[vito]

I have known numerous parents who think their kids are different from all other kids, that their kids KNOW that they cannot touch Dad's gun or guns and would NEVER do so. These parents are fools hopefully will not have a child killed or anyone hurt or killed before they recognize their foolishness in believing what they do. As others have said, kids are curious, and most kids think that they are far more responsible than their parents believe them to be.

Many, many years ago when one of my sons was about 11 and was at a friend's house (and this was on a military base and the friend's father was an Army officer like myself). The friend told my son that his Dad had warned him never to touch the Dad's gun, but this boy told my son that he knew all about guns and did my son want to see it? My son came home and told me about this incident, and said "don't worry Dad, nothing happened. The gun was loaded but after he showed it to me he put it back in his Dad's shirt drawer where it was "hidden"." When I told the Dad about what had happened he called my son a liar, saying his son would never do such a thing.

If you value your child's life, buy a decent gun storage case. Even something like a simple GunVault, which can be secured with screws inside a dresser drawer, or inside the drawer of a bedside table, can be enough to keep curious hands from getting to it, and yet be reasonably available to you in case it is needed for home defense.

The same son I mentioned above was much more curious about my gun (I only owned one at the time, a 357mag S&W revolver) than any of his older brothers and sisters. When he was about 9 I took him to the range and made him fire about a dozen rounds of 38 special and when he said he had had enough, I then made him fire a dozen rounds of 357mag. He wanted to stop after a single round of the magnum, saying it hurt his hands. I made him keep firing. Then we went home and I made him follow my instructions and thoroughly clean the revolver. By the time we were done the gun held zero mystery or special attraction to him, and I never again was concerned that he might try to find it to handle it or play with it while I was not home. But despite this, I kept the gun in a small gun safe, in part because I didn't want some other child, when visiting, possibly ask my son if his Dad had a gun and if so, could he see it. Better safe than sorry.