I have several loaded guns around the house. Our kids are 27 and 30, with no grandchildren. Like
@SwimSwim, if we have young children visiting, the guns are all put away in a safe place. When our kids were young, I kept a loaded shotgun up on a shelf in our closet. Anytime our kids (mostly our son) was curious about guns, I would take it/them out, show them that it was unloaded, then let them hold them. I even took them and let them shoot some guns. Holding a 12ga shotgun and letting them pull the trigger let them clearly understand it was no plaything. Letting them see me practice gun safety and taking the curiosity out of the equation did well for us as they grew up.
@Retired_Engineer:
I can remember being 3 or 4 and the guns or rifles were always in the rack on the wall. Never to be touched! When hunting season came around and they were being cleaned we were taught gun safety. We could shoot with adults. We could not however go hunting until we took the jr hunting safety course, went to the range etc.
A very healthy respect I carry today. As I look for a new one I'm being sure the grip fits my hand, I can pull the slide calmly and in a quick move. Finding they are too hard so not gonna help me if needed. I don't want it nose heavy with a hard recoil. My ex brother inlaw shot my 30-30 and not having a good grip it came back and popped him right between the eyes. My last words were it kicks hard. He sighted and shot. We all saw it, he tried to play it off until he saw the blood. 6 stitches. He told me he didn't like my gun. It never hurt me.
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