What is the best way to protect your firearms?

[jpowelle5]

I have read several posts on TGO about stolen firearms. In your opinion, what is the best method to protect your firearms?

I have an alarm system, two dogs and a gun safe. I think I am pretty protected. Does anyone lag-bolt their gun safes to the ground?

The only gun not in the safe is my nightstand gun.

Just thought I would inquire!

JP

[Guest Republican]

Umm. I have a cannon safe. It isnt bolted to the floor, but a crook would have a tough time getting it out of the house, cause I had one gettin it in. Anyways, It sounds like you got all your bases covered JP. 3 levels of protection and 4 if your home.

[Guest bkelm18]

Insurance is the best way to protect them.

[jpowelle5]

Ouch - didn't know that. I just have one of them Dick's Sporting good Stack On models. Thanks.

[G27]

Nothing is impossible to get into, all you can do is slow them down long enough to make it 'not worth it'. Between an alarm and dogs, even a small stack-on is probably fine.

[DavidD]

I have read several posts on TGO about stolen firearms. In your opinion, what is the best method to protect your firearms?

I have an alarm system, two dogs and a gun safe. I think I am pretty protected. Does anyone lag-bolt their gun safes to the ground?

The only gun not in the safe is my nightstand gun.

Just thought I would inquire!

JP

Sounds like you are pretty protected. I would recommend lag bolting it down, might just slow some "not so serious" thief's down a bit. Bottom line, if they want them bad enough, they can get them.

[Guest jackdm3]

Look on U-tube and u will be shocked as to the junks sold, also a lot of these handgun cabinets can be opened with of all things, a Paperclip! LOL

This includes Famous Names Brands!

And some barrel locks can be opened with a disassembled Bic pen.

I prefer the cheap white ones when I go after those Coke machines ... wait ... did I say that out loud?!

[nightrunner]

A safe secured to the structure of your home, an alarm system, and insurance would be ideal.

[setsdw]

You could always hide them pretty well. I put a false wall in a closet. if you just looked in the closet you would never know it's there but I have a space thats 24"x36"x36". Highly doubt it would ever be found. My Grandpa used to hide his stuff in false air intake in the wall. His house got robbed many years ago and they didn't get any of his 25+ rifles and handguns.

[lowbud]

just remember to always close and lock the safe. it wasn't long ago some guy in clarksville was robbed and they got away with several of his guns. he had like 3 safes and had forgotten to lock one.. the locked safes weren't touched.

i've caught myself doing this too. doesn't give ya a warm and fuzzy about having a safe when you walk in and see it open.

[setsdw]

just remember to always close and lock the safe. it wasn't long ago some guy in clarksville was robbed and they got away with several of his guns. he had like 3 safes and had forgotten to lock one.. the locked safes weren't touched.

i've caught myself doing this too. doesn't give ya a warm and fuzzy about having a safe when you walk in and see it open.

It's just like having an alarm and forgetting to turn it on. Had some friends out of state whose house was burglarized last spring. They had a really nice alarm system but had been lax in turning it on. They were gone for a few days and the house got robbed. They had no idea until two days after. And they live way out in the country where they thought they were fine. Never assume that's the case.

[Guest 6.8 AR]

Look on U-tube and u will be shocked as to the junks sold, also a lot of these handgun cabinets can be opened with of all things, a Paperclip! LOL

This includes Famous Names Brands!

In general a good private security cabinet will have a retail of neard $2K and still is not a safe! Even though it may weigh 1200 pounds empty!

What kind of safe/security cabinet do you have/prefer? LOL

[Ruprect]

In the terrible event your things are stolen:

Really simple, but the people who do it are really very far and few in between.

Have the make, model and serial number of all your firearms written down in several places. Pictures are great too.

Do this for anything of value in your home or things you would like back.

If you don't have serial numbers or distinguishing characteristics, even if you or the police find your things you have to be able to prove they're yours and not one of the other 500,000 units of the same make and model produced.

[Guest benroe]

A lock doesn't do anything but keep an honest man out. If a thief wants it he'll get it. A safe just makes the theif wonder if his time is more valuably spent getting the stuff that isn't locked up.

[Electric B]

just remember to always close and lock the safe. it wasn't long ago some guy in clarksville was robbed and they got away with several of his guns. he had like 3 safes and had forgotten to lock one.. the locked safes weren't touched.

i've caught myself doing this too. doesn't give ya a warm and fuzzy about having a safe when you walk in and see it open.

Been there, done that !

[Guest don_m]

Insurance is the best way to protect them.

If someone steals my TV, they would have a very nice TV and my insurance would buy me a new one. If my guns are stolen, I would feel that my negligence has contributed to some degree in placing them in the hands of criminals. Maybe you feel otherwise, but this isn't like losing your iPod. Buy one less gun and secure them. And of course the fewer people who know about them or where they are kept, the better.

[Sidinman]

If someone steals my TV, they would have a very nice TV and my insurance would buy me a new one. If my guns are stolen, I would feel that my negligence has contributed to some degree in placing them in the hands of criminals. Maybe you feel otherwise, but this isn't like losing your iPod. Buy one less gun and secure them. And of course the fewer people who know about them or where they are kept, the better.

I finally broke down and done this, this past year. For the price of a nice new gun I bought a safe, and I feel better about it, every time I leave home. I don't have alot but what I do have, I don't want to walk off while no one is here.

[Lumber_Jack]

Lets not forget that these are fire protectors as well. A good $1000-$2000 safe will withstand a house fire for (some) between30 - 90 mins. I would bolt it to the floor just for good measure. BTW its still a safe, just because someone can break into it doesnt mean its not a safe. Its better than the old wooden gun cabinet on display for the world to steal. And I surely cant afford $6k for a safe, I wouldnt have any guns left to put in it

[DavidD]

...For the price of a nice new gun I bought a safe...

That there is an excellent way of looking at it.

[CrazyRay]

I recently purchased a Cannon safe for my guns. That said - I also recognize that there are enough tools of mass destruction in my shop that given enough time - that safe isn't very "safe".

As has been said, deter and delay are about the best you can hope for out of any "security" measure... To that end - just about anything is better than doing nothing at all.

[Shima]

I bought a Stack On safe at Dick's Sporting Goods for about $350 not too long ago. It is supposed to hold 19 rifles and it might if I just jammed them in there, but it holds my 5 in one side of it and I put some stackable drawers in the other side for my handguns, important papers, and other valuables. As already said, it is a deterent.

[CrazyRay]

I bought a Stack On safe at Dick's Sporting Goods for about $350 not too long ago. It is supposed to hold 19 rifles and it might if I just jammed them in there, but it holds my 5 in one side of it and I put some stackable drawers in the other side for my handguns, important papers, and other valuables. As already said, it is a deterent.

I wish more people knew about the cardinal rule of safe gun count:

Take the advertised content limit, and divide by 3.

My Cannon safe is stated to hold 36 long guns. Yeah, right...

[saintsfanbrian]

Send them to me I will put them in a safety deposit box in the bank and when you want them you can come get them.

[eRay]

Back when I was a Class 3 dealer, I kept the machineguns in a hidden compartment behind a coat closet and hung about 20 cheap single barrel shotguns and bolt action 22's around the walls for everyone to see. That way a burglar would load up all the cheap long guns he could carry and run with them and not stay around to look for good guns.

[tnhawk]

Nothing is impossible to get into, all you can do is slow them down long enough to make it 'not worth it'. Between an alarm and dogs, even a small stack-on is probably fine.

Not many criminals will spend much time getting into a safe, not knowing what is in it, while several dogs are nipping at their legs and arms.