If your kids are home alone with your unsecured guns, I think they need a mother more than they need a gunsafe.

I feel a gun safe is necessary even if kids are not around, especially for security of the weapons and any other valuables you have in your home.

No matter how good the kid is, they're gonna make mistakes, that's how people learn most of the time, from mistakes we make and gaining experience from them. I would'nt want a kid to mistakenly blow his or someone else head off. If you got kids or have a friends/relatives kids over alot you should have some way of securing your firearms. I was a pretty good kid, but we all get into things and did things we knew better of. I'm single, but my friends got kids and I got a niece, I got one of those sheet metal safes, nothing fancy, but there's no glass so prying eyes don't know what the contents are, and it's secure enough to keep the little one's out. Cheap insurance against a tragic accident. I never will understand adults leaving loaded weapons at home when their not at the premises and no one else  at said residence has any firearms experience. If they don't know how to use it, it will do them no good in the event of a self defense scenario anyways. I get tired of hearing about locale shootings a couple of times a year, involving a minor, where a loaded gun was left accessable and the owner was not on the premises, hell there's usually not even an adult there. Seems to me a lot of the anti's ammo (pardon the pun) their using against could be dismissed if some people would execise some common sense and live up to the responsible gunowner dictates.

Gunslinger, remember the scene in 'Back to School' with Rodney Dangerfield and Sam Kinison? "Yeh, Gunslinger, very good. Well said. Im gonna keep my eye on you Gunslinger."

Ok this thread has played out a few days, let's take a look at the scoreboard, looks like about 85-90 percent of you that posted agree with me and rest 10-15 percent don't. What does that mean to people like Gunslinger who seems to violently oppose my view. That you are on the "fringe" my friend and you are surrounded by MMM and HCI supporters (in your mind, and on this board even), and you are creating enemies where they are none. As gun owners we can't even agree on things that seem like common sense to most of us (85-90%). Some (10-15%)of you take any measure of safety as threat against your right to own & bear. I might have come off as preaching that you got to save your kids and I know what's best, for that I apologize. I know what's best for me, and personally I don't care what you do. If your child shoots themself, to me it will just be another meaningless statistic on the TV and I'll say "damn that's too bad" and move on with my life.

For my friend that this happened to, losing the child wasn't his only loss. He literally lost everything. Wife blamed him for what happened and left him, police still has his guns. On top of that, what about the 3 year old, he has never been the same and may suffer with mental problems for the rest of his life. Very unfortunate just because he forgot to put the gun up on the closet shelf that day and the wife was talking to the mailman for a couple minutes. A safe is not a cure-all either, this guy could have just as well forgot to put his gun up in the safe. I don't have all the answers. I wrestle with the balance of gun ownership and quick access in case I need it and the safety of my children. I have had to use a gun a few times in the past to protect my myself, my family and my home. I sleep with a cocked & locked 1911 under my pillow, as soon as I wake up the gun goes in my CCW holster or my safe. My wife has one of those quick acces mini-vaults on her nightstand. You break into our house and you can expect to be shot. Some of you think it's all about raising your kids right and mom being home, you'll notice in the unfortunate event I mention, the mom was home and was just distracted for a couple minutes. My wife quit her very lucrative job (she has a masters in chemical engineering) when we had our first child so she could be a full time mom, she's home all day. You think you can keep track of 3 kids every second of the day? If you think so you've never tried it, you gotta go to the bathroom sometime.

Some of you call me liberal, others call me a gun nut or a killer. I'm neither, I'm just a man that cares very much about my family and my right to keep and bear arms.

The more "statistics" there are, the easier it will be for us to lose our gun rights, let's do what we can to not be a statistic cuz that just adds ammo to the gun grabbers.

I'm one of those fools.  I have a 12yr old son that shoots with me all the time.  He's been so many times and shot everything I have.  I keep a loaded and ready pistol in my bedroom and truck.  

I worry least about my own kids around my guns.  Its their friends that come over that get my attention.  Safed or locked, and the  onus goes on my #1 son to keep his friends out of my shop.  So far, so good, but still vigilant.  I keep one Smith Airweight unlocked but reasonably inaccesible; this is for my wife's use, God forbid.  Can't see getting a 'simple gun' for her to use then complicating the matter with a lock.  

If nobody here had an electronic touch type safe, look into one.  Easiest and quickest way I have found to secure my .45 in the bedroom.  Two seconds and the gun is mine; the rest of the time it's out of sight and out of reach.  FYI.

Bobby Vincent, You seem to be missing the point of those who feel there is not a problem with kids and loaded guns. They are talking about kids who are 10-18 who have 3-6 years experience with firearms before they are safe around loaded weapons; not kids that are 3-6 years old.

Not one single person said it was ok to leave loaded guns or any gun within reach of children as young as you mention or any child who is inexperienced though you keep bringing up this horrible instance of the 3 and 5 year old. No one here would disagree that children so young should not have access to firearms. I have to agree with others and say that at least it feels like we are talking to a liberal when we talk to you on this subject. Liberals always bring up extreme cases and seem to ignore all arguments to the contrary or differing view.

Surely there must be some age in your head that would be ok. Or after they turn 18 do you just plan on handing them their guns and their ammo as a right of adult hood?
And what in your mind would make them safe at that age? Is it something that supernaturally happens at 18 for long guns and 21 for handguns and after you pay your $ 200.00 tax stamp for class III?

THISISME

This is in part how my Dad handled it:

I vaguely remember him telling me around the time I was probably 4 years old that if I ever handled one of his guns without permission, he would know it almost immediately (and of course the consequences would be VERY severe).  Ya know how he would figure it out?  Well, all of his firearms were blued finish and he explained/demonstrated how since they were all carefully wiped down, he would see my fingerprints and know something was up.  Now, I know now that there are ways around that of course.  But at the time, he really put the fear of God in me.  I thought there was NO way I could ever touch one without him knowing!  All I can say is it worked until I was old enough that it didn't matter.

One other thing:  My Dad was great about allowing me to get a firearm out and "play" with it when he was around....like maybe at night while watching TV.  When I did so, he would require that I ensure that the weapon was completely clear, observe the usual gun safety rules, etc.  But, I could point it(in a safe dir.), rack the slide(if it had one), disassemble it, and so forth to my hearts content.  I CAN'T TELL YOU HOW VALUABLE THAT EXPERIENCE WAS in learning about guns and how they operate and really, really getting comfortable with them.  

What my Dad did was:
1. Remove the "mystery" of firearms,
2. Teach me how to handle them SAFELY,
3. Teach me to shoot and learn by observing what will happen to something that gets hit with a bullet,
4. Teach me respect, but not unreasonable fear, of firearms.  (Of course he also taught me to respect things like his chainsaw, the prop on an airplane, etc....I see no difference.)

Sorry so long-winded.  I really don't have a dog in this argument.  I don't have kids yet.  When I do, most of my guns will be in the safe anyway b/c of burglars and fire.  I will take whatever steps seem to be necessary at the time to make sure my child doesn't shoot himself/someone else, until I can do for him what my Father did for me.

Cheers ~nut

Me and my brothers each had 22 single shot rifles by the time we were 10. Dad never kept them locked up, he took the bolts out of the rifles and kept them locked up. We used to use our boltless rifles when we played "war".
One time I found his 30-06, I pulled the bolt out of it and used it as the "big gun". I still remember the asswhipping I got when he found out what I had done.
My brothers daughter is 12, and she wants to learn how to shoot, her liberal mother won't let her.
She came over to my house and I let her check out my Glock 23. I was amazed when she picked it up and was able to insert the mag (empty of course) and pull the slide back. I asked her where she learned that, and she told me that one of her friends parents kept their pistol in a drawer in the bedroom.
I told my brother and sister-in-law about it. My brother was cool that I had told him, his wife was more freaked out that I let her daughter check out my empty pistol rather than being freaked out over her playing with a loaded pistol without adult supervision at her friends house.