These are the two (2) answers to "Where should I keep guns when they are not in use?" I guess we could add "slung," as in "longarm."
The idea is to prevent access by the irresponsible, ill-intentioned and/or ignorant. I wish I could tell you that list was only criminals and children but it's not; a local retired police detective tells the story of playing card with some friends and having taken off his (personal) Browning Hi Power, holster and all, because it kept hitting the chair. As the afternoon wore on, he made a trip to washroom -- and forgot his gun. When he returned, the pother players had his gun out and were fiddling with it. "We saw it had gotten cocked," they told him, "and we were trying to fix that."
Yeah. No damage done -- that time. Sometimes the outcome is far worse: recently, an Indianapolis father was shot and killed when his child picked up a revolver he'd laid down. It wasn't secured. A safe, a locked case, a trigger lock, a locked room, even a high shelf -- hang it from the ceiling fan for all I care, as long as it is out of reach of anyone but you. When your gun leaves your immediate control, you need to secure it.
Safety is a habit that must be cultivated. Tamara's sidearm is either holstered and on her belt, or securely stored (for Roseholme Cottage values of "secure.") When not secured, mine is carried off-body due to my work (empty holsters are deemed inappropriate at my workplace) -- and Tam's caught me forgetting it in the washroom when I have been carrying it holstered. We haven't cultivated the same habit. In a child-free home where all visitors are vetted, it's not such a big deal -- until it is, during some time (vacation, etc.) when I'm carrying it on my belt and not at home.
What are your habits? Are they safe -- or deadly? According to friends and family, the father who was shot had carried a gun nearly all of his adult life. Habits are a garden; they must be tended, cultivated and sometimes weeded.
When my son was born we took a long hard look at how the gun storage issue was going to be handled. Anything not on my hip gets put in the safe, either the big one or the quick access safe on my night stand. The gun doesn't get removed from the safe until I have my belt ready to accept it, and they never get removed from a holster unless being cleaned or used. As Tam says, "Stop touching it!".
ReplyDeleteI have to buy a safe (or put a lock on my closet in the bedroom, but I'd breathe easier if the guns were an actual safe). The grandson is getting to toddler stage and there is another one currently baking (should be out of the oven around June). Since we do not otherwise have children in the house, I haven't worried about it till now. But it's time.
ReplyDeleteWhen we have guests, the ready service pistol goes in the lockbox, other guns are in the safe, and we check the safe is locked.
ReplyDeleteWe have had errors when a change in routine happens. For example, an unexpected stop at the local post office left my carry pistol in the drivers side door pocket. And it stayed there with the car in our driveway until much later in the day when we had the scary moment of where is the gun.