Tweed Ring wrote:Wen I was a kid, my Dad kept two loaded revolvers in the house. Since, as a kid, I was inquisitive, nosy, and a climber - once a year, he would unload both guns, and give me a chance to pull the triggers. Once I reached the point in my young life, when I had the hand/finger strength to pull the trigger with both hands, the guns literally disappeared.

I've devised my own tests for my daughter, too. And yes, just as your dad,
parts of my "SOP," if it can be called that, were tailored around what I
knew of my daughter's physical and mental capabilities.
brian0918 wrote:At the very least, always make sure that your handguns have nothing in the chamber. Toddlers shouldn't be able to rack the slide, though that's not necessarily a guarantee that they're safe.
^ One thing I like to remind parents of is that not every situation can be foreseen. The empty-chamber idea is not a bad one, but remember that a slide doesn't necessarily have to be cycled "by hand." The toddler/child can simply have a hold on the gun while falling, catching the rear sight or even the ejection port on something that offered enough resistance to cycle the slide as he/she fell forward. Look at how we chamber a round with one hand - same idea.
