2nd amendment

OK, folks, it appears that I was wrong. Don't lock up your guns.
I know that locking up your guns isn't the entire solution, but I felt that taking at least one positive step in the right direction was better than sitting on your ass and leaving everything up to chance.

Wow....

Reading these posts, I don't believe fellow SeaRay'ers were taking an 'all or nothing' approach, and no one said they'd 'sit on their ass and do nothing'? They were just sharing anecdotal stories as it relates to the post.

weird
 
As someone who moved as a kid to extreme rural & then Chicago, Dallas & LA (all before the age of 15), each place was different as it related to firearms.

Living in Rural OH, I would go to my buddies house, and in the entryway was a .22, 12 gauge, and whatever deer rifle, on a rack with ammo in the rack cubby. Same at my uncles house in rural Indiana. We never thought to take those because we knew that we would get the beating of our lives.

Living in the urban locations, you'd never see exposed firearms like that. My dad had a Model-12 which I learned how to shoot shotgun with. When we lived in the rural, it was in his closet, in a plastic blueing bag, however in LA, it was well hidden. I actually never found it...LOL (probably in the attic/crawlspace)

I agree with what some are saying on here, if someone really wants it, they're going to get it. I also agree, especially depending where you are, that taking precautions in locking up your firearm is a excellent habit, which is a habit I do.

I had a recent break in & they tried to make off with my 12 gun stack on 'basic' safe, but I had it lag bolted to a stud that they couldn't remove. If they had taken that safe, they would have had all of my firearms & accessories. Guess what, I now have a 500lb safe , in the basement, anchor bolted to the floor as well as the studs - she ain't going anywhere unless they have a few hours and some power tools.

my $.035
 
Same here Ollie. I have a big safe that is probably pushing 500lbs. most of my guns are in there. i do have 2 handguns hidden in case i need them in a hurry but we have no kids in the house and unless you know where they are you aren't likely to find them.
 
Education is the best tool money can buy. Teach your children well
 
"When the hormones start kicking in, and the pressures of life start to be applied, they are no longer your kids. They are aliens. Do not for a minute, think that you know them. You don't. That is all."

"Then there is the scenario of a break-in and your unlocked guns falling into the wrong hands that could be used in the commission of a crime."

That's why my guns are locked in a gun safe. To those of you who think a massive safe as shown above in Woody's post, is necessary to protect and secure your guns, you are wrong.

Let's face it--you live in a residential neighborhood. The valuables in your home (including your gun collection) are not worthy of the time and energy of a professional safe cracker. You are not trying to protect your guns from that type of person, you are trying to protect them from the kid who lives down the street from you. He's the one who will be burglarizing your home while he's skipping school and while you're not there. He's the one who will look at your gun safe and maybe take a hammer to it, but does not have the skills or knowledge to gain entry.

Get real when you're discussing how much to spend on securing your firearms.
 
I'll add to what GFC posted...if you make it to difficult for the bad guy they will look for another target. Ever hear the saying you don't have to swim faster than the shark, just swim faster than another guy. Same as locking your car won't keep it from getting broken into but thieves are more likely to move on to an easier target.

As far as kids, yep. When mine were younger my guns stayed locked in the safe even though I trusted them and they had been trained with them
 
"When the hormones start kicking in, and the pressures of life start to be applied, they are no longer your kids. They are aliens. Do not for a minute, think that you know them. You don't. That is all."

"Then there is the scenario of a break-in and your unlocked guns falling into the wrong hands that could be used in the commission of a crime."

That's why my guns are locked in a gun safe. To those of you who think a massive safe as shown above in Woody's post, is necessary to protect and secure your guns, you are wrong.

Let's face it--you live in a residential neighborhood. The valuables in your home (including your gun collection) are not worthy of the time and energy of a professional safe cracker. You are not trying to protect your guns from that type of person, you are trying to protect them from the kid who lives down the street from you. He's the one who will be burglarizing your home while he's skipping school and while you're not there. He's the one who will look at your gun safe and maybe take a hammer to it, but does not have the skills or knowledge to gain entry.

Get real when you're discussing how much to spend on securing your firearms.
The majority of gun safes sold certainly don't need a professional safe cracker. Which one do you have?
 
I'll add to what GFC posted...if you make it to difficult for the bad guy they will look for another target. Ever hear the saying you don't have to swim faster than the shark, just swim faster than another guy. Same as locking your car won't keep it from getting broken into but thieves are more likely to move on to an easier target.

As far as kids, yep. When mine were younger my guns stayed locked in the safe even though I trusted them and they had been trained with them
Guns often are the target and they know how to get in to them.
 
This type of discussion almost always seems to be divided between strong supporters of the 2nd amendment that live in the US and those outside of the country who do not have the same rights.

I'm on several forums and the discussion always boils down to "when do you need a gun?" I've been oversees many times where gun possession by citizens is illegal. Guess what - they also have law enforcement/ military walking around carrying rifles. I once watched the soccer Eurocup while sitting in a plaza in Aix en Provence. France was playing Spain in Marsielle just down the road. There were at least 20 heavily armed officers and soldiers watching the match too.

First rule of a gun fight is to bring a gun. Second rule is to bring all of your friends with guns.

If I have clothes on when I walk out the door, then I have a gun on. I've been carrying "professionally" for 20 years and have 5 more to go. After that, I will continue to carry thanks to LEOSA.

Both of my boys own AR15's and know how to handle them with precision. Around my house there is a healthy respect for guns. Nobody is curious.

Having said that, every gun but the one that I carry on me, is in a safe. I'm not worried about my kids. I'm worried about the neighbor kid and what my kid might decide to do.
 
Of those people with children who lock up their guns, how many are locking up their liquor cabinets and prescription medications? If you're leaving the liquor cabinets unlocked and your car keys hanging on a hook by the door, it's the same thing as leaving your gun unlocked.
 
Quotes from Woody's posts:
"The majority of gun safes sold certainly don't need a professional safe cracker. Which one do you have?"
"Guns often are the target and they know how to get in to them."

Woody, you completely missed the message in my post #25. That message was that a professional safe cracker is not going to be cruising around residential neighborhoods looking for a house to burglarize. Too many homes today have video security systems for them to take the risk for a few guns and a couple of laptops. It just ain't worth the risk for the small reward. Now, if he hears about someone who has a huge gun collection in his home that may interest him, but that person likely has a home video security system.

Yes, the professionals know how to get into a gun safe and can probably do it in a few minutes. But why take the time to crack open a safe when they can burglarize another house that may or may not have a safe. The thing is, a professional safe cracker is looking for a bigger target worth a lot more than what a home has.

It doesn't matter what brand my safe is. It's not a cheap tin box that they can cut through the side of in a few minutes. It's a heavy, solid steel box with recessed hinges, a 3 digit combination and it's bolted with lag bolts through the back to wall studs.

Your typical burglar is a neighbor kid who burglarizes homes during the day when he should be in school. He has zero knowledge about how to get into a safe. He'll take whatever is loose in the home and easily grabbed. He'll spend less than 10 minutes inside the home and take only what he can easily carry while he's walking down the street to his car and not be too obvious.

He's not going to be carrying your big screen TV or a desktop computer. That would be too obvious and could result in a call to 911 by a neighbor.

BTW, by way of an FYI, this information above comes from many years in law enforcement and many of those years as a crime prevention officer dealing with people who want to make their home a more difficult burglary target.
 
Most residential burglaries committed in communities with property values less than in the multi millions are committed by someone the homeowner knows. If you have kids, it’s likeLy to be someone they go to school or hang around with who knows you won’t be home and what you have that he or she wants to get their hands on.
Good locks, an alarm system and common sense will probably keep you from being a victim. Most of thes kids aren’t skilled enough to defeat this things.
For the very few who may be able to get past locks and alarms, a decent bolted down safe that is too heavy for them to carry down the block unnoticed is all you need.
 
My thoughts:

A. Kids shouldn't have easy access to your guns.
B. Having all guns locked up defeats the purpose of being able to defend your family.
C. There's a balance between the two.
D. Guns in school per se is NOT the cause of shootings in the schools. If it was, Me and all of my classmates would have never survived. Any properly accessorized pickup HAD TO HAVE a gun rack with at least one rifle in the window. If you couldn't lock up your truck, it was being responsible to lock up your rifles in your school locker.
E. Most kids these days are too wacked out / stupid / nutso to have guns freely available in the schools these days.
F. ALL kids and parents should be required to have at least some rudimentary firearms training.
G. Every gun hater that I have taken to the range and taught how to shoot has responded with "I need to get one of these!"
H. I have NO PROBLEM with law abiding people having any gun they wish, or carrying it wherever they wish. Law abiding people do not commit crimes, and by simple definition don't go off and shoot people on a whim.
I. We don't have a gun problem in this country, we have a people problem. People want to call it a gun problem because they don't want to face the much more difficult problem of having to call out people. You can't blame people for anything they do these days. It's the gun / their upbringing / society / prejudice / unemployment / bad alignment of the stars / etc that HAS TO BE the problem.

Just my $0.02.
 

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