Storage - Remain at WAR

So you bought that new handgun and have started your journey of responsible firearm ownership by reading your instruction manual and discovering the safety rules, the nomenclature, the overall operation techniques of the weapon and how to maintain it when in use and NOT in use!

For those of us old enough to remember the commercial on a local tv station - right around 10:00 pm.

The message was - “It's almost 10 o clock, do you know where your children are?”

JLPFI adopted an everyday similar saying that goes like this:

No matter what time it is, do you know where your firearm is?

You must adhere to a safe storage plan in keeping those weapons that are not going to be in defensive use, LOCKED UP.

For the weapon of choice that you have trained with, JLPFI has adopted an acronym that is to remain at WAR - Within Arms Reach - of that very weapon you might need to use in your own home if the threat ever presented itself. I have encountered those who were victims of a very real home invasion, who chose to keep their defensive weapons locked up, due to having children in the home, These victims were abiding by the law of responsible safe storage, yet they did not think thru the plan of an immediate threat in their own home and that a defensive weapon must be only accessible to the trained family member who has repeatedly practiced and rehearsed the "what if scenarios" of a home invasion. Do not become guilty of the "criminal storage of a firearm".

Please be warned: California Penal Code 25100 clearly states:

a) Except as provided in Section 25105, a person commits the crime of “criminal storage of a firearm in the first degree” if all of the following conditions are satisfied:

(1) The person keeps any loaded firearm within any premises that are under the person’s custody or control.

(2) The person knows or reasonably should know that a child is likely to gain access to the firearm without the permission of the child’s parent or legal guardian, or that a person prohibited from possessing a firearm or deadly weapon pursuant to state or federal law is likely to gain access to the firearm.

(3) The child obtains access to the firearm and thereby causes death or great bodily injury to the child or any other person, or the person prohibited from possessing a firearm or deadly weapon pursuant to state or federal law obtains access to the firearm and thereby causes death or great bodily injury to himself or herself or any other person.

(b) Except as provided in Section 25105, a person commits the crime of “criminal storage of a firearm in the second degree” if all of the following conditions are satisfied:

(1) The person keeps any loaded firearm within any premises that are under the person’s custody or control.

(2) The person knows or reasonably should know that a child is likely to gain access to the firearm without the permission of the child’s parent or legal guardian, or that a person prohibited from possessing a firearm or deadly weapon pursuant to state or federal law is likely to gain access to the firearm.

(3) The child obtains access to the firearm and thereby causes injury, other than great bodily injury, to the child or any other person, or carries the firearm either to a public place or in violation of Section 417, or the person prohibited from possessing a firearm or deadly weapon pursuant to state or federal law obtains access to the firearm and thereby causes injury, other than great bodily injury, to himself or herself or any other person, or carries the firearm either to a public place or in violation of Section 417.

(c) Except as provided in Section 25105, a person commits the crime of “criminal storage of a firearm in the third degree” if the person keeps any loaded firearm within any premises that are under the person’s custody or control and negligently stores or leaves a loaded firearm in a location where the person knows, or reasonably should know, that a child is likely to gain access to the firearm without the permission of the child’s parent or legal guardian, unless reasonable action is taken by the person to secure the firearm against access by the child.

JLPFI asks you: What is your safe storage plan of your general collection of weapons? What is your plan of your primary defensive weapon? How do you plan to access your defensive weapon with children in the house? These are discussions that each family must have when weapons are present in any home.

Stay tuned as this discussion will continue with JLPFI posts that will provide pro-active strategies in making sure your storage methods are solid and that your defensive firearm, remains Within Arms Reach (WAR).