[FAS1]

You can have your HD gun very secure from unauthorized hands and still get your gun in just a few seconds. Education is part, but not the whole answer for everyone. I can tell you from personal experience and it's not worth taking the chance when there are so many products available that can help.

FAS1 SAFE

FAS1 SAFE

[charlesmar]

Originally Posted by Vikingdad

I have one of these http://www.gunvault.com/gv2000c-std.html attached to my headboard. I highly recommend that you get the plug-in power supply and use the battery as a back-up (that's what I did). This thing works very well and I can operate it in the dark, once open it has a light inside. Be sure to mount it solidly wherever it is going to live. It is also important to operate it and practice with it while laying in bed as you would be in the middle of the night. I practiced with it for a couple of months before I figured out all of the things I might do in the fog of sleep. Try to open it with your off hand? Doesn't work for me. I am not ambidextrous. I have to use my right hand, which means I have to roll out of bed and sit on the edge to operate it (I sleep on the right hand side of the bed, viewed as I am lying in it).

Since both your wife and you will be relying on the same safe, you may want to put it in the center.

And also heed the advice of others here. Start the gun safety training as soon as your child becomes self-aware and use the Eddie Eagle "Stop. Stay Away. Get an Adult" model until they are ready to start transitioning to the Rules of Firearms Handling in preparation for actually handling firearms.

In our house the boys were trained from Day One to handle all guns, toy or otherwise, just like they would eventually handle real guns. Some people think this is extreme, but it has worked very well for our family. No shooting each other with dart guns or airsof guns, none of that. The closest thing they have done to "playing" with guns was to play laser tag. They have never fired paintballs either, and they don't miss it. They got to use real guns and shoot real bullets instead. Much more fun (those little paintballs make great targets for the .22!).

They were allowed to use water guns and shoot each other, but we always got them the kind that looked like toys, not the ones that look like a colorful plastic firearm.

Just my two cents. YMMV.

I'm there. I do not make guns forbidden fruit, or foster curiosity in them by not allowing my son to handle them. He is now 10, and can disassemble my 1911 ( except the spring) and helps me clean my guns after firing. He never puts finger on trigger, is fully aware of what a gun can do, and I answer any questions he has.

I practice safety actively with him. He knows that when anyone hands him a firearm to check it for clear. He knows that if anyone brings out a gun when I am not there to leave. He does not point them at anything, and is very aware.

Further, he knows that if he wants to handle them Or has question, all he has to do is ask. I am gun proofing my kid. A safe also ensures no access for him unless he asks me.

We are nearing the point where I will instruct him in the use of it for self defense, though he will not have access to it for many years yet .

In my personal opinion, you can't start too young. We don't play with toy guns either, I don't want him pointing anything that resembles a firearm at anyone. Just seems like that goes against all I am trying to teach him.

My two cents. Gun proof the kid as well as the home. If some other idiot parent leaves out a gun, some other kid gets hold of it, I want my kid to be the one in the crowd that is fully aware.

[John_Deer]

If you have room in your home I would get a full sized gun safe. Tractor supply has sentry safes. You can get a 18 gun keyed safe for $175. They will only keep an honest man honest but that is all any safe will do. I have said this before a man with a concrete saw can open any safe in about 15 minutes. A concrete saw sounds like a chainsaw and no one would bother calling the police. They would just think you were having work done on your house. It has happened in this area a couple times. The newspaper report said that witnesses thought the thieves were workers. Who thinks a thief is brazen enough to run something like that in the house?

A large safe gives you room for medications or anything you don't want the kids to have.

[kbd512]

Someone else here already mentioned it, but I have a Sportsman Steel safe. I do not believe in keyed locks, electronic push button locks, electronic biometric locks, or any other type of lock that requires a battery or electricity. I specified a Sargent and Greenleaf combination lock that permits me to change the combination any time I wish, it has no batteries to fail, and requires no key. I realize that there are professional safe crackers out there who could pick the lock, but the average street criminal or curious child is not going to have that skill set, so I'm not too concerned about it. It's good enough for Uncle Sam and therefore good enough for me.

For bedside use, I think the safe that FAS1 provided a link to is probably a bit more appropriate. When my wife and I are away, all firearms not on our persons are locked in the safe.

Hiding firearms, placing them on high shelves, and/or not permitting children to see and handle them is generally not a good idea. My children are not overly curious about firearms because they're simply a fixture of the household, like the pots and pans in the kitchen. To be clear, I don't permit my younger children to handle firearms without adult supervision but I also think it is in their best interest to learn how to use them, whether they ultimately choose to use and carry them or not.

If we were not home, the eldest child (now an adult) generally had access to a firearm and was tasked with protecting his siblings when we were not home. The only rule we had was that when we were away, no one except him and his younger brother and sister were permitted in the house. Trusting him with a firearm did not happen before receiving a modicum of training and continual practice (basic firearm safety, marksmanship training, hand to hand combat training, understanding timing and distance, room clearing, visually identifying targets before shooting, understanding the effects of small arms fire on common home building materials, how to behave when the police show up, etc), but I felt he was better protected with a firearm than with a cell phone and kitchen knife.

[Vikingdad]

Originally Posted by charlesmar

I'm there. I do not make guns forbidden fruit, or foster curiosity in them by not allowing my son to handle them. He is now 10, and can disassemble my 1911 ( except the spring) and helps me clean my guns after firing. He never puts finger on trigger, is fully aware of what a gun can do, and I answer any questions he has.

I practice safety actively with him. He knows that when anyone hands him a firearm to check it for clear. He knows that if anyone brings out a gun when I am not there to leave. He does not point them at anything, and is very aware.

Further, he knows that if he wants to handle them Or has question, all he has to do is ask. I am gun proofing my kid. A safe also ensures no access for him unless he asks me.

We are nearing the point where I will instruct him in the use of it for self defense, though he will not have access to it for many years yet .

In my personal opinion, you can't start too young. We don't play with toy guns either, I don't want him pointing anything that resembles a firearm at anyone. Just seems like that goes against all I am trying to teach him.

My two cents. Gun proof the kid as well as the home. If some other idiot parent leaves out a gun, some other kid gets hold of it, I want my kid to be the one in the crowd that is fully aware.

Sounds like you are on the right track.

One other point that I think is worth making is that every person is unique in that the age where handling firearms differs from one to the other. My boys started shooting when the oldest was 8 and then the younger one started when he was 7 or 7 1/2. They were 10 or 11 before they were allowed to go shooting by themselves on the property. Not too long after that they were given the combination to the safe, but access was only when permission was asked for and given (little test there). Pretty much everything is a test when talking about guns and kids.

Some people never reach the level of maturity necessary for my comfort. My general rule of thumb is that people are ready somewhere between the ages of 8 and 80, give or take 80 years.

[JimRau]

Originally Posted by charlesmar

I'm there. I do not make guns forbidden fruit, or foster curiosity in them by not allowing my son to handle them. He is now 10, and can disassemble my 1911 ( except the spring) and helps me clean my guns after firing. He never puts finger on trigger, is fully aware of what a gun can do, and I answer any questions he has.

I practice safety actively with him. He knows that when anyone hands him a firearm to check it for clear. He knows that if anyone brings out a gun when I am not there to leave. He does not point them at anything, and is very aware.

Further, he knows that if he wants to handle them Or has question, all he has to do is ask. I am gun proofing my kid. A safe also ensures no access for him unless he asks me.

We are nearing the point where I will instruct him in the use of it for self defense, though he will not have access to it for many years yet .

In my personal opinion, you can't start too young. We don't play with toy guns either, I don't want him pointing anything that resembles a firearm at anyone. Just seems like that goes against all I am trying to teach him.

My two cents. Gun proof the kid as well as the home. If some other idiot parent leaves out a gun, some other kid gets hold of it, I want my kid to be the one in the crowd that is fully aware.

Interesting you use that terminology. In my training class I refer to the 'Forbidden fruit syndrome', which is, tell the human animal 'thou shall not' and they will go out and try it just to see why they are forbidden. And the younger they are the more the problem!!!

[jcd390]

WOW! All I can say is, Thanks for all the great info! There is a lot of great advice here that I haven't even thought about yet. Thanks again!

[GREGULON]

I have 3 girls 6 and under and 2 AR's and a 9mm so I went with a keyed locker that is in our closet and while I am out the rifles live there while the Glock is my EDC, then while I am home the a rifle ang Glock are always in my sight after the girls are asleep. Got it for about $100 at Fisherman's.

[Rentacop]

( in fun ) I never keep children around the house . I hear about far too many accidents involving children . I feel that any parent so irresponsible that he doesn't keep his kids locked up should have his kids confiscated . A simple condom can prevent so much risk . [ Kidding ]

[Vikingdad]

Originally Posted by Rentacop

( in fun ) I never keep children around the house . I hear about far too many accidents involving children . I feel that any parent so irresponsible that he doesn't keep his kids locked up should have his kids confiscated . A simple condom can prevent so much risk . [ Kidding ]

Funny! (And probably a grain or two of truth in it).

Put your font color to green (shows sarcasm) and add a "rolleyes" smiley- that also shows sarcasm.