[Shinken]

My question assumes that a safe is not the best place to keep a home defense handgun. So how do you "store" a prep'ed handgun in case you have other family members and/or children around?

CC

[jad0110]

I have a 16 month old that will be able to open doors shortly. My wife refuses to lock our bedroom door at night (and even if we did, I'd probably still not leave it just sitting there while asleep), so I just ordered a Gun Vault V2000 quick access safe to keep my S&W 686 in at night on the floor beside the bed. With practice, such a safe can be opened VERY quickly, and it will keep little inquisitive kids out that are simply too young to know better.

Otherwise, I carry a gun on me all day - sometimes a 5" 1911, but usually a S&W 642 in my pocket (sometimes I carry both). Quick access and always under my direct control.

Otherwise, all my guns get locked in a large safe.

[The Bushmaster]

Where it is the most excessable...

[denfoote]

I've kept a pistol under my pillow for all these 20 years, just like James Bond.

[BlindJustice]

Here's something I caught on a forum and saved - seems it is
offered by several online businesses.

It's just the thing imo, to keep the 'readdy gun' out of young inquisitive
hands or Dumass visitors....

*******

Looks like a good setup to keep the Home Defense
weapon in and out of the reach of kids and curious visitors.

Honeywell Deluxe Security Box, model 3035D. At Big Lots for $20. it
unlocks with a 3 digit code from a
key pad on top in the front.

Sweet for $20

*******

Another one I saw was a bit more flixible but more
secure at $350 - it is programmable for up to a score of
fingerprint recognition Nobody is going to bust the
numeric code. and sponsored by the NRA I think.

Randall

[BlindJustice]

Looks like a good setup to keep the Home Defense
weapon in and out of the reach of kids and curious visitors.

Honeywell Deluxe Security Box, model 3035D. At Big Lots for $20. it
unlocks with a 3 digit code from a
key pad on top in the front.

Sweet for $20

The rest of the 'collection' goes in the vault

[BlindJustice]

Oops sorry for the double post....

[NDOC C/O]

No safe?? Not good. I always put my weapon on my night stand right next to my alarm clock (only when ready for bed) and then my bedroom door is locked and the weapon is condition 3. Otherwise the weapon is in my safe or on my person.

[Unisaw]

I keep mine loaded (with a reload) in a small quick access safe. The delay is negligible and gives me a few seconds to wake up.

[Kind of Blued]

Just last night, I drilled a safe onto the side of my bedside table, with the side of the safe touching my bed.

I put one key on my key ring, and the other on a piece of long yarn. I wore it around my neck last night, and I think that might work out pretty well.

The safe could easily be "stomped" off of the bedside table if my house was broken into when I'm away, but alas, the gun that goes in that safe will be with me. Go ahead, make a whole lot of racket to steal my $20 safe...

It is mainly just for safe storage of the pistol that I will carry in my house until I go to bed at night. Occasionally, I'm woken up my youngsters, and this seems to be a decent solution.

[zxcvbob]

http://www.sportsmansguide.com/net/cb/cb.aspx?a=261437

[ABCDE]

I leave a small space between the bed and he wall. I keep my two S&W Mod 60's loaded in a backpack between the bed and wall when I turn in for the night. When SHTF situation happens, I can give one gun to my wife, and then open the safe to retrieve my long guns.

[JBB]

+1 on theGunVault. It's a really good way to have quick access to your HD firearm and still not have to worry about little curious grandsons getting ahold of it. My is on the top shelf of my closet and I simply slide my fingers into the grooves on top and punch in the code. The door is spring loaded and pops right open. You can open it in total darkness quite easily.

[NGIB]

I'm lucky in that my kids are grown and also accomplished shooters. I have them spread out around the house so there's always one handy...

[woad_yurt]

Having no kids, I can leave mine right next to me on the nightstand.

[tbtrout]

I have 2 young kids and found the Gun Vault works great.

[SASS#23149]

kids are grown and gone,so on the nightstand .
I'll lock them up when we leave home,just takes a minute .

[S&W620]

I don't have children, so that's not really an issue.

I keep my USP loaded (hammer down, safety on) in my nightstand with a spare mag next to it.

[Fish828]

i don't have any children and i live by myself, so i keep a pistol under the head of my bed with a magazine in it and the chamber empty and with the safety off. that way, if i need it during the night, i won't accidentally fire it when i'm still hazy and all i have to do is rack the slide and it's good to go.

[Sato Ord]

I grew up in a house full of weapons and just regular old gun cabinets. I remember my father and brothers listing all of their guns for insurance purposes when I was younger about two hundred years ago (it seems). Actually, it was only a little over forty years ago, but who's counting.

Anyway, we had forty-two riffles, nine pistols, and half a dozen shotguns listed on the homeowners insurance form. I was taught to shoot at a young age, and so were all of my siblings. No one in my family has ever been shot by accident, though a few of us have given up some flesh in defense of our country. No one in my family has ever accidentally shot anyone either. We were taught gun safety and respect for firearms since before we could walk and talk, and have never had a mishap due to ignorance or lack of training. The worst that's ever happened to any of us is that both of my brothers have scares on their foreheads from letting a hot loaded .44 creep back on them at the shooting range, I guess they got out at the shallow end of the gene pool.

As for me, I hate the trigger lock laws, and such. I keep my P-38 hanging in a holster next to my bed and the magazine in my night stand drawer for ease of access. My son, the youngest person on the house is eleven and knows not to touch any of my guns without permission and supervision. I also keep my Remmington Model 1100 with two rounds in the mag and the chamber empty in the corner next to the bed. (The shotgun is my primary home defense weapon: I'd rather throw buckshot than 9mm rounds if it comes down to it, but remember that the term scatter gun doesn't really apply, you still need to take aim because the pattern at home defense range, usually fifteen feet or less, is usually small enough to cover with a tea saucer.) My first line of defense is a one-hundred-ten pound Great Dane (I'm a firm believer in organic burglar alarms).

As far as some inquisitive visitors, what the hell is a visitor doing in someone's bedroom? Anyone visiting my home is a trusted friend and isn't going to go nosing about in my bedroom, and darn sure won't mess with any of my firearms without express permission. When I am not home, the guns are locked up where they won't get stolen: any other time they are where I have quick access to them.

Keeping trigger locks on, or storing home defense weapons where it takes you precious time to get to them, is not a good strategy in my not so humble opinion.:rolleyes: Sure, protect your investment and lock them up when you aren't home, but protect your life and keep them handy when you are. Teach your kids not to play with them, including spending time on the range with the youngsters, and don't give guests free run of the house. Get a big dog and learn to listen to the animal and not just yell at it to shut up when it barks in the middle of the night. Then you can get a good night's sleep once in a while.

[Ala Dan]

I have a 3-1/2 year old grand-daughter that lives with us, so with her
being like Curious George I have too keep all firearms in an unlocked
safe during night time hours; otherwise its on my person~! :uhoh: ;)

[Stevie-Ray]

GunVault or the safe. Only if there's going to be kids around, though, and that's not much. Otherwise it's on the nightstand. I usually have at least a BUG on me at all times, though.

[RobertFBurnett]

Not to get too far off topic but I've seen BUG gun thrown around alot, what does it mean exactly? Does it have any relation to the ARMYs Bugging out?

Back onto topic I have a smallish sized safe thats pretty cramped so I've been thinking about a gunvault for by the bed. The finger buttons seem like they are pretty handy to use.

RFB

[FireArmFan]

BUG is an acronym for Back Up Gun. I still live at home with my family. My CCW is loaded and kept in my safe which is in my room. Not ideal but there are a lot of other people in my house so until i move out that's the way it's gonna be.

[Blackbeard]

GunVault mini-deluxe on the dresser. I practice entering the code every couple of days, so I don't have trouble remembering it. I don't have any kids but there are other curious people in my house sometimes (friends, maids, repairmen, etc.) and I don't want them finding it and going, "is this thing real? BANG!!

[FranklyTodd]

2 GunVaults - 1 under the bed, 1 out in the family room in a cabinet in case I'm not carrying around the house.

The one under the bed houses my everyday carry, so I get into it every day.

[searcher451]

I'm fortunate now that my two children are both grown and out of the house. If children are in the house, a safe is about the only option (a second might be constant carry on your person). Don't be fooled into thinking that the kids can be trained to avoid a certain area or leave a certain drawer unopened; that is a recipe for danger.

[CountGlockula]

MiniVault touch combination takes less than 2-3 secs to open.

[schadenfreude]

I have no kids so its my 1911 is kept condition 1 on a shelf on the headboard behind my pillow as I sleep. Home office I keep in the same way in a holster attached to the inside of my desk on my strong side.

My brother has young kids and he has his glock in a special bracket in his closet . You would have to stand in the closet to see it. Now that his girl is 7 he is getting a mini vault.

[grizz5675]

at night its sits on my night stand beside my bed and in reach with full mag and one in the the chamber,daytime in my closet in holster with full mag and one in chamber.

[k9barco]

Tempoary storage when the big safe won't work

[GBExpat]

GunVault

[hanno]

Tempoary storage when the big safe won't work

K9barco,
What brand is that and where did you buy it? Thanks.

[k9barco]

The safe was made by R&D enterprises; they made several safes for the car and this wall safe. I think they have went out of business, but I also heard they were going to start up under a different name. Here is their last known info;
R&D enterprises
9970 mango St
po box 293988
Phelan, CA 92329-3988
800-467-4000
It's too bad their not in business any more, they had great USA made products and I wanted to buy another wall safe from them. I just called their 800# and got a recording about their " Cargo container lock box" and was told to leave a message. I'm going to call tomorrow and see whats up; they must have had legal problems with their old name, which was Handgun lock box.
Great products with simplex locks.

[Markbo]

I don't have any kids at home. When we have visitors, the guns are secured. Otherwise I have several placed in different places around the house so as to be very quickly accessed if need be.

[jaydubya]

We're a pair of empty nesters, so I have handguns in various places around the house. When the grandkids come, I pick them up and lock them up.
Works for me.
Cordially, Jack

[Wopasaurus]

Luckily I don't have kids, so I just keep my daily carry on the desk next to my girlfriend and my bed. She has hers above a cabinet by the dining room in our apt.

No safes, we both know what we're doing. We also have a shotgun hanging in the closet, with an M4 about to keep it company soon.

We live in the ghetto, we might actually need it. Haha.

[thebaldguy]

I use a hollowed out book on the bookshelf. It goes in the safe when we leave the house for an extended time.

[crebralfix]

I store my home defense handgun in my holster on my belt.

[Jeff F]

Don't have any little ones at home any more so I don't have those worries. I have a few 870's in different parts of the house, tube loaded, cocked and locked safety on empty chamber. I feel a little safer that way because it takes more then just racking the slide to make it ready to fire. Theres a side arm hid in the front, middle and back part of the house. All rifles and the rest are locked up in the safe. If we have certain company over or if friends with kids are visiting the side arms except for my carry piece get locked in the safe. Shotguns are on high hooks out of sight and every thing gets locked up if we leave for any length of time.

[Geronimo45]

On my person, some of 'em in a locked box (if I'm too lazy to open it) or alongside the mattress. Most of the people in my family are sane, fairly mature, and trustworthy folk, kids included.