Stashed guns

Mine are in quick-access lockboxes except for one I may be wearing. I like the ones made by Amsec & Fort Knox. There is enough room for extra ammo & flashlight or two guns.

I have no children living here but it's that one unplanned visit that can result in tragedy. Saying, "I taught my kids gun safety, so I don't have to lock my guns up" is an invitation to tragedy. You have NO control over your kid's friends who visit. And in some states, you'll be charged criminally. My sister learned that the hard way. Besides, any gun that is not locked up means you may be arming a burglar.

When I was single I use to have guns stashed all around the house along with a good quality flashlight in almost every room. At night my carry gun went on the nightstand next to my bed, hidden under a couple of magazines or a towel.

Nowadays almost all of them are locked up in the safes. Still have flashlights in most rooms and have my house gun (SIG P229R with a laser/light module on it), in a small, quick access pistol safe mounted on the side of the bed. Along with the alarm system and the dog outside our bedroom door I think we have a decent early warning system in place.

Your kids have never climbed up on a chair for any reason?

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My 5 year old step-son climbs on plenty of chairs, but he would need 2 or 3 stacked on top of each other to even reach the top of the cabinet. I call it a cabinet, but it is an entertainment center made for a 60 inch tv. The thing is huge and unless he can find and carry an actual ladder there is nothing to worry about until he is much older.

Not living in a war zone......no.

I just think having to get the firearm out of whatever hiding place is going to cost time, I'd rather have it where I am.

I do my reloading in the basement, so, I keep an old Winchester12 pump down in the ''cave''.
Other than that, nothing else.

I have a few guns stashed here and there, but when company comes over I round them all up and put them away.

Speaking as a former kid myself, there was no place "out of reach" to me. I clearly remember times when little-old-me climbed up into the to top-most closet shelf to hide behind boxes using nothing more than the door knob on the closet door in my climbing efforts.

This isn't said to scare anybody or argue against guns in the house or how to secure them. It's just said to remind people NOT to underestimate our children's capabilities. Children are a LOT more intelligent/capable than most people give them credit for...especially when their curiosity is peaked. It's hard to remember things like this through adult filters, because we don't think or see things the same way any more.

Whatever methods you choose to use, just be sure open, honest training is likewise employed with your kids from as early an age as possible.

We have firearms in the house, too, with three teens. No gun safes, either (yet). How and where they're all located isn't, and never has been, any "big secret" with them, suffice it to say that none of them are kept loaded except for the carry weapons. The kids have been raised as no strangers to guns, gun safety, and our taboos about them, along with training and understanding of the dangers.

I think MOST kid problems with firearms are due to people treating kids as stupid/incapable and simple adult stupidity.

Dr.Rob said:

Used to, not any more.

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Just curious, why?

I have teens also. They are very familiar with our weaponry and know the safe combination. Mostly firearms are always kept in the master bedroom. A couple of the known types to answer an emergent threat are very easy to get to but other than a .22 mag carbine near the back door the arsenal is in one place... the safe.

I have dogs that 1st would have to be killed before any type of home invasion could take place. I live rural on a large piece of property with no other residences visible but my neighbor has called my before about a suspicious vehicle near our gate. We have an active "neighborhood watch". I along with other neighbors have responded to suspicious noise calls from other neighbors. I don't feel the need to have stashed weapons throughout the house.

RetiredUSNChief said:

Speaking as a former kid myself, there was no place "out of reach" to me. I clearly remember times when little-old-me climbed up into the to top-most closet shelf to hide behind boxes using nothing more than the door knob on the closet door in my climbing efforts.

This isn't said to scare anybody or argue against guns in the house or how to secure them. It's just said to remind people NOT to underestimate our children's capabilities. Children are a LOT more intelligent/capable than most people give them credit for...especially when their curiosity is peaked. It's hard to remember things like this through adult filters, because we don't think or see things the same way any more.

Whatever methods you choose to use, just be sure open, honest training is likewise employed with your kids from as early an age as possible.

We have firearms in the house, too, with three teens. No gun safes, either (yet). How and where they're all located isn't, and never has been, any "big secret" with them, suffice it to say that none of them are kept loaded except for the carry weapons. The kids have been raised as no strangers to guns, gun safety, and our taboos about them, along with training and understanding of the dangers.

I think MOST kid problems with firearms are due to people treating kids as stupid/incapable and simple adult stupidity.

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As a kid, I could get to anything my parents "hid" or "Put up so high I couldn't reach it." If I couldn't climb, I'd use a broom or other object. Once I simply shook a cabinet until stuff fell off of it....including my dad's revolver (which he told me never to touch).

"Hiding, putting stuff up high" = invitations to tragedy. And, no excuse for it now with quick-access lockboxes available.

RetiredUSNChief said:

Speaking as a former kid myself, there was no place "out of reach" to me. I clearly remember times when little-old-me climbed up into the to top-most closet shelf to hide behind boxes using nothing more than the door knob on the closet door in my climbing efforts.

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I remember one time we kids were playing hide and seek at my aunt and uncle's, one of my cousins (a girl, before everybody jumps to conclusions) "hid" on top of the refrigerator. Then she actually jumped down on top of me when I spotted her, but that's a separate story.

You can always secure and stash it.

i do not condone leaving unsecured and loaded firearms laying around a house, regardless of there are children or not.

I keep mine either on my person, or in my vault. I see too much risk in leaving firearms just sitting around. If I think I may need one urgently, it is better to have it on my hip, than in a drawer. JMHO.

Geno

Stashed? No. I have a loaded revolver on top of the dresser in the master bedroom. It is sitting under a rag to keep the dust off.

No kids to worry about and when we have company it goes into a locked case.

I dont think this will be a popular response to this thread, but here goes.
While I understand the intent of protecting ones family, I sense some implications here of an attitude born from too many cop shows and unrealistic war movies that its no big deal to take a life.
How many of you have actually heard the cry "Charlie's in the wire?" There will of course be a few here that know just what the ramifications of that means.

spottedpony said:

I dont think this will be a popular response to this thread, but here goes.
While I understand the intent of protecting ones family, I sense some implications here of an attitude born from too many cop shows and unrealistic war movies that its no big deal to take a life.
How many of you have actually heard the cry "Charlie's in the wire?" There will of course be a few here that know just what the ramifications of that means.

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If your response is unpopular in this thread, it's because it doesn't address what everyone here is discussing for 4 pages now...Stashing firearms and the 5 W's.

You seem a bit disconnected in your accusation of a general disregard for human life by the folks here. Injecting baseless and judgmental attacks, in the guise of assessments by a sage willow from Mayberry or Walton Mountain, is little more than an effort to offset discussions amongst responsible adults of all walks of life.

JSH1 said:

Stashed? No. I have a loaded revolver on top of the dresser in the master bedroom. It is sitting under a rag to keep the dust off.

No kids to worry about and when we have company it goes into a locked case.

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Just a FYI: I also have no kids in the house. My guns are in quick-access lockboxes. It's that one exception to the norm that can end in tragedy.

One day I returned home from work to find three small children playing with my Black Lab having fun & laughing up a storm. When I went upstairs, all three kids had my Amsec Pistol Box in front of them & were playing with the buttons & the knob. Inside the box was a loaded Glock Mod. 31. How did the kids get there? My sister (who lives in the front house) was interviewing gardeners while I was at work & she let them in. She didn't know that one of them was bringing his kids. The kids had already wandered around the house while they were playing hide and seek with my Lab.

Don't bother blaming the incident on kids that "Weren't raised right...weren't spanked enough....kids today have no respect"...etc. All completely irrelevant. The ONLY person responsible for a firearm tragedy involving a child is THE GUN'S OWNER.
That $100.00 I spent on the lock box was really well spent. How do you think it would have gone if I relied on "hiding" the gun & a kid found it?

You seem a bit disconnected in your accusation of a general disregard for human life by the folks here. Injecting baseless and judgmental attacks, in the guise of assessments by a sage willow from Mayberry or Walton Mountain, is little more than an effort to offset discussions amongst responsible adults of all walks of life.

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I stand by my assessment, AND unless you have been there and done it, up close and personal, (I relate to 70s era Vietnam) you dont know.
As for baseless and judgmental attacks the only one I see here is the Mayberry comment. Am I a 2nd supporter? very much so. Do I obsess over hiding an armory in varied places in my home? No.
There is a point where paranoia overtakes common sense.
I have alternate ltl methods as primary choices.

spottedpony said:

I stand by my assessment, AND unless you have been there and done it, up close and personal, (I relate to 70s era Vietnam) you dont know.
As for baseless and judgmental attacks the only one I see here is the Mayberry comment. Am I a 2nd supporter? very much so. Do I obsess over hiding an armory in varied places in my home? No.
There is a point where paranoia overtakes common sense.
I have alternate ltl methods as primary choices.

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Stand by your assessment as you like but it's still an incorrect assessment for the current discussion.

People discussing firearm-related defensive preparations in their homes has no relevance to a lack of understanding of the value of a human life.
If this was a cavalier discussion regarding shoot/don't shoot, or gung-ho comments on dealing with the moral aftermath of a shooting, your judgment would fit. But it's neither of those subjects.

Also, to equate the sharing of thoughts on prepping homes with firearms (on a gun forum, no less) to an obsession "over hiding an armory" and "paranoia" is belittling to say the least. You've got no idea what anyone's living situation is and therefore, shouldn't throw out generic judgments on the whole. (Side note: LTL is just another tool in the box. No tool is the end all-be all solution, and, appropriate escalation of force should always be the rule of the day.)

Furthermore, to validate your "assessment" by throwing out the "unless you have been there and done it, up close and personal" card in mixed company is uncouth. It's equally insulting to those that have, and, those who haven't "been there". It generally serves little more than to self-aggrandize in the face of the unbaptized.

You were in Vietnam, then:
Thank you for doing your service when many others wouldn't;
If you were drafted, then I hope you've found your moral balance for the things you did over there;
You made it back alive. Welcome home, brother.

Shaq said:

Just a FYI: I also have no kids in the house. My guns are in quick-access lockboxes. It's that one exception to the norm that can end in tragedy.

One day I returned home from work to find three small children playing with my Black Lab having fun & laughing up a storm. When I went upstairs, all three kids had my Amsec Pistol Box in front of them & were playing with the buttons & the knob. Inside the box was a loaded Glock Mod. 31. How did the kids get there? My sister (who lives in the front house) was interviewing gardeners while I was at work & she let them in. She didn't know that one of them was bringing his kids. The kids had already wandered around the house while they were playing hide and seek with my Lab.

Don't bother blaming the incident on kids that "Weren't raised right...weren't spanked enough....kids today have no respect"...etc. All completely irrelevant. The ONLY person responsible for a firearm tragedy involving a child is THE GUN'S OWNER.
That $100.00 I spent on the lock box was really well spent. How do you think it would have gone if I relied on "hiding" the gun & a kid found it?

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The small Amsec ones were specifically identified as not safe in one of the videos where small gun safes were tested, either https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRgmvwxwZUk&feature=youtu.be or
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEsxltQ4ZCM, I don't remember which one now. (Either way these videos are quite eye-opening, many of the small safes can be opened by a TODDLER in a matter of seconds.)

I keep a gun stashed...typically in my pocket inside a pocket holster or IWB holster. Much better than running to a hide and retrieving a firearm. Nothing is faster. When I sleep, it goes in the bed side quick access safe. I also carry a tactical light in my left pocket and a lever assist pocket knife.