Posted: 6/30/2004 8:42:22 PM EDT
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My GF and I were discussing that when I have kids the level of access to my guns. For me I believe that until they are a little older (say 16+) they wont have the key's to the safe where all the guns except the one I carry and my future wife carries daily. I al think its okay for them to play with ammo and all of that as long as they don't take it to school at any age. What about you fathers and mothers. What age to you allow them to have access to their guns when your not around? |
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I had full access all my life and kept a .22 rifle in my room which I got for my 9th birthday. Later I kept a .30-30 too, then a .45 pistol in my nightstand. Show your kids how to operate your guns and they will be safe, if they are responsible. If you don't trust your kids with guns then you probably should not even own them, safe or not. |
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My dad does not hand over the safe combo to anyone but his wife. I am undecided as to when and if I will hand it over to my kids if and when I have any. ETA: He let me keep my 8mm in my room with the ammo in the safe, and on occasion (hunting season, moles in the garden, etc.) I had access to my shotgun or .22 and ammo. Hoppy  8420
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My parents feel I am the best suited for the handling and storing of firearms in the house so I have the safe and keys in my room with all guns and ammunition. They know that I very well understand every bit of those guns more than they do ten fold and I know the consequences of screwing around. I think that it, after properly training children in safety and mechanism, should turn into a "may I?" situation until later teens in which you can if you want to change it to unrestricted. I know that if I wasnt the most educated about guns in my entire living family I would not have the access I do now. Dont give out the combination until the "unrestricted" time comes around. But, with unrestricted, let them know that if there is any problem AT ALL on account of them there will be feet and/or powertools broken off in their asses. FYI, I am 16. |
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my brother and i were raised hunting and shooting from age 4 on.. my father kept probably 15-20 rifles and shotguns in EACH OF OUR CLOSETS.. i never recall one moment of idiocy. but..that was a rual community..in the pate 70's and 1980's.. i'm living in a metro area now and my son (3y/o) will grow up hunting and shooting..(he shoots a .22 chipmunk rifle currently) and 1/2 my guns are in some sort of "safe"..in a year or 2 all will..with the exception of our home defense and CCW pieces. kidz that are taught strict rulz of gun handling..and methods of safety and shooting do not have mal-issues of firearms or "incidents".. its up to you and every other adult that he comes in contact with on a gun related issue to set the proper platform and offer a NO EXCEPTION policy on gun handling issues.. 1 infraction pays dearly. of course we were very mature for our ages and had seen firearms kill and maim animals in the course of pest control and hunting as well as slaughter in our early years. good luck.. |
I let my kid (11) take the tank (M-1 Abrams) around the block for a spin whenever she wants to. I have mine with trigger locks in a safe. Its not my kids I am worried about... its their friends that may get a little nosey when I am not home is where I have the problem so... just lock em up and dont have to worry. |
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Some of the guns are locked up in a safe (the valuable ones), the rest are either in a glass fronted cabinet (the pretty ones) or stacked in my closet (the ugly ones). The ammo is kept locked up for the most part. My kids have been shooting since they were very small, and have never really made any attempts to get into the guns (the two year old will once in a while go over to the cabinet in the living room and look them over through the glass, and once a week or so the eight year old boy will ask me to go out with him to shoot his .22). I plan on letting the oldest boy start keeping his .22 in his room once he is ready (I have no specific age, I figure I'll know when he is ready), same for the other kids. We also keep a pump shotgun behind the front door, and a royal crown sack with a half dozen shells behind the front door, for snakes when we are out in the yard. Edited to add: My wifes sister and brother in law, who generally don't like guns, decided to fet a crappy .25. Instead of getting the kids familiar with it, they stuck it in the top of the closet and swore the kids would never find it. Three days later the younger of the two comes walking down the hall toting the gun saying "ohhh, mommy look what I found". |
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Access? Hey...they have access to everything. Sure. We keep every gun in the house loaded and available. We got a shotgun with a hair trigger in the baby's crib. Porno on every wall and on the TV 24 hours a day. No rules here. At least that's the way some people here would like to see it. We keep nothing available. We have no guns. They're dangerous. Pornography is evil. 
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Wow... what a question... As a child I never much thought about the fact that my father had a shotgun behind his bedroom door, an old long arm in the downstairs closet, a couple .22 rifles a .44 revolver and several other long arms in the spare bedroom in an unlocked gun cabinet. I thought that everyone’s house was this way. I also knew not to "play" with any of them or I would get the belt. I don't recall ever being told that... I just knew it. There was also a healthy collection of Playboy magazines laying around here and there. My pseudo grandfather who watched me after school everyday from k-8th grade had a few rifles somewhere... I never got curious enough to look for them, but us grandkids were always looking for his porn collection. When I was 12 or 13 my father took me shooting for the first time. Just a little .22 rifle in the mountains with no ear or eye protection. It was fun, but it didn't change my life. Hell I didn't buy my first gun until I was 26. I wouldn't say I'm a gun crazed NRA member (you know... the stereotype), but I do believe that every man, woman and child over the age of 15 should own a good caliber semi-auto rifle, a semi-auto pistol and shotgun and know how to use them. My future children will have full access to every gun I own unless on some sort of mind altering drug, like acid, LSD, marijuana, ridilin, paxil, prozac or any others. |
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Times are different nowadays for us gun owners. We have to keep everything locked up or risk losing it all. While I was growing up we had guns all over the house. A rack in the den, a rack in my brothers and I bedroom with a .22 each and several handguns through-out the house. My brother and I never even dreamed of touching the guns without permission. Due to legal issues my kids cannot have the combination until they are of legal age. |
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Most are locked away. My 14 yr old has full access to my .45. She babysits the other children at times and I will not leave her by herself without it. We go to the range on a regular basis and she is an excellent shot. IMO it depends on the child and how mature they are. |