Recently on a Facebook discussion, a question was posed to a group of generally very well trained gun people. The original poster is a high level military guy, and a much tougher man, better shooter, etc. than I'll ever be. He asked this question:
So he's concerned with Home Defense (HD) presumably because he wants to protect his family. So he wants to be able to get to his tools if his home is invaded. He thinks he'll need them so fast that safes and lock boxes are out of the question. Most of you already understand the issue here, as did most of the respondees to his original post. This decision process is showing that he believes it is more likely to need a firearm than it is for the child to happen upon the firearms or gain access through toddler cleverness.
We, as gun people, need to keep in mind the relative chances of different events when we prioritize how we layer our home security. It seems that total novices as well as extremely competent gun owners can suffer the same failure in logic. I won't bore you with numbers, but which do YOU think is more probable:
- A team of home invaders kicks down the door during dinner requiring a sub 10 second reaction time to start dealing justice... or...
- A child that lives in your house comes into contact with your weapons (in whatever condition) in the several years between birth and being old enough to fully understand the dangers of firearms and resist the temptation to play even when no adults are present?
I posted this video:
He then said something like, "A parent would know if his kid was spiderman and wouldn't store guns where he could get them." Sure, but would you want the first time you found out he/she was a climber to be when you see their lifeless body next to your carry gun under the fridge? Me neither.
Last:
So he's banking on height and condition 3 (mag in, empty chamber). If you give a child enough time to tinker with something, they eventually will figure it out, even if it's by dumb luck. They are learning, problem-solving beings. They're people and they're watching.
The cost of a mistake is just too great.
If our ultimate goal is to protect our families from being killed, pick the low hanging fruit first. Lock them up.
Thanks,
Mark
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