(Shenandoah, Iowa/KETV-Omaha) – A southwest Iowa family wants a safe taken off the market until the manufacturer can better protect it from being opened by children. KETV in Omaha reports a six-year-old boy in Shenandoah was able to open the safe without a combination, and take a handgun stored inside, to school. The family specifically bought the safe, with a registered fingerprint lock mechanism, to store the gun away from their son. Only a registered fingerprint can unlock it. At least that’s what the family thought.

In early March, the 6-year-old was on the school playground at recess, when teachers found a gun in his backpack. After school officials confiscated the weapon and notified police, Shenandoah Police Chief Josh Gray contacted the boy’s parents, who insisted the gun was in a locked safe. As it turns out, the child’s thumbprint was enough to unlock the safe and he was able to open it.

An officer went to the home and was even able to use HIS fingerprint to open the safe. The family quickly discovered ANY fingerprint, even a toe print, would unlock the safe, which is sold by a Chinese company named “BBRKIN.” The boy’s father bought the safe on Amazon.Com in November, for $229. Other Amazon purchasers of the safe reported similar concerns about the safe, with one user saying theirs opened with any of their finger or toe prints.

The company has since updated a chip in the lock, but the father of the six-year-old says there are older safe chips that can fail, and those should be recalled.

No one was injured during the incident in Shenandoah, and the Page County Attorney has declined to press any charges. Under Shenandoah school district policy, however, the 6-year-old was expelled from kindergarten.