How about keeping loaded with one of those cable action locks? Key taped to the top of a drawer in the nightstand and gun sitting in the drawer. I like the pistol safe-box idea but this might be another option. My father never showed me were he kept his pistols, but I found them nonetheless...and he kept the ammo right next them in his sox drawer. I was young, thankfully I was smart and had also been around .22s enough to appreciate what "a BIG bullet" might do. Never loaded them, and always checked to see if they were before I picked them up to admire them.

I'm not going to lie. The knowledge that my father would flat-out tan my hide if I ever accidentally fired the gun in the house was healthy healthy healthy fear. So I suggest it be well known that you'll let them see them if they want, but they are absolutely off limits when you aren't around. I think this goes without saying. I also think it will be useless if you don't uphold a healthy sense of discipline. That is still the thing I respect most about my father. When he said "no" it didn't matter if I knew 10,000% he was wrong or unreasonable "no" was carried out. And if it wasn't I also knew 10,000% there would be a cost. No exceptions and none of that "just this one time".


Lol...a kid giving parenting advice, this is a riot!