If anyone had ever broken into our home, I was plenty comfortable with my dad's guns to defend the home myself, if need be, before I turned 10. As a parent now looking back, I don't think there's absolutely anything wrong with that. In fact, I'd go so far as to say there's something wrong with the opposite. Like I said, to each his own.

 

[shiftyer1]

They do make wall clocks and pictures that have built in hidey holes for guns. In my situation with 4 kids in the house I have always tended to keep them up high if possible and out of sight. My kids are older now so it's alot easier but I still worry about neighbors or friends kids. MY room is a little different because nobody is allowed in there.

The top of my kitchen cabinets are just bareley reachable to me and i'm 6 foot they also have a higher trim so it's not visible so I feel pretty comfortable there.

Don't use couch cushions because kids dig through them for all kinds of reasons from forts to lost fruit loops

Most of all don't let guns become a, can't find the word. Make sure your kids know about guns and have seen yours so it not such a big deal to see one in the home.

 

[Freedom_fighter_in_IL]

My Dad let me shoot the 12GA when I was a kid. It just about knocked me out of my shoes. I did not want to touch it for a number of years after that.

My pappy must have sold your pappy that same shotgun!!! Only thing is, I bugged my dad till he finally gave in and let me shoot it. Needless to say, I didn't bug him any more for a while after that. Broke me damn collar bone Don't know who felt worse, me or my pappy after mammy saw her baby Needless to say, she was a weeeeeee bit miffed.

 

[Batty67]

Gunvault in walk-in closet (my CCW; 2nd floor), larger one in basement, next to my new full-sized gun safe (got it before the safe). I might look into getting (and hiding) a really small gunvault on the ground floor so I have one per floor. But only two handguns (range/HD Sig P229 in .40 and my CCW CZ RAMI in 9mm) so that would need to change as well.

 

[788Ham]

We don't live where zombies roam every street and avenue, but I carry an SP 101 on the hip in the house. I have others secreted around the house, not lying visibly on the counter tops, but close by if needed. Not wanting to feel like we have to grab a firearm when the door bell rings, or a car drives by slow, but the only one I trust lives with me, ehhhh, others need not apply!

 

[gym]

Since you never know when something is going to happen, I agree on always having a gun, "lcp" on your person. My wife would have a fit if I started leaving guns all over, it's a large house, and it would be necessary for me to moniter everyone who came and went. I keep 2 or 3 out of the safe. A rifle is where I would be heading using my pistol to get me there.The rest are in the safe, ammo is located in several places, I find that to be more important, I have my G26 in my iwb and mags in 3 or 4 places if I plan on leaving, along with my lcp.

 

[otasan56]

Here in rural Hartford, VT we had a home invasion right down the street from here this past Summer. Invade this apartment and they'll have to dodge 17 well-aimed 9mm +p+ bullets, and then lots of OOO buckshot pellets.

 

[Tony_the_tiger]

With a 10 month old, you have no business keeping multiple firearms in rooms around the home.

Guess what the number one contributor to child mortality rates are in the USA? I can tell you right now it's not homicide or home invasion. Statistically, it is unintentional injury. Although most of us here on these forums own firearms and advocate for them, lets not be blind to the data. Unintentional injury is the number one killer of children in this country, and firearm related accidents are a part of that.

If you think your 10 month can't discharge a firearm, you are dangerously wrong. In some states, it is illegal to have a firearm within reach of minors. But illegal or not, it is generally a bad idea.

Find a firearm that is comfortable for you to carry. Alternately, invest in security measures that buy you a little time to get to your bedroom or wherever it is you keep your firearm when it is not on your person.

In my opinion, keeping firearms accessible around the house is not only ill-advised from a child management perspective, but also creates an indefensible tactical scenario. In suspected home invasions, a defensive strategy will almost always be the best option. This means finding a room where you and your family can lock the door, call the police, and - if necessary - defend yourselves using a firearm or other defensive weapon.

Going on the offense and clearing your house or running into a potential firefight with any number of assailants could quickly prove fatal to you. The offensive position requires movement, which gives away your position and by nature of movement puts you in non-optimal positions for surviving a gunfight. The defensive position which one may hunker down in and if necessary, strike out from, is the favored position.

If you do choose the defensive position, having firearms around the house can only work against you. You are now at risk of arming whomever is in your house against you - and risk turning what may have been a simple robbery into a two-sided gunfight. Alternately, you may fear arming your assailants and be tempted to leave your defensive position and compromise your strategy.

It is far better to keep your child out of harms way and prepare defensively by carrying around the home - which in some states, does not require a license - or by thinking ahead about potential defensive scenarios.

 

[ROGER4314]

My home is fully armed, chambered and ready to rock. When people come over, I warn them about the guns, that any guns they see are loaded and my home is NOT a place to bring their children. That works great for me as it keeps the little critters OUT of my home!

As I type this, there is a fancy wooden box containing a Ruger P95 loaded, chambered and equipped with a laser sight 6" from my right hand. There is another loaded magazine and small flashlight in the box, too. I may die in a home invasion but my corpse will be found in the middle of a pile of fired brass! I hope I never need to use it....but I will.

I'll share a story about my friends Ronnie and Linda. They locked up all of their firearms because their granddaughter visited often. One night, a guy broke in and started to fight with Ronnie. During the fight, Ronnie was stabbed 11 times and the fight continued until Linda grabbed an antique farm implement and began beating the guy in the head with it. It was a bloody, violent mess! Ronnie recovered and the guy was later caught and sent to prison. We live in a rural area and locking up guns here is NOT safe!

Flash

 

[huntsman]

We live in a rural area and locking up guns here is NOT safe!

So what do you do with all the guns when you leave the house? I live in a rural area also and we have a greater risk of B&E then home invasion and folk’s gun are always being stolen.

 

[medalguy]

Ankle biters definitely present a challenge and I have no better suggestions than have been presented already. I don't carry throughout the house but I do keep a Beretta 92 on my bedside table, a Colt 1911A1 next to the front door on a table, and a Norinco 1897 12 ga in my garage workshop. Generally whenever I walk my property, which is remote, I carry a 1911A1 in a holster, but I'm far more concerned with one of the large Western Diamondbacks I regularly see than I am with an intruder at that point.

 

[gym]

It seems a lot of this discussion is based on how you live your life. And if you are single or a family man, with or without kids. I got married at 50, late in life. Until then I had an apartment, with solid concrete slab on all sides. There was only one way in and out, Being on the 15th floor there was only one Door. I always had my pistols handy, unless I had a female that wasn't a regular girl I dated, and knew for some time. If I didn't know her I would keep a gun on me, "anyone is capable of anything". If she was sleeping over the alarm was on and the gun went under the mattress on my side, unchambered.I sleep light,especially when I had someone over that I just met recetlly.
when you get married things change, I didn't have kids, but my wife had 2, they both got married and now I have 4 grandkids. There is no way when you have kids running around that I can do whet I used to do. That's why my gun stays on me. We have a community and someone is always dropping over, I really don't have history with these folks, some know I shoot, some shoot with me, I have pretty good judgement. My wife on the otherhand, will allow someone to come in and not watch where they are all the time,"you can't change people". So if that happens and I am not home, nothing is around except a small revolver in case she had a break in. But I am home a lot now. and the gun is hard to find.
Living on one floor it's easier to keep track of who is where. No one goes in the bedroom, they are made aware of that, in a nice way, there are 3 bathrooms so it's not necessary for anyone to be in there. That's the way I handle it, so far it works for me, but sometimes I feel we have a lot of single members who don't get a lot of visitors, like I used to. So you have the freedom to be able to place guns more where you want to without worrying about anyone in the house.

 

[ByAnyMeans]

I wanted to be armed at all times including in my home. However, I did not want a gun in every room. I settled on a handgun on me at all times and a shotgun in my bedroom closet and have kicked around a second shotgun in a closet on the first floor. The shotguns are in keyless quick access safes like the Mossberg lock-box. The handguns are in a gunvault on my nightstand and on me when I am home. I usually carry a Glock but with a P3AT I can keep a handgun on me even in my boxers.

 

[Onward Allusion]

Better to have the firearm ON your person. These days I have a hi cap 9mm workhorse on my hip at home. It's on me as soon as I get home and stays with me until I lay down for bed. The only possible time that it isn't on me is when I wake up in the middle of the night for a bio-break (yeah yeah TMI...) and even then I have it with me more than 1/2 the time.

I don't care how quick one is. Having it on your hip will always be faster than reaching X number of feet for it. Here's a chilling video of a real life home invasion. Probably been posted here before but it doesn't hurt to be reminded.

http://fsblog.s3.amazonaws.com/home-invasion-murders.mp4

Oh, to answer the OP...hell yes I have 'em stashed as well. Paranoid, I don't think so - in light of the economy going to hell in a hand-basket. Like I say to my wife - It is my job to make sure we reach our mid/late 80's unscathed by evil so that we can both die in our bed surrounded by our family.

Since you got a little one, all the more reason to keep one on you. Even a little Kel Tec P-32 will work. Slip it into your pocket and you will never know it is there. Friends/Family visiting will not know either!

 

[WinThePennant]

With a 10 month old, you have no business keeping multiple firearms in rooms around the home.

Guess what the number one contributor to child mortality rates are in the USA? I can tell you right now it's not homicide or home invasion. Statistically, it is unintentional injury. Although most of us here on these forums own firearms and advocate for them, lets not be blind to the data. Unintentional injury is the number one killer of children in this country, and firearm related accidents are a part of that.

If you think your 10 month can't discharge a firearm, you are dangerously wrong. In some states, it is illegal to have a firearm within reach of minors. But illegal or not, it is generally a bad idea.

Find a firearm that is comfortable for you to carry. Alternately, invest in security measures that buy you a little time to get to your bedroom or wherever it is you keep your firearm when it is not on your person.

In my opinion, keeping firearms accessible around the house is not only ill-advised from a child management perspective, but also creates an indefensible tactical scenario. In suspected home invasions, a defensive strategy will almost always be the best option. This means finding a room where you and your family can lock the door, call the police, and - if necessary - defend yourselves using a firearm or other defensive weapon.

Going on the offense and clearing your house or running into a potential firefight with any number of assailants could quickly prove fatal to you. The offensive position requires movement, which gives away your position and by nature of movement puts you in non-optimal positions for surviving a gunfight. The defensive position which one may hunker down in and if necessary, strike out from, is the favored position.

If you do choose the defensive position, having firearms around the house can only work against you. You are now at risk of arming whomever is in your house against you - and risk turning what may have been a simple robbery into a two-sided gunfight. Alternately, you may fear arming your assailants and be tempted to leave your defensive position and compromise your strategy.

It is far better to keep your child out of harms way and prepare defensively by carrying around the home - which in some states, does not require a license - or by thinking ahead about potential defensive scenarios.

Statistically, it is unintentional injury.

Are you being ambiguous on purpose? When it comes to deciding whether or not to keep a firearm in the house, why should I figure in the "unintentional" injuries unrelated to firearms?

As far as being tactically untenable, the reason why you have a gun in every room is because you don't know where you'll be when a home invasion occurs. The gun stored safely in the basement locked in a closet does you no good if you're upstairs in the study when every floor level door is kicked in by home invaders.