Guns in the home

We own many guns. They are sage when properly handled . My children know we have guns. They have held them . It is virtually impossible for a gin to just *go off* you must pull the trigger.

Just curious....are they around when it is used? I have three boys that are curious all the time. As much education as I am giving them, I still am worried that they would want to see what it does....or worse their friend would want to. My ods (5) just locked his bedroom door and closed it finding himself in the hallway locked out. A lesson I could tell him til I was blue in the face but until he did it and saw what happened, what I said wouldn't matter. I am curious to how far we can educate our kids.

Quoting RheaF:

We own a gun and my kids know what it is, what it is used for, and what it can do. We believe in educating our children about guns, so when and if they come across one, there is no mystery.

Right now no they are not. They are 7 and 4. However, when they are old enough they will be, and will be allowed to shot if they want. Only with adult supervision of course. We are a hunting family, so guns are nothing new or taboo for us. Our gun is locked up, with the ammo locked in a separate safe. Growing up my Dads guns were never locked up, he kept a hand gun in the top drawer of his dresser loaded. However, we knew what they did and what they could do. We never touched them without permission.



I think it really depends on your child. If you know your boys would still want to play with it, then obviously keep them away from them. Locked up with ammo locked in a separate place.

Quoting Ktina11:

Just curious....are they around when it is used? I have three boys that are curious all the time. As much education as I am giving them, I still am worried that they would want to see what it does....or worse their friend would want to. My ods (5) just locked his bedroom door and closed it finding himself in the hallway locked out. A lesson I could tell him til I was blue in the face but until he did it and saw what happened, what I said wouldn't matter. I am curious to how far we can educate our kids.

Quoting RheaF:

We own a gun and my kids know what it is, what it is used for, and what it can do. We believe in educating our children about guns, so when and if they come across one, there is no mystery.

This is what we keep our guns in... we have a 3 yo dd that doesn't try to get into them... plus you have to enter a code

We don't have guns but my kids are well aware of what they are. All my life my dad had guns around us some locked up others had trigger safety locks on it and there were a couple that my dad could get to in case he needed them. When we go to my dads I make sure to take the opportunity to teach my kids about guns. I would rather teach my children about guns then them no nothing about them and see one and play with it as if it was a toy.

Not yet. My son is 6 and still doesn't really play without me there. My dad has some hunting riffles but we've discussed my concerns about it and they are actually not even in the home when my kids stay with them.

Our girls are taught about guns from a young age.  My DH is a firearms instructor and research shows that kids who are taught about them from very early and who are taught to shoot early are less likely to "play" with one if found in any situation, and have more respect for firearms than those who aren't.

Ours are, our oldest started shooting a .22 rifle at 5 years old, got her own .22 at 7 years old and hunts (and has hunted since 7) with a .243 rifle.

Our middle is 3.5 and she got to shoot the little cricket .22 rifle with her dad's help at Christmas at my parents, we have some airsoft pistols and traps we use in the creek bottom behind our house as well.

And I agree, we have several safes, ammo for the guns in one safe is the other or locked in the storage building outside the house.

Quoting Ktina11:

Just curious....are they around when it is used? I have three boys that are curious all the time. As much education as I am giving them, I still am worried that they would want to see what it does....or worse their friend would want to. My ods (5) just locked his bedroom door and closed it finding himself in the hallway locked out. A lesson I could tell him til I was blue in the face but until he did it and saw what happened, what I said wouldn't matter. I am curious to how far we can educate our kids.

Quoting RheaF:

We own a gun and my kids know what it is, what it is used for, and what it can do. We believe in educating our children about guns, so when and if they come across one, there is no mystery.

All our guns are locked up and a very large gun safe. When I take them to peoples homes I keep a close eye on my kids but don't really ask straight out if they have guns or anything. 

My kids are still pretty young to understand anything aout it, but if I had guns, they would know we had them in the house. We'd keep them up high out of reach and in lockboxes.