zetec2:
Yes, at our place we do. There is also a rack in the FD where they are stowed so you always have a look at that, and one of the pre-start checklist items is:
gear pins............3 stowed
DW.
Now that would be a professional airline. With our mob the gear pins are .... ?? ..... anywhere, and useful items in the checklist????
Can gear pins be forgotten? In a word, yes.