Safe Luxury

What's a safe method to keep 1 loaded handgun at home for self-defense while keeping from child?

Basically, I currently keep my weapons stored locked up and off site. I want to bring 1 handgun home for self-defense, but I absolutely don't want my kid to ever be able to gain access to it. It should be a way that I can access the gun fairly quickly (10 or 15 seconds?), but otherwise is very secure. Can you give me a recommendation. If it's a product, a link would be great. Thanks.

Public Comments

1. Get a safe with a coded lock, high up so the child can't reach. And store it unloaded just to make sure.
2. fist off, a shotgun or small-caliber rifle (.223) would be better for home defense handgun rounds penetrate through several walls before loosing energy (many people dont realize this). a .223 will fragment after the 1st wall and stop, and shotgun pellets (buckshot) will only penetrate 1 wall. given that a child is in the house, over-penetration is a #1 issue - use a rifle or shotgun. if you must still have a handgun, get a small safe for the closet with a digital keypad lock. some models that fit in dresser drawers are also available, also with a digital keypad lock.
3. I use a hand code safe. They are a small safe with four finger groves in the top with the buttons at the end you basically slide your fingers into the groves and enter your code. The safe comes with enough room to store a couple of pistols inside up to 6" Barrels. I keep my Ruger GP-100 .357 Magnum in it loaded. The safe will come with a default code to get the door open and access to the programmer. Mine takes two AA Batteries, and it will remind you when they are getting low with an audible alarm. Change the batteries when you hear the alarm sound for the first time. The locksmith fees are a little steep. Yeah, I speak from experience on that one. I have just started making it a routine to change the batteries out monthly. And...for the record, it takes less than 3 seconds to open the safe. As for child proof, well my nephew has yet to figure out the code to open it. Hint, don't use your birthday or anything like that. Pick something that you are not going to forget. Fortunately I like trains, so I have many 4 digit codes to pick from. EDIT- Ryan, needs to do some homework on home defense. The remark about using a Shotgun or a .223 Remington as a home defense weapon tells me that he has received some bad information from some folks who spend a little too much time playing HALO or Far Cry. Yes I have the games too, but they are games, and that is all they are. Ryan- I am not trying to insult you. Please do not take it that way. As a Home Defense Instructor and Security Firearm Instructor, I see and hear lots of incorrect things in this section. My point? When you are on the phone defending your family, and with the 911 Dispatcher playing 20 questions, the last thing you need, is for both of your hands to be occupied with a longarm. A handgun, regardless of the caliber is the correct tool for the job in this type of a situation. Your first order of business in that situation is to seek cover and concealment and avoid contact with the intruder until it is no longer possible. Then and ONLY then are you ever justified in pulling that trigger. Good Luck
4. Get a gun vault. Quick code entry provides fast access to your loaded handgun.
5. We have to be careful with firearms, but the liberals have dragged us into their paranoia, as well as their political correctness. However the gun safe and safety device manufacturers love it. Very small children cannot jack a round into the chamber of a 1911, or similar semi-auto, add this too the fact that it is most definitely out of reach, problem solved. It's the nosy 8 year old you have to worry about. When they are big enough to defeat these safety barriers then it is time for firearm education. All of my children were taken out and shown first hand the destructive power of a firearm. You have to remember that much of the childhood curiosity about firearms is based on the mystique. Take them out shooting and remove all the mystique and you have a child with a better understanding of firearms. It is around this time that a secure gun safe is needed for spare weapons. I keep my personal protection firearm around all the time. If I have to go somewhere where I can't take it, it goes in the safe, otherwise it's on the nightstand until I leave in the morning for work and put it in my vehicle. No one wants to be killed by an intruder while trying to open a safe containing 20 firearms. We live in a rural area and things can happen quickly and law enforcement is 20 to 30 minutes away. Just exercise common sense and always know where your weapons is located.
6. http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/links/link.jsp?type=product&cmCat=Related_IPL_229423&id=0005562220659a i have one of these, and the chamber of my gun is kept empty just in case. But I do have extra mags in there too. And a good flashlight(or two)
7. Keep the pistol under youe pillow at night and when you get out of bed put it on......... Plain and simple it is always near you or on you..........I did this for years....... your wife will freak and folks will call you a psycho-paranoid but just because you are paranoid, doesnt mean people aren't really trying to kill you............; )
8. i have a Bersa thunder 380 it is a cheap but very very very good gun, it has a safety on it called a magazine safety, this means that even if there is a round in the chamber, the gun will not fire until the magazine is in the gun. so eject the mag and keep it with you. i know this isn't a direct answer but it is a good gun when it comes to civilian safety.
9. gunvault http://www.gunvault.com/ you bolt it to your dresser or nightstand, that way your kids can't get it, you can get to it fast. yes, a criminal with a pry-bar can pop it off and run out the house with it, and pop it open at his hideout, but as far as kid-proofing the gun, gunvault is the way to go IMHO
10. if you got a small safe big enough for a handgun with something quick like maybe a fingerprint scanner, that is what i have and it takes a quick swipe of the finger and its open. between 2 and 5 seconds to swipe and the scanner to register and the safe is open. if you don't mind a tad more time, get a scanner with a keypad. just swipe your finger and enter the code, open in less than 10 seconds and virtually impossible to crack.
11. The problem with coded gun safes is some people freeze up in a time of panic. If you are not sure how you would react in a panic i would stick with a gun safe with a key, and keep the key close by and gun safe high up. Otherwise if you are sure you can react normally then a coded gun safe is the way to go, and leave the gun loaded but empty chamber. I don't have kids yet so my Glock is right next to my bed under my night stand, loaded mag, empty chamber. And my other guns are all unloaded but easy to get loaded.
12. You haven't stated much about you kid: age, sex, behavior, responsibility. It would be better for the child to be totally familiar with the gun(s) rather than in the dark. He/she already knows and appreciates electricity, automobiles, burns, stranger dangers, etc. and has been taught through years of training about them. In some countries (Israel; Switzerland) children are brought up around guns and do not see them as dangers but just as ordinary facts of life in the 21st century. See if you can find a fingerprint-scan safe that will open quickly. If you know you can trust your child, consider a shotgun, unchambered round, securely attached to something, next to you as you sleep. If you ultimately can't trust your child (the Army shouldn't have trusted that Major) then you may have a problem with efficient self-defense. Even the military at times has trouble with firearms getting into the hands of the wrong people. How much more so civilians such as city cops or other private citizens whom have children they cannot trust. Edit: consider birdshot rather than buckshot, should you use a shotgun, as wall penetration is less. Handguns (such as a Glock or revolver) are the easiest to bring into play, but if you are a poor handgun shooter, you will hit your target with a short-barreled "home defense" shotgun. Or send the target running the moment he sees it. (Hopefully) Train with the shotgun, or any gun you choose, first!