hal wrote:
Damn cbelt - you're too close to the forest to see the trees.

You just admitted that in spite of your careful habits, your kid came MUCH, MUCH closer to accidentally killing himself than he would have if you didn't have any guns around.

The solution? Take the safe keys and leave them at work. Great - now you're safe from accident.

But you're also not protected by your guns anymore...

So what is the purpose again?

Statistics are clear - households WITH guns are more likely to have a death by gunshot than those without. Get rid of the guns...

[quote=cbelt3]
In fact quite the opposite. I once caught my then teenaged son fiddling around with a .20 gage shotgun shell he had taken from the gun safe after he found my keys and opened the safe up. He had removed the gunpowder and was experimenting with burning it.
I took the following steps:
1) confiscated all ammunition.
2) locked the safe, and left the keys in my desk at work.
3) Took him to the back yard, gave a full safety lecture. Handed out protective goggles and gloves. Then we carefully and safely cut apart a round, showed him the parts, then spent an hour showing him how gunpowder worked.

And after that he said "you do know you sucked all the fun out of that !"

Mission accomplished !