how to keep gun(s) away from kids, but ready to use
 

how do you keep your gun(s) aways from kids, but ready to use in the middle of the night. do you hide it, lock it or some other solutions. thanks.

I am a college student, so my primary concern is to keep them away from other drunk college students, rather than hide them from kids.

I lock my pistols in a gunsafe, along with the bolts of my rifles if I am having a party. Otherwise I usually just lock my pistols in my safe and use cable locks on the rifles.

Yeah, I wouldnt suggest merely hiding it. Kids have a knack for being able to find things. Lock it up... A combination safe might be good because it doesnt require looking for a key if there is an emergency, and assuming you dont tell the kids the combination, they cant get into it.

If you can't do that, at least seperate the guns and the ammunition. They dont have to be on opposite ends of the house, but at least keeping them seperate is a *little* bit safer than leaving a gun, ready to shoot, to be found by your kids.

Really, just lock it up somewhere safe, close, and fast to get to/into.

Also, make it extremely clear to your kids that guns are not toys. I never had a toy gun as a kid, which perhaps helped reinforce that idea.

Educating your child about gun handling is paramount.

Exactly, you can't stress enough about making sure kids know guns are not toys.

I did have toy guns in my toybox. But even though it was a toy, if I pointed that gun at anything living I got in big trouble.

So important. Teach the kids. Make sure they know what it is and what it can do, and that they are not to touch it. You MUST also lock it up. At least in my state. It is a felony to not have your weapon locked. Those fingertip combo keypad lock boxes look effective but cumbersome. I've seen some neat bedside/clock-radio gun safes too. Gun shows usually have a good selection of that stuff, as do the back of gun magazines. Those trigger locks now being shipped with guns seen rediculously obstructive, but you do what you must. I'm sure with lot's of practice you can become effective in spite of that obstacle.

I recently got a Sentry fire safe. It has both a digital keypad and a key. I usually leave the guns loaded, laying in such a matter than I can grab them as soon as the door opens. I've practiced hitting the combination in the dark so I can get to them in a hurry.

I don't recommend keeping the guns loaded if there are children in your house, even if they are in a safe. Since I don't have children, and I access my guns on a daily basis for work, I keep them loaded.

Oh, they make fast access gun safes nowadays. There are several different kinds, but most of them have buttons that you push simultaneously in any order you choose. They can be opened in about 2 seconds, but are still kid proof.

Education is still the biggest thing. Kids need to understand that guns kill people and people dont come back when theyre dead. When I was a kid, my dad kept a 12ga in one corner of the closet and 5 00buck rounds in the other corner. I knew if i even looked at the closet like i wanted to go into it, i would get severly punished. I never went into the closet, because i was educated! :/

Well of couse educate your kids. But besides that you can buy these little boxes with some buttons on top, it's like a safe with a key combination.

There are nightstand safes that have a 3 or 4 digit push button combo - the top of it literally *snaps* open. Two or three seconds and it's out.