Oct092009
Keep your guns locked up with kids in your house
Filed under Family, General, Parents by bob hammerstrom at 12:35 pm
In the wake of the recent attacks in Mont Vernon, N.H., some area residents are purchasing guns for protection. I’m not against owning firearms for hunting or protection, but be smart about storing them and educating your children about protecting themselves.
Allegedly breaking into a rural home, attacking a mother and her 11-year-old daughter, four teenagers are charged with various crimes including first-degree murder. Knives and machetes were used to kill Kimberly Cates in her bed and severely injure her daughter, Jaimie last Sunday, October 4.
A story Saturday, October 10, in The (Nashua) Telegraph will talk about local residents purchasing firearms for protection. While photographing customers yesterday at the Milford Firearms dealer in Milford, N.H., Nick D’Augustine showed me a Mossberg pump shotgun. A nasty looking firearm with clips for extra shells on the stock. He had sold a few yesterday morning.
I’ve heard more than one person this week mention how they would shoot an intruder in their home. That’s very easy to say, but how do you know, in the dark, that it’s not your child sleep walking around the house? Or, maybe it is your wife using the ladies room, or the dog making noise.
Nick said that the sound of the pump-action on the shotgun (used to load a shell into the chamber) would scare away an intruder. Maybe. It may also make things worse for you if they are armed.
Think hard before making the decision to purchase a firearm. What if your child gets a hold of it? What if a friend of your child finds it? Does you child know how to use it properly? Do you want them to use it?
Gun cabinets and trigger locks can deter the use of the firearm in the wrong hands, but would you trust a burglar holding your loaded weapon with a trigger lock on it?
There are other ways to protect your family from intruders. Install a security system in your home with alarms. Consider buying pepper spray. Keep a yard light on at night. And, lock your doors.
-Bob Hammerstrom
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