If you can't afford a safe, you can't afford a gun.

[adonis]

Firearm owner or not, I figure everyone should own a good quality fireproof burglar safe. They also work great for storing handguns, important docs, passports, etc.

Lots of people can easily justify a $2k tv and $400/mo for cell phones and cable tv, it's all priorities.

Everyone needs at least one 2hr fire rated safe or locking file cabinet.

[sigstroker]

Safes are like x3-x20 times more expensive then the price of an average firearms.
If you can afford $2000-$5000+ firearms then I can see you can maybe afford a good safe.

What kind of logic is that? If you spend 5 grand on guns, it's gone. They don't give it back to you to buy a safe.

[HiveDR.]

No one's disputing the fact that the 2nd Amendment guarantees the right to keep and bear, BUT, in today's world being a gun owner is more than just having a gun, thumping your chest and reciting the pledge of allegiance to the dismay of the anit's. I don't think it should be legally MANDATORY that people have a way to lock up their guns, but in my opinion anythying outside of doing so is irresponsible and reckless.

If someone busts my door down, strolls in with a sawzall, rapes my safe, rips my guns and then uses them to commit the next Sandy Hook I won't feel guilty about it, nor would I expect or accept any sort of responsibility for it. Why? Because I did all I could as a modern gun owner to keep unwanted hands off of the weapons. If I were just the type to hide my guns under a mattress then I would say that anything that happens might also fall on that gun owner as well...

I agree with this. As a Ret. LEO I do not recall in two decades ever taking a stolen firearms report on a gun that was secured in a properly installed safe. Nor do I recall any of my piers doing so. We took plenty of stolen firearms reports form burglarized homes where guns were not secured.

Buying a safe (low or high end, big, small or tiny) and having it properly installed should be a priority once you become a gun owner. You can not expect the police to stop burglaries, nationally the average officer on patrol will only arrest 1 "in progress" burglary suspect every 15 years of his/her carrier. So it is incumbent on the gun owner to protect his/her gun from criminals when not at home.

Lastly safes are not just good for guns. They are great for all the other little things that have meaning and value to the individual. The cost factored over a lifetime, safes are actually very cheap.

[Scuba Steve33]

Almost every safe I have seen in a garage is in plain view when the door is open. Not everyone has a giant garage that they can hide their safe in. Not to mention the garage is almost never covered by your home security system and gets much more humidity than the house.

It's pretty inexpensive and easy to build a cabinet to cover your safe, which can also have shelving incorporated into it to store your ammo but I see most guys simply have a sheet or something over it. Just depends if you want everyone to know if you have a safe or not. You don't have your garage hooked up to your alarm?? Most guys have more money in tools than they ever will in guns. I couldn't imagine leaving my garage naked like that. I've also never had (or heard) of issues with humidity in the garage.

Where do you put it in the house if you don't have room?

[Meety Peety]

10 bucks says OP just bought a stack on sheet metal "locker" and was grinning with pride when he posted this. Meanwhile, his neighbor just bought a brand new pair of tin snips...

[hellayella]

Ultimately, the only security any of us have against theft is guarding the knowledge of what we own.

Don't brag about your new toy to your pals, and don't tell ANYONE how many guns you precisely own and their location with specifics on security info. When dealing with secure materials, companies and public organizations compartmentalize info so that no one person knows enough to rip off the organization.

If there's someone else out there who knows you own guns and where they're located, plan on uninvited company someday. There's nothing wrong with being generally descriptive about the guns you own, but don't dare tell them specifics.

The only person walking the Earth who knows precisely how many weapon(s) I may or may not own is myself.

Got company over from the range for a build party? Don't take the whole gang downstairs to your safe. Bring up whatever you want to work on yourself.

Got a girlfriend over? Don't show her your safe and $6000 gun collection. Need to know basis people.

great minds think alike!!!!!!

[AAShooter]

. . . As a Ret. LEO I do not recall in two decades ever taking a stolen firearms report on a gun that was secured in a properly installed safe. Nor do I recall any of my piers doing so. We took plenty of stolen firearms reports form burglarized homes where guns were not secured.

Buying a safe (low or high end, big, small or tiny) and having it properly installed should be a priority once you become a gun owner. . .

This is a great reality check. Sometimes we over think this whole problem when a 95% solution is a great step forward. Don't let the perfect plan get in the way of a good solution. Although it may be easy to break into many safes, most burglars won't bother . . . lots of other houses to choose from.

[Creeping Incrementalism]

#1? I don't think so......
What is preventing the Gulf Cartel or the Z's from adding guns to their shipments into the US?
Benny

See http://rkba.org/research/wright/arme...l.summary.html, heading "Implications for Gun Policies" (near the bottom), second bullet point.

Of course firearms can be easily smuggled north, but safe storeage decreases criminal availability while not decreasing availability to the law abiding, which is a good thing.

Don't forget that removing a bolt, cylinder, or firing pin and storing it separately makes it difficult for a criminal to use. Not that it is difficult for someone who knows what he is doing to obtain the missing part, but I would guess that most criminals will end up using someone else's firearm or another type of weapon.

[mcmikeblues7]

no, if you can afford a gun, you can afford a gun. Simple as that. If you cannot afford a gun and safe you should not have to live without security

[Sakiri]

Almost every safe I have seen in a garage is in plain view when the door is open. Not everyone has a giant garage that they can hide their safe in. Not to mention the garage is almost never covered by your home security system and gets much more humidity than the house.

People I know that have safes have them in the basement(family on east coast) or in a "mud room" type area just inside the garage door, house side of the wall. So it's in the house, not the garage.

My mom doesn't even like to keep food in the deep freezer in her garage anymore. People busted in there to steal frozen vegetables for cryin out loud...

[chrisf]

At least buy a $120 gun stack on gun cabinet. That's what I did. I'm eventually going to buy a safe, I just have to find a good deal on one. I am to the point where I have a lot more money invested in guns, then I will safe. So I look at it like that. In the mean time, they are in a gun cabinet guarded with 50lbs of muscle and jaws Not to mention someone is always home 95% of the time.

[chrisf]

No one's disputing the fact that the 2nd Amendment guarantees the right to keep and bear, BUT, in today's world being a gun owner is more than just having a gun, thumping your chest and reciting the pledge of allegiance to the dismay of the anit's. I don't think it should be legally MANDATORY that people have a way to lock up their guns, but in my opinion anythying outside of doing so is irresponsible and reckless.

If someone busts my door down, strolls in with a sawzall, rapes my safe, rips my guns and then uses them to commit the next Sandy Hook I won't feel guilty about it, nor would I expect or accept any sort of responsibility for it. Why? Because I did all I could as a modern gun owner to keep unwanted hands off of the weapons. If I were just the type to hide my guns under a mattress then I would say that anything that happens might also fall on that gun owner as well...

Very well said as always.

[PlayHard]

I see a lot of sarcasm about why NOT to have a safe or whinning about "The Government Can't Make Me" . . . Seriously? (I'll keep my verbal sentiments out).

I am required to have a safe, as part of my divorce and having my son full time. He was brought up with guns and has learned to respect them. Does it a mean he may not get curious every once in a while? You bet. While criminals who really want to, can get in your safe (pretty rare), most can't and it's a great deterrent. I have no facts, but I am willing to bet that's it "probable" a large percentage of gun crimes (such as CT) would have been lessened.

I agree with what the OP said, slightly amended. Every person who purchases a firearm should have a non-portable, lockable device to deter from someone illegally obtaining said firearm.

In terms of our rights . . . you gotta give a little to get a little.

[dieselpower]

I see a lot of sarcasm about why NOT to have a safe or whinning about "The Government Can't Make Me" . . . Seriously? (I'll keep my verbal sentiments out).

I am required to have a safe, as part of my divorce and having my son full time. He was brought up with guns and has learned to respect them. Does it a mean he may not get curious every once in a while? You bet. While criminals who really want to, can get in your safe (pretty rare), most can't and it's a great deterrent. I have no facts, but I am willing to bet that's it "probable" a large percentage of gun crimes (such as CT) would have been lessened.

I agree with what the OP said, slightly amended. Every person who purchases a firearm should have a non-portable, lockable device to deter from someone illegally obtaining said firearm.

In terms of our rights . . . you gotta give a little to get a little.

first off... the firearms used in CT were in a safe.

I cannot believe how quickly responsible gun owners turn away from the core of our society and join the ranks of the liberal movement.

What next...ban short skirts? Don't even try to tell me rapes would not decline if woman didnt wear sexual clothing. Just as many woman get rapped because a guy sees her on a dance floor as guns get stolen out of homes. You are buying into the "blame the victim" scam.

Nearly 90,000 people reported being raped in the United States in 2008

Over two thirds of all rapes occur in someone's home. 30.9% occur in the perpetrators' homes, 26.6% in the victims' homes and 10.1% in homes shared by the victim and perpetrator. 7.2% occur at parties, 7.2% in vehicles, 3.6% outdoors and 2.2% in bars.[5]

These in BOLD are date rapes...do the math. So telling some girl its her fault she got rapped is about the same as telling me its my fault a criminal got my gun.

Tell woman to start wearing Burkas at the same time you tell me to buy a safe.

How about instead of giving up on society and just accepting there is nothing we can do about home robbery, how about we focus on crime prevention, get tough on crime. How about we make it so dangerous to rob a house or steal a gun, we actually start to scare criminals away from those crimes...oh but thats too hard... its easier to just accept the crime and blame the home owner.

I have said this many times...you want to decrease crime....
1) Take that 14-16 year old punk and toss his *** in prison for 15 years.
2) You show his friends at school the videos of him getting gang raped in prison...make the whole school watch it.
3) Publicly humiliate criminals, and the parents who raised them.

Watch how fast crime drops.

[sfbay]

I'm with you RodNokin.