Home Defense with Kids in House

[EPS]

I bought the cloak dock for my Alien Gear holster and have it screwed to the back of my night stand with my 1911 holster. At night when I go to bed I put my carry gun into the safe and take out the 1911 and put it into the docked holster (I have a lot of mags for the 1911 so its the one for night time defense) When I wake up and get dressed I put the 1911 back into the safe and get out my carry gun (Shield 45)

During the day if the grand kids are awake the safe is locked or my door is locked so they have no access to my room or the safe. Im more worried about the little critters getting into my medicines so now I have to keep them locked up in the safe as well. It sucks to have to unlock it every few hours to take my meds.... but its for their safety so I dont mind, I love my grandbabies!!!

That's what I was talking about being vigilant and having a routine do the same thing every day and after awhile you don't even think about it you just do it I LIKE IT

 

[PaulB47]

First, read this book and apply it:
Gun-Proof Your Children! by Massad Ayoob

Second, get yourself a locking box, the non-biometric type.

Third, use a gun that is hard to rack the slide on, and keep the gun with an empty chamber. The smallest kids, the ones who the Ayoob method maybe do not work so well on, cannot get a round into the chamber. Ignore the gun nuts who sneer at unchambered carry.

Do NOT depend on any procedure that requires you to unfailingly follow a routine every single day. Humans are forgetful creatures, and easily distracted. You WILL leave your gun in the bathroom one day.

You are probably going to have more trouble with a teenage son wanting to show off to his friends. Definitely apply Ayoob's advice to them.

 

[cigars]

Lots of good stuff from everyone's experiences here. I can only speak for how I raised my kids alongside guns.
I introduced my kids at an early age to my guns. I allowed them to hold them, clear them, aim them, click the trigger, etc. By removing the mystique and building familiarity helps to remove the curiosity factor. Each kid got their own lecture on safety at home, on the range and what to do in scenarios at other people's houses. Those lectures really never ended as I'm constantly talking to them about the realities of life amongst other
humans. I'm confident that "if daddy goes down", that they can pick up my gun and return fire.
This was all followed up by days at the range and Wolf Creek, Brown's Camp, etc. My kids are all in their teens now. Because they know what guns can do in real life, they never developed a desire to play with toy guns. Aside from super soakers and nerf guns, they really don't even like playing gun related video games. I never said that they couldn't or shouldn't be into that stuff, it's just the direction they went in.

 

[Defense Minister]

This sits on the floor by my bed and is cabled to the bed frame. I had an electronic GunVault that was reliable for about 15 years until it failed last year with my gun inaccessibly locked inside of it.

 

[DizzyJ]

This sits on the floor by my bed and is cabled to the bed frame. I had an electronic GunVault that was reliable for about 15 years until it failed last year with my gun inaccessibly locked inside of it.

What caused it to fail? Battery go dead?

Did it not have a key access as a backup?

 

[Koda]

This sits on the floor by my bed and is cabled to the bed frame. I had an electronic GunVault that was reliable for about 15 years until it failed last year with my gun inaccessibly locked inside of it.

How much was that and where can you get one?


Their website looks nice, but is otherwise poorly designed its almost like they dont really want to sell you one just tease you with pics...

 

[Defense Minister]

What caused it to fail? Battery go dead?

Did it not have a key access as a backup?

The GunVault failed when the small aircraft-type cable that links the electric motor to the latch broke. In all fairness, it probably endured about 10000 operations before the failure occurred. In recent years I was religious about using lithium batteries to avoid the leakage issues with alkalines, and changed them bi-annually. I did have a backup key, but it was in my large safe and would not have allowed me quick access in a crucial moment.

How much was that and where can you get one?

AMSEC Safe AMSEC PS1210EZ Easy Carry Handgun Safe - View All Handgun Safes

 

[Phather]

You are just plane wrong. Mostly.
First, if your kids do not listen to you and go rummiging around your room either they do not respect you as they should or you have not done your due diligence in fostering proper ideals of privacy or gun ownership. Probably both. I know kids look around where they aren't supposed to but I am not talking about putting it in a sock drawer or under a pillow.
Second, hiding a gun in a place they would never look along with number one is better than just a locked box.
Third, conveniently leaving out that I said use a locked door to the bedroom is very telling in your reaction.
I would contend, that a hidden gun in a locked room with a house that is all in with gun culture Is far superior to a metal box with a gun in it. I had one, when the kids first saw it they always asked what it was for, had they not respected me sufficiently they may have tried their hand at opening it and I know one of them would have been capable. Not to mention any number of "friends" they may have had over.

This is assuming that a child's brain functions identically to an adult's brain, which is not true. The pre-frontal cortex of the brain, which allows us to think and make rational decisions against emotional desire, does not fully develop until around 25 years of age. Children, especially younger ones, have extreme difficulty in understanding or realizing long or short term consequence when their emotions are anything beyond calm.

At the dinner table my 4 year old has a good understanding of right and wrong, yet he still hits his sisters when he is frustrated. When I ask why he hits them, he always says "I didn't WANT to hit her!" What he is really telling me is that he did not want to hurt his sister, and that he knows hitting is wrong, but that he was not able to control his reaction at the time of him being upset (emotionally charged). In other words, he did not want to hit her, but he could not control his emotional desire to hit her. Knowing this, I will not rely on nor condone concealment only for storage in the home, especially for households with children.

I teach my children about gun safety and have them regularly recite the 4 safety rules, but I also understand their biology. I use a Gunvault and lock up the manual override key in a separate location.

 

[Defense Minister]

I would like to add that the only time my weapon is in the pistol box is when I am home. If I leave it comes with me, or goes in the large safe. Most pistol boxes will not keep someone out forever if they are determined, and I have a garage full of tools that could be used to breach a pistol box relatively quickly.

 

[EPS]

I would like to add that the only time my weapon is in the pistol box is when I am home. If I leave it comes with me, or goes in the large safe. Most pistol boxes will not keep someone out forever if they are determined, and I have a garage full of tools that could be used to breach a pistol box relatively quickly.

Most safes won't keep some one out for ever if you can put the safe on the ground door facing up and have a few crow bars and about 15 or 20 minutes you can get in almost any safe

 

[parsons_12b]

Velocity Vault

 

[kamaaina1]

I have two Vaultek safes for in the house. The VT20i for my nightstand firearm, and the VT10i for the downstairs cabinet drawer. Pretty happy with them. Smart technology (Bluetooth) limited range. Cool app that lets you open safe, check history, and a tamper and battery level monitor. Would be way better if they were wireless technology. Folks at Vaultek said Wireless is in the works though..

VAULTEK SAFE – SMART & RUGGED BLUETOOTH SAFES