What to do with daily carry gun when kid inside the house?

[shayne]

I recently spent some time with my six year old nephew and found that not chambering a round when it wasnt on me made me feel safer.

 

[glocksrule]

Simple solution....you spend $300 - $600 on your firearm, spend another $100 on a safe and use it. Round in the chamber or not, makes no difference. Using good judgement does.

 

[djthemac]

You really need to get a safe. There is something to be said about growing up around guns, but you as a parent need to be prudent. YOU are liable if your son shoots himself or somebody else. You can not train a kid this young.

 

[PaulZ]

Benny:
Grab a child development book. A child can learn "basic German Shepherd" (sit, stay, come) by 3 years old. They do not understand the concept of truth until after 5. So on and so forth, you are going to have to secure your guns for the
next 17 years. Your kid is pretty advanced. Read the news, it can happen to you.

Wife says:"Positive Disipline, the first three years"
Love and luck to you

 

[Gun Mechanic]

I recently spent some time with my six year old nephew and found that not chambering a round when it wasnt on me made me feel safer.

I would NOT recommend the above method.

I would recommend reading Gun Proofing Your Children by Massad Ayoob. I believe there is a story in there about a young child who could not physically rack the slide with his hands but was able to grip the handle with both hands, rest the sight on a solid object (chair or night stand) and use the weight of his body to rack the slide in a downward motion. Ether that or I heard him talk about this. Ether way, if there is a will, there is away.

 

[rolandson]

What to do with daily carry gun when kid inside the house?

You lock it up. This is not advanced calculus.

You do not trust that you can train your one year old child like you would train a dog.

You lock it up and expect that by age 12, that child will have learned to defeat that lock unless you actually buy a very-very good lock box.

 

[mortre]

My recommendation is not to take it off of you, that's what I do anyway. I can carry a 2 lbs+ fully loaded pistol in the pocket of my house coat without issues if necessary. Of course if you don't shed your pants when you get home you can just leave it in the holster, I don't like pocket carry but I am sure that could work as well. I've had bad luck with biometrics in the past so I don't trust them, others have had good luck to so you will have to weight that out yourself.

In the end, the kid is a toddler so you can't expect much. And I will admit that I have no idea what they mean by "positive discipline", seems counter intuitive to me. Positive Reinforcement maybe? I have seen positive reinforcement work wonders (our youngest), I've also seen it fail miserably (our oldest). Every child is a study unto themselves.

By the age of 5 or 6 we had (much) better luck by not telling our kids "don't touch", instead we tell them "ask before you touch". Also, keep in mind that you are always teaching whether you like it or not. If they do something they have been told not to, and there is no repercussions, you have taught them they don't have to follow the rules. It's simple logic, but that's all they have to work with. And they don't even have that in the first few years. They are just grasping cause and effect, hence the "pick up game" and the "if mom says no, ask dad game".

 

[joeroket]

My kids are all grown and have access to all my firearms. The only worry I have now is my 9 month old grand daughter. I can probably convince the finance minister to allow me to buy a safe. It has been bugging me since the little darling started crawling and pulling herself up on things. Luckily for me she can't navigate stairs.

 

[1coolbudda]

I use a biometric safe all the times it is not on my hip! While I do not have small children, I do have teenagers and still want total, positive control of my firearms in my home. I even bought a small one to lock in car with a cable around the seat for times it cannot go in a restricted area.

 

[Misterbill]

Teach your kid gun safety and NEVER let your gun be forbidden fruit. That's all the gun safe I ever needed. YMMV.

 

[Benny503]

You lock it up. This is not advanced calculus.

Easy say than do. I am asking about daily carry gun, you locked it everytime you are at home then this will defeat protection you need when you are at home. Yes I do have large safe but it not so easy get into if you are nervous!

 

[tracop]

I was introduced to my dad's guns at age 3. I fired a .22 rifle while sitting in his lap. Obviously, your son is younger than I was, and I was only introduced to the guns in his presence, but it certainly was understood that they were not toys. I have made a couple of mistakes with guns since then - luckily nothing that has resulted in injury or death. My exposure, and my dad's clear explanation of the seriousness of firearms meant that I've never underestimated the seriousness of guns. Since he's so young, just getting your gun out of your son's reach will probably be sufficient. After that, clearly outlined boundaries and education might be sufficient to keep him from playing with your sidearm. Once his friends start coming over, it's time to lock it up. Peer pressure is unpredictable, and other peoples kids can't be trusted to have any respect for firearms.

 

[bruzer]

I hope I can write this without being a jerk but how many more news reports do we need where a small child has shot themselves or somebody else?
GET A BIOMETRIC SAFE, PUT YOUR OWN COMBO ON IT AND PRACTICE OPENING IT EVERYDAY. You have the responsibility of gun safety in your house, not the kids. You have already found your child touching your gun so you know that it is now up to you to take the necessary precautions to ensure your children's safety. We can only give you advice, now it is up to you to make the proper changes. Good luck and stay safe,
Mike

 

[drscoles]

Shocked that anyone would remotely consider leaving a gun out with kids in the house. Just in our state alone, we have recently seen two tragedies that could have been avoided if the parents used their heads. And one of them was a cop! So sad.

 

[plumberfishes]

I can tell you for a fact, that it takes less then 30 secs for me to roll out pop the safe, grab gun and light and make the front door! a touch pad safe you can do by FEEL in the dark, or a biometric are the way to go. Mine is bolted to my nightstand... if the want it they have to carry the 100 pound night stand with them.. I know they will... but it might slow them enough to get caught!

 

[bruzer]

Benny,
I just found a NanoVault at Home Depot. It would require that you keep the key on you at all times but I would be willing to purchase it for you until you found a permanent solution. After you were done with it I'd use it for the car but you could use it for as long as need be. PM me if you want take me up on it.
Mike
<broken link removed>

 

[Stomper]

Hey Benny,

You have always been a great posting member on these forums, and thanks for sharing an eye opening moment with the rest of us. Don't be heart broken over your little guy, rather be excited that you have learned something new you can do to make him even better than you already think he is! Having six kids of my own (the oldest is 19, the youngest is now twelve) I have learned that young children no matter how fast they learn (or how intelligent they are) are not capable of reasoned thought to the point of projecting (or predicting) consequenses of actions (or words), nor do they have any real capacity for empathy towards others. Learning empathy requires experience of life, having to suffer from someone else's thoughtlessness so you know how it feels, then they eventually put it together and not want to cause that on others.

It is stricky a biological limitation of being a young age and it can be summed up best with, "foolishness is bound in the heart of a child, but the rod of correction will drive it far from him". Now that doesn't mean you have to hit your kid, it means teaching, training, disciplining, over and over until they learn in and actually make it their own... because they imitate what they see, but imitation is no substitute for reasoned thought and actions.

You'll do fine.

 

[rolandson]

Easy say than do. I am asking about daily carry gun, you locked it everytime you are at home then this will defeat protection you need when you are at home. Yes I do have large safe but it not so easy get into if you are nervous!

Of course that is what you're talking about, it's right there in your heading.

So you acquire a "lock box", bolt it to the floor next to your bed and then you do what every armed citizen should do the moment they became an armed citizen; You get trained and you practice.

You train and drill and rehearse so that if the time ever arrives, you can rely upon your training. I know that you must have practiced drawing and firing and seeking cover / retreat and all that fun stuff, maybe you even took some defensive handgun classes...so now you practice getting out of bed and opening the box.

Or you take the chance that your child will not play with your gun.

 

[moose]

Teach your kid gun safety and NEVER let your gun be forbidden fruit. That's all the gun safe I ever needed. YMMV.

exactly what I did. When they were wee tots, I'd keep a gun out leaning in the corner of my home office. They could look at it and touch it anytime they wanted to, with my permission. Now it's no big deal, the older one is taking the hunter safety course and the younger one can quote chapter and verse gun safety to you. None of the guns were ever loaded and the wasn't even any ammo in the house for them, they were simply 'training aids'.

 

[greenLED]

Either carry your gun or keep it in the safe. The little guy is 1, you CAN'T expect him to grasp these concepts

When he's older, he will understand, learn, and respect firearms.

However, it will ALWAYS be your responsibility to observe the utmost safety levels when other people are around. Leaving a gun unattended with other people (minors, visitors, etc.) in the house is simply irresponsible behavior.