the locked gun

[bajabuc]

no one ever needs a gun if he must keep it locked and unloaded. "Excuse me, Mr criminal. I need to unlock my gun and fetch the ammo for it. Please wait until I can defend myself."

[Caster]

[Guest BungieCord]

Exactly the same reason I consider a manual safety on any self defense handgun to be a design flaw.

[Jonnin]

but I dont mind the free lock I get every purchase. Found all sorts of uses for them.

[bajabuc]

My second to last handgun came with a 25 page "operations" handbook. The page that got me the most was "Never store Ammunition and your (blank) Revolver in the same room." Back in 1977, I got a call from some friends from Texas. "Mind if we come visit?" "Nope, come ahead." "We're in Colorado and should be in Sheridan soon." Ayup I'm thinkin. "Sheese! I had no idea it was so far." "Hi. Just as a reminder. All our guns are loaded. We've had our share of problems out here." "All? How many do you have?" "Lessee...one in the chicken coop, one in the coal shed, one in the horse barn, one in the "guest house." One in the basement, two in the bedroom. David (he's 10) has a .22 pistol under his pillow and a 10-22 in the closet. Beckie has a .22 in her room (beckie is 7) Charlie is too young for one...he's only 4. The wife has one in her purse...and three rifles." And we hear from the bedroom, Click. Snap. Click...we are in the bedroom..their kid has the .38 and is pointing it at their new baby. SNAP." "How could you leave a dangerous loaded gun where our precious child could get it! If we're going to stay you need to get all these guns unloaded and locked up!" "Bye!" Their precious 8 year old gave me the finger as they were leaving. We kept all our revolvers with just 4 loaded chambers. You have to pull the trigger twice to get it to shoot. He sure was trying to kill the baby... and eventually did...but in Texas and not in my house. I have rules "MY GUNS ARE ALWAYS LOADED. IF YOU CAN'T DEAL WITH IT, DON'T STAY"

[Guest mrkirker]

I'll confess, I put everything outta reach of little ones on the rare occasions when they visit. And after I wave bye-bye, I put everything back where they belong, in their usual places. I understand that firearms ARE a dangerous item, in the hands of the unknowing or untrained, but (to me) the greater issue is that many/most parents haven't trained the little darlings to LEAVE WHAT ISN'T YOURS ALONE.

When we were young, my brother and I would never mess with anything that wasn't ours, no matter how inticing. Okay, we might trot back to the adults and 'ask about' what we'd seen, but to actually 'mess' with it - never! Dad would have tanned us! And rightfully so!

I might add, that while I move things outta reach, I still have my personal item on my person.

(If this is a 'hijack' I'm sorry, but it seemed to fit!)

[Caster]

No kids. Never will unless there's some divine intervention. That doesn't allow us to be lackadaisical in the safety department, but it does grant us a bit of leeway.

[Dolomite_supafly]

If we are expecting anyone where seeing a firearm might be a problem I just toss a hand towel over it as it sits on a table or counter. No one is the wiser and it is readily accessible. Now granted if kids are present we are always in sight of the covered firearm.

Some people aren't like us. We raised our son to recognize a gun as a tool just like a screwdriver. Hexwas introduced at about age 4 and they lost their novelty shortly thereafter. I can remember I once left a 1911 on his computer desk. All he did was move it out of the way of the mouse with no fuss.

Dolomite

[Ebow1]

I remember finding my dad's .38 in the garage in a cabinet when I was a kid. Being that my mom is at best nervous around firearms she had done everything she could to keep me and my brother away from them as kids (yeah, that worked out), I guess my dad figured an unlocked cabinet was good enough, but the fact is that I was a nosy kid. Well I must've also been a genius when I was a kid because I somehow magically figured out not to point it at myself, not to pull the trigger, and not to try and check if it was loaded because I had no idea how to do that.

[deerslayer]

Exactly the same reason I consider a manual safety on any self defense handgun to be a design flaw.

[quietguy]

My hunting guns stay in a safe, unloaded. My defense setup is generally in quick access safes (bio or touchpad). The one exception is a shotty that I keep by the bedside. When the niece and nephews come over, it gets a trigger lock. Once they are gone, it goes away. Not worth taking a chance.

[bajabuc]

When this kid was in Texas he was forever hitting and kicking his pregant mom in the babybasket. You could tell right off that he didn't like not being the center of attention. He was 10 when he got to be the center again. EVERYONE'S ATTENTION! I'm just glad it didn't happen at my home. All my guns were very well hidden when he was there. He had to practically crawl between the mattress and boxsprings to get to the center of the bed and the gun. The amazing part was his mom had just laid the baby down for a nap. They hadn't been in the house 20 minutes between "Hi" "Bye". Imagine driving from Tyler TX to Sheridan WY with a kid like that. Which reminds me...I need to ask the wife where she stashed her gun...I have no idea.