Since almost all my grandkids are child-bearing age, or close to it, having loaded guns within their reach is sort of a moot point- - - -all of them have their own guns, and some of them CCW. The one exception is my step-granddaughter. She's 18, going on 10. She's a Down's Syndrome child, and my daughter-in-law always gives us a heads-up before she comes to visit. Bedroom doors get locked, and the loaded guns stashed away in several places in the common areas of the house get secured as well. Since we're 20-something miles from the nearest cop shop, we're rarely more than a few steps from a defensive piece of some sort, handgun or shotgun. A 30-minute response time to a 911 call would be "fast". Jerry
I have a two year old grand nephew that frequents our home, I keep a few guns around but the one on the nightstand needs to be toddler proofed. Looks like most small nightstand safes are fingerprint activated. Do they work?
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At age 3, my sons all began their indoctrination. I brought out pistols, deer rifles, shotguns-- the works. I had them touch them, hold them, and work the actions. Very quickly, they got bored with them. The mystery was out it. My oldest, Junior showed no interest again until he was in his mid-twenties. They're just very heavy tools that are too big for little kid to handle and as such, they're boring. I explained:
1) They are extremely dangerous. You will kill yourself if you handle them on your own without supervision. 2) When you are old enough to use them, you will have proper instruction. 3) In the interim, you only need to ask, and they will be brought out for you so you can handle them. Most kids will ask once within a couple of weeks and then be done with it until they're teenagers. 4) If you ever see a firearm out, go get an adult and tell them. Do not touch it.
The same was done to me by my father with his Win Model 12 Trap gun at age 4. I have vivid memories of that. It was big, it was heavy. I had no interest in it after that. I think I asked him once about the time I was 10 or 12 to bring it out once again after that. After that, I was in my 20's before I thought about firearms. I was a late bloomer.
1) Do "the talk" as soon as the kid is old enough-- age 3-4. 2) In the interim, keep all firearms locked up with ammo locked up separately. 3) If you feel the need to keep a firearm handy keep it high and out of the way.
Years ago an old friend of mine lost one of his two young sons when visiting another young kids home.
No parent or adult at home at the other kid's house at the time. Showing off, the other kid pulled out a loaded handgun stashed away in a bedroom nightstand drawer, gun discharged, my friend's son was in the line of fire, friend's son DOA.
My friend had taught all three of his kids (two boys - one girl) about proper gun handling and safety and they regularly hunted with him as they got big enough. .
You can control and secure the firearms in your house and teach your kids the dos and don'ts, but not those of other's.
My father did exactly the same with me when I was maybe 6 or 7. Guns were never locked up in our house when I was a kid , despite being a gun nut since age 5, I never went in and messed with them when I was home alone.
If you think you have something hidden in your house so your little kids wont find it, think again. Every kid in the world who has reached age 6 or 7 at the most knows the location of every single item in that house, without exception.
I have the small finger code safes that holds 2-3 handguns. There is a battery backup for power outages.
Most importantly, if someone tries unsuccessfully to get in, a light blinks showing that to the successful user. Meaning, I know when someone has been trying to get in. I think this is important when you have kids around. Actually, my big safes are like this too.
"...aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you, so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one." - Paul to the church in Thessalonica.
Our neighbor when I was a teenager in the NY sunburbs was a former WWII Luftwaffe pilot and nonrepentant Nazi, had a big ol’painting of a FW 190 scoring hits on a crippled B-17 in his den.
He kept a stainless S&W-looking .357 snub hidden in his bedroom. I didn’t know handguns back then but it was a mid-size frame six shot version, and I think I’m recalling adjustable sights. This was in the 70’s.
Of course his son, about my own age, knew right where he hid it. One time we went to look at it and as a joke the son pointed the loaded revolver at me and pulled the trigger far enough that the cylinder began to rotate and the hammer move. I was too dumb back then to be alarmed.
My own son was shooting handguns just about as soon as his hands were big enough. Can’t imagine he’d ever be stupid enough to do that, dunno about his friends.
But ya know, even trustworthy teenagers sometimes do things so dumb it’s like a kick in the solar plexus, leaves you shocked and winded.
So my guns were always locked up when I wasn’t home.
"...if the gentlemen of Virginia shall send us a dozen of their sons, we would take great care in their education, instruct them in all we know, and make men of them." Canasatego 1744
Besides keeping guns stored securely from access by young kids and/or irresponsible/unstable older others, there's also the liability issue should the worst ever happen.
I remember reading where the grandfather of one of the boys that did the Jonesboro AR, school shooting where they got the guns from was facing possible liability claims soon after as to if had them stored securely. It was proven he did and that the kids had broken into a locked gun cabinet to get them.
Our parents and grandparents never put a gun up when we were young. The first time you touched it you got yelled at. The second time you got your hand slapped and if there was a third time you got your ass beat=there never was a 4th time because kids are smarter than we think.
Grandmas.............was an M1 in the corner by the back door. The clip was on a shelf by it. All us grandkids could see it walking by. Nobody ever touched it.
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