A Word About Firearms in the Home

Reprinted from a pamphlet issued by the National Shooting Sports Foundation

Firearms Responsibility in the Home

The title for this [page] was chosen very carefully. [This] is not about firearms safety, safe firearms handling or storing firearms in the home. This....is about the responsibilies each and every one of us must accept when we bring firearms into our homes. If you keep a gun of any kind into your home, THESE ARE YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES.

Household accidents involving firearms have decreased significantly over the last 20 years, according to the National Safety Council. [This] was written to help make sure that this downward trend continues. By strictly following the common-sense rules listed here, parents and children can prevent firearms accidents in the home. All you have to do is act responsibly and insist that other members of your family do the same. Your home will be as safe as you choose to make it.

Storage of Sporting Firearms

More than 30,000,000 Amerians enjoy using rifles, shotguns and handguns for hunting and target shooting. When these guns are not being used, they must be safely and securely stored. This is where firearms responsibility in the home begins--and ends.

The rules for safe storage of sporting firearms in the home are few in number and easy to follow:

1. Always unload sporting firearms carefully and completely before taking them into the home.

2. Always make absolutely sure that firearms in your home are securely stored in a location inaccessible to children. Ammunition should be stored in a separate location, locked, and also inaccessible to children.

3. Always place firearms in their proper storage location immediately after returning from a hunting trip or a day at the range.

4. Always re-check firearms carefully and completely to confirm that they are "still" unloaded when you remove them from storage. Accidents have occured when a family member has borrowed or loaned a firearm and returned it to storage while it was still loaded.

5. Always remember: it is your responsibility to make certain the firearms in your home are not casually accessible to anyone--especially curious young people.

Firearms Kept for Home Security

If you feel the need for quick access to a loaded firearm in your home, you need to take special safety measures.

Keeping a gun to defend your family makes no sense if that same gun puts your family members or visitors to your home at risk. In keeping a firearms for home security, your objective should be to create a situation in which the firearm in readily available to you, yet inaccessible or inoperative to others. Quick-release trigger locks, chamber/cylinder locks or special locked cases that can be instantly opened by authorized individuals are options to consider. You must exercise full control and supervision over a loaded gun at all times. This means the gun must be unloaded and placed in secure storage whenever you leave your home. Most fatal home firearms accidents occur when youngsters--often children who do not live in the home--discover firearms that adults thought were safely hidden or physically inaccessible. Your most important responsibility is ensuring that children cannot encounter loaded furearns. The precautions you take must be completely effective. Anything else invites tragedy.