Prepare for a lengthy post...............

Last night I experienced a rude awakening to my current defense setup. I've been storing a Rock Island 1911 commander in a GunVault next to my bed for home defense. The magazine was loaded, but there was not one in the chamber. I currently have a 3 year old running around and a 1 year old who is getting ready to walk, and I worry about one of them getting into the gunvault (it is a finger combination). I heard commotion outside my house yesterday around 11pm and also heard yelling. Thinking that the neighbors were fighting, I went back to bed. Shortly thereafter my doorbell downstairs started ringing. Concerned that whatever was happening outside was nothing good, I retrieved my 1911 from the safe. The lights were still off, and I racked the slide before heading downstairs. At this point I felt the slide jam, and it wouldn't go into battery. I released the magazine at which point the slide closed, and without checking to make sure that I had chambered a round, I headed downstairs.

Fortunately there was no immediate danger downstairs, and I did not need to use my gun. I was somewhat shocked to discover later that the 1911 had never chambered a round when the slide jammed. I had been somewhat foggy/sleepyheaded when racking the slide, and I didn't stop to inspect the gun after it jammed in the dark. This really shook me up as I could have had a serious problem if I had needed to defend myself. The 1911 has never been 100% reliable, and it will no longer be doing nightstand duty. My current dilemma now is I'm thinking that I either need to keep a revolver in the nightstand or a semi-auto that has one in the pipe (My Glock 17). What do you guys think about this? Any ideas for storing a loaded (ready to fire) gun in such a way that I can be absolutely certain a child isn't going to hurt themselves with it? I did see the "magna trigger", but it is fairly expensive. Am I being paranoid? Is my gunvault enough?

-Thanks