Taking Your First Shot by Lynne Finch

Author:Lynne Finch [Finch, Lynne]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing
Published: 2012-12-31T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 11

STORING AND CARING FOR YOUR GUN

Part of being a responsible gun owner is protecting your gun from unauthorized access. If you have children in the home, do not make the mistake of thinking they do not know where the gun is. If you are like me, when you were a child you knew every hiding spot for the Christmas gifts and could find them, open them, and return them … undetected. Children are crafty! If you hide it, they will know. There is also a curiosity factor: if the gun is a “secret,” kids will be curious. Unfortunately, this can lead to tragic accidents. This is the reason I strongly advocate teaching gun safety to kids if you have a firearm in the home. Even if you don’t have one, they will know what to do if they are at a friend’s home and discover a gun.

If you are keeping a gun for home defense, consider a small gun safe with a biometric or handprint combination lock that you can open in the dark. You do not want to be fumbling with keys or combination dials in an emergency. Many of these are now electric, with a backup power supply for outages. A large number of these will also temporarily lock out anyone who has entered the wrong combination a predetermined number of times, such as three. Additionally, some models have an indicator so that you know if someone has attempted access. Consider your situation and your budget to determine the level of security you need in your home. Also, if you have children in the home you should verify the requirements for your state; there may be special lock requirements.

If your household is adults only, you may still need to take precautions in the event you have visitors, whether adults or children. You must protect your gun from the innocent and the foolish.

If your firearm is not for home defense, locked storage is your safest option. If you are storing your gun between trips to the range, it should be unloaded. If possible, consider a felted gun case. Long-term storage in the egg crate foam cases can lead to rust! Store your ammunition separately from your gun. I keep mine in the factory boxes in a plastic ammo can with a desiccant, which is a chemical that removes moisture from the air (similar to the little packets that often come in new leather purses and shoes, except much larger). I also keep a desiccant in my safe with my papers and my guns. Your ammunition should be kept in the original boxes. There is a lot of good information there: the manufacturer, caliber, lot number. These can be important if you find you have malfunctions with a particular box. You can contact the manufacturer and ask if there was a known defect. Often they will replace your ammunition for free if there was a defect.

Your ammo should be kept away from water, solvents, and chemicals, any of which can cause degradation or damage.

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