Use Good Judgment and Common Sense

Video Transcribed:  Let’s talk about having guns in the house when you have kids. My name is Brian L. Jackson. I am a father’s rights lawyer in Tulsa with dads.law. I want to talk about firearms in the house when you have kids and, more importantly, when dealing with a custody situation.

This is an argument that even in Oklahoma, and we’re one of the reddest of the red states and pretty permissive when it comes to the possession of the ownership of firearms and the carrying of firearms. So you wouldn’t think this would come up a lot in court, yet it does. So I want to talk about some practical things you can do to make that less of a problem.

The main thing you want to be able to communicate to a court if you are a legal gun owner is that you are a responsible adult who can be trusted not to endanger their children with a firearm.

So here are some examples of things you want to be aware of. Make sure you can secure your weapons. This is true whether you’re dealing with younger children or older children. So have a gun safe. Spend the money. Yeah, it will cost you some money, especially if you get a rifle safe, but get a gun safe. Lock your weapons up.

I’ve heard a lot of discussions back and forth about whether firearms are stored loaded or not, and there are arguments on both sides.

I think concerning that, and my position is if you are going to store a firearm loaded, it needs to be secured in a manner that it won’t discharge accidentally, which means you want it to be something reliable that’s maintained reliably, where the mechanical aspects of that firearm are such that it’s not going to discharge unexpectedly.

And you want to make sure it’s locked up. And of course, anytime you’re dealing with any weapon, loaded or otherwise, muzzle discipline is important. You want to make sure you store it in a direction where if it were to go off, that bullet’s going to discharge into something that’s a solid backstop.

Do not allow your children; I don’t care how responsible, mature, or old they are, unfettered access to your weapons. If you put them in a safe, make sure they don’t have access to the keys, or if it’s a combination lock, they don’t know the combination.

That’s important too. Again, the things that will bite you in the ass in family court are that you don’t secure your weapons properly and are dangerous to the kids.

If you carry, you should be aware that you are legally prohibited from possessing a firearm if impaired. Now impaired, meaning if you’ve been drinking, if you’ve taken anything that is an intoxicant.

If you use recreational drugs, you can’t have a firearm. And by the way, under federal law, that includes weed. Yes, you can have a weed card that makes it not criminal under Oklahoma law, but understand there are still federal gun laws that apply to you if you have a weed card.

And the federal government has assumed that that weed card is prima facie evidence that you abuse drugs. So be aware of that. And in the context of a family court, if you have the weed card, you might want to think twice about having weapons in your house. And, if you’ve been using anything, whether it’s weed, alcohol, or any other intoxicating substance, you should not have a firearm, period.

If you know you have a substance abuse problem, by the way, as well, then you probably want to entrust those weapons to somebody else who is trustworthy until you deal with that issue, which brings me to my next suggestion. If you have mental health problems, then you need not have weapons.

Seriously. Again, if you have a trusted friend, if you know a family member or whatever who will keep your hardware for you while you deal with that, do it. Do not have weapons on hand if you have a diagnosis that is not well-managed because that will bite you in the ass.

Some other things to think about obviously, if you have any kind of criminal history, felonies prohibit you from possessing firearms, as well as certain misdemeanors, particularly anything that is domestic violence.

You cannot have weapons if you have a PO against you, even if it’s a BS one. Even if the order doesn’t specifically say you cannot have weapons, you should not have weapons while you have a PO against you, even in an emergency. Final PO, you’re prohibited under federal law. So be aware of that. With that kind of history, you can not have a firearm, period.

So those are some things to be aware of with weapons and child custody. If you don’t have anything in your personal history that makes you a prohibited person, I think the key is to use good judgment and common sense. If you’re going to drink, put your firearm in the safe and leave it there. If you have children in the house, lock it up.

Oh, and there is another last thing I want to point out. Do not have a gun; if you are someone who carries one, you have to be aware of your behavior in public and your behavior around other people. If things are getting rocky between you and the ex, this is another good reason not to have guns in the house.

Because I’m going to tell you right now, you do not want to let her run into court and say you have guns, and you’ve gotten into a heated argument, and she’s afraid for her safety. Because the judge is going to look at that as you’re a homicide risk.

So if you know things are going south with the wife or the girlfriend, leave the guns with a trusted friend, have them locked up, and have them somewhere where you have to go through that person to get them back. Deal with your problems with her. And then when that stuff is settled down and is calm, go get your guns.

If you have questions about any of that, if you ever need an Oklahoma child support lawyer or a Men’s Child Custody attorney in Tulsa, you can find one at Dads.Law.