akbound

Pro-Line,

My children are out of the house now, so it is no longer an issue for me. When the kids were in the house, my children knew the guns were off-limits without their mother or I being present. However they were taught how to use firearms as soon as we thought they were mature enough to do so with supervision. Additionally we did NOT allow other children's presence in our home unless the wife or I, were home. We never had a problem.

If I had a child(ren) that I thought might not be trustworthy I would obviously have done things differently. My children knew they could see, handle, or even shoot the guns nearly anytime they wanted as long as they asked, and were supervised. I think partially as a result of that, and partially as a result of their temperments, (coupled with the fact no other children were ever in the environment unsupervised - which was my biggest fear personally), our children handled the trust in a responsible manner. So it never was an issue.

Previous to their being old enough to be trusted, we kept the "house gun" in a lock box, loaded. Each night the box was unlocked, each morning it was relocked. Once in the habit it was just like buckling a seat belt or brushing your teeth. It was something you always did........and never forgot!

The only responsible way to answer this question I believe is for the parent, (or parents), to sit down, consider their circumstances and their children, and do the responsible thing. (Unfortunately I know that there are some that won't, as in all things in life!)

Dave