Safely Storing handguns with Children In the Home
As many of you know, I am a huge proponent of gun safety, especially, when there are children in the home. One way to make sure that our children are safe, is to keep our guns locked up and out of reach of our children. While we cannot always control every environment our children are in, we can control our home.
There are many ways to safeguard our children in regards to guns. Some suggest a trigger guard, other suggest keeping them unloaded and locked up. For this discussion, we will look at the ways I keep my guns stored and locked up. for my handguns, I keep them locked up in a gun safe. My rifles, I keep them locked up in a gun case. If I owned more rifles (which I plan to in the near future) I would keep them in a larger gun cabinet/safe.
Lets discuss safety and storage options for handguns today. While a trigger lock is the best way to keep a gun safely out of the hands of a child, it defeats the purpose of having a gun for protection. If someone breaks into your house late at night, the last thing you want to be caught doing is fumbling around in your dark room looking for the key to unlock your trigger lock. (see below for a couple examples of a trigger lock).
In my opinion, a better option is a biometric or code safe for your handguns. I have the one listed below bolted to my nightstand next to my bed. The first thing I do when I get home from work is put my keys and wallet in the dish I have for them in the living room and then head to my bedroom and lock up my handgun. I prefer these style safes because they are portable and functional. They also require either a fingerprint or code to open them. They can be quickly accessed even in pitch dark. There are cheaper options out there but I feel you often get what you pay for when it comes to gun safety.
| Gun Safe | Code Entry | Fingerprint Scanner |
|---|---|---|
 |  |  |
In conclusion, keeping our children safe and keeping guns out of their hands is our responsibility as parents and responsible gun owners. There are many ways you can do this and I encourage each and every one of you to find the best way for you. Any option we take to keep them safe is the right option.
If you like these type of posts feel free to follow me.
Below are a couple other post on the topic of keeping children safe when guns are involved.
Teaching Your Kids to Shoot at the Range
Responsible Gun Ownership and Parenting
Good text @mikeoftulsa, may I ask (if you know) what is that revolver on your first picture?
That revolver is made by Ruger. I think it is a GP100, if it is, it's a .357 magnum. It's too small to be a .44 or .45, those Rugers are a lot bigger than this one.
You are right, thank you @amberyooper.
Thanks. I'm not sure what model it is. If I had to guess, i'd say a .38 or .44 caliber double action revolver. Couldn't give you a brand or model unfortunatly.
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A very thought out piece of prevention that all should read -- even folks without kids who maybe hosting a friend that has children.
Thanks.
I'm glad that someone is taking on the responsibility to put out the message on gun safety. A lot of the time we don't think anything of it because it hasn't affected our lives. But everyday it affects so many lives so we should help it before it does end up in our lives. Great post as always @mikeofulsa (upvoted/commented for yunk tag support)
This is a topic that means a lot to me since I have 3 children and several guns in my home. My hope is that others will take up this cause with me and help spread the word. In the world today, we don't need more restrictions, we need people to take responsibility for their actions and do their part to make things better.
I'm a huge fan of those small personal gun vaults! I used one for years when our son was younger and never thought twice about him getting hold of my gun! Now with that said, I'm also a huge fan of education vs sheltering children. I started working with our son when he was 3 yrs old teaching him gun safety. That was over a decade ago and today, he's not much on guns but he knows how to be safe with one.
I believe that is the key. Education. Teach them that they are the tool that they are and the world would be a much better place. I remember my dad telling me stories of actual marksman classes at his school growing up where kids brought their own guns to school for marksman competitions. Amazing how times have changed. Education>Fear
@mikeoftulsa, this reminded me about a post I wrote about eating my daughter about FaceBook. Our parents we need to educate and information, not create fear (about guns or the internet).
We should not teach our children to be afraid, but rather when, where, and how to use these important tools!
Thanks for the practical advice. started following
Thanks. Education will always win over fear in my world.
Motheryunk is a gunlover
Nice post. Followed you. Please follow me.
will do.
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STOPIf you have a revolver, but don't use it for home defence, the best way to make sure that it can't be used is to open the cylinder and put a lock through 1 of the chambers. That way, there's no way to close the cylinder, making it as safe as it can be.