Quick poll, do you keep ALL your guns locked up?

[BayAreaShooter]

You have to have one when you need it.

[joefreas]

http://cbs4.com/local/gun.shot.shooting.2.1864181.html

http://www.seattlepi.com/local/424858_mason10.html

These two are within the last week-

[Red Devil]

i've noticed that alot of people here are concerned that the children will get at the firearms. i'm like most of you guys and have a HD shotgun and 9MM loaded and not locked up. i also have 3 kids in my house.

now that being said , my wife used to be adamant about not having a gun in our home. she was completely terrified about our kids getting their hands on it and "accedentally" shooting one of their siblings. this fear comming from the stories of kids finding daddys gun and playing with it. subsequently shooting either themselves or someone else.

i firmly believe that the above forementioned scenario is due to ignorance and/or curiosity. i mentioned this to my wife and it got her thinking. my thing is that i make sure my kids know the difference between a toy and the real thing.i started them when they were young (my oldest was13 and the other two were 8 and 6) when i get a new firearm, the first thing i do is gather my children and place it in their hands. i then continue on and instruct them in the proper handling of a firearm (it's a repetetive lecture. so it's getting pounded in their heads). i show them how to make sure THAT particular firearm unloaded and safe.

now as far as i'm concerned i've eliminated the Mmajor factors of ignorance and curiosity. my wife refused to believe this however, so i had to prove it to her. i took my first pistol (G-17) and placed a empty clip in it. i set it on the kitchen counter with a "tell" on it (a little string placed across it so that if it was picked up i'd know). it sat on the counter for 3 days without being disturbed.

now that i've convinced my wife that the ignorance and curiosity factors are gone. she knows and that my kids will not "find and play with" my firearms. now show&tell it's a ritual that the kids have come to enjoy as much as i do.

i don't expect all of you guys to agree with my methods/philosophy. i also do not recommend doing what i do. i do it this way because i know my kids. if i for one second thought my kids would not understand what i was trying to convey to them, i would not do it.

i guess the flamings begin now....

As posted in the "gun cleaning regularity" thread...

...We started cleaning guns before we were old enough to start shooin'em.

Great chore for young kids because it needs to be learned and done anyway (like wipin' your butt), ...and it removes the stigma and excitement of handling them.

A few years of "just cleaning", ...including an inspection afterward, ...and they become as exiting as hammers.

[faterikcartman]

Your poll is impossible to answer as worded. Do you mean ALL THE TIME? Which means I could never shoot them. Or do you mean when you're not home? Or what do you mean?

[bongfoo]

LMAO, i never thought to have them clean them for me! but then again i ENJOY cleaning my firearms. gives me a chance to closely inspect for any kind of damage to anything.

[joedogboy]

I don't store any of my firearms loaded. I do keep loaded magazines/speedloaders in the safe with a few of them.

[ArcLight]

All but the saiga 12 which i keep fully loaded in a popout box above my headboard.

[joefreas]

Another one. http://www.vcstar.com/news/2010/aug/...-in-camarillo/

[gun toting monkeyboy]

I have 2 kids in the house. I don't keep all the guns locked up. But the ammunition, on the other hand, is all inaccessible. And I don't really worry about other kids coming over to the house with ammunition that they could use in the 1-2 guns that are normally in closets. 6.5x53R and Italian 10.35mm revolver ammo aren't exactly easy to come by...

[Catheaven]

There are young children in the house so we do make sure and keep them locked up.

[ShootinMedic]

When it isn't on me or with me at night it is locked up

[Milsurps]

now that i've convinced my wife that the ignorance and curiosity factors are gone.

i guess the flamings begin now....

The neighbor kids, and your friends kids are surely not as well behaved as yours and they are curious

[ZX-10R]

i've noticed that alot of people here are concerned that the children will get at the firearms. i'm like most of you guys and have a HD shotgun and 9MM loaded and not locked up. i also have 3 kids in my house.

now that being said , my wife used to be adamant about not having a gun in our home. she was completely terrified about our kids getting their hands on it and "accedentally" shooting one of their siblings. this fear comming from the stories of kids finding daddys gun and playing with it. subsequently shooting either themselves or someone else.

i firmly believe that the above forementioned scenario is due to ignorance and/or curiosity. i mentioned this to my wife and it got her thinking. my thing is that i make sure my kids know the difference between a toy and the real thing.i started them when they were young (my oldest was13 and the other two were 8 and 6) when i get a new firearm, the first thing i do is gather my children and place it in their hands. i then continue on and instruct them in the proper handling of a firearm (it's a repetetive lecture. so it's getting pounded in their heads). i show them how to make sure THAT particular firearm unloaded and safe.

now as far as i'm concerned i've eliminated the Mmajor factors of ignorance and curiosity. my wife refused to believe this however, so i had to prove it to her. i took my first pistol (G-17) and placed a empty clip in it. i set it on the kitchen counter with a "tell" on it (a little string placed across it so that if it was picked up i'd know). it sat on the counter for 3 days without being disturbed.

now that i've convinced my wife that the ignorance and curiosity factors are gone. she knows and that my kids will not "find and play with" my firearms. now show&tell it's a ritual that the kids have come to enjoy as much as i do.

i don't expect all of you guys to agree with my methods/philosophy. i also do not recommend doing what i do. i do it this way because i know my kids. if i for one second thought my kids would not understand what i was trying to convey to them, i would not do it.

i guess the flamings begin now....

You are my hero. You are what most people fail to do with their children nowadays...That is to instruct them to obey YOUR rules in YOUR household. Excellent job. I wish more people raised their kids like you. My daughter does not touch the M44 that is in our master bedroom. She goes in to watch TV there if she does not want to watch TV down stairs.

She knows what it is. Knows what it can do. Knows better than to disobey me. Now I just need her to want to go shooting. She is 14. If a friend is over it goes into my wife's closet.

[rimfire78]

My Dad taught us the same way when we were young, and we never touched the real guns unless we had supervision and permission.

- Locked when not home. Otherwise we keep a couple loaded and strategically placed.

[bongfoo]

The neighbor kids, and your friends kids are surely not as well behaved as yours and they are curious

i don't keep the loaded ones in plain view, although my oldest knows where they are in the event of an emergency (she turns 17 next month). i don't keep them "loaded" either, i keep them at condition 3 (loaded mag in the gun nothing in the chamber and shells in the tube but none in the breech).