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Recently started a new job which requires access to farm buildings, shops and dwellings. Allowed on sites and do not need a key for access.  
 
Today I pulled into a large operation and on the way in had signs of children in area.  
 
One structure 150M from sign had a high powered rifle with scope, big shotgun and a semi-auto rifle with no trigger locks in an unlocked building accessible to anyone. Ammo was available to. There was a gun safe on site.  
 
What is frustrating is that I see this in so many farms that I service.  
 
I do not want to risk job as it is awesome.  
 
I do feel sorry for law enforcement when these places are robbed.  
 
Wonder how many time's farms are robbed of guns and it does not get reported because of improper storage?  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Edited by D.D., 2016-01-04 22:26:07

Not anti gun here and soon to apply for PAL. What concerns me is no lock and ammo accessible. Not saying guns are not being stolen in the city but will say I have seen more guns on farms in 3 months than 50 years in the city.

Well if you are not anti gun you are sure posting a topic that leads to exactly anti gun people If there was a gun safe on site how do you know that is not where those guns are put at night ?? Did you ask ?? Also as you stated you are from the CITY !! Not impressed with your post !!!!!!!!

And what about curious children? How hard is it to put a trigger lock on?

I thought that was the hint of your post when you mentioned the sign about children!  
Rural children are not raised the same as city children !! I am thinking you are not going to fit in working in a rural area if you are going to be reporting everything you see when you enter a rural farm operation. You should only be looking at what you are there to look at - not anything else !!

You are there to inspect where they are storing their guns and ammunition then maybe mind your own damn business. I'm sure your employer wouldn't be pleased to know an employee is running to e brandon to let everyone know how dangerous farmers are which apparently is your bread and butter. As for kids getting a hold of guns. Most farm kids are trained from a young age to stay away or how to properly handle firearms. I am not in agreement that guns laying around is the best practice but usually wild predators won't wait for you to unlock a gun from one spot and go to another for ammo and also wait while you remove trigger locks. Kind of a small window to get a shot.

Whoa, you're coming down hard onhim when he's not your enemy.  
 
Its like you didn't read his post.  
 
I know from growing up on the farm that its very important to have firearms.  
 
We also knew that its essential to keep such powerful weapons protected from curious kids and unwelcome visitors.  
 
We wanted to act responsibly with our firearms so that anti gun folks had nothing to criticize and so there was no possibility of an accident with a child.  
 
I agree with your frustrations, op.

and let you onto their property trusting in you to keep your mouth shut over the contents and possessions they have . What else have you seen and whom have you told? Maybe you should inform these farmers that you may have told somebody in a bar about their nice car collection or the collector pieces you saw through the window. You don't deserve your job. You have a problem with their guns, you talk to them first.

Ridiculous responses here. Lots of fear. Lots of hypocrisy.  
 
You say a man doesn't deserve his job because he broke trust by not protecting your secrets (which he didn't...all anonymous, no details).  
 
so does that mean you don't deserve an FAC because you broke trust by not protecting the dangerous weapons entrusted to you?

He never said anything about telling anyone or reporting anything, instead that he didn't want to risk the job. Yeesh.

What else should the OP ignore if he sees it? Puppy mill? Meth lab? Bomb factory? Teenage girls chained up in a shed?  
 
These things might be a stretch but to say mind your own damn business when he sees a dangerous situation is also rediculous.  
 
How about this for a senario. OP sees unsafely stored firearms and ammo, and minds his own damn business, as some have suggested. Someone steals these weapons and kills a cop or somebody's family member with them. How do you think the OP would feel? How about the gun owner? Just cuz you are on a farm doesnt mean you shouldnt store your weapons safely. Give your heads a shake!

If you folks can let go of your "nobody takes my guns" attitude for a minute, consider that what the OP wrote was not anti-gun,but pro-gun safety, which should be the goal of any responsible gun owner. To address some specific points:  
 
- The worst time to think about storing your guns safely is after a child has been injured or killed by an improperly stored weapon.  
 
- Saying thieves can steal even locked up guns is not a valid argument for not locking them up.  
 
- As Jack Azz noted, what else should a person "mind their own business" over in this situation? And has been pointed out, the OP made a completely anonymous post, identifying no one.

Things are a little different on farms, the comment of seen more guns on farms than in city, with a time frame included could come down to something like animal control. You see, the fact is in the city if you have a problem with wildlife you can phone animal control, out here we are animal control. Also on a farm a gun is still considered a tool, so when I look at occupations in the city, specifically police officers, I've noticed a lot of guns in the city as well.  
On the safety issue there seem to be two points, safety of children, and the safety of the public. When it comes to safety of children, people in the rural areas approach gun safety differently than most in the city, from an early age kids are exposed to guns and what they can do, and aren't hidden away where the curious child to find and explore on his own. In rural areas there are rules set down regarding guns, yea I said rules, rules that are enforced with such verbal reprimand, that with today's ideas of child abuse could possibly end one up under the watchfull eye of government agencies.  
Public safety is a concern to everyone when it comes to guns, and the op sort of has come across with the idea that you can just go onto or into someone's yard and not be noticed, even in the middle of the day, well you might be surprise what people on farms take notice of, and trying to sneak a rifle or shotgun off someone's property likely will end you up in some pretty severe trouble.  
It's sort of hard to say about the storage of the guns, since there was mention of the gun locker, so was there a problem with a predictor or predictors that the guns and ammunition needed to be out for, we don't have an answer for that so it could go either way.  
 
At times there are some funny things when it comes to laws, take smoking for instance. We have laws restricting smoking in public places, there's laws about smoking with kids in the car, and then there's the home, need I say more. No a gun on a farm is not like a puppy mill, and it's not like a meth lab, and it's not like having a girl chained in the barn, but it can be, if you don't understand the difference between urban and rural.

I think made a valid point of unsafe storage on farm sites but id like to add that its not just on farm sites. I do live on farm and I used to leave firearms exposed in my shop but I now store in safe and proper manner. its the law here and if we want to continue to have firearms, we should take the proper procedure and store them safely

rickybobby said "I think made a valid point of unsafe storage on farm sites but id like to add that its not just on farm sites. I do live on farm and I used to leave firearms exposed in my shop but I now store in safe and proper manner. its the law here and if we want to continue to have firearms, we should take the proper procedure and store them safely "

Safe storage on a farm allows for having the gun ready and only requires storage of ammunition in a separate location.

Myself along with many other children grew up on farms. We were all taught how to properly use guns and not to touch them without proper supervision. I do not know of any kids I grew up with that were any different. We had guns in the closet by the front door. They are still there and have been needed on several occasions. If these farmers you talk about are caring enough to put up signs warning others to watch out for the kids, then you can almost guarantee that these kids have been taught some kind of gun safety.  
 
I also take the time when were are out to the farm to teach my son how to properly handle them as well, and to never go near them unless we are there. They need to know what they can do and what they are designed for and what the consequences could be. So many people bubble wrap their kids and tell them they may get a boo boo if they don't listen, with guns you need tell them the truth about what can happen.

Guns are not scary in and of themselves, get over it. I had easy access to guns since I was 10 guess how often I accessed them? Never, I was taught not to.  
 
The paranoia about guns has to be reigned in

Do you realize that most of us kids that grew up on farms were either taught better than to go near guns or we were taught how to use them properly and safely. Not your property, Not your concern.

I would say if gun control wasn't in your job description, then it really isn't your business.  
With that being said, if you are so concerned it wouldn't be a bad thing if you nicely commented that you hope they're being safely stored away from kids.  
Honestly, I would not be impressed if I knew you were on my private farm and went on ebrandon to discuss matters that you weren't there for.

I'm trying to wrap my head around the cognitive dissonance this thread is producing.  
 
So, we're arguing that we don't need to lock up guns from kids because they're taught they shouldn't touch them.  
 
Then that would lead to the conclusion that we're locking them up from adults because they're we're taught they shouldn't touch them?  
 
I know that's not the whole argument, but that's the argument in my head.  
 
caveat: I am not anti-gun. I grew up with my uncle having guns on the farm and hunting and support farmers and hunters having guns. I do not support the private ownership of handguns except in exceptional circumstances.

"caveat: I am not anti-gun. I grew up with my uncle having guns on the farm and hunting and support farmers and hunters having guns. I do not support the private ownership of handguns except in exceptional circumstances."  
 
May we thus infer that you are one of those who would deny responsible firearms owners the right to choose for themselves if they wish to own a handgun, or not?  
Countless thousands of Canadian citizens, from all walks of life, do own them. I personally have not in over thirty years. But I will absolutely support the right of any law-abiding citizen who chooses to do so.  

So you found firearms out, unlocked ,  
you were concerned about criminals and children.  
Meanwhile did you check to make sure no vehicles had the keys left in them.  
People steal vehicles, children could attempt to drive away.  
Was everything locked up or out of site.  
Rural people(farmers in this case) do not need someone to remind them how the government wants them to do things.  
Do you follow all the regulations that your job requires.  
In this instance if I was you and it was a concern I would of asked the owner if he had any concerns about the forearms being stolen or the children using them.  
Chances are the children have been taught to treat them with respect.  
Maybe this owner has had issues with predators, skunks with rabies.  

Although the OP specifically was set off by situations observed on farms, I think the focus on farmers is unfair. There is a likely a lot of non-compliant storage by a broad cross-section of firearms owners, not just farmers.  
 
All firearms owners need to store their firearms responsibly. End of story.  
 
OP, for all the firearms that are stored improperly, there are many stored properly by the same demographic. So picking on one demographic is a little unfair.  
 
As for handguns, you don't know what you're missing until you fire one. They aren't for everybody, but I was surprised by how much I enjoy target practice at a range with a handgun. And I'm not the typical demographic that one thinks of when they think of handgun enthusiasts.

Reality is if you own a gun, you should follow all the rules and regulations that come with owning a gun. Its as simple as that and if you don't want too, then that's your problem, just don't whine when the unthinkable happens.

The intention of my post was to remind all demographics to store your fire arms safely.  
 
I am not anti gun.  
 
I have no issues with kids being taught gun safety and discharging one when trained and under adult supervision.  
 
What I am against is guns and ammo left unsecured in an unlocked structure in plain sight.