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firearm safety with children.

Ok, I know most of us are experienced with this, but new and younger people are getting into this sport and I wanted to share this with them. I am a father of four so to me, and I'm sure to many of you this is important. This write-up deals More with hand guns, but lileme I'm sure most of us here own them..
Originally posted at http://midwestguntech.blogspot.com/?m=1

Here it is.
I want to share my thoughts on this as well as my own childhood experience to help people That own firearms and have children living with them.
When I was very young I was taking out into the backyard we set up a watermelon and coconut and we shot it, Then it was explained to me that the same thing the gun did to those items, it would do to a person if you shot them. I was told that that person would be gone forever I would never get to see them again their parents and their family would never get to see them again, because of me that person would be gone forever. I was told never to touch or handle a gun unless An adult I knew was right there with me, one of my family members not a stranger, I was told that if I was at a friends house and I seen a gun, I was not to touch it and if one of my friends was playing with the gun I needed to come home or call home immediately and let them know.
If you do not take a Child and explain to them the dangers and the responsibility of a gun, Then when they see one they will think it's a toy they want to pick it up and play with it, point it and pull the trigger, not realizing what will happen. Who's at fault then is it the child, or the parents who was negligent in providing the proper information to that child, even if you don't own a firearm their friends might and your child needs to know about what to do if they see one.
Now let us discuss firearms with children ages 12 and up, In my opinion at about 12 years of age a child has enough strength and knowledge to be at the range with their father, mother or another selected adult getting in range time, Again we are discussing range time not the occasional trip to the range which I feel should start at about eight or 10 years old. If your son or daughter is at home alone after school and someone breaks into your house you want that child to be able to protect themself.
Again I cannot stress this enough SAFTEY Either take responsibility for your child and you take them out and continuously reassert the importance of safety or enroll them in a class that will do it for you.

A few more things I want to discuss with firearm owners especially if you have young children in the house with you. If you want to have a quick and easy access to your firearm have it in a holster on your person, Also there are several novelty items that hold guns for you that no one will know is really a gun case. For instants they sell a clock that you can hide enough on your wall that a child cannot reach but you can open the face of it and access firearm, There is also a book you can buy that you can keep on a high shelf that is really a gun case, There are several others these are just a few that I thought were kind of neat and I wanted to share.
Now I know what you're thinking "what if I'm sleeping in my bed Shouldn't I have my gun on my nightstand or under my pillow" Maybe is your bedroom door locked is there anyway your child can get in there while you're asleep and get to the gun or perhaps you might forget it leave the door open and your child gets a hold of your weapon, How about I give you a better option a safer option that may very well save your child's life, get a biometric safe, their small, they open extremely fast and it will keep your child from having access to your firearm.
All other firearms not being used personal safety keep them locked in the safe. The most important thing is the safety of your family and your children the key to that safety is making it impossible for a young child to get a hold of your firearm and being able to shoot someone or themselves.
 
I have many grandchildren and keep all my guns in safes and a double dead bolted gun room.
 
Grandpa? Lol.. Exactly my point brother, we have to keep our babies safe, and what is sooooooooo disgusting is that the anti gun freaks use our tragedies to push their twisted agendas. As I said I know most of us mature or seasoned gun owners understand safety, but we have so many fresh gun owners coming into our sport, I just want to perhaps break things down to help them.
 
I am going to relate my own experience from when I was about 9 years old to an early teen. I was born in 1966 and was the youngest of four kids for what it's worth.

Sorry, this might get long.

We were always told there were no guns in our house, but I didn't believe it.

There was never any special emphasis on gun safety other than 'Don't touch them if you find one".

I always believed as a youngster that there was at least one gun in the house. My Dad had worked at a gun store at one time. He had clothing from when he used to deer hunt, and he had been the president of the Ron and Gun Club at work, and he didn't fish that I knew of either.

So as a youngster who was mildly obsessed with guns (my parents got me several toy guns as a kid) I had a mission. For several years I searched the house and garage from top to bottom looking for a 1911 my Dad talked about having (he said he had a .45 back in the day). Believe me, if the .45 had been hidden in a clock or a book or a box anywhere under that roof, I would have found it.

When I was about 12 my Mom was talking about how my Dad had lost his wedding ring years before. I pointed out that it was in the back of a normally locked drawer in the work bench with a toilet paper tube through it. I was glad nobody asked how I knew that.

I have been telling my friends about this when they say their kids wouldn't touch a gun if they came across one.

When I was about 25 and was shooting a modified Gold Cup in bulls eye and invited my Dad to come shooting one time, he had me stop at the bank and he came out from his safe deposit box with a towel wrapped around what turned out to be a 1958 Colt Commander, which he then gave me and I still have.

He told my Mom that he had sold it a year or so after he bought it, when he sold his hunting rifles.

My point is, kids are naturally curious and are great sleuth's. They also catch on to more of what you say than you realize.
 
Please look into the Eddie Eagle series by the NRA. It's very simple, if you see an unattended gun contact a trusted adult right away...ALWAYS. When my son was 10 we had a very bad man break into the sliding door...my son came to my bedroom, I worked graveyard as a supervisor for a private security firm, and told me that a crazy person was in the house. I grabbed my Beretta 92 centurion and entered the kitchen area. The guy had found the largest knife in the house and turned on me with a weird smile...til he saw the gun pointed at his head....MAYBE A TOTAL OF 35 OR 40 SECONDS. The moral of this story is that my children knew I carried and used firearms for my job, I taught them never to think about touching them without me being present...ever. If they would have been locked away there was a real possibility that my son or myself would have been severely hurt or killed.[ I am also an expert in hard style martial arts] as it turned out, a female city cop whom I had worked with from time to time got to see me in my BVD's, and everyone was happy and safe...except the bad guy.
 
as a father of 4 myself i think this is very helpful. I try to not make it a novelty and to take away their curiosity though probably impossible, i figure its better that nothing when they are at others houses and i don't know what they could find. if they want to shoot i take them but it is made very clear that they are never to touch mess with etc guns of any kind with out me. i still use a safe and keep them away but i figure a bit more info and experience also never hurts. showing them what they can do ie the water melon is a great way to drive home the gravity of what could happen.
 
I've never made a "Big" deal about the kid's curiosity with firearms, they've grown-up with them as tools (nothing more nothing less). All 4 of the kids (youngest is 16 now) have had/ still do have access to all the firearms/ammo (safe/storage cabinet) and defensive (house). Not once have they touch/showed them to friends etc. or taken them out without me asking them to go get such-n-such ( the doors are "marked" so I'd know. If (IMHO) you take the WOW/GEE WHIZ factor out they are no more excited about playing with a firearm than they are about doing the lawn or dishes. They all get their own and they know this also (22 rf, centerfire, shotgun) and pistol if they want. I'm also a FAS Instructor in Minn.
 
Thank you to all who posted. This is something I have been wondering about how to handle also. There is some real good advice here. I also really like the idea of using fruit of some sort to illustrate the destructiveness of a bullet impacting. Seems like it would make sense to a child. Again, thanks.
 
I cant believe the risks some of you have stated! :o

I rasied 4 boys in a very active "gun house" ..

Done the watermelon, guilt trip thing but you are dealing with kids who still believe in Santa and the tooth fairy! IT IS NEVER WORTH the consequences if having access to a firearm!

Every kid is different. You never now when little Billy who has never shown an inkling of unsafe behavior migjt get his curiousity stoked by a new movie, game or even another kid at school.

My oldest three sons were very responsible, never a problem around firearms, started out with 22 single shots......then along came Jonboy!

Holy cow...this kid was soooooo cowboy crazy at 4 years old I caught him with screw drivers and hammers trying to break into my safe numerous times. NO amount of butt beatings deterred this kid till he was 11. Extremely intelligent and very strong willed.
 

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