Who's right - me or the wife?

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You are going to have to make decisions on 3 binary solutions;
Set 1 You have the possibility of needing your firearm with no delay
You have time to bring your gun to battery
This is already answered, You keep your gun on an empty chamber
Set 2 You do not wish your child to have access to a working firearm
You partially disable your firearm to achieve this
Partial disabling of a firearm always leaves the possibility of, however unlikely, accidental discharge
Set 3 Your decisions on 1 & 2 essentialy are the same as your wifes
It seems she has endorsed your decisions wholeheartedly
If you think about your decisions so far, it would seem best to find a lock box thet opens at your touch or your wifes, not your sons

blindhari
 
I didn't even have to read the OP to know the answer.

Dude, if you like your life as it is, she's right. Doesn't matter what the question is.

You can try explaining it to her, but unless she accepts it, butting heads with her over it is going to leave you both miserable. You more than her.
 
As a single dad I have always had a gun. However it was always locked up, and I let her see, touch, and hold it after making it safe. My daughter is 9 and goes shooting with me sometimes. She will not touch a gun unless I tell her it is safe to do so. She knows where they are, she knows she can shoot them, but even with all the training I have done I never leave a gun unattended. That to me is an accident/tragedy waiting to happen.
 
I had an arguement with my girlfriend about this in the past. She felt that the gun was too close to the bed, I'd have a nightmare, rack the slide, take the safety off, and shoot her. I looked at her like she was nuts and she said she'd feel more comfortable if it was in the gun safe (which is usually left open when I'm home), which is 2 feet farther away. I gave it some thought, made the compromise and let it go instead of fighting an uphill battle.
For the sake of the kid, I'd find some middle ground. Hide the magazine somewhere your child can't get to if you're going to keep it out in the open.
I'd recommend getting a GunVault mini safe or something.
 
Get a bedside safe. For two reasons:
1. Wife wins. Next gun purchase is supported and easier
2. Wife is happy and bedtime gets a lot warmer.

All she wants is to be sure her babies are safe, both (you and the child) of them.

Dude, you can make your decision, but i have seen the agony of parents losing a child due to accident they were responsible for happening, that may have been prevented. Saving four seconds for opening a safe is not worth it.
 
i have a 9 and my wife cant even rack the slide unless she really tries, let alone a 45 and id like to think she was stronger than a kid. They do make biometric safes but if i was in your position i would continue keeping it on the night stand. If i ever have any kids i will also keep my gun out without a round chambered. Hell just toss a blank in there for the first round. That was in the instance that he somehow racked the slide back and pulled the trigger, the noise alone would startle him and he would probably drop the weapon, no harm done. If you need it in the case of HD at 3am, just rack it twice. Just my opinion.
 
TCU said:
i have a 9 and my wife cant even rack the slide unless she really tries, let alone a 45 and id like to think she was stronger than a kid. They do make biometric safes but if i was in your position i would continue keeping it on the night stand. If i ever have any kids i will also keep my gun out without a round chambered. Hell just toss a blank in there for the first round. That was in the instance that he somehow racked the slide back and pulled the trigger, the noise alone would startle him and he would probably drop the weapon, no harm done. If you need it in the case of HD at 3am, just rack it twice. Just my opinion.
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Not really a good idea.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon-Erik_Hexum
 
thanks for that one, i thought about it after i posted it figures i was wrong, thats crazy how that happens though. What if there were a powderless shell with a primer, im sure that would be a much safer idea.
 
What is the intent of having your .45 openly visible on the nightstand? If it is unchambered and the safety is on, you have no tactical advantage over a handgun that is secreted in a drawer (or even preferentially in a biometric safe). If you are both heavy sleepers, the BG has the drop on you with your own firearm. Your family is too valuable to gamble on even a one in a million chance that that firearm will become a danger to you and your loved ones.

Besides, YOUR WIFE IS ALWAYS RIGHT. :neener:
 
I think you're still looking past the obvious solution here.
Lock it up by the bed in a safe.
You have a kid that is, every day, getting bigger, stronger, and smarter. Finding a solution now and getting used to it lets you reach that point when the kid CAN easily rack that slide with a solution already implemented. Won't be long and you'll need a bedside safe solution for the time between toddler and teen.
It's not that the wife is right. It's that you're just looking at it in a static way.
The kid's growth and aptitude will sneak up on you. Get ahead of the curve and stay there.
 
Not even much of a question. Lock it. Your home defense should be layered MUCH better than to require of you instant reaction and a shooting response.

In other words, if your plan for defending your home is to snap to alert wakefulness, chamber a round and start firing, you've lost every battle you could conceivably have.

Think more clearly about how your home is hardened (or should be) and what your early warning indicators are (or should be) and you'll realize that in any survivable scenario (that is AT ALL realistic) you're going to have time to open a lock-box, remove a cable lock, or otherwise un-secure and make-ready your defensive weapon.

Remember, the chances that your home will be targeted for ANY kind of intrusion -- certainly one that is both so stealthy as to defeat your warning systems AND so deliberately violent that a physical attack on you is the goal -- are extremely low.

The chances of your growing, developing, exploring young child figuring out how to do something extremely bad with your unsecured firearm, given the opportunity to try night after night -- are MUCH higher.

Don't risk being responsible for the loss of that which you'd give your own life to save.
 
It only takes one incident and it does not matter who was right. FWIW, lock it up. Whether the kid can operate the gun or not, it has now become mobile for them.
 
Who's right - me or the wife?
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The wife. Now what was the question again?
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Ding-ding-ding!

Although I probably disagree with her.

But let's see: the impetus for her objection is the LEO's child's death. Well, what were the details? 4 1/2 year old snuck into the parents' bedroom while they slept, picked up an FN 45 USG that was unchambered and on safe, and then shot himself? If so, you're going to lose this one.

I suspect the circumstances were quite a bit different. It would be important to know--we learn from these tragedies, but only if we get more details than the simplistic "kid+gun=dead kid."
My questions is this - am I wrong to think it's safe to keep the FNP by the bed, not chambered, with the safety on?
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In a way, yes, you are wrong. It doesn't matter (to me) that the chamber is empty--in part because all guns are always loaded--or that a safety is engaged--because one never depends on a mechanical safety.

So, more questions: Are both you and your wife such sound sleepers that your kid can enter the room, start monkeying with the gun with you right there, and you won't know? If so, strike one.

Is your kid trained? I don't mean adult-level, but does he know he can look at the gun any time he wants, as long as he asks you and you supervise? Does he know that otherwise he may not touch the gun, because guns are as dangerous as hot stoves and sharp knives? If not, strikes two and three.

Me? I've been keeping various guns on the nightstand (only while I'm in bed) for years, in a holster (to lessen the chance of unintended discharge if I grab it half-awake). Those guns have included (and still do) a condition 1 1911. My youngest is now 7, still makes occasional night trips to our room. He is well trained, which is good, because he's been able to rack slides and pull heavy DA triggers for at least two years, probably longer.
 
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Number ONE as you will learn or suffer the consequences "Wives are ALWAYS Right" and Number TWO, get are pistol vault. This will help give piece of mind to all.
 
Unfortunately, the wife is always right (even if you dont agree with her). As far as leaving a pistol out where a toddler can get to it is not a good idea. Even if it is not conceivably possible for a child to manipulate the pistol, where there is a will, there is a way.

My son is 12, and I do keep a holstered, cocked and locked 1911 beside my bed 99% of the time. It goes into the safe when I wake up every morning. But, my son at his age doesnt come into the bedroom, at least not without one of his parents asking him to.
 
Can a toddler rack and fire a 1911? Sure, it's happened before. Maybe not with his hands, but think "edge of table". Kids are resourceful.

Let me tell you what happened to us last October. We were on a camping outing with the nine grandkids. We had just arrived and were unpacking the truck. I set off the horn in the truck accidently, so I threw the keys on the console momentarily.

We came out of the cabin to grab some more stuff only to find the truck rolling backwards down a hill. My grandson had gotten into the truck, inserted the key into the ignition, turned it on, stepped on the brake and pulled it out of gear.

Thank God nobody was hurt, but there was $26,000 damage to the truck and the cabin that stopped him (also thank God we have good insurance).

He was two and a half at the time.

Lock the gun up.

Also, I agree with Sam. Jeff White has said it before; "If you find yourself in a gunfight in your home, you've already failed in your mission to keep yourself and your family safe".
 
You might ask yourself, "How does that sound in court in front of a judge and jury?"

gd
 
1 - wife is always right
2 - never underestimate what a child can do
3 - never underestimate a wife you thought was wrong
 
Sam, the odds of being broken into may be higher than u think. The number has risen to around 1 every 10 seconds. I'm in their houses every day after the incident. And most people would be surprised at the number of times some people have been broken into. I was on a guys house last week that got hit 3 times that week.
 
I grew-up in the 80's and early 90's in a small town where every man I knew had a gunrack in their truck, guns above the bed, in drawers, etc. I knew my butt would be hamburger if I touched them, so I never did. I have given my son the same kind of talk about not touching unless I let him.

I guess I have a mind-set that doesn't fly with the PC world we live in today, so I guess I will take the advise of the posters to my thread and get a biometric safe to set on my nightsatnd.

Funny how we ever made it this long - as a kid guns were everywhere, no car seats, no seatbelts, rode in the back of trucks 30 miles to play baseball games, etc.

I think I like the old days better............
 
Wow6599, I'm sure the number of accidents were about the same back then. The reason it may seem worse today is the media loves to run with gun accident stories and the media is everywhere today.
 
Sam, the odds of being broken into may be higher than u think.
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Accepted, that there are some locations which do experience high rates of break-in.

However, the majority of my post still stands.

I was on a guys house last week that got hit 3 times that week.
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Sure. But that guy wasn't shot to death three times last week. Probably wasn't even injured. Probably didn't shoot his gun. PROBABLY doesn't even own a gun.

The reasonable response is not to say that we would plan/expect to snap awake and lay down fire in a second or two. The reasonable response is to establish the hardest home perimeter we can, provide early warning systems (alarm, dog, motion lights, etc.) and have a firearm secured and ready for quick access.

The likelihood that someone's life hangs in the balance of whether or not they could leap from their slumber, chamber a round, and fire inside of a second or two (rather than taking 10 extra seconds to unlock a handgun safe or other lock mechanism) is waaaay overshadowed by the likelihood that his child might eventually find a way to cause harm with his unsecured (semi-) loaded firearm.
 
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