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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Keeping guns in a baby's bedroom?!

65 replies

RoseGarden123 · 12/03/2013 19:13

I know i am probably being a bit silly but can others help me on this one. My husband is a farmer and as such we have three guns in the house. We live in a bungalow and due to how it is built we only have one main brick internal wall. For gun licences the gun case has to be attached to an internal solid wall and is currently in our spare room. We are due DC2 soon and the spare room will become baby's bedroom. The gun cabinet is absolutely secure and DH is so careful about keeping all the cartridges etc locked up elsewhere and not even I know how to access the cabinet. So safety wise no issue. However i feel really funny about our baby sleeping in a room with guns in it. I want DH to move it into the loft, only other option and he thinks I am being silly (in a nice way). He has said if I really want to he will but it is a real hassle, big job, paperwork and the fire arms officer has to come back out to approve etc!
Am I being silly?

OP posts:

TheNurseryCryme · 12/03/2013 19:42

I know it sounds weird, but I see absolutely no problem with it.
I certainly wouldn't be considering it as an issue until your child is old enough to walk. You may find you end up co sleeping for a while or use a moses basket in your bedroom for the first few months so your baby may not even spend much, if any, time in the room initially.

StuffezLaBouche · 12/03/2013 19:45

We are farmer's children and my brothers had the gun cabinet in their room. It was fine, we never knew where the key was. (Since found out its on the key rack, next to the car keys. Nice one Dad)

Sadly, one of my earliest memories is my mum and nan having to extract a bullet from my nostril with tweezers because I had decided that was the best place for it. Only now do I realise their reluctance to take me to the docs.

INeverSaidThat · 12/03/2013 19:46

I think it is fine and I am not a fan of guns (unless you are a farmer)

kinkyfuckery · 12/03/2013 19:46

I wouldn't worry about it too much, if it's not overly obvious what the cabinet houses, and you have alternate arrangements for years to come when child may have friends etc visiting.
I have friends who have a gun cabinet in their bedroom, securely locked of course, and don't think they even think about it 99.9% of the time.

IneedAsockamnesty · 12/03/2013 19:46

You are being silly ( pinching dh's words) but yanbu because I can understand it.

However it is in a metal locked gun case then inside another locked cupboard and nobody other than dh accesses it and he is very strict about it,so really not a problem

TheNurseryCryme · 12/03/2013 19:48

I think your baby would be in far greater danger from cookers, open doors or windows, the bath, ponds, plug sockets ..... etc than a totally secure cabinet.
Will you put a lock on the outside door of the bathroom to stop access to the medical cabinet, or will you just rely on height and a mini padlock like moost people.
Honestly, other things in the house are far more dangerous than your gun cabinet.

Xiaoxiong · 12/03/2013 19:50

Actually I was thinking along the lines more of a non-firearms related annoyance. What if your DC is sleeping and your DH needs to get a gun out of his room, you've just put him down, he's a light sleeper etc etc...

We had to move DS's laundry basket and nappy bucket out of his room into the hall because of this, we couldn't go in there to get his washing when he was asleep because at the first creak of the hinges he would pop up yelling "mamma, dadda!"

Viviennemary · 12/03/2013 19:51

Well I suppose if it passes the regulations on gun storage then there shouldn't be a problem. However, I wouldn't like this at all in my own house. But I have a thing about guns. Hate them.

deleted203 · 12/03/2013 19:52

I can see how you feel, but I think you just have to live with it for now. You've said that you are extending, so in a year or two it won't be a problem. We have guns in the house, and whilst I am used to it I can see why you don't fancy the gun cabinet being in the baby's room. However, there really doesn't seem to be a practical resolution to this one, other than gritting your teeth, putting up with the fact that in an ideal world 'gun case' doesn't add a lot to a nursery, and urging DH to get on with the extension! By the time baby is toddling and needing more space, hopefully the gun cabinet will be housed elsewhere!

TeaOneSugar · 12/03/2013 20:20

DH's gun cabinet is in DDs room, its been there since before she was born, she's 9 now and not remotely bothered by it.

You wouldn't know if was there if you didn't know, ifyswim, her wardrobe obstructs it, none of her friends have ever spotted it.

The fire arms officer has never raised an eyebrow.

purplewoofer · 12/03/2013 20:34

We have this issue as well. Gun cabinet in soon to be babies room. Obviously it is safe but do feel a little odd about it.

TomDudgeon · 12/03/2013 21:05

Ours was in a cupboard in ds3s room
They won't be loaded, they will be locked away in method that children could not accidentally open, in our case it was two keys kept in different places and the ammo will be kept somewhere else too. They're more likely to pull a chest of drawers on top of themselves or something

TomDudgeon · 12/03/2013 21:06

The gun safe was in the cupboard (built in) I mean not just the guns

justholditin · 12/03/2013 21:22

I know exactly how you feel. My husband due to his job has a personal protection weapon. We have a lock box, a safe in a wardrobe and I can't bear the gun in the house as it would be in our youngest room. He can mostly leave it work but on the odd occasion he can't, I move the baby. I know it's completely irrational but I can't have my baby sleep in the same room as it.

Ilovemydogandmydoglovesme · 12/03/2013 21:33

When you say the firearms officer wants it on an internal brick wall, do you mean that your house is made primarily of wood or something and you only have one brick wall in the whole building?

Because the way I understand it, the cabinet has to be inside your house attached to a brick wall. Not specifically attached to a brick wall in the middle of the building.

Ours have been under the stairs, attached to a brick wall, and in a cupboard upstairs, again backing on to a brick wall.

As long as they're not outside is the main concern, I believe, but are inside your property and therefore more secure. Our firearms officer never specified where in the house he wanted it. My DFil keeps his cabinet secured inside the house to an outside wall and has done so for fifty years and never been told to move it.

LtEveDallas · 12/03/2013 21:38

Could you 'dig in' a gun safe into the floor of another room? My FIL has guns in the house (he is a slaughterman) and his are dug in to the floor of the utility room.

YouCantTeuchThis · 12/03/2013 21:39

As ilove says, ours is attached to an external wall, within a lockable room (walk in cupboard really!).

Can you get FO/local Police Officer to come and advise on suitable relocations?

I hate having the guns in the house and I wouldn't be comfortable with them in DC room, but I'm glad they are secure (i.e. not outbuilding where someone could access and use on us!).

MummytoKatie · 12/03/2013 22:22

It's illogical but I'd hate it too.

janey68 · 12/03/2013 23:54

I think if you're comfortable having guns in the house, then it's illogical to have an issue with exactly where they're kept. Provided the guns are kept according to regulations why does it matter

ComposHat · 13/03/2013 00:40

How would the firearms officer react to the gun being in a child's bedroom? Especially as the child turns into a curious child or a potentially troubled teen?

I know logically it isn't a problem at this stage of the child's life, but it doesn't feel right. I wouldn't be able to sleep knowing a shotgun was in such close proximity, so understand how you'd feel.

IneedAsockamnesty · 13/03/2013 00:44

They wouldn't bat an eyelid providing it was kept as per regulation requirements.

TeaOneSugar · 13/03/2013 08:25

Ours is on an external wall, which is what our local fire arms officer requires, from what I remember it has to be in a position where you can't see it from the window. I could be wrong, it's DHs territory.

The gun cabinet should only be accessible to a shot gun licence holder, so assuming your troubled teen didn't have a licence, they wouldn't have access to the key and there wouldn't be a problem.

I don't have a licence any more, therefore i don't know where DH keeps the key, I'm not even sure it's in the house.

We're talking about a very secure safe, bolted to the floor and wall.

I suppose we're all sensitive about different things.

LadyPessaryPam · 13/03/2013 08:55

I think YABU as the gun cabinet is absolutely secure and your DH is so careful about keeping all the cartridges etc locked up elsewhere and not even you know how to access the cabinet. I would worry about other things TBH.

maninawomansworld · 19/03/2013 10:52

Yes you are bing sill, there is no danger it the current arrangement.

In addition, some police forces will not approve a cabinet in the loft because they say they can't be sure that you will go to the hassle of getting up into the loft every time you want a gun. If you've just come back from shooting and you're soaking wet and cold, dinners nearly ready and the gun needs a clean anyway are you really going to climb all the way up into the loft to put it in the safe when you'll just be getting it back out an hour later to clean and oil it?
Some people might be tempted to unload it and prop it up under the stairs with the intention of cleaning it after dinner and putting it away - but then baby kicks off, dog shits on the floor, washing up needs doing..... before you know it you've had a gun lying around unsecured for several hours.

Also, many lofts get very cold in winter and hot in summer. This is very bad for guns. It damaged wooden stocks and may cause them to split ( having a new stock made can be as much as a new gun). Worse, it encourages rust in the metalwork which over time can render the gun unreliable or even dangerous to use as the barrels become pitted and their strength is compromised.
By the way... I'm a gunsmith, I've seen guns that have blown up in people's hands due to poor maintainence / neglect - and exposure moisture is a big factor.

Purplecatti · 19/03/2013 11:30

I thonk it's fine. It's not as though the baby can get to them. Plus as it gets bigger they will learn to be responsible with them.
I come from a farming background and was taught to be careful and respectful with firearms. If I hahadn't have been my prized airgun would've been confiscated and no more shooting balloons for me. I was never told where the ammo was kept however.

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