No Exceptions: Transporting Firearms Securely
As children grow older they may express their desire to move beyond the rifle on a bench. At this point it becomes necessary to find a means of transporting handguns safely while maintaining the commitment to keeping firearms secure. In this article Doug describes how he satisfied the need to transport handguns conveniently while ensuring they remain away from little hands.
Recently, while watching a video of my friend Ray shooting a pistol match, my son asked how old he needed to be to learn to shoot like that. I told him we’d follow the same process we did when he began shooting rifles – in addition to continuing to demonstrate adherence to the universal safety rules, he needed to learn how to properly handle and operate the firearm he wished to shoot. Over the next couple weeks, while he and I did the groundwork of learning a handgun, I looked into the minimum age for participation in some of the upcoming matches Ray would be shooting and found a few where my son could participate.
Our family’s policy is every firearm, regardless of condition, is either under a responsible adult’s direct and active control or has been secured in a locked safe, inaccessible to children. In keeping with our policy, as I began researching which handgun would be best for my son to shoot I also started looking into hard-sided, lockable cases to transport the handguns to and from the range. Hard-sided lockable cases are obviously quite common but my goal was to find something which would serve as a secure gun case while doubling as a range bag to carry our gear. This is when I found CaseCruzer.
Simply put, CaseCruzer makes a top-shelf lockable weapons case for just about any configuration one could need. The right option for us was their 2-Pack Quickdraw case. It holds two handguns securely and does so while keeping them positioned in such a manner that they are always pointed in a safe direction when removing or replacing them. It also will also hold up to 16 magazines, two sets of eyes and ears, and plenty of ammo. Most importantly, I can keep consistent with and true to our no-exceptions policy of securing firearms if they’re not physically-attached to a responsible adult.
Whether at the range, at home, in the car, or out and about there is never a time when a firearm should be unsecured from a child. While transporting your firearms to and from the range in a locked case does add an extra step or two, this small inconvenience is well worth it when considering the safety of a child. This “no-exceptions” policy prevents the kinds of tragedies we hear about, sometimes when a parent is only feet away. Please take the steps necessary to ensure your firearms are always either in your direct control or are secured away from small hands, and extend this practice to the range by investing in a secure means of transporting your firearms.
