Following up on the gun discussion

As mentioned in Jay's post below, I am not too keen on the idea of owning a gun simply because I worry about our kids getting a hold of it without our knowledge. I would like to know from those of you out there who own guns and have children, where do you keep your guns? How do you store them? Are they in locked boxes hidden away? Is the ammunition stored separately?

I question all of this, because so many times I have heard that you should store the guns separately from the ammunition. That only partially makes sense to me. Sure it will keep the kids safer, but I would imagine that when your home is being robbed and your family members are being assaulted, you need fast access to a loaded weapon. I wouldn't want to fumble around with my gun being in one place while the ammunition is in another place, all the while having to remember where I put the keys to these locked boxes or Heaven forbid I got a combination locked box. Who's going to remember a combination at a time like that?

If we ever do purchase a gun, I do plan on all of us taking whatever lessons are available to gun owners. Even if Jay and I are fully versed in the workings of whatever gun we purchase, I think I'd like to have someone else (in addition to us) teach our boys about it because at some ages parents just don't know anything. Right?