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Child Attempts to grap pistol out of holster?

Assod101

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Apr 22, 2010
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Stafford, Virginia, USA
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Ok let me start by saying that i have never heard of this happening and don't plan on this occurring EVER!

Now what would you all do if you had someones child walks up behind and and start grabbing at your pistol? The obvious is start yelling at the horrible parenting but then again you know this is going to get bad fast when you start talking to the parents. So again what would you do???
 

eye95

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Be aware of the child behind you before he or she touches your gun. If the hand approaches the firearm, use minimal force to brush the hand away, and sternly say, "Don't touch, please." (I put the "please" at the end because this is not a request. It is a politely phrased order.)

I would then look for the parents. Hopefully they are right there, have seen what happened, and are now responsibly dealing with the situation.

If the parents are not right there and handling the situation well, there are too many variables to come up with a single answer. It's a 40-page decision tree!
 

flagellum

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North Las Vegas, NV
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Not everyone here might agree, but I usually advocate for a level 2 holster, (something restraining it besides friction).
 

Lthrnck

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Englewood, Ohio, USA
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I actually had this happen to me about a month or so ago. I was in Penn Station placing my ordering. There was a mother and her little girl standing behind me.

The little girl pushed on the grip, she really wasn't trying to grab it, but did that 1 finger push on it.

When I felt the pressure I just turned my hip and it broke contact with her. I said , Please don't touch that... I tried not to sound mean or evil.

On the other hand her Mom about went ballistic, and start yellling at her daughter to NEVER EVER TOUCH ONE OF THOSE.. YOU COULD GET KILLED...

I just stared at her in amazment, but what could I say.. It's her child, so I chose not to say anything else and just turned my hip to the counter and waited for my change.

I truely wanted to tell that little girl if she wanted to learn the truth about guns, look me up when she turns 18 and didn't have her mother scaring her to death about guns.. but don't think a 7 or 8 year old would remember that long.
 

younggun20

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Ogden, Utah, USA
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I just had something similar happen to me over this last weekend. I was walking around the carnival and I was looking around alot keeping my eyes open trying to pay alot of attention to who was around me as I was in a big crowd. I stepped up and placed my order for some food and felt a small tug on my SA I turned around and noticed my wifes nephew's hand on it. As soon as he seen me looking that way he took off running. As this is not his first time touching it or trying to pull it out. Well my wife and his mom let him have it.

I talked to him later after I calmed down and told him he cant be doing that. I told him he was lucky I seen him before I reacted to much he may have gotten hit or pushed hard or anything could have happened but none of which would have felt good.

He's 12 or 13 and I keep saying I want to take him out and introduce him to firearms and firearm safety. But Just some of the things he does really stop me
 

VAopencarry

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Berryville-ish, VA
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younggun, you don't have to take him to the range but you should let him hold/fondle your gun, unloaded of course. Empty it tell him a little about safety and let him fondle to his hearts content then he will no longer be curious about it.
 

havee

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Sep 28, 2009
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Nashua, New Hampshire, USA
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My daughter who is 5 has done this me a few times before. I did empty the gun just before cleaning it and let her play with it. After a few minutes of playing with the gunI took it back to clean it. She helped me clean it as we discussed gun safety. She has not gone after it since. So as a gift for good behavior I have bought her a few cap guns with holsters and now we clean our gun together. Not sure whatI would do with a strangers kid.
 

Dahwg

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Feb 22, 2008
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Tucson, Arizona, USA
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flagellum wrote:
Not everyone here might agree, but I usually advocate for a level 2 holster, (something restraining it besides friction).

I think it's a pretty universal rule in OC. Level II retention at least.

The holster of choice on here seems to be the Blackhawk Serpa (which I own but seldom use), I prefer the Safariland 6288 SLS paddle holster. (It is the "concealment" version of the famous 6280 duty holster). It is a superior holster IMO but comes at a premium so if money is an concern you simply can't beat the Serpa at about a fifth of the price.
 

younggun20

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VAopencarry wrote:
younggun, you don't have to take him to the range but you should let him hold/fondle your gun, unloaded of course. Empty it tell him a little about safety and let him fondle to his hearts content then he will no longer be curious about it.
Never thought of that, I'll give it a try. Thanks
 
B

Bikenut

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While I type this I am well aware that I am not just speaking to everyone reading..... I am also pointing a finger directly at myself.

When we carry a sidearm in plain view it is us.. and only us.. who is responsible for keeping that sidearm secure. It is us.. and only us.. who is responsible for keeping our awareness level high enough to be aware of anyone, child or adult, who comes close enough to be able to reach out and touch or grab our sidearm. And it is us... and only us.. who needs to have practiced retention techniques to deal with someone reaching for, or actually touching/grabbing, our sidearm.

Now... should a child be treated to the same retention technique as a bad guy? Of course not... yet that child should have been treated with the same amount of awareness we would have if we had noticed a shady character close to us.

We, all of us, are human and tend to assess values of threat levels... and a child isn't ordinarily considered a threat. Well, ordinarily a child has no evil intent... just lots of curiosity... yet a child who actually does get ahold of a sidearm can cause as much damage out of ignorance of what to do with a gun... as a bad guy can out of evil intent. But the potential for damage is still there.

What to do? Be aware of who is close to us first. Take steps to keep the sidearm protected by covering it with an elbow (as someone else said earlier) or by turning it away from the person/child (as someone else also said earlier) ... and by being ready to use the first step of retention of pushing the hand/gun down into the holster while turning... and then, if a child, give a stern but gentle admonition... if a bad guy well.... do what ya gotta do. But, we should already know if that hand belongs to a bad guy or a child .......

I said that I was speaking to myself... yep, it is my responsibility to know who is around me and how they are behaving.. and how that might affect me... and my sidearm.

And standing in check out lines in stores makes me very uncomfortable because I know that my attention will be distracted when it comes time to pay for my purchases.
 

Brimstone Baritone

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Mar 26, 2010
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Leeds, Alabama, USA
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Not to go off topic, but this case makes a good argument for cross draw. Rarely will someone be able to sneak up in front of you and try to mess with your gun. :D
 

TheMrMitch

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I would try to see that the child is corrected......IF.....my reflexes haven't decked him.

Don't sneak up on me. My fault if I allow it, but things happen fast sometimes.
 

bomber

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Lthrnck wrote:
On the other hand her Mom about went ballistic, and start yellling at her daughter to NEVER EVER TOUCH ONE OF THOSE.. YOU COULD GET KILLED...

well if she keeps up that habit, she probably could get killed
 

Packer fan

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Mountain Home, Arkansas, United States
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TheMrMitch wrote:
I would try to see that the child is corrected......IF.....my reflexes haven't decked him.

Don't sneak up on me. My fault if I allow it, but things happen fast sometimes.


+1

I too have the same reaction. It's completely unintentional and I'm not a jumpy person.

If a child is going to sneak up on me and grab for my gun I don't know who or what the intentions are.

Most of the time when a parent sees a person with a gun they will shield the child from the evil or the child will have been trained by the parents not to touch.
 

MKEgal

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Jan 8, 2010
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OK, I've seen references to the various levels of retention before,
but don't understand what they are. Can anyone point me to a
discussion page, or just explain it to me, please???

Krysta
 

Sonora Rebel

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Some kid touches my pistol they're gettin' swat launched inadirection of my convienience. This is a non-negotiable event.I carry cross-draw in a SerpaLevel II, but I'm not gonna fool around with some sticky-fingeredindiscriminant spawn of misceginated incest.
 
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