Guns in your home

Brandi - posted on 02/09/2011

I don't like guns either. I feel that the kids that shoot up the schools grew up with guns in their houses, and yes mom and dad may have them locked away, but a desperate child can find ways to getting access to your guns. I would just rather not have them available in my house. Too many kids get shot because of playing with guns they think are not loaded. No way. Not for my family.

Sara - posted on 02/09/2011

I wonder, if you're keeping your gun locked up with the ammunition separate from it, then what good is it going to do you in a true emergency? If someone has broken into your home or is attempting to break into your home, how long would it take you to get the gun and get the ammunition and then load it?

Sharon - posted on 02/09/2011

A gun isn't our first round of protection. our dogs are, our cameras are, but if my cameras show me a stranger in my yard - I'll have time to break out my gun.

Most people know - but I live VERY rurally. I have to deal with all kinds of wildlife. We have secure fences, good pens - but occasionally - animals like bears or bobcats make it in.

Medic - posted on 02/09/2011

They are NOT for protection at my house.....trust me I can just subject anyone to my kids and they would regret breaking into my house. The shear amount of time it would take to get the gun out and loaded would be rediculous.

Jodi - posted on 02/09/2011

" I do understand why people feel they need them for protection...."

See, I don't even get that, but anyway.

Nope, no guns in my house. EVER. We have pretty strict gun control here in Australia anyway. Most people don't have one. The only time I can see justification for it is the farmers who often need a gun for injured stock, or for foxes, etc. There is no need for the average person in a suburban home to have one.

I've never lived with a gun in the house, and I feel perfectly safe.

Medic - posted on 02/09/2011

Yes we have guns in our house mostly for sport some are collectables as my husband is ex military, yes they are all locked up most of them don't even have ammunition to them and the ones that do they are locked up in a seperate safe, the safes don't have keys they need finger prints and a pin. If any of my kids parents would not let them come and play because we have guns safely locked up I would say good riddence. They don't need friends with paranoid parents. I guess its a good think we live in rural Texas....it's common around here.

Cathy - posted on 02/09/2011

I have no need for a gun. So I won't have one in my house.
But if I lived somewhere with big scary grizzly bears I might reconsider that stance.

Sarah - posted on 02/09/2011

No, I would never have a gun in my home. Never. Not in a million years, for any reason, ever.

JuLeah - posted on 02/09/2011

Folks that have looked at the issue don't have guns for protection. There is no research to suggest you are in anyway safer with a gun in the house. I don't hate guns, just the mentality of American's who own them. I always ask, always, if a family owns a gun. I don't want my child to play in the house with a gun. A class mate, when I was a kid, got her eye shot out. The son of a family friend was shot by his father when the dummy was cleaning the gun he owned. I could go on and tell more stories, but you get the idea. If you want to protect your family, don't bring a gun into your house.

Teresa - posted on 02/09/2011

I also hate guns and will never have one in my house.

When we lived at the farm, my ex had a gun for scaring cats away from the chickens and shooting our pigs. It was up on the very top of our kitchen cabinets. The girls knew where it was, but I never had any worries about them (and we never had other kids over) touching it cuz they knew that ONLY Daddy ever touched the gun.

Laura - posted on 02/09/2011

yep we do, deer riffles, pistols, shotgun, .22s, oh and a bow and arrows, and I'm sure we'll get a BB gun in a few years here. We are a hunting family and take safety very seriously. My 2 year old even knows how dangerous they are. And yes ammo and guns both lock up in separate places.

And as I've said before, I think every child should know basic gun safety. Just because you don't have a gun doesn't mean your child's friend doesn't. Unless of course you live in a place that doesn't allow guns at all of any kind.

Jenni - posted on 02/09/2011

I wouldn't say I hate them. I don't want one anywhere near me so I guess it's safe to say I'm afraid of them. I think i'd be more scared to have a gun in my house than I am afraid of someone breaking into my home. I don't really worry about that sort of thing, I grew up in a town where everyone left their doors unlocked. Someone breaking in and harming your family is never on your mind... because it just doesn't happen. Now I live in the city about 30 mins from the town I grew up in and I still have no fear of anyone breaking into my home and needing a gun to protect me. Mind you the city I live in is only 200 000 people and it's in Canada. Not saying people don't B&E here but it's rare that the family is home and even more rare someone is harmed.

Sharon - posted on 02/09/2011

We have several shotguns, rifles and I have a handgun. The hunting stuff is kept locked up. Ammunition is kept seperately - actually until hunting season is actually here, there isn't any. Any ammunition left over gets used during target practice.

Only my handgun has ammunition in the house. the gun is locked, in a locked box and the ammunition is kept seperately. SINCE the gun is for emergencies the keys are kept readily available. But the kids don't know which keys go to it or where the gun is kept.

Since they're all allowed to shoot a weapon as much as they want when we go target practicing and my oldest is an avid and good hunter - they have very little curiosity about guns.

Jenny - posted on 02/09/2011

We have a hunting rifle. It is trigger locked and the keys are in a safe and the keys for the safe are in my purse. The ammunition is kept in seperate area up near the roof. I am not worried about any kids getting access.

Krista - posted on 02/09/2011

We have a couple of hunting rifles in our home, and I don't feel unsafe at all. We have it in a locked gun cabinet, with the ammo locked separately in a safe. We do keep them in the house because we sometimes have bears with cubs on our property. And while the guns are dangerous, we can lock them up. We can't lock up a pissed-off mama bear.

We take gun safety very, very seriously. When I was growing up, my grandfather kept his hunting rifles in the front closet, and we kids never really had any interest in them.

Once Sam is older, we will teach him proper gun safety, much as we'd teach him how to safely handle a pocketknife, or how to safely use a power tool. And if he goofs off or is unsafe around ANY dangerous item, I don't care if he's 6 or 36 -- I'll break my no-spanking rule and tan his arse.