[feel free to move if this is the wrong location]

Probably a dumb question.  Might end up having relatives with kids visiting more often - not necessarily the most gun-enthused, but no drama either.  So I'm wondering what storage methods would meet official standards on such things.  Obviously the canned answer to proper child-proof storage is something like "stored in a locked container inaccessible to children, stored separately from firearms".  Hmmm.  A lot of us have a decent ammo inventory, and store multiple cans on open shelving, etc.   What is considered sufficient?   For example, if you have a group of ammo cans on a shelf - can you run a zip-tie around each can, and consider that sufficiently secure?  The can's are visible to children, but the ammunition is inside, and inaccessible, so I'm guessing that's OK - but curious what other's thoughts and experiences are on this.

The statute should have a "definitions" section and should describe the criteria to meet the statutory standard.

First and foremost make sure the firearms are secure and inaccessible. The ammunition by itself is ‘relatively’ harmless without the firearm for which it is intended. Maybe throw the ammo cans in a lockable closet. A keyed interior door knob assembly is cheap and will keep children out. I haven’t had an issue with my son, now 6, ever messing with ammunition but I guess it could be a problem to some. I’d take the out of sight approach if possible. Ammo cans are hard to open so if they are young it shouldn’t be a problem.

Side note: I don’t think there are any Texas ammo storage statutes. How you store your ammo is left to the private individual to determine.

my FIL used to have misc ammo laying all over the house.
seemed like there was a couple rounds of 22 just about everywhere, 12 guage shells too.
I always wondered if they were leftover from some hunting/shooting trip or just stored that way in case of emergency.
I never really thought that much of it, just told the kids to leave it be.

If your guns are locked up, what can kids do with any ammo they find?

Put your ammo high on a shelf in a closet out of sight and lock the door behind you.

Edit - Do you have a garage? Put all of your ammo cans in the garage on a high shelf and be done with it.

well how old are these kids? if little guys (4-5 years or younger) I don't see them being able to open a 50 cal/30 cal can. they take a decent amount of strength to open. and if over that age their parents should have them in line and set boundaries by now. key word is should.

My wife's friend's daughters are out of control and have zero idea of boundaries! needless to say they don't visit very often. lol rude little boogers to boot. again a reflection of their upbringing or lack there of.

According to my grandfather the ammo should be dispensed one round at a time to children while they hunt the area behind the house for lunch items.  Just lock up the hammers and matches. Seriously I try to keep ammo in a room that is locked,  guns in a safe, but to lock everything up that could be dangerous one would have to lock the front door and stand outside............. I mean who knew a jar of honey in the microwave one minute would blow up. Life should be an educational experience.

Id be more concerned about guns they would have to he pretty stupid to mess with the ammo imo. Lock the riom its in and dobt leave the kids alone.

I can confirm from my childhood that shooting the primer of shotgun shells with a bb gun will set the shell off, FWIW

To my knowledge there are no storage requirements for ammo in Texas. You have to limit access to firearms to persons under 17. Trigger locks meet the "reasonable" requirement as does a cabinet or anything with a lock. When my boys were young I kept a rifle or shotgun in a QA lock in my study and pistols in QA boxes in the kitchen, living room and master BR. The boxes were in a drawer or in the kitchen in a cabinet.

I do this. locks are couple bucks at walmart. just get the longer shackle type.

Met a guy who does this. each drawer is a caliber type and it all locks up. can hold a shit load if you buy a quality cabinet. And very stealthy.

What can kids do with ammo, to start with, try and eat it.
When I was ten I use get 22 ammo, blue tack to the end of a hammer and drop the hammer off the roof onto the concrete path; made a great bang.
(I wasn't allowed to use a gun by myself)

This is my solution, I put it in the garage (internal access) and close the door and lock it. I have an auto close on the door, the pain during unloading the car, is worth it for not forgetting to close the door.
Problem mostly solved, also means my boy (two and a half) doesn't mess about with my tools, cars, and the endless list of dangerous (to a toddler)  stuff i keep in there.

I agree that if the firearms are locked and secure, any accessible ammo wouldn't pose a safety issue.

For small amounts of ammo either a .50 cal can with a lock kit or a lockable fire safe would work.

For larger amounts I use lockable job site tool footlockers and keep ammo in .30, .50 & fat .50 cans.

As above, I chose the locked storage closet.

I know they are more than most would like to spend but the lockers by Secureit are pretty nice. I have the fast access rifle safe that I keep under my bed. It can also be kept upright. I know they make larger lockers that would be excellent for ammo storage too. I plan to buy one at some point as I am very satisfied with their product so far.

What child, with the means and strength to access this ammo, would EAT it?  Thats something babies do.

And if these visiting children are accessing his ammo, tools AND climbing up on his roof to throw it off without anyone noticing... theres other things to discuss outside of ammo storage.

If you are doing this for some sort of regulatory requirement, then you need to find out what EXACTLY will satisfy that requirement. Your Hometown forum should be able to help with that.

If this is simply an effort on your part to be a responsible gun owner, then I would suggest many of the storage methods already mentioned.

Personally, I keep all my ammunition in cans or the originals cases/boxes and stored in a basement closet that has a simple door lock. It will keep curious kids out but I rely my exterior door locks, cameras and alarm system to prevent theft.

Apply some common sense. Out of sight will help a lot.

Heavy duty locking Sandusky cabinet or Jobox.

Just put it all in a room the kids and the parents know are off limits.

Whenever family is over the kids are running around doing kid things, I worry more about the adults.
Not as in theft but just nosing around where they don't belong.
My side of the family knows what's up when it comes to guns, hers not so much.
They even know not to post any pics to social media with me or mine in them including any guns.
They learned that one quick.

Ammo can in the garage and a leather belt.

Ammo is in a padlocked room to prevent children from entering, guns are in safes for drug addicted children that like to break into houses.

Same. While I have none of the concerns of children, it still seems best to keep the ammo fort under lock and key. Mostly just keeps everything out of sight and organized. The random ammo (e.g. couple boxes of carry ammo, couple loaded mags) just get stored in the safe.

I got an old sheet metal wall locker and stuck a real padlock through it.

Alot of ammo can stack up in a $100 gun locker.

I'll second the suggestion to just use one of the $99 "10 gun" or $179 "18 gun" steel gun lockers.  Neither will hold the advertised 10 or 18 rifles, but they will hold a lot of ammo cans or boxes.  With a  drill, a saw, some wood and some screws, you can add shelves where you need them and make them much better organized for ammo storage.

I'm also a fan of the GI ammo can.  As noted above you can add a long shackle padlock but they don't always allow a tight seal.

You can tack weld a u on the front of the box (cut link of chain, etc) where it will extend through the slot on the latch and allow you to install a small pad lock.  If you don't have access to welder, you can install u-bolts, but you'll want to use washers on both sides with silicone adhesive in between to seal the holes and keep the can air tight.  I use small combination locks to avoid what would otherwise be a key nightmare.  It doesn't have to be theft proof, it just has to be kid proof

It's also really easy to designate a single closet in the house for ammo storage and just install a knob with a lock on it.

If you've got a spare bedroom with a large enough closet with a door, put the gun safe(s) in it, and the store the ammo in it as well.  If you then set it up as a play room or put a kids bed and some toys in the room, it will get very low priority from thieves who primarily concentrate their efforts on the living areas and the master bedroom - since that is where the valuable stuff is kept.  A closet in a playroom or young child's bedroom probably won't even be entered at all if there is some time pressure involved.

-----

As an aside, I'll mention that the vast majority of "fire proof" gun safes really are not.   They won't prevent the guns inside from getting charred in a common house fire where the temps will be 1200-1800 degrees F at their peak and will take hours to cool in the remains of a fully involved house fire.  So if you want fire protection - something along the lines of the 4-6 hour protection that is really required - come prepared to write a big check.

However, the far larger threat is theft, and theft is easier to prevent, provided you are properly alarmed and the thieves consequently have limited time to find and then open the safe.   The second most likely threat is flood, and fire is a distant third.

In terms of fires, the most likely cause of a fire is cooking and kitchen related activities which are about 3 times more common than the number 2 cause -  electrical fires.  So rather than spending money on an expensive fire safe, focus on prevention, buy some fire extinguishers for the kitchen and do good preventative efforts for electrical fires - unplug chargers that are not in use, use care in using electrical heaters, and get AC and heating units inspected annually.

----

The inadequate fire protection rating of most gun safes is relevant of course because if you've got ammo cooking off in the house, unless there is still someone trapped/missing in the house, fire fighters are not going to go inside until the ammo starts cooking off.  It doesn't matter that the rounds are probably not leaving the ammo can or steel cabinet they are in, and if they are, are probably not carrying enough injury to inflict a wound.

All y ammo is either in the basement, which the kids can’t get into because you have to go outside and open a locked door. Or locked up in my safe.

That is the best way. You can use a lock or zip tie

I keep my ammo in a room that I put a keyed lock on the door. It’s in plano ammo cans in a metal storage cabinet that is locked also. The door to the room only gets locked when we have other kids over. It’s my reloading room and there’s no reason for kids other than mine to ever be in there. A locked closet door would be good enough imo, unless you have crazy communist laws. I keep All powder, primers, and most ammo locked in the cabinet at all times. I do keep some ammo in an ammo can in the master bedroom closet for ready access for varmints and such. The only other ammo upstairs is in my concealed carry guns locked up when not on my hip.