Where do you hide your guns...?

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First... thanks to the 2-3 persons who actually answered the OP's question. It's an interesting topic, but saying "get a safe" did not answer the question. Nor did the old saw about losing them in the lake. You guys need new writers.

I've seen where someone manufactures a type of lockable under-the-bed drawer that holds firearms. And, I'm sure that online there are directions for making a relatively inexpensive gun rack behind a false wall. Obviously, if an indivdual knows that you have several firerams AND/OR he has unlimited time to search your house, you may well be out of luck. But, for the "average" thief who will spend limited time checking a house before taking off, some of these options might work. Just a thought.
 
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Hiding from the feds -- they are best buried off site. The feds will strip your house.
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If it's time to hide our guns from the feds, it's time to dig them up. Or just go along with the new AWB or whatever is passed, like we did with the original AW ban, or the NFA.
 
I think if you have firearms it makes sense to secure them as best you can to keep them out of the hands of burglars kids etc.
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Mant, don't take this wrong but you posted in another thread that you read that 500 children were killed accidently by firearms in the US per year.

Do you think you might instead start from an accurate set of facts first?

Household members are safer in the home of legal gun owners.

In your jurisdiction in the UK you are forced to do things that severely limit your freedom and don't increase your safety. You have blanket laws on securing firearms that are not based on any facts, no indications it adds anything but expense and no allowance for individual needs.

Safes often attract attention. If you have workmen who come into the home to service your air condition heating, hot water etc and you have a firearms safe downstairs, for a lot of people their risk of being burgled would skyrocket. There are no safes under $k3 that cant be opened in minutes with a small <$150 grinder using house current.

Safes can be magnets for burglury

Really what is needed instead of ineffective laws mandating what people do, what is best is sober best proctice recommendations for people in a variety of situations, based on real research that doesn't employ the absurd biases against gun owners.

If you have an 18 year old son at home that isn't an idiot, he will be able to open any safe in a few hours. If he can get his hands on a three year old smartphone with a camera he can capture the combination. In that circumstance you don't need a safe but a regime of instruction on handling and a set of rules. If you have a child who is smart but seriously mentally unbalanced, you don't need a safe, you need to reconsider possessing guns at home.

If you have no kids and live by yourself in a rural area it is an obscene abuse for the government to subject you to rules and costs that have nothing to di with your circumstances

If you are concerned with burglary and have a handgun and no kids your best protection by far is some "diversionary" method, say a hollowed out or fake book.

Also why would civilians have any different set of rules for storage at home than off duty cops?

I have five and seven year old daughters at home. the best protection in my case is small bolted $100 safes (we have a pair of Sentry Safe Quick Access Safe 0.08 Cubic Feet lockboxes) and when we are not home for any appreciable time the handguns go in a false wall which even unsecured is much safer fro burglary than any sub $3k safe.

If you don't have kids at home a cheap safe may very well be less safe than having it loaded and unsecured in the nightstand
 
Consider using a metal door from a flush-mount electrical panel. Not all *that* secure but lockable, and will keep people from saying "I wonder what's in here" if they find the cutout in your closet or garage wall. It doesn't have to be the full height of a rifle to allow you to get a rifle in and out.
 
Freom OP... Thanks TDL for the discussion

I appreciate TDLs discussion as well as that of others.
It doesn't hurt to quibble over the minor points of secure home storage. Each of us have varying degrees of uncertainty regarding kids, burglars, etc.

I have benefited from the points made thus far - from parties both foreign and domestic.

Just as with 'the best hunting rifle', 'the best daily carry weapon', and other such discussions, much information is shared. Most is based on opinion - and is often factual, too. Not a bad thing!

I was looking for 'opinion', as there are few 'facts' that apply universally... except possibly for the 'lost my guns in the lake' scenario. :)

I you have more to say on the subject, I want to hear.

I have a small firearms association in my area that I started a few months ago. Such discussions are GREAT fodder for periodic mailings. Everyone needs to think about these simple issues.

We debate the latest attacks on our 2nd Amendment rights.

We also benefit, I believe, from debate on issues pertaining to managing those rights properly.

Thanks to all...!

Keep the comments coming.

-Smokiniron
 
ZXCVBOB

Consider using a metal door from a flush-mount electrical panel. Not all *that* secure but lockable, and will keep people from saying "I wonder what's in here" if they find the cutout in your closet or garage wall. It doesn't have to be the full height of a rifle to allow you to get a rifle in and out.
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Nice idea. You could rig the bottom of the complete box to open for gun access, then install a bunch of burned out breakers and some wires going through the box to nowhere. A cheapie padlock which the burglar cuts off will dupe him into believing you were just securing the electrical panel from kids, and that there is nothing more to see.
 
Household members are safer in the home of legal gun owners.
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I did not say that family members were not safer in the home of legal owners.

no indications it adds anything but expense and no allowance for individual needs.
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( There are allowances for individual needs ).

If you are concerned with burglary and have a handgun and no kids your best protection by far is some "diversionary" method, say a hollowed out or fake book.
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Yeah burglars would not look trough books for cash. :rolleyes: Hiding forearms did no work for the children bellow.

I am saying that's how it happens here i am not saying its a good thing that here its a requirement that you have to have a safe before getting firearms. I am not saying it would be a good thing in America
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My earlier post above so i don't know were you are coming from.

Some facts.
On July 19, 4-year-old Dylan Jackson shot himself to death after finding a loaded gun at a friend's home during a birthday party
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Last February, a 13-year-old boy shot himself with a semiautomatic handgun in the home of his guardian, a Maryland police officer.
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A 2-year-old Tampa boy shot himself in the chest with a loaded 9 mm he found in his parent's couch while playing.
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The 10-year-old son of a New York City police officer died after shooting himself in the face with his father's loaded revolver. The boy found the weapon on a shelf in the basement while looking for a ball his mom had hidden.
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There are a few incidents were children are dead because of irresponsible firearms owners.
PS I think locking away your firearms when not in use is a small price to pay to help stop some of the above incidents.
 
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I hide all of my guns - except one - in large, heavy Fort Knox safe. My dog will lick any burglars into submission. ;)
 
Manta, your posts on this topic make no sense and are based on debunked faked and false claims.

You have said that 500 children are killed by firearms accidents per year in the US and that is the most absurd debunked bunch of garbage there is. the average per year is less than 50 -- in a country with TENS of thousands of accidental child deaths by other causes

You are also ignoring that the small number of kids killed in these incidents are almost all in the homes of criminals and cops. (ALL your examples are criminals or cops homes!)

You are ignoring that most studies show NO SAFETY increase from gun locking laws.

Yeah burglars would not look trough books for cash. .
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Actually burglars dont look through bookcases. they look for safes and cart them away.

Hiding forearms did no work for the children bellow
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Actually in those case they were not hidden, so again you are just making it up.

You realize the anecdotes you took came from the same site absurdly claiming 500?

Dylan Jackson and the tampa kid were in the homes of a FELONS with illegal weapons. Felons don't lock their weapons no matter what rules you wish to impose.

The other two were COPS. Police are excluded from these rules anyway


Diversion hiding is RECOMMEDED by police OVER safes for burglary protection. Safes are attractants to burglars. Thieves don't go through books. Long arms army mean no choice but a large safe, but for handguns for home defense small safes offer no burglary protection whatsoever.

Burglars go to bedrooms first. They rifle women's underwear drawers, not because they are interest in underwear but because women hid their valuables there. They then look for any safe or lockbox in the bedroom. anything under 200 lbs, even bolted will be crowbarred off its bolts and taken in whole.

to protect against burglary you need a hiding place, not a sub $3000 safe or gun locks.

to protect against small children you need lockboxes or small safes.

to protect older children you need rules and training
 
I hide all of my guns - except one - in large, heavy Fort Knox safe.
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they are better than average safes. average $1000 -$2000 safes sold in box stores are 12 gauge. 12 gauge can be cut with hacksaw, indeed with sheers, and can be cut in half in five minutes with a $75 120 volt grinder. 12 gauge is a 12th of an inch.


For long guns you have n choice. you should buy the best safe possible. for a home defense handguns requiring locks safes or strongboxes ignores variables for each owner class and need.

handgun safes make sense, as I said, in some cases for homes with children. You increase you chance of theft from burglary with a small safe, but depending on factors only the home and gun owner knows, the mix of diversion, locking and whether loaded or not is best known by the gun owner.

Locked unloaded is prudent for hunting long guns. For defensive weapons the options should be open for the owner
 
A good safe makes a lot of sense especially if there are children in the home. A safe is a deterent for thief's. All in all, a safe is a good choice but not everyone can afford a proper safe.

I think a little remodeling around a closet (with steel around the door frame) and a good dead bolt is sufficient to child proof any home. They aren't going to break down the sheet rock on the back side, but a thief would. The dead bolt would draw their attention like a magnet.
 
Actually in those case they were not hidden, so again you are just making it up.
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If they had properly locked away the incidents could have being avoided.

Dylan Jackson and the tampa kid were in the homes of a FELONS with illegal weapons. Felons don't lock their weapons no matter what rules you wish to impose.
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I refer you to my earlier post. How you read into what is in the post as me wanting rules imposed i don't know.

( I am saying that's how it happens here i am not saying its a good thing that here its a requirement that you have to have a safe before getting firearms. I am not saying it would be a good thing in America.) I think if you have firearms it makes sense to secure
them them as best you can to keep them out of the hands of burglars kids etc.
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to protect older children you need rules and training
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Yes and teenagers always follow rules.


PS You can keep going on about me wanting Americans to be required to have gun safes if you want. Don't let the fact that that's not what i said stop you.
 
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Children are many times more likely to die from exposure to chemicals improperly stored than firearms.

The mirror set-up is easy to make on your own. Just use a couple of drawer rollers and install them on the wall. There is an Amish furniture maker in my area who specializes in such set-ups for jewelery boxes, guns, etc.
 
Children are many times more likely to die from exposure to chemicals improperly stored than firearms.
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True all that means is that chemicals should be stored safely so that children can't have access to them the same goes for firearms.
 
They make cabinets for chemicals, too, but the point is a lockable steel cabinet with some supplemental hasps/locks ala Joe Pike keeps them out of the reach of children, and some smash and grabs. Firearms security isn't an Easter egg hunt, and hiding guns isn't really acceptable. If you can't afford a safe for your long guns, buy a small safe and put your handguns in it, along with the bolts from your long guns. If it's a levergun, run some hardened chain through it and padlock it to something solid. Let's get a little creative here.
 
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