Best kid-safe storage for HD shotgun?

[jakemccoy]

Zonamo, I like "Life Jacket 3" (http://www.mogulco.com/lifejacket/modellj3.html). It's better than a trigger lock, which offer the least protection. I also like that it's California approved (useful evidence in a Cali court) and that it disables the shotgun from being loaded, pumped, or fired.

Downfalls are that the device offers little theft deterrence; I don't like key locks; and I don't want the gun exposed at all while kids are in the house.

However, the Life Jacket 3 would be great for me to have by my bed at night, and then store the shotgun in the safe when I wake up. Because of the low price, I'm definitely getting one of these, thanks for the tip!

 

[machinecraig]

I've seen lots of good ideas mentioned in this thread - thanks to everybody who contributed! I definitely agree that locks are necessary with small kids - and a safe is absolutely the way we're going to go (we'll get a mossberg locking mount until we get the safe later this year).

The posts about education have been a good reminder on how important it is to keep moving on that front. We've been reviewing the Eddie Eagle rules this week -I want to make sure I'm setting her up for a lifetime of safe gun handling.

thanks again all!

-Craig

 

[sm]

Educate the kids; one cannot educate the kids too early.

Eddie Eagle assists with this.

Kids should be exposed early, take the gun down, and show then all the parts, and let them ask as many questions, as often as they want. Even if this drives one nuts.

Take the curious out/ minimized from the situation.
Instills the kid is being listened to, getting attention to questions, and his time, being made time, is important.
Never promise a kid you will show them later, and not. Trust is a two way street.

Kids have stuff and things they want kept secret, so the secret stuff about not telling other kids, strangers and all about guns is discussed.

Take a kid shooting, it is all about them, even if they are not big enough to shoot, the cookout, hot dogs, ice cream and kid games, with bigger folks with guns, and able to shoot, instills in them some gun values and makes them a part of the gun culture.

Securing the actual gun?
Lots of ideas shared already.
One may have to adhere to certain regulations as imposed by different jurisdictions.

Educate the kids.
They have the same rights as everyone else. Just they are not as tall, weigh as much and have a right to be a kid as well.

 

[sm]

Personal Irk

These posts in regard to giving anyone, being given heavy recoiling loads, be it shotgun, handgun or rifle, I do not appreciate.

Kids.
These are our future.
I choose to not alienate a kid by handing them a gun and letting them get hurt, scared in the guise of "well , little jerk won't touch my shotgun by gawd!"

No the kid won't. In fact will be so turned off by the negative experience, when bigger will vote and take personal responsibility to be against guns.

Do not hand a kid, a lady a hard kicking gun with no instructions, to make fun of them, and don't pretend to be kicking a dog, not around me .

Recently a lady did get hurt, by a guy, being all Mall Ninja and total jerk.
She really did get hurt shooting a hard kicking load, I mean go to ER kind of hurt with more doctor visits.
One concern was detached retina.
I took him to task.

I joke , I tease, I have a good time.

Just do not ever let me catch someone having a laugh at the expense of hurting another .
That is a promise.

 

[Mike_in_OC]

Check out Tufloc

http://www.esmet.com/singlegun.html

 

[psyopspec]

RE the use of a high-energy load as a teaching tool...

I recently graduated college. In the course of my schooling I took well over 2 dozen shooters to the range, many for the first time. Of those I created a couple devotees to the shooting sports who, with any luck, will be lifers. At one point, though, I nearly lost one, and here's how: A girl from Washington state, Rachel, had become a regular shooting buddy over the course of a few months. I started her out on my AR for the low recoil and "plinkability" (didn't have a .22 at the time). Soon after we moved to pistols, and she fell in love with 9mm handguns (liked SIGs in particular, which I'll never understand ). Most of our range trips after that were for handguns.

Eventually she'd become proficient in safe handling and was developing impressive accuracy with a pistol. One time while preparing for a range trip I noticed that I had a small tupperware container filled with old 12 gauge shells that had come from my pockets after various hunting trips. I grabbed the container and my 870 HD shotgun and brought it with. After giving her the basic rundown and observing her firing the gun a couple times, I left her to her own. She was having fun with birdshot at plinking distances while I was shooting in the next lane. Suddenly I heard a boom that exceeded the other shotgun blasts and looked over. She was standing there, stunned, with a look on her face like she was about to cry. The pump on the gun had been flung back from the recoil of the 2 3/4" magnum slug that I'd left in the container and she'd loaded and fired. Turned out there were 3 or 4 left in the container that I'd had leftover after topping the gun off for HD duty and had tossed into the container. I had forgotten they were there, and she didn't know enough about shotguns to realize what they were.

She took a good whack to the shoulder, and has been shy of shotguns ever since. Lucky for me and the rest of the firearms community that it didn't turn her off to guns completely. It dampened her enthusiasm some, and I still feel like crap thinking back on it. Moral of the story: That ain't a valid teaching tool.


RE storage of a dedicated HD gun: I keep mine concealed in a bedroom when I'm home, locked up when I'm out. No kids in my household, and it's in a spot where company ought not be stumbling on it.

 

[captainamerica]

I'm not sure I caught it but does the Mossberg sleeve block a shotgun or rifle from being fired while locked in place? The life jacket appears to do that.

 

[Smitty in CT]

The Mossberg box is a simple design, you put a long "L" bracket into a wall stud, that slides into the barrel. Then inside the locking bracket there is a piece that inserts into an open bolt of a shotgun (I don't think it would work for a rifle), so, you cant have a shell in the chamber. Then it just closes and locks around the shotgun, pretty easy.

 

[twinhairdryers]

Saiga 12 box fed with the mag only hidden well or locked.

The only thing an empty 12ga can do to children is bang your furniture around. A magazine fed shotgun leaves only the full mag to tend to for safety. There are many places to hide or lock a magazine rather than a 3-4foot long shotgun. If my 2 year old can lock and load an AK fed mag fed shotgun after finding a locked mag, i'd rather have her on the range with a bench rest, bottle, and sand bag.

 

[gyp_c2]

yup...

Take the kids to the range and let them shoot off some 3 inch mag slugs. They will not want to touch the shotgun again.

Being ignorant and growing up anyway, is no excuse for cruelty and inhumanity...This is exactly the type of behavior they expect of us...
Please disappoint them by educating at every opportunity and promoting a better view of us...If nothing else, it really is for the children ...

 

[Patriot-Brewer]

I saw at a gun show (and should have bought ) a keyless electronic doohickey that bolted to the wall and shut like a clam shell over the shotgun. It was big and study (and red?). When you entered the right combo its spring loaded upper shell snapped open and you could get to the gun. I have not seen it since and I’m really horked I did not get it.

I have that for my shotgun and it works great...lagged it into the studs. I can't remember who makes it and I haven't seen one since I bought it.