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Weapon retention as important in home as in your
holster |
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July 27, 2017 |
By Foster Mayo
Boundary County Sheriff’s Reserve
The seven-year-old had just finished watching
the Lone Ranger (or maybe it was Gunsmoke) when
he remembered his father’s Colt Peacemaker
sitting in a bedroom drawer. Curiosity drove the
young lad to open the drawer, pick up the weapon
and become Matt Dillon. Sometime during the
weapon handling, the boy cocked the loaded
weapon.
Not knowing for certain how to decock the
weapon, the boy did remember something about it
requiring the trigger to be pressed. Pointing
the weapon toward his face the boy could see the
ends of the HUGE cigar shaped .45 Long Colt
bullets in the cylinder of the weapon.
Now, fearful of pulling the trigger, the boy put
the revolver back into the drawer, covered it
with dad’s underwear, closed the drawer and ran
to a hiding place in the barn.
Sleep was difficult for the next three months,
the young man was fearful of telling his dad and
at the same time fearful of the weapon being
found. The boy had been taught right and wrong
and he knew deep down that he had to tell his
dad.
It was one of the most difficult things the
young man ever had to do. In fact, he couldn’t
tell him, he just led him to the drawer, opened
it and pointed inside.
My dad, possessing the wisdom of Solomon, did
not punish me, but instead praised me for
telling him, therefore enhancing our
communication.
He began a series of instruction how to safely
handle firearms. We began with my toy cap guns
and progressed as I got older to a Red Ryder BB
gun and then a .22 rifle.
I have great memories of our hunting trips
together and those afternoons when we drove out
to some desolate spot for some safe plinking.
Guns were part of our family culture and still
are. My son and I shoot trap, skeet and pistols
together as often as possible, safely.
Recently I had a 15 year old family member stay
overnight at my residence along with his
grandparents. It brought this whole incident
from many years ago back into my reality. I knew
nothing about the 15 year old’s experience,
familiarity or competency with firearms.
I did know that I had grown complacent about the
safe storage of some of my home protection
firearms.
A recent visit to Black Sheep in Coeur d’Alene
educated me to the plethora of devices available
for the safe storage of firearms. Fire resistant
safes, locking metal cabinets, night stand
locking cases and some rather high tech devices
that provide the gun owner with ready access
while prohibiting or making access to the
unwanted much more difficult.
I’m not here to tell anyone how to make their
firearm access safer. I would like to plant a
seed that will cause gun owners to survey their
firearms storage and see if there aren’t ways to
make their weapons less accessible to those who
should not have access.
Gun ownership carries great responsibility.
Weapon retention is as important at home or in a
vehicle as it is when it’s being carried in your
holster. |
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