Kid's access to firearms

[Solo Flyer]

That I'm cautious? I don't understand the question.

No disrespect intended,Dave.Its just that in a real emergency, where seconds count ,your ultra cautiousness may make it difficult or impossible to defend yourself and your family in time,IMO.
This was the heart of the Heller case in D.C.,the city forcing residents to keep any "legal" firearm locked and disassembled ,making them virtually defenseless against any potential intruders.

 

[p2000sk]

My firearms experiences began at the age of 7.
As others have stated here,
training, trust, and responsibility is the destination,
getting there can be the hard part.

 

[siglite]

It depends. On the kid, on the kid's friends, on the community/neighborhood/culture.

Nail. Head.

I go the access control route. I can trust my child 100% with firearms. I CANNOT trust his friends. Some of the things I've heard them say and do... argh.

And ironically, the friends that scare me to death are the ones that I'm pretty certain have no firearms in their own homes. You see, I know their parents. And... well... I'd be real surprised if the kids that concern me have ever seen a real firearm. These kids would be dangerous with access to firearms and ammunition.

Hence my concern.

But I could trust my son unsupervised with firearms. Absolutely. And when the zombies come, he'll be armed with both a long arm and a side arm 24/7.

 

[bobby68]

merced pitchfork murder of children

I remember when this happened, i was still not a gun owner.

http://www.lewrockwell.com/poe/poe1.html

I looked for some of the original news accounts but the most i found were articles like the one above, which is understandable since the case was such a overwhelming case against denying responsible children access to protective firearms in emergency.

someone might argue that "there should always be a responsible adult nearby", but the adult can always be overcome or incapicitated. Unless the children can protect themselves, they then become sitting ducks for any sicko who wants to harm them. Case in point, that sick bastard Edward Duncan III, in Idaho who murdered parents and took the two little ones to rape and murder. Only one little girl survived. He had watched the family with night vision to learn how to overcome the parents and get what he was after, the children.

Now that i am a father, my baby is only one, my wife and i pay close attention to all of the risks to our daughter and ourselves to best ensure we don't allow these things to happen if we can stop it. I also try to pray for may family daily, which i think is the first step, but then i follow through with various safety measures.

 

[Old Grump]

Different World, Different Times but same kids

I grew up in the North Woods of Wisconsin and hunting was something we did to eat. I watched my Grandma chase a intruder out of the house and down the driveway with her 30-30, that gun and a 12 gauge was behind the coats between the icebox and the wall just to the left of the kitchen door. I really didn't know anybody who didn't have guns or lived in a house where access to them was restricted.

My kids grew up with the guns in the open but the ammo locked up and they got their first lessons with a BB gun at 5 and were shooting 22's at 6. They could handle a 45 at 12 better than some of my pistol team members and I trusted my kids more than a lot of adults. Guns weren't mysterious things they were tools and if the kids wanted to shoot all they had to do was ask, I was always ready to go out and play as long as it was over -20 F. and the wind was less 20 mph.

Wifes bedside gun was always loaded and accessible and they just didn't touch it, no more than they would have messed with her makeup.....okay bad example but that only happened once.

 

[TallPine]

We've got a nine-year-old who is thus far failing to show the responsibility. Maybe when he realizes that (a) life is not a video game or cartoon; and (b) realizes that it's up to him to grow the responsibility - that it is not just given to him - then he'll get another chance.

Those are things his parents need to teach him

 

[RonE]

Actually it should be judged on a case by case basis by the parents of the child. Does a child have access to pressurized sprays? Access to liquor or tobacco? To electrical hand tools? To kitchen knives? To the lawn mower?

Child rearing and education along with your expectations is the only thing that will determine weather or not your child should have access to firearms, should have only controlled access or shouldn't have any access.

If you are not willing to put in the time to train and educate you children and if you are not able to accept that "accidents" can and will happen, then, by all means, lock the firearms up and control the key.

 

[freakshow10mm]

My son is 21 months old. No access.

 

[DaveBeal]

Its just that in a real emergency, where seconds count ,your ultra cautiousness may make it difficult or impossible to defend yourself and your family in time,IMO.

I've considered that. That's why I have a fully loaded 9mm mag in my locked ammo box. But my personal nightmare is not home invasion. It's that one of my kids harms him/herself, accidently or intentionally, with one of the guns I brought into our home. In my mind, that would be a greater breach of my responsibility toward my family, and in our neighborhood, marginally more likely than invasion. To each his own neurosis, I guess.

 

[Solo Flyer]

To each his own neurosis, I guess.

You're not being neurotic.You're trying to be a careful parent and neighbor which is to be admired.
I would only suggest that the 9mm in the locked ammo box be readily available by touchpad or by key within seconds at any time of the day or night.
I have small grandchildren staying with me on occasion.Everything is locked in my safes ,except my personal carry piece, which during the night resides loaded in my unlocked bedroom drawer for immediate access.In the A.M. it goes back on my person to work or whatever.
So rule 5 is applying.It's always under my direct control.

 

[Ready2Defend]

Gunvaults for several hand guns. Safe for the long guns. Resposible children know the codes, those not yet responsible enough don't.

 

[Mr White]

2 boys, 11 and 13. As far as responsibility and knowledge and practice of gun safety, I'd put either of them with confidence up against most gun owners.

Our guns live in a safe. There are a few around the house, there might be a few in the workroom waiting to be cleaned at any time. The kids have access to them. The oldest knows the combo to the safe. The younger one doesn't know it only because he'd never remember it, but he knows where the ones outside the safe are stashed. They both know not to talk about the guns with their friends and they've both been taught what to do if anything dire ever happens.

 

[Ala Dan]

Access Control

Guns are secured inside on a Liberty Colonial Series RSC. If my 3 year
old garand-daughter becomes curious 'bout any particular firearm; I
make it SAFE, and let her hold it for a moment under close supervision.

 

[col_tapiocca]

Children from the neighborhood (they are many) come often to play in our house. Mostly are german origin and they don't know about fire arms.....
Therefore I locked all "dangerous" irons.

 

[Neo-Luddite]

....

 

[kcshooter]

Wow, I can't believe that this many people are this irresponsible. I expected every response to be "locked away" and children allowed access only under supervision. Kids are curious. "Don't touch" is far from enough of a deterent. For some kids, don't touch means wait until parents aren't looking to examine it, or show it to friends. Even the most responsible kid can have a momentary lapse in judgement, and that's all it takes for a tragedy to happen.

Last month, just a few miles away from my home, an 8 year old girl accidentally shot herself in the head. The gun was found in a bedside drawer and she was showing some of her friends. The gun was unlocked.

For those of you who do lock them up, stories like this will justify your actions, and I feel the same way. For those think that a child is mature enough to completely control their curiosity, you should really think again. It only takes one brief mistake for a child to end their life.

 

[Mr White]

Hey, if you don't trust your kids, then lock up all your guns from them. I trust mine, and I honestly don't care if you think I'm irresponsible.

My kids have been so heavily exposed to guns and are so involved with them, they really hold none of the forbidden fruit fascination that gets kids into trouble.

 

[dalepres]

I think a big key is early exposure to guns and even to hunting. Kids who hunt and know that living things that were shot do not get up when you push reset or for the next episode will be much less likely to pull the trigger on a gun.

If your kids are at home with other kids from the neighborhood and no adults are watching, absolutely lock up your guns. If your kids have not been trained that they do not show off guns to other kids, by all means, lock up your guns.

 

[pappy]

My kids are all grown up now, but they were taught at an early age not to touch without an adult. The great thing about gun proofing the child instead of child proofing the gun is that you can not be with them 24/7. What happens if they go to a friend's house and there's a loaded gun within reach?

 

[RancidSumo]

Not a one fits all answer. The parent needs to decide what responsibilities they trust their child with. When I was ~10, my gun was kept in my moms room. At about 14 I was allowed to keep it in my room and now at 16 I have many firearms in my room and pack them up and head to the range whenever I want. You just need to decide when your child is mature enough.

 

[novaDAK]

when growing up my parents kept their guns locked away in a safe I couldn't get into. They said that if I ever wanted to see them, just ask and they'd take them out and show them to me all I wanted. When I turned 18 and was getting my own guns, they gave me the combination to the safe so I could store my guns away safely.

I'm still living at home (while taking college classes full-time) so I keep all but one of my guns locked up. The one that stays out is my Smith mod 64-5, loaded and ready to go. At home it stays on my person, or when I go to class I put it in a desk drawer in my bedroom. Other than that it usually comes with me when I go out (that is, when I don't take my XD45acp )

 

[moojpg2]

I had full access to the firearms in the house since i was probably 7 or 8 years old, now I'm almost 20 and my collection is starting to catch up to that of my father, so much so that we had to buy another safe,lol

nothing bad ever happened, i never really showed them off to my friends or anything stupid, i never loaded them in the house, or really messed with them unless my dad knew about it, and I most importantly knew how to handle them all safely.

I also started reloading in the 7th grade so maybe I'm an odd example

I do know this, if you get your kids into shooting now, you will never have to worry about them partying too much and getting into trouble because they won't have enough money for beer, even with a well paying full time job, I'm actually considering selling my (spare) car to buy a new rifle,lol

ultimately though, it is up to you, as a parent, to decide if your kids are able to be trusted with the guns, after all, you should know them best

 

[TAB]

It depends. On the kid, on the kid's friends, on the community/neighborhood/culture.

winner in post 4.

I'm sure we all know that 40 year old that is not mature enough to own a gun...

 

[gp911]

No access, because he is only 7 months old...

Actually I'll be facing this pretty soon anyway, as I have a wife who is anti and the boy will be reaching that curious age. I'll most likely be locking everything up but what I carry, then locking that up when it is not on me. Storing it at night is the only question mark. I want access to it, but need to remember to put it back in the safe in the morning. Good poll...

Introducing him to firearms is something I'm looking forward to, but it will be so much more difficult than it was when I was a kid.


gp911

 

[jad0110]

Storing it at night is the only question mark. I want access to it, but need to remember to put it back in the safe in the morning.

One vote for GunVault.

I have a 21 month old, so I keep a S&W 686 in a quick access GunVault safe. I've practiced a lot with it, so I can access it as quickly as if it were sitting in the nightstand drawer. When I leave for work, I just pick it up and put it in my big safe, taking it out before I go to bed. Otherwise, I carry whenever I'm awake at home, as you do.