Protecting Yourself
When talking about gun safety, it is hard to accept anything less than your own personal rules for yourself. For example, my mom thinks that gun safety means turn your head and pretend they are not there, and if you absolutely HAD to touch it for the most extreme reasons and nobody is available to do it for you, then you are to handle it like it is a loaded mouse trap (a finger on each side and touching the least amount of metal as possible). That was a long description for a short point. Everyone has their own opinion of what is acceptable firearm safety.
I am ok that different people have different standards of what is acceptable. Some keep a loaded shotgun under their bed while others lock every weapon up for safety. I think it is extremely important to practice situational safety. I personally don’t see the point in having a home defense weapon if it is locked up and not readily accessible in a time of need, but at the same time if you have a little kid or even untrained friends for that matter, you are probably going to see things in a different light.
I bring this up because recently I had a wake up call, and it has stuck in my head like glue since it happen about a month and a half ago…
I have never run into the issue of having kids in my home what-so-ever until recently when my friend came over with her 4 year old boy. He came over and I played with him for a couple hours until it was time for him to take a nap. Well the plan was for him to sleep in our bed and as embarrassing as it is to admit, I came EXTREMELY close to letting that little boy sleep 12 inches from a loaded XD-40 handgun.
I consider myself to be very comfortable with weapons and somehow I allowed that sense of comfort to bleed into my common sense / wake-the-fuck-up side of the brain. I do not see myself allowing this to ever occur again, but it alarmed me how easily something like this happens. It is not something I would ever want to admit but I think it is important to share, as some may not be as fortunate to have a 2nd chance at it.
