Guns in the home with children

[Slabsides45]

I started a thread on this subject a month or two ago, and got great feedback. The result for me was a Gunvault 1000, small enough to place right on the bedside table, quick access with no key (we don't look for the front sight in an actual gunfight, but we're supposed to find the key in the dark, insert and work it? Nah..). It's worked out very well for me, and I actually practice entering the code and retrieving the pistol every night as part of the bedtime ritual: check exterior doors, dogs inside, alarm set, safe locked, code entry yields gun, time to sleep....

I have a 17 year old daughter (so might have friends that are inquisitive) and a 3 year old daughter (who has proven that she's curious), so not willing to take chances....

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[AZ Husker]

How did anyone my age live so long? As a kid, we had a shotgun in the back window of every pickup truck, a .22 rifle behind the front door for varmints, and an unlocked gun cabinet full, along with matching ammo. You never heard of a kid shooting himself or others. Why? They were a tool, nothing special or mysterious. In our overzealous efforts to protect our kids from every possible danger, we have created this mess.

[Zach and Holly]

How did anyone my age live so long? As a kid, we had a shotgun in the back window of every pickup truck, a .22 rifle behind the front door for varmints, and an unlocked gun cabinet full, along with matching ammo. You never heard of a kid shooting himself or others. Why? They were a tool, nothing special or mysterious. In our overzealous efforts to protect our kids from every possible danger, we have created this mess.

My pop growing up in Klamath Falls would hunt on the way to school with his friends, leave their shotguns with the principal, pick them back up after school, and hunt on the way home. Nobody could even imagine that these days!

[Janq]

In the day folks didn't need a drivers license nor insurance or state inspection either.
They could even build their car at home from parts they acquired along the way as my father inlaw with his brothers did toward the first car they ever 'owned'. He turns 70 this summer.

My mom and all of her 9 siblings used to drive the family farm truck into town and around on town as well as country roads and they all learned to drive near age 7 or 8 and sat on a telephone book to see over the steering wheel and they used blocks on their feet (no shoes were their everyday norm) to reach the pedals. One would steer while the other would shift until they got old enough and strong enough to steer and shift at the same time as back then there was no power steering hence the huge rimmed boat/bus style steering wheels toward mechanical advantage.
The drove a Chevy 'Carryall' which is the direct predecessor to todays Suburban/Yukon. Theirs was a mid 40s but below is a '49 GMC 'Suburban' Carryall...



As well she did not get her first state issue drivers license until she was in her early 20s and moved from rural MS to DC in the the late 60s even as she had been prior driving for over a decade on roads of all manner.
How many people and parents today would send their child or children enmasse up the road never mind through and across town alone driving the family _truck_ and not think twice about it as they run errands? Would any of us today upon seeing as much pass us in the street not be concerned? And if they hit you having no insurance? And they hit you because their truck had inadequate brakes to stop it self at a light. Would that be okay? I think not.

My mothers father used to keep his rifles and shotguns stored behind the door in his 'office'.
They were there for anyone to see and touch lying against the wall dusty.
That was a long time ago though and stuff that goes on today was largely unimaginable back then.

Times have changed, broadly.

- Janq

[Colin]

With the new safes being offered it is a easy way to have a gun handy and protect against an accident. You may have trained your kids, but what about their friends?