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How about teach the kids not to touch your guns.
With all due respect, we all like to think we teach our children right from wrong, but that doesn't always garauntee they'll make the right decisions.
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Thats what I did with my kids. Massad Ayoob wrote a most excellant book on how to gunproof your children. It worked for us. I'm not saying everyone should try it and trust the kids implicitly but if the parent is on the ball it will work. We started when they were born also and we had an issue once, but that was when I set them up to test them and was real close and the gun wasn't loaded. Most people underestimate their kids ability to learn.
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We started when they were born, and never had any issue. Before I got a safe, I actually used to hide my machine guns behind their toy box as I it was the safest place. Who wants to waste time routing through all that.
As a parent, reading this actually made me sick to my stomach.
Thank god you now have a safe.
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Before we had a safe, I did this too. Take note that guns only went into the toybox when we was leaving and no one would be home, and that they were retrieved and stowed elsewhere upon our return. The idea was that burglars wont spend time in the kids room, they'd be looking at electronics, jewelrey and other higher dollar items in other parts of the house.
It's good to be concerned and cautious, but its even better to rise above the media induced fear and be a better parent than the society will let you be by not underestimating the kids and giving them enough credit to be able to learn safety. The first six years of life are the most important and at that age kids will soak up info like a sponge. Most kids only hear NO NO NO at that age and WHEN YOU'RE OLDER, which does nothing but instill the forbidden fruit syndrome in them. Some parents may even use the when you're older line to defer the responsibility of teaching them because of their own fears, thereby handicapping the child. Does that make sense?
There's no safety in ignorance. With all due respect, a different view.