Responsible for gun security

[johnthomas]

I posted this here instead of the thread about the person looking for serial numbers on recently stolen weapons. We as gun owners owe it to our community to do all we can to keep our weapons out of the hands of the criminal element. While it can expensive to secure our weapons, it doesn't have to be.
If you don't have a safe, put the guns in the attic or crawl space. buy an in the wall gun cabinet for the closet. I would feel lousy if a child's death could be traced to one of my guns that were stolen because I didn't do everything in my power to keep the guns safe.
I do not condone not having a safe. Any other suggestions to help people secure their weapons?

[locosway]

If someone wants it, they'll take it...

Really, the only way to ensure a normal thief wouldn't take it is to keep it in a safe that was bolted to the floor.

[MiguelS]

or its one of those heavy mutha frackers that is about 5 feet tall.

[Sky_DiveR]

If someone wants it, they'll take it...

Really, the only way to ensure a normal thief wouldn't take it is to keep it in a safe that was bolted to the floor.

You'd be surprised how easy it is to get into a residential safe... no matter the manufacturer.... if you know how. They will most likely do it in broad daylight too. But you're right... if they want it, they'll take it. Don't ask me how I know. BTW: commercial safes are a different story.

[Greg-Dawg]

Any other suggestions to help people secure their weapons?

Just don't let them out of your sight.

[forgiven]

I had a lot of guns stolen in 1992 by a "friend" who gained access to my keys for one of my safes. I reported all the serial numbers. The only gun I ever got back was taken from a punk by the Lake Havasu police. A free and gun friendly state. In fact when the gun was shipped to my sheriffs office they acted like they could hardly believe it. I believe to this day that most if not all of my guns have been recovered and that they have been kept by the police for destruction.

[locosway]

I had a lot of guns stolen in 1992 by a "friend" who gained access to my keys for one of my safes. I reported all the serial numbers. The only gun I ever got back was taken from a punk by the Lake Havasu police. A free and gun friendly state. In fact when the gun was shipped to my sheriffs office they acted like they could hardly believe it. I believe to this day that most if not all of my guns have been recovered and that they have been kept by the police for destruction.

I have a friend who had a lot of his guns stolen too in the late 90's. Some of them were M1A1, Steyr TMP, Colt Delta Elite, Colt AR-15, SKS, Mac 11.

I don't think any of his were registered, and he didn't have paperwork on them, so he never could report they were stolen.

[Paul]

Most residential burglaries are not conducted by safe crackers but rather by crack addicts. I've been on AR15.com for more than 10-years and have read the stories of countless guns lost because they were sitting in a closet, nightstand, or even just propped in the corner but not one of a safe cracked open.

I know how get into a safe in 15-20 minutes but rarely do I walk around with tools required. In fact, possession of burglary tools is illegal in some parts and definitively a way to gather the attention of the neighbors. If you own a $4000 AR or two don't you think it's worth the price of a more normal AR to secure it?

And BTW - more guns are lost in fires than stolen out of safes. For the threat of fire alone you ought to be storing your weapons in a fireproof safe.

[Casual_Shooter]

A safe to store guns is the law...

I don't think this is accurate. I think you either need to sign that you have a safe or you are required to purchase a gun lock. But you are not required to have a safe.

Please correct me if I'm wrong.

[MiguelS]

I don't think you need a safe...just a gun lock.

[StoneRoots]

Does anyone HONESTLY believe a thief with safecracking skills is breaking into a KNOWN gunowners house to pop his safe open and take some firearms? I dont know how a thief would think since I work for everything I own, but it seems common sense that they might be detoured for higher profits with less risk....?

And from my understanding it is NOT the law to own a safe. But is a requirement so that you do not need to purchase a firearm lock for the weapon when obtaining from dealer. But I have purchased longarms before owning a safe, some shops dont bother, others that were more persistant (i.e. less customer gun sales) demanded I purchase their $8 firearms lock. Which I really have no problem doing, because these places sure arent getting rich off of the measly 20 or 30 they get from my PPT work....

[johnthomas]

I don't think this is accurate. I think you either need to sign that you have a safe or you are required to purchase a gun lock. But you are not required to have a safe.

Please correct me if I'm wrong.

You are correct, the other guy is wrong. It is either or.