Quoted:
I have one.
My wife will not let me keep my side lock .50 (Black Powder musket) on the wall anymore. She is worried that my 16 month old little girl will load it. I have a closet I built just for my WMD's and it is full. When I built it, it looked HUGE! Now I have to reach and step carefully.
I keep telling her the guns are no good if they are locked up! She just keep smacking me in the head with WHAT IF.
My dad rasied 5 of us. He never had a safe. He would just keep all of the amunition for the guns that we could load at my uncle's house.
When we were old/strong enough to load a firearm he would take us out in the dirt and show us how to use and clear it. We never had a problem.
My .02
Samuel
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THE DAY my son was born, I went down and bought him a Chipmunk .22 single-shot bolt action rifle.
AT age 3, he could load it, chamber it, (not cock it, manual spring is too hard for little hands [;)]) and pull the trigger, then eject the brass and reload.
AT age 5, he grasped the concept of open-sight alignment abd started hitting small targets at 25yards then 50yards.
AT age 7, if he can see it and it is in range, he can hit it, period.
ALL OF THIS IS DONE AT THE RANGE WITH PROPER EYE AND EAR PROTECTION UNDER THE CLOSEST OF ADULT SUPERVISION!
Last time at the range, he tried my M4. Low recoil and it makes water-filled 2 liter pop bottles EXPLODE. He thinks the Eotech is easy because it's like playing GameBoy. He prefers a 30 round mag to a single shot now too, after he found the "gas pedal" on a semi auto more to his liking.
My kid is never left alone in our house and neither are his friends
WHAT IF he found a gun, even at a friend's house?
HE knows it could be loaded, what it WILL do, and he knows what to do, it's not some mystery to be explored.
WHAT IF he wants to try it? We take it to the range and he decides if he wants to shoot it (he wants nothing to do with my 7mm Rem Mag or anything else that can kick his dad so hard)
Keep your weapons unchambered. If the kid is strong enough to rack the slide, they're big enough to shoot it.